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Author Topic: Anyone out there with a femoral revision to another HR unit?  (Read 4487 times)

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Roboclimber

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I am the Canadian who was having to revise 1 hip with Dr. Pritchett. In the end, I had to get both revised...and the femoral unit was loose and had to be revised, too. Crazy,but at least I have managed to stay with HR and not go THR. I have been fighting this battle for a while and I was really getting depressed. My life was just going down the tubes, despite the fact that on the outside few people knew.


Pritchett did not know going in this past week that the left hip would need such an extensive revision. So what I have now are two Synovo Acetabuler cups, and for femoral I managed to keep the Conserve on the right, but the left was replaced with a curved stem HR unit, that resembles the Mitch Per. I will find out exactly what the unit is on the 19th.


What happened? Why the revisions?


There was poor Range of Motion in both hips, and in the OR with Dr. Antoniou it is possible I was not sized properly, as the impingement issue was a real problem for me. The day before this last surgery I met and talked with Pritchett, and we discussed this...meaning I asked him if he could fix it. He told me he didn't think he could, but he could clearly see on the x-Ray how the impingement was affecting the femur bone. This impingement also added a leverage issue on the stem. To make matters worse, when I get my nerve pain attacks I try all manner of contortions that might have affected the implant, and those attacks have been craziest right after surgery.


"Take it easy, just do the exercises they give you". I have read and heard this now a lot, but I have been so crazily dying to have my active life back I might have been pushing too hard, too early. Every one of these recoveries is different, too. This last one seems like the fastest so far: despite a 100% complete overhaul of both implants I am already walking around the house with no assistance of any kind. I had the surgery on Tuesday, and today is Saturday! I actually noticed last night I didn't need the cane anymore. Crazy! Compared to my spinal surgeries, I have found the hip surgeries a real challenge where rushing things may mean more pain and going through what I have had to endure.


Despite paying $50 grand US for this, I wish I had gone to Pritchett in the first place. He has an arsenal of devices and a ton of miles, whereas in Canada they have all but abandoned the HR in favour of THR. The hospital Antoniou works out of is bursting at the seams, and Antoniou himself is really hard to reach and discuss anything. He is undoubtedly a top-notch surgeon, but he is saddled by a bureaucracy that doesn't favour the patient.


Anyway, Pritchett was great post-op, and obviously excited and proud of his work. However, this is not normally done, and if he had known beforehand that the femoral unit was bad he would have advised me to go back to Canada and get a THR (those are his words, btw).



Rock-Climber with L1 to S1 Spinal Fusion (w. S1 to S4 nerve Damage); R Conserve+ Dr. Antoniou Feb 17,'12. L Conserve+ August 17, 2012 with Antoniou. Revisions to Synovo Cups in 2015 by Dr. Pritchett: R On January 12, L on June 9th, with femoral unit revised, too (TARA prosthesis from Biopro)

Tim Bratten

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Re: Anyone out there with a femoral revision to another HR unit?
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2015, 09:26:05 AM »
I think you situation must be pretty unique. roboclimber. Good luck on the recovery (don't push too hard the first six months!). In my case, in terms of the activites I do (mostly climbing and hiking) I can hardly tell the difference between the THR and the HR, although I do have a little more flexibility, for example, mounting up hard over a heel hook tight to the body with the HR than with the THR. No big deal, though. 


Well I'm out to hike up the hill and do some bouldering right now. It's a beautiful late fall day in Balcarce (sunny, dry and the high around 18º C).
« Last Edit: June 16, 2015, 09:26:53 AM by Tim Bratten »
Botched LHR by Dr. Vilicich 06-17-2010 revised by Koen De Smet 02-14-2012
RHR Koen De Smet 02-05-2014

Roboclimber

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Re: Anyone out there with a femoral revision to another HR unit?
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2015, 10:29:11 AM »
Thanks for this reply, Tim. What were you told about expectations for the life span of both units you have?
Rock-Climber with L1 to S1 Spinal Fusion (w. S1 to S4 nerve Damage); R Conserve+ Dr. Antoniou Feb 17,'12. L Conserve+ August 17, 2012 with Antoniou. Revisions to Synovo Cups in 2015 by Dr. Pritchett: R On January 12, L on June 9th, with femoral unit revised, too (TARA prosthesis from Biopro)

Tim Bratten

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Re: Anyone out there with a femoral revision to another HR unit?
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2015, 10:39:28 PM »
I don't think anyone knows for sure how long these implants will last. There's just not enough data over the long run to make a reasonable prediction. I can imagine De Smet saying "we'll just have to wait and see" although I also believe he has confidence in the surgeries he does (and is proud of his results).


The old THR system failed (and falied bad) in young, active patients because polyethylene debris caused osteolysis and the whole thing came loose in 7 to 10 years. There was no way getting around this. The system I have should not have that problem. But who knows how long I can remain active?
« Last Edit: June 16, 2015, 10:40:50 PM by Tim Bratten »
Botched LHR by Dr. Vilicich 06-17-2010 revised by Koen De Smet 02-14-2012
RHR Koen De Smet 02-05-2014

Roboclimber

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Re: Anyone out there with a femoral revision to another HR unit?
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2015, 12:45:18 PM »
I am almost 3 weeks out from my left hip total revision. I developed a groin pain 1 week post op that has not subsided. I fear the worst. It is particularly bad at startup in the mornings, and yesterday it felt really bad. That said, I did an upper body workout on machines ensuring I never engaged the left hip for anything. I did a lot of sitting that day, however, and on top of a day full of "activity" shopping, etc. this seemed to have really pissed it off.


Needless to say, it's kind of depressing to feel that I just can't do anything w/o possibly screwing up the very rare complete revision Pritchett did. I saw him 10 days post-op and we reviewed x-rays he had taken that day, and there was no talk of a femoral neck fracture despite my concern about this groin pain. This is when he told me to stay away from any physio exercises and stick to walking only.


Is this groin pain normal? I don't recall having it this way...
Rock-Climber with L1 to S1 Spinal Fusion (w. S1 to S4 nerve Damage); R Conserve+ Dr. Antoniou Feb 17,'12. L Conserve+ August 17, 2012 with Antoniou. Revisions to Synovo Cups in 2015 by Dr. Pritchett: R On January 12, L on June 9th, with femoral unit revised, too (TARA prosthesis from Biopro)

China Lady

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Re: Anyone out there with a femoral revision to another HR unit?
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2015, 09:17:21 PM »
Slow down! You are -almost- 3 weeks out of your left hip revision. Your right side is still badly damaged. Our bodies are living flesh and bones, no mechanical robots. The pain is the bodys warning of too much activity.
..... I will find out

 

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