Sean’s before and after hip resurfacing video. Returning to racket ball and sports.

Sean’s Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Gross 2011

March 15, 2015

I am now 4 years post op.

In January, just before my 4 year anniversary I went to Mammoth with family/friends and tried out snowboarding!  I had done it a couple of times when I was a teenager… I hadn’t been out on the snow since…so fast forward abotu 25 years…and a new hip… (I’m 41 now) and I went for it.

I went with my 13 year old son…just a 1/2 day…and it was so much fun.  I have to say, my operated hip held up great, I literally had NO pain in that hip.  My “normal” hip was sore afterward…  I hate to admit it, but I’ll probably be back to see Dr. Gross eventually to get that one done…i din’t think I”m ready yet… it’s ok most of the time..but it’s starting to act up now and then when I do certain things…

Overall though – I pretty much can do whatever I want.  My operated hip is doing great. I have no pain.  I am literally pain free day to day.  Not a day goes by that I don’t, at least once, appreciate my pain free hip.  I lived with pain for WAY too long…. and it it so nice to have it gone.

I made a short movie to show you and hopefully it will make it’s way back to Dr. Gross.  I”m sure he enjoys seing his patients enjoy an active life.  There is NO WAY I could have gone snowboarding before my surgery…. now after ward… It was not a problem and it was so much fun.  It was especially fun because I was able to do it with my son… we had a great time.

Thank you Dr. Gross!

For those of you living in pain thinking about getting your hip fixed – don’t wait too long like I did.  Get it looked at, and if you are a candidate for a hip resurfacing, get it fixed.

if you can read my lips at the very end of my video where I give a thumbs up.. I think I said “I”m bionic”…  sometimes I feel like I am… compared to the old me!

February 21, 2013

I can’t believe it has been two years already!

I turned 40 this year.  I had my hip done when I was 38. My hip started bugging me when I was in my late 20s.  it started out mild, it was more of a mild discomfort.  I still played racquetball, jogged, and did whatever I wanted.  by the time I was in my early 30s, it was clearly a problem.  I gave up most sports, and was limited to the stairmaster for aerobic exercise.  I am an attorney and work at a desk or in a courtroom so I can get by without being physically fit in terms of work.  I sort of adapted to being more sedentary and dealt with the pain by popping aleve and other anti inflammatories.  My doctor suggested a hip resurfacing, and I watched a youtube video about how the surgery was done – that freaked me out as I was so grossed out by the procedure…that alone made me put off surgery at least a year or two.   The pain was constant but manageable..at least I thought it was.  I have three small kids and it was becoming obvious that I wasn’t able to play sports with them the way I wanted.  There were times when just pushing the kids stroller was too painful and I had to have my wife do it. When it finally got to where I was having a continual problem getting my shoes tied or cutting toenails that I really started realizing how debilitated I had become.  One time in my late 30s my youngest son who was about 3 took off running, he was headed toward the street and I was worried a car might hit him. I tried to run after him and I literally could not catch up to him. My wife outran me and got him.  All of these issues forced me to face the reality that surgery was for me.  I started researching doctors and did some local consults. I found this website, learned a lot, and also found Dr. Gross.  My pain levels started getting even worse and I was scared about the surgery but knew I had to do it.

Now that I have had it done – wow.  I am SO happy I did it, and I wish I had done it a year or two sooner.  I suffered pretty badly the last year and I could have avoided that had I done it quicker.

As to my current condition – In a nutshell, there are many days where I never even think about my hip.  When I do think about it – it’s usually to stop and appreciate how great it feels, and to appreciate what Dr. Gross did for me and to truly appreciate how it feels to be pain free.  When I bend down to tie my shoe, I still think about the old me…and really do appreciate how great it is to be “normal” and pain free.

Lying in bed at night, as I am about to doze off to sleep I *really* appreciate the  new hip.  I can still remember tossing and turning, being unable to get comfortable in any position, popping aleves to make the pain go away.. heck I used to eat aleve like it was candy…  I don’t take them anymore….  Now, instead of feeling a painful throbbing hip…my hip is “quiet”…and I can relax and enjoy dozing off to sleep.    Stuff that other people take for granted…like falling asleep pain free..I still stop and appreciate.

I am able to do so many things that I could not do before my surgery.  I am pretty much 100% pain free.  There are rare times where I feel some kind of twinge..or if I sit too long on a reallly hard surface I feel a slight discomfort… but I’m being hypercritical.  I essentially live my day to day life pain free.  I am getting pain in the OTHER hip..but that’s because whatever went wrong with hip #1 is slowly affecting hip #2… but the hip that Dr. Gross fixed is wonderful.  It is my BETTER hip!

As to my activity level – put it this way – last weekend I played basketball for about an hour with my son, who is 11, and my nephew who is 17.  I’m 40, and probably 15-20 lbs overweight.  I’m not some super jock – but I am perfectly capable of running around with my kid and having a good time.  My 17 year old nephew can beat me one on one..but the fact that I could play with him, run all around, and just have fun, was a testament to how great my hip feels.  I had zero pain while playing, zero pain that night, and no pain in the days after.  It was great.

