Soon to be a hippy

[Evan Thoms]

Hello everybody,
After some lurking and the recent decision to get a BHR, I have decided to step up and introduce myself. I am 46, male, married, two kids (7 and 5). I have never been a fierce competitor in any one sport, but I have always been active and in decent shape.

I have scheduled a BHR for my left hip with Dr Pritchett in early September of this year (2014). It's been confirmed now for a little over a year that I have FAI on both hips with moderate OA; a confirmed torn labrum on my left and probable on right. I have been through a bunch of physical and massage therapy and while I can now manage the pain for most daily activity, I get pretty sore after exercise and have seen a steady decline in ROM. It's at the point now that I can barely put my sock on. I have a lot of referred pain at my knee and in my back. I pretty much only have one sleeping position available to me.

I also have some family history; Tin Soldier, who posts here frequently (1k + posts!!!), is my brother. For a long time when he would describe his symptoms, I would say to myself, 'Naw, that's not really how I feel. The pain in my groin is different. The lack of ROM exhibits itself differently', and so on. Obviously, I didn't want to believe that I was on the same path he was.

I had phone/email consultations with Dr. Pritchett and Dr. Gross, both of whom said I was a good candidate for BHR. I had one consultation with a surgeon who specializes in arthroscopy (Bryan Kelly in NY) and he did not recommend getting scoped. I saw, personally with follow-ups, two surgeons in Anchorage, where I live, and they both said they would never, EVER recommend MoM resurfacing because they are concerned about metallosis. One recommend getting scoped with the understanding that I would be buying time before a THR and the other said to limit my activities, take NSAIDS, and wait until I am a good candidate for a THR. But, like a lot of people in my situation, I don't think those are good answers. A BHR looks like the ticket for me.

So, hello again.
Any suggestions for preparing ~ 2 months out from the surgery?

Evan

[Dannywayoflife]

Welcome Evan!! Awesome to have Tins brother on the forum as well!! As I'm sure Tin has said to you your in excellent hands in Dr Pritchett!! Remember to rest and enjoy being able to chill for a while after your op and you'll do great!

Danny

[Evan Thoms]

Yes! it's reassuring that someone I trust so well has been through it all before.

[3Chords]

Welcome, Evan! I'm a newbie, too, and am coming off my 12th week, I think, from surgery.

 By way of suggestions for surgery prep, I'd suggest getting in the best shape you can, without aggravating your condition. I think biking is good, works great after the surgery. Talk to your physical therapy folks - most of the exercises they have are for older, less fit people, so ask for some really good prep exercises. Swimming would be good, too, if you weren't in the frozen tundra of Alaska!

 Once done with the surgery, follow instructions about rest, but do the work - all the exercises, the walking, the pain control. I used two trekking poles from Walmart from the day after I got home - they just seemed easier than canes. The walker was useless - used it to walk from my car to the door, 12 steps, when I came home from the hospital. It's been in the basement since I got home.

 I've been pretty lucky - my surgery was May 12 2014, and last week, I rode my bike 80 miles, and today, played my first tennis on a soft court for an hour. Follow your restrictions, of course, and listen to what your hip is telling you!

 At this early stage, almost all my referred knee pain is gone, and I can sleep in any position I want to. It's only been in the last couple of weeks that the knee stuff has gotten better. My back and the "good" side is a little sore today after tennis, but it's nothing more than a normal workout soreness.

 I figure my BHR will last 15 years or more. By then, I won't care much! I'm 62. I have a 10 year old son, and I plan to teach him to drive by going around the little drop-off circle at the nursing home... over and over and over again. I won't know that the scenery isn't changing.

 How many BHRs has your surgeon performed? The more the better, everyone says.

Best,

Jim

[Evan Thoms]

Thanks Jim, that's encouraging.

[Tin Soldier]

Welcome Bro.  Its been a long time since I've been on here.  Been busy with land use and other things.  I need to get back into the swing of HR, starting to forget some stuff. 

Been three years since my second HR and 3.5 since my first.  Have had no pain in the hips, other than when I overdo it in soccer, but that's short lived.  The hips are great, and I have no regrets. 
 
I bet Pritchett is at about 3000 HRs.  I think he was at somewhere in the low 2000s when I had mine done and was scheduling about 3 a day, maybe three days a week?  With some vacation that would be about 300 a year?  That's a partial WAG.   

[hernanu]

Welcome Evan!

I'm sure Tin has filled you in on most things. 

My advice for preparation is:

- do upper body work as well as overall fitness, as much as you can bear comfortably, for support as you recuperate.
- Look at your living space and prepare things like chargers, cell phones, remotes, etc. to be reachable in a stable area... As an example, I moved all chargers to my kitchen counter.
- walk your space and move things that may interfere with crutches.
- Scope out an outdoor area to walk. You'll be walking a good amount, you want a flat area.
- Set your expectations to be conservative. Rushing the recuperation is not a good strategy, and it doesn't gain you anything.
- Talk with your surgeon about the recuperation. I was given a 6 months with limits, 12 months before contact sports.

