September 16, 2011 I was very active my whole life, sports and work. I have been a police officer for 30 yrs and carrying this gunbelt(20 lbs worth) has really done a number on my legs. I worked a double yesterday and was really achy by the end of the shift.

The good news is my Dr’s office called last week and set my surgery date for Nov. 10. Dr. Specht from Lahey Clinic is doing it, I haven’t seen his name here yet. I’m from Boston and had planned on getting a full replacement, a recommendation from the chief of ortho at Mass General, until I met Terry O’Reilly, former Boston Bruin. Terry had both hips resurfaced (BHR) several years ago and is now skating again several times a week. I can’t wait until next winter and I hope to be playing hockey again. Thanks to all the people who post here I kind of know what to expect, I know it won’t be easy but it’s better than limping the rest of my life. I found some preop exercises here and have started to really strengthen the core and legs to better cope with the surgery, I hope.

November 12, 2011 Surgery went great, I spoke to the Dr. the next day and his quote was “you had some gnarly arthiritis in there but everything went great.”

First night was tough, just Sitting in the bed for hours on my ass was worse than the operation. Like every one says, leg felt like a lead balloon ,but not much pain. Dr. Specht and Lahey area bit conservative in the amount of activity, so I didn’t get out of bed until day 2 and then only to the chair. Today I got to go on a long walk of about 25 yds, but did fine with the crutches. Hopefully I can get home tomorrow. No PT though until after week two.

November 15, 2011 My recent updates are, got home yesterday, ride wasn’t bad but getting out of the car was an adventure. After the whole day and finally relaxing in my new recliner, the leg was sore and swollen. Tried to sleep in the bed and woke up about two hours later, both legs wore sore from not moving at all. I had to pee and it took awhile to get the strength up in the leg to get out of bed. I then took a pain med and went out to my recliner, soooooo comfy, I slept through the rest of the night. The recliner will be home for the foreseeable future. can walk with the two crutches now, occasionally get a twinge of pain, but still no strength. Doing quad sets now as I write this. Tomorrow is first PT session at home, hopefully i get the OK to do the exercises I have seen here from McMinn Centre, we’ll see.

The guy who first told me about the BHR was Terry O’Reilly, retired Boston Bruin. I was at a fundraiser for military families last year at the army/navy game and someone introduced us as I played a lot of hockey as a kid. Terry asked if I still skated and I told him I couldn’t because of my hip. He told me about his bilateral BHR and couldn’t say enough about it. He plays hockey 3 nights a week during the winter and rides a couple of 100 miles a week on his bicycle in the good weather. We spoke for over an hour and he gave me his cell phone number if I had any other questions. He had to go to England to get his done. Up until that day I was set to have the complete hip replacement, when it was time. Well when it was time I did the research and found a local Dr. who does the BHR and I got the BHR, 11/10/11, and though it is early I think I made the right choice. I hope to see Terry O’Reilly at the same fundraiser on 12/10/11 and thank him. I’ll also tell him about this forum and maybe he’ll post something about his experience.

November 26, 2011 I bought the compression shorts from 110play harder. $110 for the pair and two sets of ice packs. I didn’t wear them until the 14 day mark as I was afraid to even pull them on. They seem to work well with the swelling and the ice packs are great, they place the ice right where I need it, directly on the hip, the quad and the hamstring area. The ice only lasts about 20 minutes so you don’t have to worry about overdoing it and they refresh in the freezer quickly. I bought an extra set of ice packs with the shorts. When I first pulled them on, the compression felt great, gave me more stability in the operated leg when walking, still on two crutches though. I start outpatient PT on Monday, I’ll see what the PT says about wearing them during PT or after. So far I am happy about the purchase.

December 1, 2011 I am 3 weeks post op today. Every day is better than the day before, but still real stiff, IT band is inflamed as the surgeon had to split it to get to the hip. Down to one crutch outside and a cane at home. PT has helped and hope to be driving by end of week.

December 13, 2011 Started outpatient Pt on Monday, 12/28, 18 days post op. First day on the bike and could only do half rotation, 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock then backwards to 9 o’clock again. By Wednesday could go all the way around and rode the bike for 7 minutes, 0 resistance. Did lots of VERY light weight training on the leg muscles and some exercises. The tightness in the quad and IT band are holding me back, for now.

I was able to sleep on my side for first time during week 2, pillow between my legs for support so legs don’t cross. It felt great and helped me sleep for longer than a couple of hours at a time. Still a little swelling in the hip itself , but I think this is the IT band. The surgeon did tell me he had to split it and sew it back together to get at the hip.

I started with the cane on Monday around the house and Wed. no crutches at all, I now use the cane exclusively. I was 3 weeks postop on Thursday, 12/1. I tried the no cane thing at home Friday, the first few steps are huge limp, until I concentrate on a normal gate. Went to the gym today for the first time and rode the bike for ten minutes. I used the machines for upper body, light weight, and did my pt exercises. My gym is 3 levels and for the first time I walked the stairs in a normal fashion, one leg after the other. I felt great, finally some normalcy, so I told my wife I would drive home. It was no problem at all, except getting out of the car on the drivers side. My IT band and quad are still tight and the knee doesn’t bend all the way, so I have to really push those leg muscles to contract enough to get out of the car. It might be that I drive a sports car, G35, it’s big but kind of low to the ground. But I did it and this will give me so much more freedom. Will be at the gym every day now for my exercises and bike, this should help with the recovery.

January 3, 2012 I am 8 weeks postop tomorrow. I would have no problems going to Hawaii at this point. If you asked me before surgery I would have been apprehensive , like you. But at this point I seem to have no real issues except some ROM problems.