Mike’s Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Gross 2012

April 27, 2012

Two weeks post-op yesterday, no bone density issues. Going through this you take a lot of hits to your ego, so when I had my dexascan at Providence hospital (Dr. Gross’s machine was on the fritz) and the technician pronounced my bone-density "off the top of the charts" I had my lone moment of pre-op pride. I lifted a lot of weights in the day, plus I was only 41, so I wasn’t too worried.

Anyway…here I am at two weeks post-surgery and I find that I can easily walk short distances without any support. Frankly I could at day two but now I can do it with only a little sideways motion, and it doesn’t feel like anything risky (unlike in those first few days).

I intend to try and follow the fifty pound restriction for the first six months (though that does seem somewhat cookie-cutter and i know in a month or two it is going to feel restrictive). My question now is about the walking. If I can, should I, or is that a danger to the femoral head? Falling doesn’t seem to be a risk to me, I’m just wondering if the walking itself (again, very short distances) could break the femoral head.

Everything I have read about Dr. Brooks gave me great confidence in him. Just the things he said gave me great faith in his integrity and he is one of the six or eight guys in this country who are the acknowledged go-to guys. If I hadn’t zeroed in on Dr. Gross early he would have been my next choice.

Dr. Gross operated on me two weeks ago and I consider myself lucky to live in the country we do, at the time we do, and have the insurance that I do that allowed me to avail myself of his services. Everything about him and his practice just exudes competence and confidence. His practice is transparent by design (check out his website). Yes that simplifies his life, but its main purpose is to help people like you (and me) in making our decisions.

And yes, insurance would have made the decision for me between those two doctors. We all have different financial situations, but $5,000 in a 529 plan right now might mean (most of) a year in college for my (now) two year-old. But I only say this because I would have willingly gone to either of those two doctors.

Lastly, I know that Dr. Gross use the Biomet Magnum acetabular component (uncemented) and the Recap uncemented femoral component.

May 6, 2012

I am at 3+ weeks, recovery proceeding mostly normally. One of the problems I am having with sleeping is that my lower back has been bugging me whenever I lay down for too long (i.e. when sleeping). I have had this problem on and off for years and it generally happens when I don’t work out for awhile.

June 4, 2012

 I started having wicked lower-back pain at about six weeks. Really debilitating for a couple of days. I had been working in the yard doing too much, so I figure that it was almost certainly just a muscular thing after two months of almost no activity. The pain feels like it is in the little (?) muscles around the spine from around the belt line on up, about a hand span, I guess. Now it mostly manifests itself as pretty bad pain at night after I have been laying down for a few hours sleeping.

I am now doing my Phase II (Dr. Gross) exercises honestly, and i even started working out yesterday (very lightly) so I hope the issue resolves itself as i increase my physical activity, but I just wanted to ask if others had similar lower back pain, any direct relation to the surgery (which i doubt), possible causes, etc. It was very frustrating about a week ago. I was at a holiday cookout and wanted to show how well I was doing post-surgery and there I was almost unable to walk because of my back, and not the hip. I kept telling people, "It’s not the hip!". They probably thought I was crazy.
 

June 11, 2012

Went to the driving range early Saturday morning, just over eight weeks post-surgery. The first time since surgery I had swung a club, and only the second time in almost a year.

I suspected I would be immediately better post-surgery so was a little surprised that I failed to get any of the first twelve or so balls in the air. With a gap wedge, mind you! The lowest I ever got my handicap was a 13+, but still! It was off grass and it was dry so maybe I was a little afraid of the jarring a slow swing would do to the hip…but whatever. I finally had to put it on a tee to get it in the air. Now I’m no great shakes as a golfer but I’d guess I would typically put 99 or 100 balls out of 100 at least into the air with a wedge pre-surgery.

Anyway, it came around and by the end of the second bucket I was hitting my irons noticeably more solidly than I have in about four years, especially the short irons. That also surprised me. I thought the biggest impact would be driver, but that wasn’t appreciably different than pre-surgery. I have a very flat swing, most evident with the driver of course, maybe that has something to do with it? Not sure. I do expect it to return to the form of 4-5 years ago eventually.

