My Story

[sbolan]

First of all, thanks to Pat and the members of Surface Hippy!  AWESOME!  Such a huge help to so many people!  THANK YOU!

A quick synopsis of my story....
I am 42, living in Omaha, NE.  Congenital dysplasia in my right hip that was diagnosed when I was about 17.  Was a high school tennis player at the time, went on to play college tennis, then played and taught tennis professionally for about 5 years.  All the while I knew that I was ruining my hip, but I was young and getting paid for playing a game, so I did not want to quit.

At about age 25 the doctor said to quit or lose a body part, given the replacement technology at the time, I switched careers.  Lived with the osteoarthritis, incresing pain and loss of range of motion for years until I heard about resurfacing.  Over the years I had become a pretty avid cyclist (road cyclist), putting in about 3,000 miles per year.

I took the plunge (after a lot of research on Surface Hippy) and had a BHR done on April 22, 2008 in Omaha, NE.  It was done by Dr. Samuel Phillips (GIKK Ortho) via the Alegent Health System in Omaha.

Had the standard 3.5 day hospital stay (surgery on Tuesday, home on Friday).  Other than a little nausea the day of surgery I had absolutely no complications.  After coming home I used a walker for only a couple days, crutches briefly and was using a cane full time within 5 days.  After returning home I dropped the "big" drugs like Percoset and started with Tylenol only.  Now I take a couple of Tylenol maybe 1 or 2 days/week, other than that I am completely drug free (can't remember when I could say that before!)

My recovery was amazing and incredibly quick.  Seemed to be walking better each day.  I was able to return to work in just over 3 weeks (I teach computer engineering), started easy workouts at the gym during week 4 and have not looked back since.  Saw my surgeon last week for a follow-up (at 8 weeks), he continued to be amazed by my recovery and cleared me to ride my bike again.  Did a 13 mile ride on Saturday to test things out and a 40 mile ride on Sunday....felt incredible - no pain for the first time in over 25 years!

Needless to say I am thrilled with my decision to have a BHR done and the results!  Everyone is different and we all have unique circumstances, so we each need to do our homework....but for me, this has been miraculous!

I have to give a huge amount of credit to Dr. Phillips and the staff and the Joint Replacement Center at Bergan Mercy Hospital, to say that they are The Best is not giving them nearly enough credit!

I welcome any comments or direct emails to me with questions, etc.  Always happy to "share the love" and pass on what I know and what I have been through.

[Pat Walter]

Hi Shawn

Thank You for the kind words about Surface Hippy.

Congratulations on your new hip!  You are an official Surface Hippy.

Sounds like you are doing really well with a quick and easy recovery.  That is what we wish for everyone, but unfortunately not everyone is as lucky.  It is hard for many people to believe you don't need heavy pain meds after the hospital. 

I wish you the very best. You recovery will still contine and things will get even better since it takes almost a year for everything to heal.

Your doctor, Dr. Phillips, sounds great.  Do you know how many hip resurfacings he has done to date?  I changed the rules on my Doctors list to only list doctors that have done at least 100 hip resurfacings.  If you know his stats, let me know and I will consider putting him on the list.

Thank you for sharing your story.  We need both the good, the bad and they ugly stories so people understand things don't always go smoothly, but in time we all end up healed and active again.  Fortunately, most people are in the middle somewhere.

Good luck and give us an update now and then.  It is great to get your life back!

Pat

[sbolan]

Hi Pat, thanks for the reply!

My Dr (Sam Phillips, Omaha NE) is pretty new to the hip resurfacing game, I do not believe that he has the numbers behind him to get listed via your site.

Obviously everyone will have different experiences, etc.  I weighed all of my options and felt that even with his relatively short level of experience with resurfacing, Dr Phillips was right for me.

Once again, your site is amazing and a huge help for us all!  Thank you!!!