Second Hip Replacement, 8 years on. Comparison/Contrast

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Last Friday I had the left hip replaced at the same facility, the Hospital For Special Surgery in NYC. HSS has, for at least 17 years, been voted the # 1 Orthopedic joint (ha.) in America for good reason. They are zealous, ZEALOUS, in their pursuit on all levels and manner in infection control. And that’s just one thing to recommend them.

So, back then, I was bone-on-bone. Plenty of pain, and it took a few years to get me to needing to have it replaced. The surgeon I met with and chose was an older guy. Not interested in the newer Anterior method. I felt safe and we connected and so I went with him. And the Posterior approach. That meant, back then, more muscles being cut. Longer recovery time, etc etc.

All went well and I recovered.

Eight years later, I’m older/fatter/shorter/grayer. With no indications of discomfort in the left hip. On August 10th, I bent over to pull up my sock and had a sudden deep jolt of pain. Made me think Ah- I’ve torn a groin muscle.

ALL I did was bend over. No sudden jolt, no impact, no fall. Nothing.

Off we went 2 days later road tripping to Topeka, as we do a few times a year to hang with my MIL. Rough trip. Much pain, no real relief. Poor sleep, etc. Cranky as fuck. Called HSS, thinking I’d torn the left Labrum.

Got an appointment for the day after we returned ! The Dr looked at the initial X-Ray and said yeah…you need surgery. I’m a Physiatrist. I told her if I was to have surgery that I had a name in mind. The Doc who had done brilliant work with my wife on BOTH of her hips since this past March. She told me that was who she was gonna recommend.

Turns out that in bending over, I gave myself what is called a Subchondral Fracture of the Femoral Head. The only fix is a full hip replacement.

This guy’s popular, the wait was looking to be 4-6 weeks for an opening in his calendar. LONG time to be in that level of pain. At the end of my meeting with him, we asked about the scheduling of the event. He said, well let’s look. It’s usually 3-4 weeks and could go out longer than that.

He opens his calendar, grins at us both and says, “Get THIS-- someone JUST canceled for Friday. Want to go Friday?” Unbelievably, we went from first meeting to under the knife in less than 2 weeks. Which was really good, cause the pain was just spectacular in intensity and depth.

This was the side-approach called The Star Approach. Remarkable in its preservation of musculature and therefore shorter recovery time. My wife is doing so very well after having had this procedure once in March and once in May.

All of this said, it STILL feels like I have been hit by a bus. Friday was Day Zero so today is Day 4. I’ve only had 2 Oxycodone. Detest them, they don’t REALLY make the pain go away. Tylenol and just dealing with it. Doing my home PT, have had a video virtual PT and will have more.

If you are facing a hip replacement in the future I’d strongly recommend that you discuss this approach with your surgeon. Or find a place that does this. It’s a robotically-assisted technique. As the days and weeks go on, I know the pain will lessen and the muscles will get stronger.

Tomorrow I have the second virtual PT and will do some stairs for the PT person.

No reason to think all won’t go smoothly. Hope to return to my work as a camera operator by end of October.

Is it time for a hip replacement?
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wow! that was fast! i hope recovery goes easily and well.

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Interesting to hear someone else’s experience with hip replacement @Cartooniverse .

I wonder whether your protracted pain might be because you had an actual fracture before your surgery? What anesthesia were you given?

I had an anterior procedure done yesterday and was hoping to be discharged that afternoon, but every time I try to stand up I get dizzy. Kind of opposite your experience: my hip has little to no pain when I’m lying down, maybe level 5-6 when I stand up. I haven’t taken pain meds. But when I stand up, my blood pressure plummets. I just flunked again about 1/2 hour ago. Maddening!

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Wonderful on all fronts, and we’re happy that you are rushing towards complete recovery! :100: :heartbeat:

I admire you for accepting the offer and moving up your surgery. My uncle finally, and I mean FINALLY, got his knee replacement last summer. His first comment was like those of many other procrastinators, “WHY did I keep putting it off and staying constant pain?!”

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Hi !

I must have misspoken, because when lying down I’ve got zero pain. Some pain when sitting in a chair, tons when standing/ walking.

I’ve avoided the Oxycodone but for 2 pills, taken on different days.

Your BP plummets? Maddening indeedy, but your body is working through getting rid of the anaesthetic. My Non-MD advice? Drink a ton of water. It will only flush out the chemicals faster.

Keep us posted-- I think I just found your thread here, yes?

When in discourse of sequential threads
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As the population ages, more and more of us are candidates for this surgery. It’s like cataracts for the lower body.

I hadn’t heard of STAR posterior surgery before your post. It doesn’t seem to be very common out here (California). The two surgeons I consulted offered the traditional posterior approach and anterior approach using the Hana split table. I chose the latter.I bet a lot depends on what equipment the hospital has on hand.

My chief message to hip replacement candidates, as I said in my thread, is don’t put it off if the xrays show you need it. No amount of steroid injections or physical therapy will alleviate the basic problem, and meanwhile you are just going to get older, fatter, and less active.