Kal’s Hip Resurfacing by Mr. Treacy 2008

July 11, 2008

So, I left San Francisco on June 19 on upper class ticket with Virgin-Atlantic non-stop (10.5 hours) and arrived on June 20 in London. My girlfreind Debbie, her daughter and my daughter accompanied me and we stayed the weekend in London and left to Birmingham(2.5 hour drive) on Sunday June 22 – rented an apartment in city centre near shopping center known as Mailbox. Nice area with ample restaurants and grocery store within walking distance and only 10 minute cab ride to hospital. Checked into Priory hospital following day June 23 at 11am, which is a day prior to surgery. Mr. Treacy has all his patients check in a day prior, which seemed to be a good idea as they did blood draws, met his assistant, the anestheseoligist and others to prepare for next day surgery.

The hospital was GREAT with attentive staff and very good food, which I was able to select from various items daily for each of my three meals. Having never been in a hospital before I was pleasantly surprised as I have visited freinds/relatives in the hospital, which frankly left a bit to be desired in regards to the accomodations, food, staff, etc. I had my own room, with full bath, tv and nice large windows for view outside.

I was wheeled into the "theatre" around 11am at which time an IV was placed on back of my hand. Mr. Treacy came up and saw me breifly prior to being told by the anesthesiologist that I would feel my arm get cold after which I would be out by the time I tasted the drug in my mouth. Once that happened sure enough, I don’t remember anything other than waking up at what appeared to be the same spot with the same people around me… Turns out I was out of my room for only about 2 hours total, which means Mr. Treacy completed the actual surgery in less than an hour – probably 30 – 45 minutes!

They took me back into my room, where I stayed until Monday July 1 at which time I checked out. During my stay I began walking with a walker the first day – just a few steps around the room. Then every day thereafter I walked further and further, including stairs starting the second day with crutches. Mr. Treacy advised that the surgery went well but the AVN had left more damage then originally thought and that probably 8 out of 10 surgeons would probably have completed a THR but he proceeded forward with the BHR. For this reason he recommended that I be extremely cautious the first six weeks and continue using the crutches. I felt fortunate that one of the top surgeons in the world did this procedure versus having a THR done during the surgery without my knowledge.

Friday, July 4th I returned for postop visit with physiotherapist who was concerned about swelling of my leg. I went back into a room and the staff completed a scan of my leg – similar to ultra-sound and cleared me from having any DVT and sent me back to my room or removal of staples from my scar. After which, Mr. Treacy visited me in the room and said to simply take it easy as the swelling was due to over doing it and to slow it down a bit. They gave me TED stockings, which I must say are a true pain to wear – but they controlled the swelling. After being given my meds, which consisted of a pain killer similar to Tylenol, an anti-inflammatory and baby aspirin I was sent on my way.

We left for London the following day and checked into the Marriot executive apartments in an area known as Canary Wharf and stayed until our flight back on July 9. During this time, I experienced daily improvement and up to now continue to get better daily. Tough being tied down to the house but am trying to deal the best that I can.

My left hip also has AVN but not quite as bad as what my right was so Mr. Treacy recommended that I get back in touch with him after 90 to 120 days and see how it is holding up. He said that if necessary I could get an xray and send it to him for review to see if it has progressed or stalled. I can say that I do notice more pain in left hip now as my right hip does not have any pain other than from the surgery / incision / etc, not the joint.

In summary, I can tell you that Mr. Treacy handled my problem in a professional and courteous manner. He was very informative and helped me remain calm and to be real honest with you I had little to no anxiety prior to going into surgery. Of course in the weeks prior to as anyone, I had bouts of anxiety as I am sure everyone does but once I arrived at the hospital, dealt with his staff and meeting with him, the anxiety was minimal to none. I HIGHLY recommend Ronan Treacy to anyone considering having a hip resurfacing.

July 15, 2008

I am going on 3 weeks after BHR of right hip and now experiencing severe pain on left side. It is to the point that my excercise of the operated right side is being compromised as it is very difficult to walk for long duration of time. The right side has no joint pain, only pain from the healing of incision…in fact, it is amazing how well it feels. Unfortunately, the left side has really set me back.

AVN is the culprit here – right side had some collapse of femoral head and was at stage 3 to 4. The left side was also affected but did not have any collapse several months ago. Mr. Treacy mentioned that I would feel more pain on left side only due to the right being corrected and simply a matter of "noticing" more now versus pre-op when the right side pain superceeded the left in the degree of pain. But, I never imagined it would be this severe. It makes me wonder how long I can hold out before resurfacing the left side?