From Anterior Hip Replacement Back To Triathlon: A new hip! Brought to you by Stryker TM

Friday, March 2, 2012

A new hip! Brought to you by Stryker TM

Husband Chris here... Trudy was experiencing technical difficulties in the hospital and requested I provide an update. I’m pleased to report the surgery went well according to the doctor. First night was painful with little sleep complicated by nausea from the pain medication. I was however blown away by Trudy, very slowly and with the help of a walker, making her way unassisted to and from the bathroom less than 24 hrs post op. Baby steps for the time being but still encouraging. Trudy was implanted with a titanium hip from Stryker Corporation. Hard to believe one of the Terminator like objects on Stryker’s website is now a permanent part of my wife’s beautiful body. That said, they look very resilient. Useful life is quoted as 15-20 years but as expained, there are no statistics to support this claim because you have to wait 15 years for the data and it's more likely they may last much longer. Hopefully we'll never see the hip or it will be many decades before we meet again. Hoping to have Trudy back home on Sunday.

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Osteoarthritis and My Path To Anterior Hip Replacement

A doctor first mentioned arthritis over 10 years ago as the why reason my hip ached sometimes. It didn’t seem to be anything important so I pretty much forgot about it. But by three years ago I limped, couldn’t walk far, couldn’t jump, would get a sudden excruciating pain in the joint, would fear it collapsing under me on stairs (which it occasionally did), struggled to get up from sitting on the floor, and couldn't run so much as across a street. I finally went back to the doctor and was told my hip would need to be replaced. No other alternative procedure or route possible. I researched (resurfacing, physical therapies, partial replacement). I also met with several doctors for second opinions, and the best prognosis I found was "you will have to replace it but you don’t need to do it until you can't take it any more". This was from Hospital For Special Surgery in New York. So I continued with life as normal, and looked for alternatives to running to keep me in shape and exercising/competing outside. I discovered that the more I swam and biked the less pain there was, as well as less limping, aching, and sudden collapses. This kept me going for another 2 years, to compete in open water swim races, indoor bike events, and a triathlon with a friend doing my run for me. By last autumn the swimming and biking were still working ...but not as well ... and by now I was taking painkillers every night in order to sleep... so I began researching again. This time it was not about whether I needed to have a full hip-replacement surgery, but what kind would be the best for me.

In most areas of my life I don’t feel that young but in the world of hip replacement I am. I expect the joint to last me a long time, I expect to do a lot with it, I expect to recover quickly, and I'd also like a small scar. For traditional hip replacement the incision is usually 10-12inches and the recovery several months after a minimum 5 day hospital stay. The restrictions on the patient afterwards can be extensive with many lasting forever. With minimally invasive hip replacement incisions are usually 3-6 inches, hospital stays 2 days, and recovery much faster with few or no restrictions. There are also several types of minimally invasive hip replacement methods - two incision or single incision. As I researched further I also discovered the Anterior Approach. With this approach, as no muscles or tendons are violated, there is an easier and faster recovery, a lower risk of dislocation, and NO restrictions after the surgery. This is the surgical approach for me.

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Friday, March 2, 2012

A new hip! Brought to you by Stryker TM

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