T - 24 hours until Apollo "take off" scheduled ......

[margincalldue]

Hello all, and thank you for all your informed posts that I have culled through the past several Months now. Am currently staying at the Rain tree Ana Salia across the street from the Apollo Specialty Hospital in Chennai. India. I have a scheduled surgery with Dr. Vijay Bose on Tuesday the 22ND and go in tomorrow morning for all my pre-op testing and the like.
  Next time I talk to you....I'll be on the "other side" with a nice piece of cobalt GHR device attached to my left hip and on to the start of a pain free existence and getting my quality of life back once again. I'll take the recovery pain in trade for the possibility of me getting off the Vicodon which I take like pez candy as of late. I cannot wait to flush the last few down the drain after I recover.
  I have read stories of people running the Boston Marathon or climbing Mount Everest soon after surgery. My goals are simple.....walk pain free and a normal gait, that's it. I am not expecting at 54 years old to be lifting free weights like I did in my 30's and 40's or para sailing on the beach in Mexico, I've done all these things. I realize that I am on the down slope of my life but would just like to enjoy swinging my leg back over my Harley once again, or even, the simple task of cutting the grass walking behind the lawn mower (which I used to hate to do) :-)
  Once again, thank you all for your valued opinions and suggestions in the past and in the future. I feel confident in Dr. Bose and his team to bring me through and lucky enough to have seen Dr. Su at HSS in New York to confirm that I am a good candidate for BHR and wanted to say personally that Dr. Bose was one of the "best on the Planet" and wants me to send him Dr. Edwin Su's regards when we meet in a few days time. 

[Rach41]

Good luck with your op. When you wake your arthritis pain will be gone but you will have wound and groin pain which gradually will subside well i had a block in but its when that wears off! I think it's good to know that otherwise you be thinking something is wrong. A lot of people say that two weeks post op is a big difference. Look forward to hearing from you on the other side.

Rach 😊

[Pat Walter]

Good luck with your upcoming surgery!  Dr. Bose is one of the best in the world. You are in good hands.  Keep in touch when you can.  I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Pat

[lyn]

good luck...let us know how it goes...lynn

[stephen1254]

And don't be so sure you are on the "down slope." You may be amazed at everything you can do when your hip functions normally. Good luck.

[hernanu]

Best of luck! Dr. Bose has many satisfied patients.

As someone mentioned, keep your mind open about what you may be able to do, I can tell you that my life since the operations has been one continuous improvement over time and am back now to doing things I haven't done in years.

The good thing is that all of the normal activities are back in full strength. As an example, my oldest daughter just graduated from college, and my other daughter finished her freshman year in another college. I rented a truck and loaded it with my youngest's belongings (amazingly enough, it almost filled the truck up). I moved about 20 boxes and garbage bags of fairly heavy things into the truck using a cart, drove an hour and a half in a truck and unloaded it in my storage space.

Three days later, I went to my oldest's graduation, I drove two hours to the university, parked in the allotted parking spot at humongous state university and walked about a mile to the graduation (some over grassy terrain), stood around taking pictures and talking, then sat in tight seating for three hours, walked outside and took more pictures, walked the mile back to parking and drove two hours back to my apartment.

Any one of these things would have killed either of my hips before the surgeries, all I got from the moving was sore muscles in my legs and shoulders. No hip pain or soreness. The most gratifying was that my daughter's graduation was strictly her show; she had no look in her eyes worrying about my pain, all I was was a typical embarrassing dad brandishing a camera.

There are many inspiring stories here, some are athletic, some are moms getting back to being able to carry their toddlers, others about people getting back to dancing with their partners. I get your desire to go back to just walking, since for me that was foremost, but as that is accomplished, you may find your world widens in unexpected ways. Again, the best of luck.

[margincalldue]

Am almost a Month post-op now. I have a new found respect both for the Indian people and culture.  My surgery at Apollo in Chennia with Dr. Vijay Bose was done on May 22nd @ 8 AM. I was thrown a curve, however, in that Dr. Bose called my femor the hottest, chalky and "most angry bone" he has ever seen. As a result, I expected a BHR, but as fate may have it, I had to be given a "Delta Motion" ceramic device because of the instability in my existing bone.  I have to say that the team of doctors and "sisters" (nurses) are the best on the planet. I felt that I was consulted with and not talked AT like most doctors here in the US.
  I am painfree for the first time in a year and have been ever since waking up in the recovery room. Amazing!  I would do it all over again in a second.  I am back in the gym and doing 6 miles a day on  bike and progressing complete legwork circuits with increasing resistance. I am still in awe as to how little pain there was during my recovery. The only discomfort was when they removed the drain from my incision....that was not fun, but otherwise, nada.
  I only wish I had packed a pedometer to track my progress while my 2 weeks recovery at Fisherman's Cove. Thank you everyone for all your support and contact both pre and post surgery.  Bill D / Connecticut

[hernanu]

Congrats, I see the Apollo has landed successfully!!

Bill - the goal is not an HR, but the best solution for you that gets you back on your feet doing everything you can. Sounds like you've got a great start, nice to see a fellow New Englander leaving that OA hell behind.

My brother in law also went to a Corin mini hip instead of an HR from my surgeon due to the damage he had incurred. He's doing fine, hitting the gym 3-4 times per week and has dropped 40 pounds in almost a year. The future is good, enjoy your healing trip to India.

[Tin Soldier]

Good job.  Sorry I missed your earlier posts about the "take-off".  I was out having fun.  Once again, I'm sort of jealous of the folks that get to go oversees for HR.  I know, kind of a weird interest.  We wall want to go explore the world, but not with surgery involved.    

"chalk", that can't be good.  It sounds like you're doing well though and recovery is coming along nicely.