Hi All,
First of all, this is a great site, it's help me tremendously with my research. I'm a new poster to this site so I'll provide a little background information about me. I'm a 43 year old male. I have severe arthritis on my left hip due to a motorcycle accident 20+ years ago. I'm scheduled for surgery w/Dr. Brooks on 11/08/11. What do you know......a week from now. I'm looking for any opinions(both good or bad) about Dr. Brooks. I picked him because I live in Ohio, he was in-network with my insurance and he seems to have a lot of experience. Also, I have a question. During my pre-op visit, Dr. Brooks assistance stated that I could take a shower a few days after surgery as long as I cover the incision. He mentioned something about saran wrap. Is this the best way to cover it? If so, how did you make it stay on your body during showers? Thanks for all the support.
Kind Regards,
dcdc68
Hi Welcome to Hip Talk.
Dr. Brooks is one of the very experienced hip resurfacing surgeons in the US. I have met him a number of time and have done several video interviews with him. He is very pro hip resurfacing and attends a number of hip resurfacing courses, both to keep up with what is new and to help teach new surgeons about hip resurfacing. He has done over 1100 resurfacing and I know there are a number of patients with good outcomes on this group and personal stories http://www.surfacehippy.info/hipstories.php#Dr. Brooks (http://www.surfacehippy.info/hipstories.php#Dr.%20Brooks)
I think you made an excellent selection for a hip resurfacing surgeon. There is waterproof tape that you can use to put the saran wrap on with. I had my surgery in Belgium and they use a full waterproof bandage and people are in the swimming pool a few days after surgery for therapy. So you just need to ask at the drug store for some waterproof tape.
Good Luck with your surgery. I look forward to you post op story as you recovery.
Pat
Dr. Brooks did resurfacing on my right hip on May 18, 2011. It was also mentioned to cover the incision when I shower so I left the bandages on and bought a hand held shower head and was able to shower and not have a lot of water pressure on the resurfacing site. Other then purchasing a recliner, the new shower head was all I needed. Good luck with your surgery and enjoy your stay on 5th floor at Euclid Hospital. Everyone there is really great!
They used a special "water-tight" bandage for my surgery that stayed on for 10 days-ish. Saw similar products like Pat was mentioning at the drug store. Not as fancy as the surgical one that probably cost a million dollars, but looked like it would keep the site pretty dry. Good luck. Curt
The hospital gave me waterproof bandages to take home. I am sure they billed my insurance company. I changed them every other day because I only bled a few drops on the first bandage out of the hospital.
I showered every day with the bandage on and had no problems.
Dan