Thirteen

[Lopsided]

There are quite a few one year reports being posted, (a few three year, five and even longer too), so, never wanting to be conventional, here is my thirteen month report.

Broadly I am better (there, that was quick), or at least my left hip is. But it is not as simple as that. My left hip joint does now feel incredibly good, and I have got a large segment of my life back, that I had not realised that I had lost.

Amongst the other patients in Gent was a woman, my age, who had been a triathlete. We keep in touch. She was not suitable for resurfacing, even by Dr. De Smet. She got bilateral ceramic THRs. Although she is very strong, she had a bigger operation than me, and initially she recovered slower than me. Now she has continued to improve, and has taken up her sporting life again, apparently, at least as well as where she left off.

This has not happened for me. Although my left hip is excellent, the rest of me is not. In fact the smooth motion of the resurfacing joint just betrays the varying degrees of roughness of all my other joints. My back and neck are messed up from old sporting accidents and injuries, and probably a congenital disposition too. This does not preclude me from most activities in life in general, but I do not think I would want to push myself to any extremes, as you should do if you compete.

The other limitation is that I cannot abduct as much as I would like. All the other five movements (adduction, flex, extend, internal rotation, external rotation) have better range than before I knew I had arthritis. With my left leg (not right) tucked in first, I can now sit cross legged on the floor (not for too long). In fact, although infinitesimally, I think my range of movement is still increasing. But I cannot stick my leg out sideways as much as I would like. Two day after the operation, in the hydrotherapy pool, I was amazed that I could stick my leg out sideways at all. But since then this has been the slowest movement to increase.

I have most definitely got an important part of my life back. Four months after the operation, I climbed over my four foot fence to retrieve the dog, or a ball or something, I cannot remember. But I do remember my son saying, 'Daddy, you can climb now.' And I can. Now I like to play table tennis with my children. When we go to a restaurant, I can sit at any table, I do not have to ask for a seat with a back that is not too low. Long gone are the days when it was difficult to cut my toenails, dry myself fully after a shower, or put my trousers on.

I got my thirteen month x-ray last month, which was twelve months, and have just sent it to the surgeon, but not got a reply yet. It does show (as explained by my local orthopaedist), that the bone is growing into both components, and is growing denser around the connection between the femur and the device. This is important as I had uncemented. The x-ray also shows a slight narrowing in the joint of my right hip. I know. I can feel it when I walk now. Mild toothache in my hip. As yet, I have not lost much range of movement in it. It is probably worse now than last year because I am more active. I am not sure how many years it will be till it degrades to the degree than I need that hip resurfaced too.

In fact, I wish it would bloody get worse now, then I could have it done and be symmetrical for the first time in a decade. As I have mentioned on at least one other thread, I would not mind having a total body resurfacing, if there was such a thing. Imagine, universal unrestricted smooth effortless motion.

[hernanu]

Lucky thirteen, Lop? Nice that you've got so much back, I also find that I have some work to do. Although I have very good ROM, there is some weakness in my right (last hip) in side to side motion. I just think I'm healing different, and subconsciously I think lopsided is cool, so my body is trying to copy yours  ;D .

As to stretching, I always told my tae kwon do students when they started stretching to give it a good 3-6 months before they could stretch like the other, more experienced people. That's 6 months of easy, incremental stretches. I think some of my muscles atrophied, which is why some take longer. Keep it up, you'll be fine and limber in no time.

[Dannywayoflife]

Lop mate I'm pleased that your HR has been such a success for you. I hope that it lasts many years to come. And thanks for the update these give hope to those like myself who are yet to be fixed.
Danny 

[newdog]

Lop,

That is interesting about the bone growth into the components. Very interesting to me since I went the uncemented route also. I wish I could get my neck resurfaced. Although no pain, it is difficult when turning around while backing a vehicle. Leave it up to you to post a 13 month report!   ;D
Good report.