Hi, new member here, have used this web site as one of my research tools into resurfacing.
I just had left hip resurfacing done by Dr. Daniel Snyder at Newton-Wellesley hospital in Newton, Mass. I decided on him based on reviews, his web site and a background check on suits, etc. I decided on resurfacing despite one of my second opinions being against it and for a THR.
I am 53 years old, male and have spent quite a bit of time doing athletics of different types. I've done 35 years of martial arts (mostly Tae Kwon Do), played soccer competitively until last year, and a good amount of weight training.
I noticed about five years ago that my flexibility was declining rapidly. Where before I could easily touch my head to my knees, now I was having trouble touching the floor. The groin pain started around then, so I went into the Doctor's and physical therapy with what I thought were muscular issues. We checked for everything - Lyme disease, all sorts of issues. None of the therapy, massage, etc. seemed to do anything, so we checked for osteo issues. Five years ago, they found my right hip slightly arthritic (they thought) and my left had normal amounts of cartilage.
The pain worsened, to the point that two years ago, I could not walk up stairs (or down) without severe pain. I still continued playing soccer until last year, when my left hip started dislocating when I ran, and I would have to pop it back into place.
I figured it was time to do something about it, so I had the first surgeon look at it. My left hip had no cartilage, and had developed bone spurs. My right hip has very little cartilage, so it is just a matter of time. I scheduled a hip resurfacing with Dr. Snyder on August 24, 2010.
The surgery went well, took about 2.5 hours and was done under full anesthesia. I woke up and was well enough to stand up with a walker about four hours after the surgery. I felt so good due to the absence of pain from my left hip that I didn’t need the Oxycontin they prescribed after the anesthesia wore off. I was on a Tylenol Plus regimen (every six hours), a blood thinner, aspirin and vitamins. I was up the next day and walking using a walker, walking with the physical therapist. The following day, I was on crutches and being trained on how to use them, stairs, the right way to walk with them, etc. On the third day, I was released from the hospital to my parents, who had decided to help me the first week.
Part of the therapy is home PT and a home nurse twice a week. All of the PT sessions went really well, I had no problems at all, soreness like a recovering pulled muscle, but no real pain. I was asked to use a scale of 0-10 for pain, with 10 being the worst, I consistently was at 0, 1 at worst. I still have used only the Tylenol, changing it to as needed now. I have been on a single crutch for the last four days or so, walking longer distances as possible. Up to about 10 minutes now.
Sleeping is now a joy. I had serious problems before, waking up pretty much every hour for about three years. Now I get a real deep sleep, waking up once per night or so. Blood pressure is good (120-75 average) and the nurse seems happy.
After a week and a half since surgery, the bandages for the incision are off, held now only by steri-strips and the incision has apparently healed well. They did put two drains below the incision, and although those have been effusing clear fluid, that has slowed as well, and everyone thinks that is ok.
All in all, everything seems to be going really well, the only pain comes from the right (not operated) leg. And that’s ok since the pain there is nowhere near as bad as the left was. That will be taken care of in November. Very happy, positive and feeling good. I am going to be conservative about recuperation, will not go back to anything athletic until 1.5 years from now, will go back to the gym before that, but only doing what is recommended. I want to be solid for the next twenty years and not screw it up with my notorious impatience.