2.5 weeks out, any last minute advice?

[lgbran]

Approaching 1.5 years  post BHR and life is grand. Able to do so much

[Dan L]

My advice-- Listen to Hernnu's advice, he's a trooper and has been there for hundreds of us, and he knows the deal, extremely well.

Dan

[NYRFan19]

Hi All-

My name is Matt and I have been following this site on and off now for about a year and this is my first time posting.  I've gained a lot of inspiration and information from you all on this site from reading about all the success stories, which has helped me to finally make a decision to go forward with surgery. 

A little background on me and my condition.  I am a 28 year old very active guy who was enjoying playing hockey, training in mixed martial arts, running, lifting weights, and staying busy outside with yard work on my house.  My career and passion in life is that of a Police Officer, whose primary job at the moment is regular patrol, so that also requires a good amount of physical activity (i.e carrying all the weight of my equipment on my waist, getting in and out of a low car all day)

Most of my life I have been bothered by tight hips, pulled muscles, and poor flexibility.  When I was younger, the doctors just told me I needed to stretch more.  After completing a years worth of police academy training at the age of 25, I was in a lot of pain.  Some nights I would wake up and my legs would be frozen so much that I had to lift them with my arms to change positions in bed.  Long story short I was finally diagnosed was bilateral FAI and Dysplasia.  The dysplasia was classified as mild.  Most orthos around me told me that there was nothing I could do and that I would need a hip replacement later in life.  I ended up traveling to Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC where I found Dr. Struan Coleman and he performed a bilateral hip arthroscopy in July of 2012 in an attempt to clean out all the damage in the joints and hopefully buy me some time until later in life.   I completed my rehab and felt a lot better from surgery and returned to all of my previous high impact activities (probably a big mistake for someone looking to preserve their problematic hip joints, but what other choice is there for someone so young?)

Fast forward to a year and half later post arthroscopic surgery, Spring 2014, and I found myself with a severe left limp after heavy activity, especially running and hockey.  Returned to Dr. Coleman, who diagnosed me with osteophytes and a patch of bone on bone arthritis in my left hip.  He stated at this point arthroscopy would not really be an option and that unfortunately I was looking at joint replacement.  He referred me to two doctors at HSS who perform hip resurfacing, Dr. David Mayman and Dr. Edwin Su, the latter seeming to be the rock star of the hip resurfacing world. I visited with both doctors, and both agreed that hip resurfacing was my best option and that I could do it at any time now if I no longer wanted to deal with the pain.   Both doctors were excellent and I ended up choosing Dr. Su (even though he is an out of network doctor for me) primarily due to his higher level of experience in this procedure, as well as seeing that he had performed this surgery on several professional athletes including NHL player Ed Jovanoski, MLB pitcher Colby Lewis, and even the WWE's The Undertaker.

I continued to put off the surgery, for all kinds of reasons you can think of (some of them ludicrous at best), primarily because I felt I was too young to be dealing with all this, along with fear of the surgery and its outcome long term, as well as not wanting to be out of work.  However, after a year of struggling everyday to put socks on, tie my shoes, and bend over without getting into weird positions, I've decided to go ahead with it.  I also could no longer stand the fact that I have been very inactive physically, having stopped all impact activities for the last 5 months.  The decision also weighed heavily on my ability to perform my job without suffering through pain throughout my 12 hour shifts. 

Anyway, I have finally chosen to go ahead with it and I am set to have the procedure 5 days from now on Tuesday March 31 with Dr. Su at HSS.  As you can imagine, I'm pretty nervous for the operation, but I'm excited at the idea of getting my active life back....as well as being able to tie my shoes again. 

I've combed through a lot of the posts here and I haven't been able to find any other police officers who have gone through this.  I've only seen one story posted on another site about a firefighter who successfully returned to her duties like 5 weeks after surgery?  Dr. Su says that there would be no reason I couldn't return to work without any problems once rehab is complete, but never the less, I still worry. 

If there are any other police officers out there I would love to hear about your story and how the new hip is holding up to the job.  I also welcome anyone else's advice and support as I embark on my journey. 

This site is an awesome collection of support and information and I'm thankful to have found it 

[Granton]

Hi Matt,

Not a police officer, but welcome to the site and you are right to be excited at the prospect of a much better life ahead. So sorry you are having to deal with this at such a young age, but with a top surgeon (which you have), you should be confident.