I will admit, though, my hip is not 100% perfect.  I am limited in my ability to RUN long distances.  I can *run* fine.  I can run as fast as I can possibly make myself go – and have NO pain.  If someone was trying to get me, or a car was about to run me over – and I had to sprint 100 yards, I could run as fast as I could and I would have zero pain.  The problem is when I run for longer distances.  Around the 3/4 mile mark, I start to notice some discomfort in my hip near the incision.  I don’t want to push things…as soon as it starts to hurt I stop.  As soon as I stop the pain disappears.  The pain does not persist..it’s not like something is damaged..it’s like my hip or soft tissue just doesn’t like the repetitive pounding of running.  I”ve thought of buying really good shoes, or just pushing through the pain to see if I could make it better, but honestly, I never liked running that much anyway..   so I just don’t run.  I can cycle, do the elliptical, even play basketball and I don’t have pain… I”m not sure why basketball doesn’t hurt but running does…  I figure if I can play basket ball and NOT have pain – then my hip is doing alright!    Granted I”m not playing 60 minute games and kiling myself..but I can run all over with my son and nephew..which is good enough for me!  I know there are people who have hip resurfacing and they are doing marathons…for whatever reason that is not the case with me.
I have emailed Dr. Gross / Lee Webb about this issue and was told that some patients experience this sort of discomfort.  If I was a hardcore runner I could see how it would be an issue..but given that I can do pretty much everything else, I don’t really worry about it.

I can’t say how much I appreciate my new hip.  I wish I never needed it..but the fact that there is the ability to fix it and to basically make it feel virtually as good as new – is great.

Anyone suffering through hip pain should get it fixed.  The surgery really was like magic.  One day I was limping and in 24/7 pain, popping aleve like they were tic tacs, and after surgery the pain was totally gone.  once I was recovered from the surgery, I really felt like I was as good as new.

I made a video around 7-8 months post-op but I never got around to posting it.  With my two year anniversary just days away, it got me thinking about my hip and about how great it has been.  I dug up the old video and loaded it to youtube.  Watching it again reminded me how screwed up my hip was and how much it hurt… it almost hurt just to watch the video.. my facial expressions, sighs of pain… oh how I remember how that felt!    I’ll have to do another video soon… I am even better off now at 2 years than I was at 7-8 months.

I wanted to say thanks again to everone on this site who was so helpful to me before my surfery – like newdog!  I was really nervous about surgery, about all the what-ifs…and a lot of people here who had been through it reassured me how well it would all go.  Of course they were right.  I”m sure going to see a pro like Dr. Gross didn’t hurt either.   His team, his whole setup, is just top notch.  I really felt like I was in good hands the whole way through.  I was really scared stuff would hurt – like needles or the back injection.. and it was all in my head.  If any of you are worrying about the surgery, scared you are going to have some horribly painful experience… I can tell you the most painful thing I remember was just the IV getting put in my arm.. oh and the catheter getting pulled out of Mr. Happy after I was recovering.    I was actually suprised that during my recovery I wasn’t in any serious pain..given that my bones were drilled on and metal pounded onto them…

thanks again to Dr. Gross!  You gave me my life back.  My quality of life is so much better after having my hip fixed.  I reallly do appreciate it.

Here is that video.

February 7, 2016

 

I have been a less frequent visitor to this site – mostly because my hip is no longer a problem and I am busy enjoying life!

I had my left hip resurfaced by Dr. Gross back in February of 2011.

My story – condensed version.  My hip began to *barely* hurt in my late 20s / early 30s.  It was a nuisance but not a problem.  By my mid 30s it was clearly a problem and I had to stop a lot of activites I enjoyed, but I just dealt with it and basically adapted to my limitations.  It happened so slowly that I really didn’t realize how limited I had become.  By my late 30s I was in serious 24/7 pain – the last year or two it became unbearable.  I was taking 4-6 Aleve’s a day and at the very end it got so bad that if someone said cutting my leg off would end the pain I would have seriously considered it.

A local orthopedic surgeon who had treated me told me about HR but said he did not do it.  I found this site and that led me to finding Dr. Gross.  I flew from CA to SC to have the surgery – totally petrified about what would happen.  I had seen YouTube videos of what the sugery entailed and I was NOT looking forward to it.  I had no choice – and went through with it.  The actual surgery was a piece of cake – my fears were totally unnecessary.  I swear the worst and most painful part of the surgical process was the IV.  by the time they got me to the OR I was medicated and don’t remember a thing. I don’t even remember the spinal shot.  I woke up and realized I was done.  I recovered pretty quickly and by 4-6 weeks I was walking around painf ree.

I went to Disneyland and walked all over (with a cane) at 6 weeks.   I did NOT ride any crazy ride..but did walk too much.. I was sore for a coule weeks..

anyway… fast forward to now… 5 years post op and I am still loving my new hip.  I still say that Dr. Gross gave me my life back.  I can do anything I want… my left hip is pain free everyday.

I wlll admit that I do have limitations. For some reason, I cannot run long distances or my hip hurts.  I can run about a mile and then it gets sore.  I recently tried ART therapy from a local chiro and that had substantial results..I could suddenly run 2-3 miles before I got pain..big improvement, but it still go there.  it has something to do with the psoas muscle…it’s is not the joint..it’s a soft tissue muscle issue.. but I hate running so I don’t care.  🙂

I can play basketball, racquetball..cycle… and snowboard.  so I am a happy guy.

here is a video of my recently snowboarding in Mammoth with my son.  I went all day.  the ONLY pain I had in my hip was from the hip WITHOUT THE IMPLANT!!!  Yes.. the other hip is going to need to get fixed eventually…but the one Dr. Gross fixed was pain free after the whole day of snowboarding.  I would NEVER have done this before surgery….

yes that is me.. 43 years old.. carving down the mountain on my fake hip!!  I did take a few good spills that day – no I didn’t include them in the video… 🙂  but my hip has zero issues…

thanks Dr. Gross!  Life is good!

If your hip is hurting and you are like I was 5 years ago – stop living in pain and fix it.  There is hope!