Harold’s Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Reice 2011
March 10, 2011
I am a kajukenbo practitioner and have learned that I need to get my hip resurfaced. At first I was all for re-leaving all this pain but after talking to the doctor and several people I have my doubts. First my doctor tells me that there will be limitations in my movement. For example, I would not be able to lift my knee past my hip or even do a high chamber for a roundhouse kick. Then I heard from someone that not all the muscles in my leg would be reattached because there was just no way of doing that (I took this one with a grain of salt). I was also concerned about the metal particles and what the long term effects it may have on my joints or organs. I found this forum one night and thought I should post some of my concerns with others who have more experience. I am at the moment seeking out a second opinion before even considering the procedure. I have read many people saying that they had no limitations in their movements after the procedure was done and was wondering if it is the device itself that will make the difference. I have not been in class for about a year now and am utterly depressed.
October 11, 2011
10/06/11 was my surgery date.
Came out of surgery surprised that it was already done. I was just talking to the nurse about feeling dizzy then I heard some drilling and woke up. She noticed me waking up and told me that they were almost done. Next thing I know I was wheeled into recovery, my body was still numb from the waist down. I was monitored for a while and then sent into my room. After a while a nurse came in and tried to get me on my feet to walk with a walker. First I sat up, hip was mostly stiff but no pain felt yet. My leg would not move without some extra help. Then I stood up in with a walker, the entire leg was stiff but still no pain. I walked around a bit with the walker, sluggishly because of the stiffness and I was still a little dizzy. Around that time my dinner was there so I tried sitting down at a chair so I can eat. The dizziness got progressively worse. my body started having a cold sweat and my vision started turning hazy white. I have never felt like that before so I did not know what to make of it. I told the nurse and she immediately called for help to get me back into the bed. She said I was passing out. the feeling was so horrible that I just stayed in bed for at least two hours hoping that the feeling will go away completely. it did. After that everything seemed pretty routine (to the doctors). On the day I was to be discharged the doctors were concerned that my heart beat seemed so high, especially for someone that is just in bed. The monitored me the whole day with my fever going up and down and my heart rate being fast always. They did not want to release me because they wanted to make sure that I was ok, and thank god they did! It turns out that I had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in my chest). I was happy to stay another night! I went home on 10.09.11 but now have to do some therapy for the blood clot. My wife is administering shots to me twice a day for blood thinners and I am also taking some blood thinning medication. The idea is to get my blood to clot at a certain level (which they are monitoring closely) then I can just continue with the pills (no more shots yay!). today is my 5th day post op. I still feel weak and dizzy all the time. Leg is very swollen. just trying to take it one day at a time
October 17, 2011
I was really out of it for a while there. I had an appointment (friday)for blood to be drawn at 12:00 noon and an appointment to follow up with the coagulation department so i tried sitting around to wait for it. The first thing I did wrong was listen to Mr Spock. I got some less aggressive pain killer that shot my pain through the roof. The other thing I did wrong was just try to sit any way that would not give me pain, which was darn near impossible! I think I should have just stood the whole time. Anyway, to make my long story short I ended up in emergency with this horrible pain that left be sweating and twisted and exhausted. They gave me four shots of some strong pain killer then send me home at 5 in the morning. Ever since then Oxycodone and I became good friends. Oh, almost forgot they xrayed me to make sure that the device did not become dislocated.
This morning though the pain was very noticeable. I think I might have to ask for a higher dosage. Also my hip seems so tight that I cannot stand nor sit down. Is that Normal? I just feel so uncomfortable, I cannot sit in any good position or lay down in any good position. this is torture.
October 22, 2011
As far as other things I am having trouble standing up straight probably because I have not done it in a while. I get tired really easily, almost past out in the shower this morning. my operated leg is still prone to swelling. The fluid goes down to my feet and I have to get in bed and elevated that leg to alleviate the swelling. I am still icing and it does help a lot.
Seems like a lot of things for just one procedure. The blood clot is still being worked on and monitored by the doctors as I am still taking Cumidin and I believe this is supposed to be a 3 month therapy.
The procedure was originally to give me lovenox (another blood thinner) when I got out of the hospital to prevent blood clots. They started on it while I was still there and it had to be delivered via needle into the stomach muscles. Unfortunately when I was diagnosed with the blood clot I had to keep up the lovenox until my INR levels were good enough to stop the shots. I now am healing also from massive bruising at the stomach and it is really uncomfortable.
October 25, 2011
I had a really “fun” day yesterday. I went to UCSF early in the morning to get my INR levels for my coumadin and then in the afternoon I had an appointment set up with my Ortho but on the way home as I was talking to my brother in law about stuff when I suddenly noticed how dizzy I was. I just thought that I might be tired but suddenly I could not catch my breathe. Then I started getting tunnel vision and had cold sweats. I told my brother in law that there was something wrong and that I might have to go back to the hospital. He took me into ER were they took me in and ran all sorts of tests. hours and hours later they concluded that I was anemic so I was admitted to the hospital over night and was given a transfusion. My fever is now gone, my hip pain level is tolerable, the swelling has gone down a tad bit, my heart rate is still elevated at rest but they assure me that it will work itself out soon, my anemia is a little bit better (normal is 15, when I went into surgery it was 10, when I was admitted yesterday it was 7 and now it is 9.)