Given the levels of sport that people achieve after this surgery I cannot imagine anything the police want would not be within your range.

Very best for five days time!

[Dannywayoflife]

Hi Matt and welcome. I personally am not a police officer however my oldest buddy is and I know several others also.

I was also 28 at the time of my first bhr and was very very active prior to that op. I wouldn't worry about returning to policing it will happen once you are healed but make sure you allow yourself to heal!

If you ever fancy a chat with another young bilat hippy feel free to PM me buddy

[OtterDriver]

Greetings Matt -

I didn't need my first resurfacing until after retiring from a 27 year stint with a Southern California Law Enforcement Agency.  I'm just now three weeks out of having my other hip done, but can assure you that continuing my patrol duties after recovering from the first one would not have been an issue...Sam Browne and all!

To use our west coast radio parlance...you'll be 10-8 before you know it!

Best of luck to you, Bruce

[MPH]

Hi Matt. I'm a police officer in Australia. I came he after spending 20 years as a UK cop in specialist firearms roles that required fitness, strength stamina etc etc. I still have a few years to do here before laying up my boots, I return to work in April after surgery in January. I now have zero pain, already have a better range of movement and know I'll be able to hold my own with any drunk idiot if the taser fails😉
My advice, get it done, stop living with pain, get back to previous fitness levels or better and see the doors open to the many career paths available to you. I chose one of the best surgeons in this part of the world and from my research, Dr Su is awesome. Good luck, and the grass is greener on the other side of this fence.

[JHippy]

Dr. Su is a great surgeon. Sorry you're dealing with this so young.

And to echo what Danny said, the recovery is very important. You're going to be anxious to getting back to doing things and getting back to work, and the hard part is you will feel like you're able to. But you can screw it up if you push it too soon. Follow the restrictions and rehab protocols to the letter. It's not that long in the grand scheme of things. You need this to last a long time so get it off to a good start. It's more about healing than conditioning in the beginning.

Good luck, keep us posted.

[Simpatico]

Hi all.

I wanted to see if anyone else had been told that a BHR may not been used due to cysts?
A little back ground on me, I’m a, 6’1, 95kg, 37 year old former mixed martial artist with advanced arthritis in my let hip due to excessive overuse.

I have tried everything in opposition to any surgery which culminated in stem cell injections last year, as it has been around 20-30% less pain but it’s not really improving my quality of life.

Everyone that I have contacted both overseas and locally have recommended that Dr. Andrew shimmin.

I saw him last week and I really liked him, he was direct and no-nonsense but he said that he may not be able to use a BHR and wont know until he actually performs the surgery, I felt that he may not be willing to use the BHR and wouldn’t give me a percentage either way.
 
As I have my heart set on the BHR  or Birmingham Mid Head Resection I wanted any advice on how I approach confirming that I get a BHR is a second opinion worth it?

Thanks in advance.

[Dannywayoflife]

Hi and welcome large cysts can be a contraindication for resurfacing but I would think they would use of have to be very extensive.  The bmhr was designed specifically for avn and similar conditions however I thought that Smith and nephew discontinued it last year. If I were in your shoes I would seek an opinion from some other top surgeons like McMinn, Vijay Bose, and Koen De Smet.

[einreb]

for what its worth... I had a large cyst (>1cm) and was resurfaced by dr gross.  with the bhr, they have the option of filling the cyst with cement.  with an uncemented (what I had), it was a mix of plasma and bone paste that apparently would 'regrow' bone to fill the cyst.  i suspect it depends on the cyst size and the experience of the surgeon.

good luck,

Bernie

[Miguelito]

You are in great hands with Dr. Gross. The trip will be a good experience (certainly pre-surgery :-)).

Stay ahead of the pain, take the medicine. Don't be a hero. Dr. Gross will send you home with an ice machine, he is a big proponent. Was $250 three years ago, not covered by my insurance. Well worth it. I love that thing.

The first two weeks were hard for me, but particularly the first five days to one week. But it gets better steadily. Recliners are awesome if you have one. Binge watching hour long tv series on demand or DVD is the way to mindlessly pass the time (as I did) until you are out of the woods. Post-surgery I was surprised how well I felt that day and the next, but it really hit me on D-day+2. I think that is common, be prepared if it does. That first week was tough, but you'll get through it.

