New kid on the block

[jsewell]

I am so happy to hear you have a good set of doctors. Nothing like a patient in the waiting room to tell you that. And he listened to you. Good deal.
The hip pain. Well i went through that in 2008. The doc as well as my spine surgeon did not think my MRI or Ct (i forget) looked bad enough for a hip replacement. But it did look like possible need for some repair of a labral tear. So my new hip surgeon did an arthroscopic hip surgery . When he was in there he found that both of my hip surfaces were worn away to bone. So i did try to see if the surgery would help at all (he did microfracture to try to grow some cartilage) It did not seem to be working so i had the right hip replaced in June 2008. That surgery , if you need it, has something like a 98% satisfaction rate. They really know what they are doing there. The usual pain from your hip is gone instantly., You do have surgical pain which gets better every day. At 3 months out i was back to hiking. At 3 weeks my doc let me swim and i was swimming a mile each day (about 5 times a week) So hiking for 7 miles then swimming , i was in the best shape . Then i did still have knee pain on that side so he did an arthroscopy and cleaned out the joint (lots of scar tissue) and did micr fracture to stimulate new cartilage growth,. It worked wonderfully

Boy sorry i am making this so long. Just don't want you to really worry about the hip replacement.

As far as walking with back pain, it is difficult. I now have pain when i am walking or standing in place. It sucks. Some lower around my hips too, but i know that is coming from my spine. I have a new lumbar fracture. I saw my spine surgeon today, i will be having more surgery when he gets back in town, he has not decided it he will extend the fusion to L5 or just fix the fracture at L4. I see him on June 4th after his vacation.
My foot is still swollen, although i can get it in shoes, just a little surgical pain , no hammertoe pain. Now for the other foot!!

Let me know what you find out on the 8th.
take care
judy

[TiredofPain]

Originally Posted by jsewell

I am so happy to hear you have a good set of doctors. Nothing like a patient in the waiting room to tell you that. And he listened to you. Good deal.
The hip pain. Well i went through that in 2008. The doc as well as my spine surgeon did not think my MRI or Ct (i forget) looked bad enough for a hip replacement. But it did look like possible need for some repair of a labral tear. So my new hip surgeon did an arthroscopic hip surgery . When he was in there he found that both of my hip surfaces were worn away to bone. So i did try to see if the surgery would help at all (he did microfracture to try to grow some cartilage) It did not seem to be working so i had the right hip replaced in June 2008. That surgery , if you need it, has something like a 98% satisfaction rate. They really know what they are doing there. The usual pain from your hip is gone instantly., You do have surgical pain which gets better every day. At 3 months out i was back to hiking. At 3 weeks my doc let me swim and i was swimming a mile each day (about 5 times a week) So hiking for 7 miles then swimming , i was in the best shape . Then i did still have knee pain on that side so he did an arthroscopy and cleaned out the joint (lots of scar tissue) and did micr fracture to stimulate new cartilage growth,. It worked wonderfully

Boy sorry i am making this so long. Just don't want you to really worry about the hip replacement.

As far as walking with back pain, it is difficult. I now have pain when i am walking or standing in place. It sucks. Some lower around my hips too, but i know that is coming from my spine. I have a new lumbar fracture. I saw my spine surgeon today, i will be having more surgery when he gets back in town, he has not decided it he will extend the fusion to L5 or just fix the fracture at L4. I see him on June 4th after his vacation.
My foot is still swollen, although i can get it in shoes, just a little surgical pain , no hammertoe pain. Now for the other foot!!

Let me know what you find out on the 8th.
take care
judy

Hi Judy,
Thanks again for your quick response and the re-assurance. I have heard nothing but good things about hip replacement. Although, that is not something that I would hope for, and still hope it doesn't come to that. But, if in the overall scheme of things it will benefit me with other joint problems I certainly welcome it.

You are very kind to always take the time to read and respond to posts. I hope that your surgical pain goes away very quickly and the surgery on the other foot is a complete success with faster than normal recovery.

J

[jsewell]

Hi J
I actually found out i need to have more spine surgery for a fracture. UUGGHH. I can hardly believe it. My doc may just remove the screws in that area and put in cement or extend the fusion to one more level. He will decide and we will proceed when he gets back from vacation.
I don't think it will ever end with me.!!!
Keep us updated on your progress
judy

[TiredofPain]

Well, it took me a week to reply with progress because things happened so very quickly. I had an MRI on May 2nd, then called by the doctors office the following morning that they wanted to see me that afternoon. When I got there the doctor told me he wanted to admit me into the hospital and replace my left hip the following morning. The Avascular Necrosis was severe and I had a stress fracture on the left side femoral head. He was somewhat surprised that I was able to walk and really didn't want me walking around much longer with that condition. He said that after recovery of the left hip, the right one needed replaced as well. Before releasing me from the hospital last Sunday, he said that he feels very confident that this replacement will reduce my knee and ankle problems considerably if not almost all together. I'm still in quite a bit of pain at this point, but getting a little better each day. I'm optomistic for the future.

I still have to get with the back surgeon to go over the results of the CT Scan to determine the next steps for the failed fusion. So, I still have a ways to go, but I can still see some light at the end of the tunnel. It's very unlikely that I'll ever be pain free, but I do believe that I will be better off than I was pre surgery last April on my back. Keeping my fingers crossed. And I do still know that there are others much worse off than me. But pardon the expression, but some days sure do suck.

Hope all the mothers out there had a Happy Mothers Day.

J