Surgery Tuesday w McMinn

[Jimt]

I'll stick with my comment that you "could make the argument that we are behind the curve."

Jon,

I agree.  Like you I could not find a surgeon in Indianapolis that didn't want to do a THR.  Even one who was listed for Birmingham hip resurfacing said he didn't want to do one that t THR is better.  Thank God I didn't listen and kept researching!

Jim

[mslendzion]

Jon. I'm going in for left Bhr in two weeks. I was interested in who the top US surgeons are, I'm scheduled with Dr Schmitt. Glad you are doing well.

[Two4One]

Jon, What kind of shape/athletic activity level were you in before flying to England for your BHR?

I'm so proud of you walking 1 to 2 miles! 8)

mslendzion, you are going to be so surprised at the absence of pain deep in the hip socket!  Today, my pain has been ranging 2 to 4 for the bulk of my Day 6 recovery from my bilateral.  You are in skilled hands.

[mslendzion]

Thanks two4one. Glad to hear you are feeling better. You are my inspiration, I can't complain dealing with one hip when you have had to deal with two... And recovering with both replacements. Thank you.

[jon]

Jon, What kind of shape/athletic activity level were you in before flying to England for your BHR?

I'm so proud of you walking 1 to 2 miles! 8)

mslendzion, you are going to be so surprised at the absence of pain deep in the hip socket!  Today, my pain has been ranging 2 to 4 for the bulk of my Day 6 recovery from my bilateral.  You are in skilled hands.

Hi, Two4One.  Congrats on the bilats! You are hardcore in my book!

For sure, I have had pretty good pain since coming out of surgery so 2X that has got to be tricky to manage.  I have tried to stay up on my pain meds and that has aided my exercise and recovery.

In terms of fitness, since my initial diagnosis in 2004, I have remained very active and optimally worked out 45-60 mins per day.  Exercises have comprised cardio machines, free weights and swimming.  The cardio and swimming definitely got difficult the last few months.  On average, I guess I was mostly around the 30-minute per day range the last couple years.  The positives in my mind are weight management and strength retention.  Not super results, but sufficient to really help rehab/recovery.

The last few days pre-op in Birmingham I put in an hour a day.  I think that may have kept my body on its toes...

At surgery, I came in at 160 Lbs, which has been my steady weight for the last several years.

All the best,

Jon

[jon]

Jon. I'm going in for left Bhr in two weeks. I was interested in who the top US surgeons are, I'm scheduled with Dr Schmitt. Glad you are doing well.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I did not study Dr. Schmitt only because he did not meet a couple of my other screens (namely, closeness to Boston). As long as you have done your research, I'm sure you are in great shape. Clearly Dr. Schmitt has a following on the site so I would definitely connect with his other patients.

I went right at Su because of his reputation and the fact that I'm in NY every week. I met him and liked him a lot. I would have been very content to have proceeded with him. Once my insurance issues surfaced, I really clean-sheeted my analysis again and opened up to non-US. I figured that if I was going to self-pay, I should boil it down to just the procedure. For me, McMinn just seemed so right.

I will tell you though, I get the impression that the top guys are pretty tightly knit, regardless of where they practice. I think that there is ongoing knowledge-share (ie, best practices) and professional support. Just my two cents.

I mention all of this because I think that it is valuable (not essential) for someone's surgeon to be in this loop or a derivative of it.

Hope this helps...

Sorry for spelling errors. On blackberry at starbucks in London! Going home tomorrow!

[Aerial]

Good luck on the flight home.  I hope it goes well for you.  I'm sorry you had to go abroad for insurance reasons but hey Starbucks in London can't be all that bad!  Best wishes for your recovery and I hope you enjoy your new hip as much as I am enjoying mine.....I'm having daydreams about running and tennis again some day! I stayed as active as possible prior to surgery and kept up with yoga too.  Although my yoga was scaled down I think I maintained good flexibility in everything but my bad hip which helped with fairly quickly being able to get my socks and shoes on after surgery.

[jon]

Good luck on the flight home.  I hope it goes well for you.  I'm sorry you had to go abroad for insurance reasons but hey Starbucks in London can't be all that bad!  Best wishes for your recovery and I hope you enjoy your new hip as much as I am enjoying mine.....I'm having daydreams about running and tennis again some day!

