Second hip complete

[Scarborough]

Hi everyone,

I have been following this forum for years and it was instrumental for me to decide to have hip resurfacings. The ending was a great outcome as I had my first hip done in July of 2021 (56 years old) and my second hip done in March of 2023 (58 years old).  Both surgeries have gone well. So that is the ending  but let me tell you how I got there.

I was diagnosed with OA in both my hips at 45. It first surfaced when I was playing hockey. I started to have little trouble getting my skates on which is a little weird. At the time I was both an avid hockey player and runner. I want to my GP and she ordered X-rays and sure enough I had OA in both hips. It was moderate at the time. She prescribed naproxen and I carried on. I had to give running shortly after that. I was a competitive 5k runner and I just started to deteriorate in my times and races were a little painful. I continued to play hockey until I was 50 and then that too became too painful.

Every five years I go for an extensive physical at Medcan. This is anall day physical. They noticed my lack of ROM and sent me for X-rays. They came back as severe OA and I got an appointment with a surgeon . This was my first time I started to look at the surface hippy site. I went to surgeon and when I got up in the waiting room he looked at me and said I am not sure how you can walk with arthritis like that. We had a long discussion about my hips and we both agreed that I should wait a little longer and I was still functional. At the end of he appointment I asked him about hip resurfacing and he strongly discouraged me from having a hip resurfacing. It kind of surprised me and and he also scared me off the procedure.

For the next five years I slowly declined with my right hip declining faster than my left. Hockey was over… running was over. All I could do was bike and swim, I convinced myself I could keep exercising and strengthening my hips to avoid surgery. The reality is I was terrified to have this type of surgery. Just before Covid happened I went to my GP and asked home about having surgery. I had a new GP and he said I was too young for a total hip replacement and I shouldn't get it done. He did say a hip resurfacing might be something to consider. This was great objective advice. Off I went and back on the surface hippy site. I am a Canadian and so I was looking for surgery to happen in Canada. There are only three or so surgeons that are expert surgeons snd have done 1000 plus surgeries in Canada. I did my research and got an appointment with Dr. Kim in Ottawa. He was one of the three and the closest to me. It took me three months to get and appointment as Covid had started. I was very confident with him and I got on his waiting list. Then we started to have surgeries cancelled. My surgery was supposed to be in 9 months. It got scheduled and canceled 4 times. I was so frustrated I contacted Dr. Gross and Dr Brooks. The one thing that through me off a bit was the site talks a lot about te BHR and Dr Kim uses a Converse Plus implant. I had to do some research on this implant. There is great paper in this site comparing the two devices. All good right hip resurfaced on July 29th 2021. The first 2 weeks of recovery are hard but for me I felt myself getting better every day. I took it easy for six months and was back playing hockey in six months after surgery. I sucked but I could play. It took me a year to really get back. Due to Canadian wait times I immediately put my self on the wait list for the second hip.

Fast forward 18 months and I get a call with cancellation and I jump on it. I had my left hip resurfaced on march 6th of this year. All is good and I feel really good at 11 weeks. I feel like I am on the other side and a new man.  Here are my take aways form theses 2 years.

1. Dr Kim is an excellent expert Hip resurfacing surgeon
2, Don’t leave it like I did. I waited too long and could have had the surgery 5 years earlier
3. This is a very successful surgery and produces great outcomes. Find an expert resurfacing surgeon and the rest will be fine
4. Doctors can be bias based on their experience. Get a few opinions and then do what you think is right
5. Follow this site as it is a source of inspiration. It lowered my fear level a lot before surgery
6. Follow your doctors post op program exactly as prescribed
7. Go to physio right way … I went on day 4 after both surgeries
8. Don’t compare yourself others during the recovery. Everybody is different

I must say.. these two surgeries have changed my life. I very grateful that a procedure like this exists and I was able to find an amazing surgeon


Scarborough