Entries by John

Five and a half weeks after surgery the recovery has been remarkable. The morning after Surgery Dr. Schmalzried said "I don't think you can hurt the hip though it might hurt you. No real restrictions other than what if feels like you are able to do." I took him at his word and have worked the hip pretty darn hard the last 5 weeks. Last week I jogged a mile on the treadmill at 5 mph with some incline to reduce the impact. The muscles were pretty sore afterward but no joint pain. I haven't jogged again thinking I might wait a bit longer for impact exercise (though I will talk to the Dr. next week since I have an appointment) but have been walking 1 - 2 miles on the treadmill on my off days from PT. PT has consisted of leg presses, bosu squats, lunges, cable walk, and a slide board that mimics skating along with stretches and other exercises. There is still some weakness in the hip muscles, particularly in the rotational control and strength but it is getting better all the time. If I work it really hard, a little ice and elevation helps keep soreness to a minimum though that is rarely needed. Dr. Schmalzried appears to have done an amazing job. The only problem is my knee now hurts because it hasn't had to work this hard in years!

Once I left the hospital the second day after surgery, I tried to walk around with the crutches and do the stretches the therapist taught me followed by icing the hip. I have to admit, there was still no real pain and walking around was much easier than I anticipated. By Friday (surgery was Monday) I could easily get around on one crutch and was probably putting 90% weight on the operated side. There was definitely some swelling but it was easily controlled by ice. Still no pain meds other than a Tylenol or two. Sunday I felt good enough to go to the LA County Fair with the family. I suspect I walked (with two crutches) a mile or more during the day. Finally gave up and sat in the wine area and had a glass while they hit more booths. By the time we got home there was a fair amount of swelling and soreness (though the very attractive TED stockings kept the swelling above my knee!) but a Tylenol and some ice and elevation did the trick. I started PT Monday and was able to do the various hip exercises fairly well and some leg presses on the reformer along with a few other strengthening things. By Tuesday (1 week plus a day after surgery) the crutches had been put away. I am truly amazed by the pace of recovery.

I am a 44 year old who (much like a Golden Retriever) was apparently born with dysplasia in my right hip. Never really bothered me growing up though I would have a little pain when I walked a long way and never knew why. Around age 33 my hip started to ache more often and for more prolonged periods. By the last couple of years I would go a week or two with slight pain then one to four weeks of significant pain that made it hard to sleep and impossible to play with my kids or exercise. Of course, I had been diagnosed 8 or 10 years ago but wanted to wait on surgery as long as possible. This summer was as long as possible! This site was fantastic as a research tool and I was pleased to find that a real expert in resurfacing was so close by. I visited Dr. Schmalzried for a consult and was extremely impressed by him and his staff. Everyone there was friendly and seemed to know exactly what they were doing. To cut this a little short I had my right hip done by Dr. Schmalzried on 8/31. They used a combination of an epidural and light general which made waking up a bit easier. I was wheeled into my room around 12:30 PM and, with the epidural still effecting things, felt no pain. Around 4:00 the therapist came in and had me walk down the hall with a walker. I had limited ability to control my legs but felt pretty good otherwise. The next couple of days in the hospital were pretty easy. I had intravenous pain medication and never really had any discomfort. I was taught to give myself Lovenox shots which was not something I looked forward to but turned out to be pretty easy. PT continued twice a day and was tough but again, no real pain. The worst part was getting the catheter and the drain removed!