Consider also that this is a bone healing process first, a muscle recuperation process second. Let the bones heal and then address muscle recuperation.

Welcome again...

[John_stashick]

You'll be better in no time and that pain in the knee will soon be gone! You'll be happier than ever before ya know it! Best of luck

[dfox]

Hi Evan,

Good to read your post. Welcome to the site.  There are many thoughtful and knowledgeable people here and a lot of very helpful information.

Congrats on your decision to become a hippy!  It should be a positive, life changing event. I'm almost 10 weeks post op and so glad I decided to do it.  My hip is much better than before the BHR.  No joint pain at all. I get some muscle soreness when they get tired. The range of motion is better than before the surgery. 

Nice to meet you, take care

[lgbran]

Welcome to the site
Wealth of info here. I excercised right up to the day of my operation. Would I have done anything different. I should have had his surgery a few years back. I'm almost 9 months post surgery and life is grand. Have backed off my exvercise levels over the last month , in the grip of Winter here in Australia. Out of pain and all good. All the best

[Vinman]

I am twelve weeks post op (39 years old) and feel great.  Dr. Su gave me my life back and you'll get yours back as well!   Some great suggestions previously posted.  Make sure you prepare yourself mentally and stay positive.  I had a weird situation where my surgery got scheduled (2 weeks) must sooner than expected.  That was great for me as the longer I had I likely would have had doubts creep in.  You are going to feel better after this surgery!  Don't worry about things too much and if you have doubt seep in, stay focused and committed.   

[Ken B]

Evan - I am also scheduled for BHR surgery in September. I think you are doing the right thing by moving forward now. I was diagnosed with OA in 2008 and was considering having a HR then or in 2009 but balked because I could still maintain satisfactory activity levels and it was around this time that the MoM hype started going full blast.

Delaying and working with alternative treatments is a double edged sword as while at first chiro (until one of them seriously hurt my mid spine) and then trainers and therapists were helpful at keeping me active, 6 years later at 47 it is obvious that I have paid a price as the cartilage at the top of the hip has been obliterated and there is now a cyst on the femoral head. It's almost funny as earlier this spring before that x ray I was convinced that the exercise program I'd been doing for the prior year was going to keep me off the operating table for at least a few more years - until a major attack of pain in April. Doc says I'm still a good candidate but my odds of 10 year success dropped from 97+% to around 92%. I've been trying to stay well informed on this for the last 6 years and I'm convinced that proceeding via HR and then relying on THR as a backup in case of failure is the best way to go.

I've  been given the go ahead to enjoy my summer but I'm going easy on higher impact sports - I'm usually a pretty frequent windsurfer - Doc says no worries as the time frame involved means any further damage will be negligible (he's done over 800 HR surgeries) but I still worry a bit about making the cyst bigger prior to surgery. Best of luck with your surgery and thanks for starting this thread as the suggestions are helpful for all of us getting ready for this - looks like I'll pass on buying a walker and maybe just get a second cane as I'm already pretty good at using the one I have.

[Evan Thoms]

Thanks for all of the encouraging comments everybody. I just had my pre-op physical with my primary and, although he doesn't know my history in detail (I didn't have a doc until I picked this guy about 3 months ago), he thinks that resurfacing is the right decision. He has a brother-in-law who is a hippy and is happy with it.

I'm slightly anxious about telling medical types here in Alaska about my plans for resurfacing because a pretty vocal critic of the method, Dr. Stephen Tower, is at the most respected orthopedic clinic in the state, Anchorage Fracture and Orthopedic. AFO used to do resurfacings, until Tower himself had one (a DePuy) and subsequently developed metallosis. He has since written journal articles and given several interviews about the risk of systemic cobalt poisoning. So, I feel like the mood in Alaska is against HR. Certainly, if your only awareness of potential problems of HR came from Tower, you would get the impression that only company shills recommend them, that only gullible patients get them, and that the procedure is rapidly being discredited and fading into obscurity. In reality, only 3 people I have met with have even been aware of metallosis, so I've barely had to explain my case to anyone.

[Daytona Dave]

Evan, ken,

Good luck in September with the ops. I too am booked in for the 15th September for my left hip in Birmingham. Had my right hip done 5 yrs ago and its been great. I did write a diary on a day to day basis on how I was doing, mainly as a reference point for the 'bad' days. Typically 5yrs on I cannot find it as I thought this would be very useful to look back on.
So please post lots in the coming weeks and hopefully share the good and bad parts with us all.

Dave