After years of hip pain due to undiagnosed dysplasia, which resulted in torn cartilage and arthritis worn to the bone, I had a BHR on November 8, 2010. The recovery went very well for the first 3 weeks. Other than a lot of fatigue, I had a relatively easy time getting back on my feet and was walking very well. At the 3 week point, I started having increasing pain one day which I attributed to walking around too much, too soon. It felt more like back pain that radiated around into my groin. I went to see one of the PAs at my ortho surgeon's office, who felt that it was probably nothing serious since I didn't have a sudden searing pain. He told me to stay off it and rest it a lot that week and use a lot of ice. A week later, the pain was increasing and it was getting progressively more difficult to walk with the cane.
I called my ortho surgeon's office again and told them the pain was getting worse. I went in for an x-ray and to see another PA. She told me she thought I had tendonitis, and put me on crutches with partial weight bearing for a week. She prescribed physical therapy also. She told me that she saw a spot on my x-rays that wasn't there immediately post-op, but she thought it was nothing. She was going to have the ortho surgeon look at it the next day when he would be back in the office. I went home and set up a PT appointment for that Friday (the x-ray was on Wednesday).
Thursday morning, I woke up and something told me to call and make sure the surgeon looked at the x-ray before I started PT the next day. I was afraid of doing PT if there was a fracture or a loose component. I left a message for the PA and told her my concerns. Early that afternoon, she called me and told me that I should "hold off on PT" because the doctor had looked at my x-ray and said that my hip was fractured and that he wanted to do a revision to a THR that Monday. I was SHOCKED! I really thought they would call and tell me all was okay and to go ahead and start PT. I hung up the phone, burst into tears, and then got REALLY angry...it was like all the stages of grief went through me in a matter of hours. I was so incredibly disappointed that the resurfacing had failed especially because I had followed all protocols, and all the activities I was hoping to get back to were now going to be impossible.
Nevertheless, I went that Monday...December 13, 2010...and had my revision. The surgeon left the acetabular cup and added a large ball MOM component on the femoral side. The recovery was a little different than the BHR. The pain was different, more bone pain and more need for pain medication. The night of surgery I insisted on getting out of bed to use the bathroom. I paid for my stubbornness when I got lightheaded and passed out on the floor of my hospital room. I landed hard on my right knee which was the same side as my new THR. Luckily, the hip survived it well! It turned out that I was very anemic the first couple of days post-op, and I did end up having a blood transfusion on post-op day 3.
My recovery at home went relatively well. Other than the post-op fatigue, my hip felt pretty decent. I did use more pain medication with the THR than the BHR, but I suppose that is to be expected when part of your femur is amputated. I started PT earlier and it has slowly helped. I am now just about 8 weeks post-op, and I am mostly pain free unless I overdo things. I have a lot of stiffness and tightness right near the incision, but it was cut twice so that is to be expected. I had my 8 week appointment with my surgeon yesterday, and he lifted all post-op restrictions. He said I can go back to exercising, and crossing my legs, and I can do pretty much whatever I want to do. He said the ball is as big as the BHR ball was so it will be very difficult to dislocate. He recommended that I don't do any running or hard impact type sports. That is a little disappointing as I was hoping to get back to running, but it's a small price to pay to be pain free. There are many other sports I can do instead.
As I reflect on my experience, I am ultimately happy with the outcome. Although the disappointment of a failed BHR was incredible, I am very happy with the outcome of the THR. Bottom line is that I am pain free after YEARS of hip problems, and I can do almost whatever I want. The BHR may be the ideal, but when it comes down to it, it doesn't work for everyone. A THR isn't the end of the world...in fact, it's opened up a world to me and for that I'm incredibly grateful to my surgeon. The entire experience had the outcome I wanted...it just took a little more work and little more time to get there.
Renee