Karen Z’s Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Gross 2008

December 7, 2008

I am on the other side! Flew home (Phoenix) from South Carolina yesterday. I had my resurfacing on Wed, Dec 3. The airport travel on Sat, Dec 6 was do-able, but took a lot out of me. I m having more pain today than I had hoped. I read a lot of your stories about not having any post op pain and I am jealous!  I felt great until the surgery numbing juice wore off. So someone please tell me this will pass quickly!

I may have overdone it the last couple of days. I was up walking some pretty good distances full weight bearing, with crutches. Today I am not so much with the walking!

December 8, 2008

Dr Gross and his team made me feel very confident and comfortable.

My decision to go uncemented was confirmed after I met with Dr Gross the day before my surgery. When I chose Dr Gross I was 90% sure I was going uncemented just because that seemed to be his specialty. I read a lot about it and talked to some folks who had opted for uncemented and the more I learned the more good sense the uncemented method made to me. Dr Gross told me on the phone that he had not done a cemented hip in over one year. At that point I knew that if I ws going cemmeted I ws going to find another surgeon. I really liked Dr Gross’ experience, education, research, and personality. I wanted him to do my surgery and if he believed in uncemented, then that was the way I was going to go. Once I met him and saw the implant there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted uncemented. He really knows his stuff and he is passionate about uncemented.

I admit that at first glance I was not interested in being a test subject. But my research kept bringing me back to Dr Gross. This was my process.

December 13, 2008

 I am 9 days post op today and I have had some pretty intense episodes of irrational fear since my surgery. This is very out of character for me. I am normally a very logical and optimistic person. The best reason I can come up with is the anesthesia and general trauma of the surgery. It has gotten better, today I feel pretty darn good. I still have some muscle pain in my quad and IT area, but it gets better every day. I just worked my way down to one crutch today, so that gives me hope. I think it is the little things that mark our progress that help. Tomorrow I will be done with those Arixtra shots!

I got into the trap of comparing myself with other people’s progress. I’d read about people having no pain and being able to use a cane after 4 days, etc and get freaked out that something was wrong with me. What I am realizing, mostly because people on this site told me, is that you have to take it easy and allow your body to heal at it’s own pace. Focus on the good things that happen every day.

December 25, 2008

 I said I would be sure to post on xmas day, in hopes I would have something good to report. Chuck was right about the 7 – 11 day improvement. It was about day 10 for me. I really turned a corner that day.

I am happy to report that I am feeling much better. I still have decreased energy and not quite myself yet. But my leg pain is much better. In fact my leg feels like a part of my body now instead of the stump I had to manually move around. I can lift it (with my knee bent), bend it behind me, even move around in bed pretty well. The monkey fist (love that term) is gone for the most part, only comes back temporarily when I push it a bit; ice takes care of it when it flares up.

I am able to drive and run short errands. I even went xmas shopping a couple of times and was able to stay out for 3 hours at one stretch. My mother and my husband were kind enough to carry my bags and open doors for me. On my own I use a back pack to carry my stuff and can still be pretty self sufficient, but it’s nice to let family and friends help me out. That isn’t something I do much, let other people help me. So it is a good thing for me to do!

I am using the cane now. Graduating from 2 crutches to one and then to the cane was a bit of trial and error. I have finally figured out that slow and easy is the way to go. That has been a lot of trial and error too.

Today, at 3 weeks and one day post op, I am feeling very optimistic and grateful that I had the surgery. I still have a long way to go and will be very happy when the day comes that I do not need a cane and do not walk with a limp. That limp really disturbed me, so I am very committed to walking without one! If that means using the cane a little longer, then that is what I will do.