LAR’s Bilateral Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Su 2014
LAR’s Bilateral Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Su 2014
March 9, 2014
I am a 55 year old male and have just returned home from HSS after receiving bilateral hip resurfacing surgery by Dr. Edwin Su. I spent three nights in the hospital post-surgery. I saw Dr. Su before I was discharged and he said that the surgery went extremely well. I recall him saying that it was a “textbook” surgery.
I have lived with a bad left hip for the vast majority of my life because I developed Legg Perthes Disease when I was a child. Somehow, even with an significantly malformed and enlarged femur/left hip joint, I was able to actively engage in a number of impact sports without too much limitation and have led a normal life. I competed in alpine ski racing in my teens and college and continued to race recreationally up to about 50. I played singles 4.0-4.5 tennis to perhaps 47-48 and continued with doubles up until the last couple of years. I’ve continued to ski hard, powder, trees, etc., mostly in the Rockies. I got much more interested in golf about 15 years ago, so tennis isn’t a big part of my life anymore.
About two years ago my right hip started to bother me and over the last 6-9 months, it had become hard to do simple things. Walking became difficult. My gait shortened, which made it challenging for me to keep up with anyone I was walking with. I also had a pronounced limp. Running became impossible about 2 years ago. Over the years, pain had not been a big problem for me, but my range of motion, which had always been poor, became overly limiting.
I saw three orthopedic surgeons over the last two years. All three had experience with hip resurfacing surgery and the BHR device. The one thing that all three concurred on was that both hips were shot and needed to be replaced. Surgeon One wouldn’t even consider doing a resurfacing surgery on my Legg Perthes hip. Surgeon Two thought he “might” be able to do a resurfacing surgery on the left hip, but wanted to make the decision once he opened me up. Surgeon Three – Dr. Su, clearly the most experienced at hip resurfacing of the three, felt confident that he could successfully do a BHR on my left hip. I asked him if he had experience with other Legg Perthes patients and he said it was a rather common condition that brought younger patients in to see him and that he had successfully completed BHR’s on a number of Legg Perthes hips. After that consultation, I felt that I had the right guy.
I have a ways to go, but I cannot say enough about how positive an experience I have had with Dr Su and everyone at HSS. They have their act together.
Now it’s one day and one slow step at a time. I have a long way to go and I’m hoping for a routine rehab with no surprises.
March 29, 2014
It’s been 31/2 weeks since surgery. I went swimming today and experienced what it means to have hips that function properly. The weightless environment of the pool allowed we to open up my legs without pain and I already have considerably more range of motion than I did pre-op.
Looking forward to seeing Dr. Su next week and getting an x-ray to verify that everything is in the right place.
May 17, 2014
10.5 weeks post op. I feel like a new man. Hard to believe that I have two metal hips inside of me.
Things are getting back to normal, less the stiffness I lived with most of my life from my left Legg Perthes hip. I started playing golf (gently) and can hit the ball well. I continue to work hard to get flexibility. Still doing PT 3x’s per week. Lots of stretching. Starting to do basic yoga.
It’s a work in progress, but I’m very optimistic. Glad I stumbled across this web site and chose hip resurfacing. Thank you.
June 23, 2014
I’m 3.5 months out from surgery. All is well.
I just want to say that bilateral surgery was the right decision for me. There is so much that you have to put into a successful recovery and going through that twice would have been a problem for me.
No regrets.
January 11, 2015
At ten months post op, I’m back. In fact, I’m technically skiing better than ever and there are things that I can now do on ski’s (solid snowplow) that I have not been able to do comfortably since I developed Legg Calves Perthes at age 8 or 9.
Surfacehippy helped me find great information about surgical choices, including feedback from others that successfully underwent hip resurfacing after suffering from childhood Legg Calves Perthes Disease.