For me, getting in and out of bed on the side was the hardest thing about recovery. What ultimately was a lifesaver was the inchworm method from the bottom. Sit as far back on foot of bed as you can, lay back, and then worm your way up using arms and good leg.

Gotta go, three kids, wife out of town.

Best wishes,

Mike

[HowieF-16]

I was resurfaced by Dr. Raterman and had issues with cysts, too. I was told pre-op that if necessary, the cysts would be filled with a bone graft. In the end, most of my cysts were "milled" out during the resurfacing process. I have had a good recovery with no problems.

[Gazza2]

I read here repeatedly that finding an experienced surgeon is critical for this operation. However I also worry that outside of McMinn, Treacy, DeSmet, Gross, Su, Bose (and some others that I have missed) there are not enough surgeons frequently performing HR to sustain this surgery as a valid ongoing option for most candidates. With all the negative press and the poor statistics published (For other than the S&N BHR) are there still new surgeons developing their skills for this operation? In ~10 years when the current crop of successful HR surgeons start to retire will there be others or will this operation disappear? It seems to me to make HR successful for the majority of candidates more surgeons are needed - which also means people going with less experienced surgeons (Which is contradictory to the perceived wisdom here.)

[KevinHalicki]

and Pritchett in Seattle

[MPH]

I had my BHR with Andrew Shimmin in January this year. At the end of 2014 I was posting about his warnings to me that he may have to do a THR if, for any reason, he couldn't do a BHR when he opened me up. It worried me for weeks. At my second appointment with him, he was happy that I had researched and considered what might happen if he couldn't do a BHR. He is a fantastic surgeon, his belief is that the patient must be aware of what could happen and be at ease with that. He willl then affirm that he will go for a BHR and he does a superb job. My results 11 weeks post op are nothing short of miraculous, zero pain, huge ROM improvement and 90% strength back in all planes of movement. I do as I'm told but just do a lot of it.
In my opinion, if you live down here, Shimmin is THE man. He knows what he's on about, wants patients to buy into his philosophies re HR and get back to active living. It is why he is respected worldwide and a member of AAOS as well as the Australian version.
Plus he's a top bloke! Just my opinion!!!

[Tundra911]

Hello all my name is Elliot and a police officer for the royal Canadian mounted police. I am 43 years old and ten weeks bhr right hip. Well what a ride it has been so far doc had complication due to muscle size 14 inch incision hard time getting cup on no femoral neck. Had bad recovery had bad medication Withdrawels what ever has been talked about had happened.  Going for check up in calgary used Dr Jim Mckenzie. All I can say Matt is it all is worth it still limping a little but way better then before. Have hard time deciding what I can do what I cant. Doc said have at er just stay away from impact stuff for ah wile. The hardest part for me is the emotional part. We are trained to help the public give our lives without hesitation and now we are the helpless ones. Not a good feeling. Got help for depression and right now I am starting to believe fellow hipsters.  It does get better. Matt all I can tell you is it is better anytime you want to talk feel free good people out there.  One thing I will say is don't listen to much to the people that are running twenty miles 4 weeks post op. Not encouraging at all!!!  Lol fellow police officers remember we act and are trained to think we are impenetrable but remember we are human. Glad to finally be on the site.

[Tundra911]

Hello all 43 year old police officer had rbhr ten weeks ago. Had some issues but all is good. Have a question doc said I can do everything my body will allow me to just stay away from impact running for at least six months.  My question to all is can I go hiking and yes I have ,probably four miles up down hills using poles. Feel sore next day but day after feel great. Any suggestions. I know I should have asked doc but forgot. Next visit with him is couple of weeks. Thanks for imput.

[ecchastang]

Thanks for all the advice.  Down to the last week and a half.   Got all my required presurgery  bloodwork done last week, and my numbers are excellent in everything.  My primary care says I should heal quickly.  Crossing my fingers for that. 

[petemeads]

I was hiking with a pole up & down small hills, 4 miles, in snow & frost conditions at eight weeks with no problem, and 20+ miles around proper hills at 4 months, still with a trekking pole for extra security. Most of my walking has been done on the road, though, up to ten miles and up to 4 mph. The physio I saw said walking was as good as any of the exercises she showed me and I think I agree. 320 miles so far...