Too many complications. I am so tired. I am back home right now and for that I am happy.
October 27, 2011
I am happy to report that my fevers have gone and that my energy level is much better. I was able to stay up most of the day yesterday and am doing pretty well today also. My INR dropped to 1.9 though which may be due to the transfusion but they assure me that I am still within the therapeutic range for my blood clot. I have an appointment with my Ortho tomorrow which I missed last time due to being admitted for anemia. I hope they have good news for me as well because I really cannot take anymore bad news right now. This surgery and recovery has been hell for me and it feels like a whole year has passed instead of the four weeks that it has really been.
October 31, 2011
Everything else seems ok. Fever has not come back, I am tolerating the meds ok, pain is under control, still a little swelling on my leg and at the incision but that is to be expected because of the blood thinners. I am still walking with a walker and still have the restrictions for another two weeks. Can’t wait to be able to sit without pain, take a long shower, drive my car, and just plain be normal again.
November 9, 2011
I finally started my “in patient physical therapy” where a physical therapist comes over my house and works on some exercises with me. Yesterday was my first day. She checked me out first and I am happy to report that my elevated heart rate has finally come down. Yesterday it was at 70 beats per minute at rest and not the usual 101! My leg is still swelling quite a bit but other than that and a little pain at the hip everything seems much better. I am also able to walk without the walker or a cane but I have a really bad limp as the hip is really tight. The physical therapist told me that it was an indication to her that the muscle that connects from my waist to the hip bone is weak and that is normal for that type of surgery since they had to go through there to fix my problem. I find myself smiling more now and at the little things like being able to sit comfortably while eating dinner or just being able to step outside the house and in the sun for a little while, really nice.
January 16, 2012
I have been struggling through physical therapy and going back to work. Walking is still a bit painful but on my un-operated side. I am hoping it is just because I am still limping. Physical therapy has been slow and painful as my muscles are really weak and some of the exercises are difficult for me right now. This Friday I had a scary episode in the shower where I felt really weak and out of breath. I informed the doctor right away and he called me personally on my cell phone to check up on me! He assured me that my Coumadin levels were good so he does not think it is another blood clot and told me to watch out for racing heart beat and cold sweats on top of the difficulty breathing. He said if it persists to go to emergency. The rest of my Friday was uneventful though and I got to leave early from work because of the Holiday, Yay! I have not been back to the dojo to work out just to see my friends and grandmaster. I am afraid to walk through that door because grandmaster will try to get me to do something and I do not think I am ready yet.
February 4, 2012
I went to the Dojo this past Tuesday to stretch out in the back but got pulled into trying to practice a little. Anyway, the next day I was so sore. I could not do much on the mat and all of the regular stuff that I used to do was beyond my capabilities now. If that was not depressing enough on Friday I suddenly had a hard time walking because now my un-operated hip started to bother me. It was strange because it did not really bother me…oh wait, maybe it did bother me after I worked out! I could not tell because I was so sore all over. Just worried that it might also have worn out like the other one. I at least wanted a year or two in between surgeries.
March 28, 2012
I am finally off of the Warfarin (blood thinners). It is great in a way that I am off of them but I was not ready to hear the news that they gave me after telling me it was ok to stop taking the pills. The doctors at Hemotology are saying that since my blood clot had broken through their first line of defense which is the Lovenox shots that I will be likely to have another one if I had another surgery. Also I will have to take shots (Lovenox) when I have to fly on long trips. They also said to avoid sitting too long at the office and that I should plan on getting up every two hours or so. Man, I was not ready for that one! I thought after all of this everything was going to be cool but now I kind of feel weird. I really don’t know what to think. I actually feel kind of sick right now: my neck and head is hurting kind of bad so I am going to cut this short.
October 3, 2012
On September 27th I just took my 3rd degree blackbelt test. Afterwards I was not able to walk without pain, not because of my hip but because of my knees. Both my knees are swollen and it makes it hard to walk. I have tried modifying some of my movements as to not cause damage to the hip. It makes me worried that I might have banged up the hip if I hurt my knees so bad.
March 20, 2013
It has been about two years now and things are going pretty well with the hip. I am back on the mat at the dojo. Right now I am struggling with doing side falls because I end up hitting my hip on the mat. Last night my instructor tried showing me how he does his side falls but it also looked to me like he is banging his hip. I tried everything he showed me and ended up hurting myself. I don’t know if I have been doing it wrong this whole time but he swears he does not hit his hip hard on the mat but I do. If anyone can give me info on this type of falls that would be great. I think it is important not to damage the hip so I have modified a lot of my movements already but the falls seem particularly hard to modify.