July 13, 2011 I have just had my hip done and just found this site. I was at first referred to my local hospital by my gp. They said they would fit me with a ceramic total job and would have to stop skiing as well as curtail my other sporting activities. Not happy with that I did some research and found Mr. Traecy on the web. Impressed with his qualifications I asked my gp to refer me to him. He was very reluctant and did his best to talk me out of it. He also said our local trust would almost certainly refuse to fund it. I stuck to my guns though and he went ahead with the referal. The trust did agree to it and to cut it short I went to Birmingham Royal Orthopaedic for assessment, pre op etc and last Thursday 7th I had my BHR installed my Mr. Traecy himself. So far the experience has been excellent and I am a huge fan of the NHS!

July 16, 2011 I am now 10 days post op. I only take tramadol at night to help me sleep. I am still using a pee bottle as getting out/in bed and negotiating a dark house with sleeping dogs all over the floor is too difficult.

July 23, 2011 I am now 16 days post op and I can’t believe how quickly I am progressing. Every day I see an improvement. I can walk happily on 1 crutch, but still use 2 for any distance over 10 meters. While sitting or lying in bed I can fool myself that I am completely normal. I can lift my operated leg in and out of bed easily. Getting up and down from chairs is also easy. I was initially quite shocked at the toll the op had taken on my body. I was expecting pain in the operation site. This is the only part of my leg that doesn’t hurt! My thigh is still stiff and sore and I have some pain in my groin. This is diminishing daily though. When walking I am unaware of the new joint which must be good sign. I still tire easily and have to lay down in a dark room after any mild exercertion. My leg is very weak and obviously needs a lot of work to bring it back up to normal. I am almost off pain relief. Just the odd paracetamol and ibuprofen in the day and 1 tramadol at night. These run out soon and I may use cocodamol instead. I can drive my car! Freedom at last. I was apprehensive at first but as soon as I got behind the wheel I found I had no problem. When I was first told I would need a new hip a couple of years ago they said I would not be able to even get in a car for 6 weeks never mind drive. That was for a THR of course. My clips are out and the incision is clean with no sign of infection. My appetite is good and my bodily functions have returned to normal. A very positive outcome so far and I am so glad I held out for a BHR.

July 28, 2011  I too was a little alarmed at the swelling and discoloration but was reassured that this was normal. I also returned to work at 2 weeks but part time. As I have my own business this was not a matter of choice. So far so good though. As you said I soon get tired but this is getting better and I can do more each day. I’m going to have a few days off again now and relax by the sea.

Personally I find quite long walks (1 mile now and getting longer) followed by long rests works best for me. I am happy on 1 crutch and have managed a few steps without any. I will follow advice though and keep 1 crutch till I can walk without a limp. I also have a lot of thigh muscle pain (but no “snapping”) but almost none in my hip apart from the occasional dull ache. I am almost unaware that I have a new hip.

July 29, 2011 22 days since my op and I am starting to feel “normal”. This may only make sense to those who have been through this experience! Difficult to describe how one feels after major surgery but you certainly don’t feel normal. With the daily improvements in my leg I can now see that future is bright and I am looking forward to a full life again. Working part time, driving is now easy apart from getting in and out of the car and even this is getting easier every day. Still walking a mile or so each day. After a day at work I am very tired but feel fine the next morning. Bit boring really as I have nothing to report! Almost completely off pain relief and I only have 5 more of those horrible stomach injections to do. I know many people find these no problem but I hate them. Going fishing today.

August 1, 2011 Managed to get down to my local river bank for my first session since the op. I chose somewhere with a short walk and got down the steep, muddy bit to the waters edge without too much of a problem. I took along a ski pole to use as a help while wading. Got a couple of small trout and a dace on the float but then needed to sit down so switched to bottom fishing with a chunk of Spam. After a bit of a wait I got a powerful bite and struck into what at first felt like a snag. A couple of slow steady thumps showed that it was indeed a fish and I eventually landed a 6lb chub. Not bad for my first session with my new hip and I was well chuffed. Potholing is the next milestone but that will have to wait a bit yet. I have now reached the stage that my hip/leg has about the same amount of pain/discomfort as it had before the op. So its all downhill from here.

August 4, 2011 In have spent 45 years of my life passionately involved in rock climbing, Mountaineering and skiing in Britain, the Alps and Himalayas. In recent years I have concentrated mostly on caving. Since I started to develop OA in my right hip my activity level had dropped off considerably though I could still do some caves as long as they were not too far from the road! Now I am 4 weeks post op with my new BHR and am looking forward to getting underground again.

August 24, 2011 7 weeks now since my right BHR. Recovery is astonishing. Ditched my crutches, walking without a limp as long as I concentrate. Working almost normally. Sometimes I forget I’ve had it done. I have noticed that my right leg feels different from my left. I think this is because of the way I was compensating before the op as well as the trauma from the op. I find that to walk normally I have to think about how I walk. I try to make my right leg copy my left. Obviously I have some way to go yet before I am completely back to normal but I am already far better than I was before.