My name is Jeff Asman I am a commercial industrial painting contractor I am currently 54 years old and I live in Dublin Ohio, in 2009 I went to a orthopedic back doctor for a strained back I hurt while playing golf, my x rays revealed that I had not injured my back as I had suspected but that I had some arthritis, nothing serious, but the x rays also revealed that my left hip was bone to bone and my right hip was close, I had no idea, the doctor told me that I would need a hip replacement in a short period of time. I had absolutely no idea, and it totally freaked me out I knew that my hips had been tight for a long time but I thought it was my physical make up, I went to a orthopedic surgeon sometime in the 80's when I was running 25-35 miles a week because my hips bothered me, but he told me I was fine, in 2005-2008 the trainer I worked out with told me that I had the tightest hips he had ever seen when we stretched out, and I had multiple massage therapist tell me that my hips were very tight, to the point that I went thru agonizing sessions of Rolfing to tear the connective tissue and to help improve flexibility, It didn't help, still I had no idea that I was bone to bone or close. This started my research for the best possible solution to my hip problems, I read everything I could find online, I talked to my doctor friends and surgeons that had performed surgeries on me. I made appointments with 3 renowned local hip surgeons 2 of which perform 700-900 per year, the first surgeon that I saw confirmed that I needed both hips replaced and he told me that he performed his surgeries with a metal to metal implants, when I ask him about hip resurfacing he told me the didn't do the surgery, really nothing more. the second surgeon I saw told me he did 800-900 hip surgeries a year, he gave me his statistics and told me he would use a plastic and ceramic implant, he told me I would know when it was time to do the surgery based on the pain I was in and he suggested and scheduled cortisone injections for both hips, I thought the injections were great, maybe I could delay the inevitable, but it was confusing that the 1st surgeon was using metal on metal and he was using plastic and ceramic, when I ask him about resurfacing he told me he didn't do the surgery. I was really excited to go to the 3rd surgeon because their website advertised that they did hip resurfacing, and from everything I read it seemed more logical to me to preserve the natural femur head and support the weight the way it was designed to be supported, verses whacking off the femur bone rasping it out and putting a stem down the bone, unfortunately, the 3rd surgeon totally bummed me out when he told me that he would not consider doing hip resurfacing on me unless I was 40 or younger, he told me that he was doing plastic and ceramic and he suggested that I do both hips at the same time. Now I was not only confused but I was not satisfied with the information and lack of consistency. One guy wants metal on metal, 2nd and 3rd guys want plastic and ceramic, 1 guy wants to do both the same day, 2 don't think that's possible. So I continued to look and research for the best option and surgeon, while continuing to have my hips injected, in the mean time my bonding agent came to my office for a meeting, he was limping, so I ask him what was wrong and he told me that his hip was bothering him from a surgery he had 3 years prior, I asked him who performed the surgery and he told me it was the 3rd surgeon that I saw, and they did a hip Resurfacing, that didn't make any sense because he is 55 and they told me that they wouldn't do it unless I was under 40 or under, he told me the resurfacing was the surgery they had suggested and performed on him. After all this I looked for a nationally recognized surgeon and found Dr. Joel Matta, I sent my x rays to Dr. Matta, I read he had performed an anterior hip replacement on professional golfer Tom Watson, and he was hitting balls full go in 6 weeks and playing competitively 3 months after his surgery. A short time before going to see Dr. Matta, I was at my sons Lacrosse game talking with some of the parents, one of the fathers was talking about going to have his hip replaced at Cleveland Clinic in the next couple of days, another father was talking with us and seemed very knowledgeable so I asked him if he was a doctor and he told me that he was the Smith and Nephew rep, I told him what I had been going thru looking for the right person to perform my hip surgery and that I was getting ready to go se Dr. Matta in California, he suggested that I see Dr. Peter Brookes at Cleveland Clinic who had performed over 1000 hip resurfacings or that I see a young Surgeon named Sharat Kusuma at Grant medical in Columbus Ohio he said Sharat was one of the most meticulous surgeons he had ever worked with, his results were great and he was a real perfectionist. he also explained why the other surgeons I saw weren't promoting or doing hip resurfacing whether or not it was product issue or that it was a more difficult and time consuming surgery. At his suggestion I saw Sharat, immediately I felt comfortable that I was having a more personal thorough discussion about the best options for me and why, after looking at my x rays Sharat told me I was the perfect candidate for the BHR hip resurfacing implant, he suggested strongly that even if he didn't do the resurfacing surgery, that I go to Dr. Brookes in Cleveland or Dr. Su in New York, he felt that it was the best surgery for me. That day I made up my mind that Sharat was going to do my surgery, however it was the end of may and I had golf tournaments to play in June, July, August, and December, so we scheduled my left hip surgery for the 6th of January 2012 and my right hip 4 weeks later. I had Sharat inject me the 1st week of June and again the 1st of December before I went to play in a golf tournament in Bermuda from December 8th - 15th, we flew to Bermuda Saturday morning December 8th landed, threw our luggage in the villa, and raced to the course to play a practice round. My pro had asked me to request a handicap flag for the practice round so we could drive the cart on the course, we rolled up on the tee box behind a group of women, the tournament is the oldest pro-am golf tournament in the world, men, women, and seniors. The women on the tee box questioned why we had a handicap flag, and our pro explained that I was going to have both hips replaced when we got back home, one of the women told us that her husband was a hip surgeon in Canada, I told her that I wasn't having a traditional hip replacement, that I was having a hip resurfacing procedure that was fairly new in the US since 2006, she told me that her husband had been doing the resurfacing procedure in Canada for a while, his Name is Dr. Robert Bourne, and that her son Tim worked for Smith and Nephew, pretty crazy I go all the way to Bermuda and I meet these people, 8 minutes one way or the other and it doesn't happen, seemed like a sign to me that I made the right choice, I also got to talk to Dr. Bourne regarding the surgery when I got home, he assured me that the BHR surgery was a great procedure and he told me that his son was familiar with Sharat and that he spoke highly of him. Friday morning January 6th I had my left hip surgery, I stayed in the hospital Friday, Saturday and went home Sunday morning, I went to the Office for a couple of hours Monday thru Friday and walked on the elliptical for 10 minutes I continued to use my elliptical daily adding time each day and added riding a stationary bike for a few minutes a day, I felt my recovery progressed well. A week and a half or two weeks after my surgery I got a call from Sharat asking if I would postpone my 2nd surgery 4 weeks so he could bring doctors in to view the surgery and have it broadcast in the auditorium, I agreed and we scheduled my surgery for Friday march 9th, again I stayed in the hospital Friday, Saturday, and went home Sunday morning, I started the elliptical again on Monday morning, I continued to walk on the elliptical and ride a bike for 2 months, I started chipping golf balls about 4 weeks after my second surgery and I was playing in golf tournaments in 10 weeks by the end of May. One of the biggest changes I experienced after my surgery was that I was able to sleep , I hadn't been able to sleep for the last 3-4 years tossing and turning trying to get comfortable. Today one year after my surgeries I am very happy that I had the surgery and I feel very lucky to have found Sharat Kusuma, he is an awesome surgeon, I am able to do anything physically I want to do. This past July, 4 months after my 2nd surgery I was hiking in the mountains of Sedona, horse back riding and rafting with my family. Currently I am playing golf at least 54 holes a week sometimes 36 holes a day. I would highly recommend this procedure to anyone Sharat felt was a candidate .
Topic: Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Sharat Kusuma (Read 2020 times)
Recent Posts
