Hi Everyone. It's been a while since I have posted on this site... probably because my hip is doing so well.....
I can't believe it has been two years already!
I turned 40 this year. I had my hip done when I was 38. My hip started bugging me when I was in my late 20s. it started out mild, it was more of a mild discomfort. I still played racquetball, jogged, and did whatever I wanted. by the time I was in my early 30s, it was clearly a problem. I gave up most sports, and was limited to the stairmaster for aerobic exercise. I am an attorney and work at a desk or in a courtroom so I can get by without being physically fit in terms of work. I sort of adapted to being more sedentary and dealt with the pain by popping aleve and other anti inflammatories. My doctor suggested a hip resurfacing, and I watched a youtube video about how the surgery was done - that freaked me out as I was so grossed out by the procedure...that alone made me put off surgery at least a year or two.
The pain was constant but manageable..at least I thought it was. I have three small kids and it was becoming obvious that I wasn't able to play sports with them the way I wanted. There were times when just pushing the kids stroller was too painful and I had to have my wife do it. When it finally got to where I was having a continual problem getting my shoes tied or cutting toenails that I really started realizing how debilitated I had become. One time in my late 30s my youngest son who was about 3 took off running, he was headed toward the street and I was worried a car might hit him. I tried to run after him and I literally could not catch up to him. My wife outran me and got him. All of these issues forced me to face the reality that surgery was for me. I started researching doctors and did some local consults. I found this website, learned a lot, and also found Dr. Gross. My pain levels started getting even worse and I was scared about the surgery but knew I had to do it.
Now that I have had it done - wow. I am SO happy I did it, and I wish I had done it a year or two sooner. I suffered pretty badly the last year and I could have avoided that had I done it quicker.
As to my current condition - In a nutshell, there are many days where I never even think about my hip. When I do think about it - it's usually to stop and appreciate how great it feels, and to appreciate what Dr. Gross did for me and to truly appreciate how it feels to be pain free. When I bend down to tie my shoe, I still think about the old me...and really do appreciate how great it is to be "normal" and pain free.
Lying in bed at night, as I am about to doze off to sleep I *really* appreciate the new hip. I can still remember tossing and turning, being unable to get comfortable in any position, popping aleves to make the pain go away.. heck I used to eat aleve like it was candy... I don't take them anymore.... Now, instead of feeling a painful throbbing hip...my hip is "quiet"...and I can relax and enjoy dozing off to sleep.
Stuff that other people take for granted...like falling asleep pain free..I still stop and appreciate.
I am able to do so many things that I could not do before my surgery. I am pretty much 100% pain free. There are rare times where I feel some kind of twinge..or if I sit too long on a reallly hard surface I feel a slight discomfort... but I'm being hypercritical. I essentially live my day to day life pain free. I am getting pain in the OTHER hip..but that's because whatever went wrong with hip #1 is slowly affecting hip #2... but the hip that Dr. Gross fixed is wonderful. It is my BETTER hip!
As to my activity level - put it this way - last weekend I played basketball for about an hour with my son, who is 11, and my nephew who is 17. I'm 40, and probably 15-20 lbs overweight. I'm not some super jock - but I am perfectly capable of running around with my kid and having a good time. My 17 year old nephew can beat me one on one..but the fact that I could play with him, run all around, and just have fun, was a testament to how great my hip feels. I had zero pain while playing, zero pain that night, and no pain in the days after. It was great.
I will admit, though, my hip is not 100% perfect. I am limited in my ability to RUN long distances. I can *run* fine. I can run as fast as I can possibly make myself go - and have NO pain. If someone was trying to get me, or a car was about to run me over - and I had to sprint 100 yards, I could run as fast as I could and I would have zero pain. The problem is when I run for longer distances. Around the 3/4 mile mark, I start to notice some discomfort in my hip near the incision. I don't want to push things...as soon as it starts to hurt I stop. As soon as I stop the pain disappears. The pain does not persist..it's not like something is damaged..it's like my hip or soft tissue just doesn't like the repetitive pounding of running. I"ve thought of buying really good shoes, or just pushing through the pain to see if I could make it better, but honestly, I never liked running that much anyway..
so I just don't run. I can cycle, do the elliptical, even play basketball and I don't have pain... I"m not sure why basketball doesn't hurt but running does... I figure if I can play basket ball and NOT have pain - then my hip is doing alright!
Granted I"m not playing 60 minute games and kiling myself..but I can run all over with my son and nephew..which is good enough for me! I know there are people who have hip resurfacing and they are doing marathons...for whatever reason that is not the case with me.
I have emailed Dr. Gross / Lee Webb about this issue and was told that some patients experience this sort of discomfort. If I was a hardcore runner I could see how it would be an issue..but given that I can do pretty much everything else, I don't really worry about it.
I can't say how much I appreciate my new hip. I wish I never needed it..but the fact that there is the ability to fix it and to basically make it feel virtually as good as new - is great.
Anyone suffering through hip pain should get it fixed. The surgery really was like magic. One day I was limping and in 24/7 pain, popping aleve like they were tic tacs, and after surgery the pain was totally gone. once I was recovered from the surgery, I really felt like I was as good as new.
I made a video around 7-8 months post-op but I never got around to posting it. With my two year anniversary just days away, it got me thinking about my hip and about how great it has been. I dug up the old video and loaded it to youtube. Watching it again reminded me how screwed up my hip was and how much it hurt... it almost hurt just to watch the video.. my facial expressions, sighs of pain... oh how I remember how that felt! I'll have to do another video soon... I am even better off now at 2 years than I was at 7-8 months.
I wanted to say thanks again to everone on this site who was so helpful to me before my surfery - like newdog! I was really nervous about surgery, about all the what-ifs...and a lot of people here who had been through it reassured me how well it would all go. Of course they were right. I"m sure going to see a pro like Dr. Gross didn't hurt either.
His team, his whole setup, is just top notch. I really felt like I was in good hands the whole way through. I was really scared stuff would hurt - like needles or the back injection.. and it was all in my head. If any of you are worrying about the surgery, scared you are going to have some horribly painful experience... I can tell you the most painful thing I remember was just the IV getting put in my arm.. oh and the catheter getting pulled out of Mr. Happy after I was recovering.
I was actually suprised that during my recovery I wasn't in any serious pain..given that my bones were drilled on and metal pounded onto them...
thanks again to Dr. Gross! You gave me my life back. My quality of life is so much better after having my hip fixed. I reallly do appreciate it.
Here is that video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBeqQ-sH8Zo
Topic: TWO Year Anniversary! Woo Hoo!! (Read 2239 times)
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