I felt so good that later that afternoon I was watching the PGA tournament and I was inspired (and bored enough) to run across the street to the muni for nine (or 13) holes. Shot a 46 for nine, with a couple of triples that (naturally) killed the score, but parred three straight at one point, including two pretty tough holes. Again the contact (for about eight holes, until my muscles decided to stop rotating my hip) was better than it has been in several years, and my wedges were very accurate, but consistently going 10 or so yards longer than they did pre-surgery. Driver was ok until the hip got tired and slicy.

In trying to analyze why the contact is so much solider now, I suspect that when (pre-surgery) I thought I was turning my hip back, what I was really doing was bringing the club up and to the outside (after the hip stopped turning) and so coming at the ball from over the top and weakly cutting at the ball with an open clubface (that my subconscious dictated to try to keep the face square to the target).

Looking at my divot marks at the range it was obvious that they were much closer to being along the target line than the previous ones (slashes aimed left), at least after the hip warmed up.

I am really looking forward to golf the rest of the summer. I cannot wait to surprise the guys who I only see once a year on the annual golf trip (in August) I go on. I am sure by the time we tee-off most of them will have heard that I had a "hip-replacement", and not knowing what we now know they will assume that I will be worse, and shorter, than before. I have no doubt that I will be better than I have been since the ’07 season (the point at which the upward trajectory of my golf education was overtaken by the declining ability of the hip).

Sorry so long-winded, I just finally am experiencing the light at the end of the tunnel and want to share with those who understand.

June 20, 2012

I am at 10 weeks (I think, I guess I don’t really think about is as much now) and I think last night was the first time I fell asleep on my operated side. It is still a little sore so I can’t sleep on it all night, but it’s nice to be able to mix it up. It got a little frustrating sometimes, I will admit.

July 18, 2012

My six week check-up was done remotely via x-ray, assessment by a PT, and a questionaire that I filled out. Dr. Gross’s office reviewed and said everything looks fine. I have no doubt on that score. I am very happy with my recovery and what i can now do (though I am taking it super easy for the recommended six months).
 

August 20, 2012

Just posting to this topic because golf is a sparse board and maybe someone down the road will be reading this. I posted elsewhere that I hit the range at eight weeks, but I wanted to also note that I just played 105 holes (my earlier calculation was wrong – sorry) of cart golf in three days at just over four months without a single thought about my hip or pain from it. Shoulder is killing though.

I then walked nine holes (par three, though) on the fourth day.

Now I absolutely would not have been able to do this at three months, but I never would have believed I could play that much golf at four months with no repercussions (aside from my shoulder screaming in pain). I had completely quit golf (forever I thought) after the same August golf weekend the prior year because of the resulting pain and disability.

December 27, 2012

Eight months out from having my right hip done and all is going well. However, my left hip has been getting more and more painful. Dr. Gross ballparked "five years" for that one (and that was almost a year ago) but I don’t think it is going to be more than another year or so. I am sure I will pull the trigger quicker than with the first. I have been more active post-surgery, but I haven’t really done that much and am surprised at the rapidly increasing pain in the other hip. It really hadn’t hurt noticeably before I had the right hip fixed, nor did it hurt for five or six months after.
 

May 31, 2013

 I am 13+ months post-surgery and it is really only in the last few weeks that i find myself running up stairs (in my house if I was in a rush, for example, and not for exercise). I wasn’t sure that I would ever be doing stuff like that again. My point is just that a really full recovery takes a while. I’m sure I could have done more physical therapy and sped things along, but I’m getting there in the end.

July 24, 2013

I just had one leg done, a year ago, and I have noticed that sometimes I feel a little "pigeon-toed". I think that is more or less the same thing you are talking about?

Anyway, while I do occasionally feel like the foot is more turned in than it used to be (such that sometimes it even feels a little awkward) the knee pain I used to get in the operated leg side has greatly diminished post-surgery.

I have always read that one of the big benefits of HR versus THR is that since HR does not remove the top of the femur, HR theoretically should not change the angle of your foot much (unlike with THR, where the postioning of the implant dictates the angle of the foot.) I guess HR could change it in some small way, especially in removing bony lesions that had been dictating changes in how people walked, etc.

Not an expert or anything, just wanted to weigh in about the pigeon-toed feeling.