Any one NOT an athlete and had a HR?

[Dee Dee]

I will be a bilateral on Dec. 5, 2012  :)

Because my right hip is so much improved after surgery, I asked to have the left hip done.  You may recall that I have symptoms in my unoperated hip such as random buckling, ROM pain and great pain while walking my prescribed 1 mile for rehab on the operated hip. 

Dr. Gross said I probably have a labral tear causing the buckling and that the displasia will continue to contribute to the degeneration of the hip.  He said the OA is NOT bone on bone in the left hip, and I could consider other options to hold off the surgery such as a hip injection or arthroscopic repair. I told him that Dr. Byrd in Nashville(expert in Arthroscopic repair) said he could do the left hip, but the recovery is worse than a total hip and that I would still probably need that down the road.  BTW, I plan to write to Dr. Byrd's office and encourage him to consider referring patients for HR instead of THR. 

Dr. Gross agreed that I would probably still end up needing an HR after a repair becasue of the dysplasia.  He wanted me to know that I had choices, but that HR would solve the problems with my hip.  So I scheduled surgery!!

It is weird to think that I am electing to do this all over again, but my right hip is so much stronger and no OA pain  - I want that for my left hip. I am hoping that my spondilolisthesis back issues will improve when I am walking better with 2 new hips. 

One of the reasons to do it sooner than later is because recovery has been pretty amazing.  I do not have the ROM yet that I so desire but I am only 8 weeks out.  Dr. Gross warned me not to push too much in ROM until after six months.  I can already move in a pretty far range, but I have a painful catch in the groin on certain moves.  Lee explained that there is still a lot of healing going on, blood in the area, bone growth etc.  and to wait until 3 months when I should notice much improvement.

Just thought I would share my update.  Thanks for all the support.

[bilateralbliss]

Great news Dee! You`ll be bilateral a day before my first anniversary. So pleased you`re making a good recovery, think you`re definately making the right decision!!

[hernanu]

Dee, that's great. I know the feeling of wanting the amazingness for the other side. For me, having both done was great.

[Dee Dee]

I mowed the lawn yesterday!  Using the new hip in all the turning and twisting felt a little strange, but it certainly worked great. My husband did the string trimming and mowed the difficult banks, but I did the main area and with the bagger attached.  It is a self-propelled walking mower so that helped going uphill.

I wore my SI belt since my back was a little cranky.  It felt so good to be walking behind the mower and I got the benefit of a nice looking yard.   I iced my lower back when I finished and rested the remainder of the evening.  Unoperated hip was aching all night!

It is true that once you are in motion, you feel better!  I still have a sharp quick groin pain when stretching my ROM and I am really weak when doing leg lifts, but each day I am noticing improvement.

I don't have a running goal or a specific sports activity that I want to return to, but I do like taking care of the yard and being able to go for walks.   I am encouraged by my ability to walk again.  Pre-op I could hardly go around the block (1/3 mile) especially on bad days.  Post-op I can feel the strength in the new joint and my left hip gets weak and achy limiting me to a mile. But I can go to the grocery store again without fear of giving out!

Just a little update.

[hernanu]

Good for you, Dee! Nice to begin to get back to regular activity. I also had my undone hip complain in between surgeries, was thankful when it was finally done, since it seemed more achy as the other got better.

You're at three months or so now, so need to be careful not to do too much lifting or pushing. It's easy to get carried away when you're starting to really feel good.

[bilateralbliss]

Thanks for sharing Dee- great news, so glad for you. So many people just want to be able to do resume everyday activities, remember being so thrilled could actually bend down to the washing machine again!!

[rubyred]

You know what i'm looking forward to the most... being able to climb the stairs without having someone watching me in case I fell.

[Anna]

Nice one Dee Dee. So glad to hear its all going well  ;D