Entries by MRoberts

Well it’s been a month sense my first blog. I am now sitting 9 days from surgery. I am a little apprehensive, but there is no doubt I am ready for this. The pain in my right hip seems to get worse every day. I am sure some of that is the result of the fact that I have committed myself to getting in the best shape possible before this surgery. I have been trying to do a spinning class 3 days a week and swim 2000 yards twice a week. I have only missed a couple work outs which makes me pretty happy. I really feel good other than the HIP PAIN. One thing that is concerning though is that as I push myself, I am starting to feel some twinges in my left groin, which is exactly how the right hip first presented itself. My Doc say they may be able to save the left hip if I have the bone spurs ground away as soon as I feel pain, they showed on the last X-ray, but I had no symptoms. Maybe that will work, but we’ll worry about that once the right hip is working properly again. I still have a fair number of items on my pre surgery “honey do” list but I should be ready. Would like to get out skiing one time this year before I give it up for a year, but we’ll see, there’s a lot on that list. I have stopped going to the discussion board, as even though there is lots of good info there, right now I don’t want to stumble across something thing that will rattle my nerves, which is what happened the last time I visited. I am sure after the surgery I will be back reading everything, but right now I think it’s best to stay away. When doing the research though it was awesome and really helped me with my decisions. I did watch the online operation videos, I thought it was great. Being an engineer, I like to know how things work, watching the surgery really opened my eyes to what is going to be done. My dad and father-in-law, both veterans of being under the knife thought I was NUTS. My wife and son who watched the videos with me thought they were very cool. Pre-op next Monday, it getting interesting. Mike

Well I pulled the trigger today and made the call to Northland Orthopedics of Rhinelander to schedule my hip resurfacing. It will be with Dr. Jim Dyreby on December 17th or 19th. This has been a long process since the diagnosis back in June of 2007. However the pain has got to the point where it’s just not worth it anymore. Two things really made the difference in my decision to have the surgery now rather than put it off for a few more months. First the pain medication is starting to get to my head, at least I think it’s the meds. I am on Celebrex with tylonal supplements. The last couple of month I have noticed I am not as sharp as I normally am, my memory is crap, and I am making poor decisions. Two months ago I almost totaled my boat fishing with my father in a Musky Tourney. We where fishing the lake I grew up on and I ended up running the boat up on a reef I have fished 1000s of times, luckily I made some last minutes adjustments to the motor and got REAL lucky and did NO damage. At the time I chalked it up to a bone headed mistake, but as time passed I am not so sure. This is the type of mistake I never would have made in the past, heck I was looking right at my GPS. That was the worst, but there are other incidents I really have no explanation for. Second I recently had some shoulder pain, it started a couple of months ago and steadily got worse. As fall volleyball league started I aggravated the shoulder to the point it was starting to affect my sleep. I went in to see the Ortho to ensure this wasn’t also a joint problem. After a short exam they took a quick x-ray and luckily ruled out authorities of the shoulder. A quick Cortisone shot to an inflamed tendon and I am now playing volleyball like I am in college again. OK other than the pain and limited mobility because of the hip. But the quick fix made me start to think, WHY AM I WAITING and letting my quality of life suffer. Doctor Dyreby is not the most experienced with the BHR, but I am confident he will do a quality job; I have had a number of doctors tell me he is one of the most meticulous surgeons they know. Plus I know him personally and can have the surgery done in my home town. After much research my only chance at finding a better doctor would be to go to one of the docs who have been doing it since the very beginning in the U.S. or overseas, but then I give up the personal knowledge and my insurance will not cover the surgery. If I was more than an amateur YMCA athlete I probably would purse that but as it is I made the decision and want it done soon, and don’t think I will win the Insurance battle. There are two other docs in the plan that have now done close to 50 HRs. So it would be very unlikely to win my arguments for Dr. Rogerson. Plus Dr. Dyreby trained with Dr. Rogerson so that upped my confidence level considerable. I started my new workout routine today and plan to get in the best shape possible before the surgery, everything I read says recovery will be better if the patient is in good shape. Last couple of month I have been swimming and biking once or twice a week, usually once. New goal is to bike, (most likely hour long spinning class at the Y) 3 times per week and swim 2 times per week working up to 2500 yards a session. I didn’t wear my heart rate monitor today, when I spun, because I didn’t want to be completely disappointed. I’ll work up to it. I’m 6’4” and weighed 226 today. Well that’s way more than I was planning on typing for my first Log, I hope it’s not my last. Mike