New to the site and curious to see that not many of the posters seem to be Brits despite the procedure being common here with lots of surgeons to chose from.
Anyway, here is my story, which at the moment is still in its infancy but may prove useful to somebody who hasn’t taken the plunge yet.
I am now 48 and have been running marathons and shorter races for 20 years. For the last 7 years I have been concentrating on Triathlons and now refer to myself as a Triathlete rather than a runner. I ticked the Ironman box a few times but with the curiosity settled now concentrate on the shorter distance Tri’s where I have been fortunate enough to represent GB at an Age Group level.
In August of 2014, towards the end of what had been my best season, I started to get a pain in my right hip. To be honest it wasn’t too bad and certainly didn’t slow me down. At the end of August I raced a Half Ironman, performed well, including a 1.30 half marathon run. But shortly after the pain got a lot worse as it moved to the groin. Physio made it better and running was on and off but by the time 2015 came round I was slowing dramatically and now limping when walking. In Feb I finally saw a hip surgeon who took an xray and said I needed a THR and my running career was basically over. He never mentioned BHR. Distraught, I went away and with a ton of support from my girlfriend and a lot of research on her part contacted Dr Ronan Treacy who saw me at very short notice and advised I was suitable for BHR.
We outlined a plan to have the surgery at the end of the season and he encouraged me to keep active and run as much as the pain allowed. This I certainly did and managed a total of 14 Tri’s and was racing a Duathlon (run-bike-run) 2 days before surgery. But the big problem was a chronic fear of needles and hospitals in general. At the pre op assessment I passed out twice, once just talking to the Occupational Therapist without a needle in sight anywhere. In the anesthetists room just before surgery I was literally sobbing with fear right up to the point where they put me out. I would like to say the drama ending there but twice whlst trying to get me to walk with the frame post up I passed out with major anxiety issues. I did eventually manage to calm down and a day behind schedule was let home.
I am now 7 weeks post op and as I said whilst this story is in its infancy everything is now going well. Despite the rocky start in hospital the surgeon has told me I am ahead of schedule and I have started swimming and indoor cycling, just for small amounts of time to begin. The surgeons schedule was to start treadmill running at 3 months post op, outdoor running 6 months and racing in the summer. My physio has advised to wait 4 months post op for the treadmill running but to stick to the 6 months outdoor schedule. Generally speaking, I am limp and pain free. From a viewpoint of general day to day life, I couldn’t be happier. I was of the crutches just after 4 weeks and the pain killers too. I was also fortunate enough to be able to cope with just Paracetomel even straight after the op. The pain was not actually that bad at all.
Right now, my biggest obstacle is fear, again. Not this time of needles/hospitals but of stress fracture. With warnings about over doing it from Surgeon and Physio ringing in my ears about over doing things every tiny little twinge sets my mind racing despite me not actually getting that many twinges, them not being painful and me actually being pretty good and following the guidelines in terms of do/dont’s/exercises etc. The return to exercise seems to have set me in to a constant panic mode.
A few important lessons I have learned so far:
Get a second opinion. I am probably preaching to the converted here because if you are on this sight you have already made the right steps but if I hadn’t my life would be very different right now.
If you are afraid to have the procedure done, persevere. I tried to take one day at a time and not think too far ahead. And don’t hide your fear. Tell everybody. Especially in the hospital. Medical staff don’t tend to be sympathetic to needle phobias but at least it stops you feeling ashamed and gives you a degree of control.
Do as your told. Do not rush things. I am beginning to feel it’s the soft tissue and muscle damage which is going to take a while to heal and I need to be patient with that.
I look forward to talking with lots of you and sharing the next chapters in my story.
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