Bad news received today

[The Brook]

I went to see my GP last week, was having some discomfort in both my hip and my leg where I had surgery 5 years ago for a Tibial Plateau Fracture.
My GP had me go get some X-Rays taken, then sent me to see an orthopedic surgeon.

The news was bad, my left hip is badly degraded, and I need hip replacement surgery ASAP. That came somewhat as a surprise, as it has been annoying since late last summer, but became much worse in the last 2 months. The knee is only sore because I'm not striding properly when walking, stressing the knee. It will subside once the hip is replaced.

Now the wait for a surgery date begins (it can be as long as 1 year here in Montreal). Hope it's sooner so that I won't miss too much of the coming riding season. That would be a bummer!

 

[jond]

Good news is that hip replacement is routine these days with great results. Bad news is we wear out. God speed fight hard and get back ASAP. Whenever I ride the vendetta I feel my knees appreciate the mbb platform more so than my fixed bb hurricane pelso df bikes. It must be good if I notice .best wishes.

 

[ChaleJake]

Sorry to hear the news. Hoping your wait is not long and your surgery is successful. Bad news indeed but the surgeon can fix it so a bit of good news.

 

[LarryOz]

Good Luck that - I have known lots of people with various types of replacements. Better now that 20 years ago for sure!

 

[billyk]

I switched to recumbents 25 years ago because I couldn't swing my leg over an upright. Two total hip replacements later (15 years ago), I have zero problems. Never think about it (except at airport security).

Veering away from bicycles, two pieces of advice:
1) get it done by someone who does these all the time, I mean daily. In theory any orthopedic surgeon can replace a hip, but the details really matter, like how long your legs end up, exactly what angle your foot points, etc. The guys who do this every day are better.
2) get "minimally invasive surgery". The traditional surgery cuts through all the muscles with a machete, and the recovery time is really long, like forever. MIS makes an incision just big enough to get the parts in and out, with correspondingly less tissue damage and shorter and more complete recovery. Since this is a technically more demanding surgery it requires a true expert (see #1).
3) (bonus) get a full size hip ball replacement. Many are smaller. The full size ball is much less likely to dislocate. It leads to no restrictions on your future hip motions.

Waiting a year is not such a bad thing if it gives you time to research this stuff, talk to several surgeons, and make a careful choice.

 

[3bs]

my sister had her hip done a few years ago. many friends have had hips and lots and lots of knees. all improved quality of life, all back on bikes and trikes.
some who did doubles had some quality differences between sides but still felt doing doubles in close proximity was a good move.

 

[The Brook]

1) get it done by someone who does these all the time, I mean daily. In theory any orthopedic surgeon can replace a hip, but the details really matter, like how long your legs end up, exactly what angle your foot points, etc. The guys who do this every day are better.
2) get "minimally invasive surgery". The traditional surgery cuts through all the muscles with a machete, and the recovery time is really long, like forever. MIS makes an incision just big enough to get the parts in and out, with correspondingly less tissue damage and shorter and more complete recovery. Since this is a technically more demanding surgery it requires a true expert (see #1).
3) (bonus) get a full size hip ball replacement. Many are smaller. The full size ball is much less likely to dislocate. It leads to no restrictions on your future hip motions.

Waiting a year is not such a bad thing if it gives you time to research this stuff, talk to several surgeons, and make a careful choice.[/QUOTE]

That is exactly what was discussed, he is quite experienced, and specializes in hip replacements. All aspects were discussed.
Thanks to everyone with their well wishes, I appreciate them.

Regards,
Denis

 

[billyk]

Glad to hear you're getting good care.

One more thing: bedside manner doesn't matter here. You need technical competence, not warmth and sympathy. A lot of these guys (yeah, they're almost all men) do the first, not the second.

When I went in to see mine the first time, he barely looked at me, put my xrays on the light table, and said "I can fix that". And he did.