1 Year Anniversary

[John11]

If you're expecting a happy post then you should stop reading now. If you're a pre-op pessimist, this won't help you at all.

Today is the 1 year anniversary of my short lived resurfacing. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, if I had to do it over again, I would have waited until my pain was intolerable and just gone straight to a THR. After 2 surgeries in the last year (BHR and revision to THR-described in other posts), I am more uncomfortable now than I was pre-op. Although I actually have a better range of motion, I now feel every step I take, get sore after sitting or standing too long and walk with more of a limp.
Six and a half months out from my second op and I still carry a collapsible cane with me "just in case". I'm not "supposed" to have a leg length discrepancy but from inside my body it sure feels like one. I can only walk comfortably with a lift in my shoe (non-surgical side). My unnatural gait has led to back pain and tendonitis in my heels.

And to top it off, 3 days before starting a new job, my metal hip started to squeal. Not just squeak, but squeal like I had stepped on a cat or something. Luckily, it settled down to squeaking like a rusty gate and was gone before my first day at the new job.

Pat said to someone else in another post, "I will hope you are not one of the 4 out of 100 that has problems.  That is not bad odds." Well, when you're one of the 4, the odds s--k. 

Sorry, but I couldn't let this wasted year pass without some kind of exclamation point at the end. My insurance company is out $100+ grand and I'm really not much, if any, better off than I was on 12/2/2009.

Happy %@&$*$ Anniversary to me!

Thanks for letting me vent.  We now return to your regular scheduled broadcast.

[Pat Walter]

John

I am very sorry that you had to face a revision.  It is not fun to be the exception, but it does help people to know there can be problems sometimes.  I know you feel it all s#$%*ks and I can't blame you.  I am sorry that you still haven't been completely out of pain and have good rom.  I hope that it will become better for you.  With 2 surgeries it may take much longer to get back to normal.  I am sure everyone wishes the best for you.

The squeeling can happen when you are dehydrated.  Some of the athletes with the resurfaicngs have had that.  Try to drink water when you hear the squeeling.  That is the only things I know of or the hip still hasn't quite become normal with fluid properly between the two components.

Again, my heart goes out to you and I hope that you will still get better with the THR.  Having had 2 surgeries may mean your recovery will be much longer than normal.

Thanks for posting.  We are happy to hear how you are doing.  Keep us updated.

Pat

[Dayton96]

Pat's right of course.  It is good to hear the good and the bad.  I'm getting my resurface this Spring and I'm fully aware of the possibilities, thanks to what folks have posted here.  I thank everyone who takes the time to post and share.  Good luck to you and keep in touch.  Update your thread a year from now and let us know what it going on with your hip replacement. 

Mac

[andybc]

John,

That's truly dreadful; I'm so sorry to hear it.

I always say to my patients (I'm a radiologist, not a surgeon), when I'm doing anything interventional, that the chance of this procedure going wrong may only be, for eaxample, 1 in 100, but if you're the one, then all the statistics in the world are irrelevent. You've hit the nail bang on the head in your post.

The only suggestion I could make is to get another opinion. Presumably you went to an experienced surgeon, but even then, there are probably some who are even more so. I'm presuming you live in the States so I can't help with any names there as I'm from the UK. Also, I'm not sure exactly how your system works. In your position, though, I'd research who is the very best opinion in the whole country and see them as a "one off". If they say there's nothing more that can be done then I guess that's it for now, but at least you know you've done the best you can.

As for "turning the clock back" - I still think you made the right decision. If you'd gone straight to thr and that had to be revised that's probably even worse. Granted it may not have needed revision, though, and these words are of no help really.

I'm in a potentially similar position (8 days post resurfacing), in that I had a septic arthritis following an arthrogam earlier this year. Although it was really well treated with 3 months of antibiotics, I'm still more likely to get a further infection, compared with if I hadn't had one in the first place. That risk remains forever, not just in the immediate post op period. My logic was that, if the worst comes to the worst, a resurfacing is much easier to revise than a thr. Even if I only get a few years out of this (but there's no reason why it shouldn't last a good time otherwise) I still think it's the right choice.

I hope the new job works out and wish you all the very best of luck.

Andy

[Luann]

Hi John, Thanks for your update and honesty. I will be thinking about you. Hope things get better for you soon. You really deserve less pain and more ROM after what you've been through. Have you discussed your concerns with any other revision patients? I wonder how tough it was for them? 
 Hang in there, Lu