Hi Geoff, good to hear from you again (missed the earlier post), congrats on the upcoming!
I know you had a rough time from the back / scar tissue last time, and you may need to face that again this time, but I think in the end it will be positive, as you'll be able to eliminate two sources of problems from the overall equation. Maybe that will make things easier overall, once you have two strong replacements for the worn out parts.
Where the congrats comes in is that, as a bi-hippy, I understand that interim period when one hip is going gangbusters and the other is getting much worse in comparison. I waited three months between surgeries, and I'll tell you - the last few weeks were hell. It seemed like the unoperated hip just gave up the ghost when the other was now so energetic.
I have a completely uneducated, yet massively correct
theory that since a kind of balance has been reached in the configuration, movement, etc. of your body due to the OA, the imbalance introduced by one hip that is now in the correct shape / place puts even more pressure on the other hip (don't tell anyone, I hope to get the first hippy Nobel prize).
The surgery fixed all of the imbalance, since I had two hips moving correctly even if weak, and I was able to recuperate strongly the second time, since that massive pain was gone.
So this won't fix the back problems and all, but it will relieve the pressure that the bad hips were putting on it. I can't help but think that it will overall benefit you, relieving the hip component from your back, shoulder and leg muscles. Before the surgeries I was so tight on my back and shoulders that massage therapists thought I felt like a rock. My doctors thought I had spine issues, so they sent me to have those nice electric pulse tests all over my back and arms, coming back with no issues, just all of the symptoms. Those were cleared up by the HRs, so to me, I would hope for you that they relieve their component to the point that your pain is greatly reduced or (maybe, hopefully) eliminated.
I understand the depression, especially when having dealt with pain for such a long time. I dealt with it for seven years; it was affecting so many things in my life, that I realized after the surgeries that people were becoming stressed around me because they saw the pain in my face, in my attitude, my shortness of temper and overall demeanor. That was lifted after my first and eliminated in my second.
One thing you might want to look at is a counselor, someone to talk to and at the least provide a safety valve for your feelings and to help you with strategies to help you cope with the recovery and other issues. I used one for about a year during the time I had both surgeries, and he was excellent to talk over the feelings I was experiencing. The OA and the surgeries put a lot of stress on us, there is absolutely no reason not to use a professional to help treat this just the way we use physical therapists to help us mend and heal our muscles. It's worth it, and may help to depressurize things at home.
It sounds like you have realistic expectations, one year to be standing on firm ground about returning to all activities, no reason you can't have a great life after this, I am certainly enjoying my hips right now.
Really good luck - I feel good for bi hippys who are on their last surgery, the feeling of being done and just getting well afterwards was excellent for me.
Topic: Rock-Climber with L1 to S1 Spinal Fusion w. Nerve Damage, now Hip Arthritis (Read 20539 times)
Recent Posts