Hey, thanks. The insurance was a blessing really in that it allowed me to open up my analysis. I'm tickled!

Thanks for the well wishes. We are so eager to see our kids (5 yrs and 14 months). As much as I have loved marathoning (24 over the years), we chose to go for the surgery for quality of family life and chasing my kids around for a long time to come...

Life is good...

[Luanna]

Hi Jon,
So happy to hear that everything is going well and I hope your flight home is uneventful and easy.

You are right about the surgeons sharing best practices. Apparently they also challenge each other quite a bit and question and debate issues like cup placement, cemented versus non-cemented, metalosis etc. A lot of the sharing happens at conferences. One of the top surgeons told me that most of the real sharing happens in the bar after conference hours.  :)

Luanna

[bilateralbliss]

Looking forward to your update! Was there myself on Dec 6th. Hope you are doing well

[jon]

Wow,nine days post-op.  That was a blur!

Flew home yesterday.  FYI, flight was more uncomfortable than expected.  No typical pain (actually leg felt really well), but swelling behind my knee (operated leg) was uncomfortable and a bit of a concern.  I was wearing compression socks and tights.  I also moved around a fair amount as instructed by doc.  Good news that issue occurred during latter portion of flight -- no problem rest of day.

Headed for long walk today.  Maybe I'll do a track workout on my sticks!!

Jon

ps: Great to be back home and to hug the kids.  Best rehab will be with our little critters!

[Two4One]

Hi Jon,

9 Day Blur, 10 Day Blur, it goes by so fast post op, right?  You have been going non - stop!

Welcome back.

[jon]

Yup.  Time flying by...

Headed for a long walk today.

Anyone have any advice/info if walking on a treadmill is OK? Thought I might stay inside for today's workout.

Thanks,
Jon

   

[hernanu]

I didn't walk on a treadmill until three of months went by, but I did go on an elliptical at two months.

[ScubaDuck]

Jon - sounds like everything went great.  I was a bit concerned about the discomfort on the trip home but it sounds like it wasn't too bad.

I didn't get on the treadmill until much later.  I think partly because I was worried about the stepping on and off a moving belt.  Like Hernanu I jumped on the exercises bike and elliptical first.

Best wishes.

Dan

[jon]

Jon - sounds like everything went great.  I was a bit concerned about the discomfort on the trip home but it sounds like it wasn't too bad.

I didn't get on the treadmill until much later.  I think partly because I was worried about the stepping on and off a moving belt.  Like Hernanu I jumped on the exercises bike and elliptical first.

Best wishes.

Dan

End of flight was a little bit of a concern, but otherwise good.

Great surprise was that Delta oversold the flight and bumped us up to biz class...very cool!!

Chicken today with respect to cold and wind so opted for treadmill.  Really easy hour.  Felt great.  Merely two miles or so.  Used handrails for stability.  Actually broke a sweat...hooray!

Will head into gym tomorrow for a little upper-body work and maybe a little more treadmill.

Day 9 and I'm digging this so far...

Jon

[jon]

Anyone have any input on icing (including any guidance from your doctor)?

I have done none as of yet, but can only believe that it could be a big help during rehab...


Thanks,
Jon

[Dannywayoflife]

Jon,
      I used ice quite alot it seemed to bring the swelling down fairly well. I don't see that it can hurt so I'd crack on as tollerated
Danny

[Dan L]

I iced constantly for the first 2-3 weeks, helped tremendously.  Two large or 3 small packs in a pillow case, wrapped around side and front of hip.  Slept with them on as well.  Helps with the pain and to decrease the swelling.  Once off the narcotic meds at about end of week 2, it was the primary thing I used for pain control.

Hern, I think, uses them when driving, which is another great idea.  Pain while sitting continued for me beyond the 6 weeks, and that's and easy and nice way to help with that.

[jon]

This is great, guys.  Thanks.  I had suspected as much.  I will need to work it into my routine.

Gym today for 1.5 hours.  Three miles on treadmill, finishing at 16 min/mile pace.  Balance of time worked on upper body strength.

I'm not fond of the pain meds so the ice should really help recovery...

Jon