Knee Replacement :(

[boulderjohn]

Has anyone here had the hip surgery?

My wife has had both hips replaced, and I will urge you to look carefully at your options. There are two very different ways to do it. My wife had one hip done one way and one hip done the other, and the difference was night and day.

The first one was done traditionally, and she had the traditional recovery period, which was not pleasant. She had to follow a list of precautions (like not crossing her legs), and she had to have a visiting nurse (or something) come in o our home for a while.. I had to help her into and out of bed for a couple of weeks, IIRC.

The second hip was done using the anterior, minimally invasive approach. She did her first post-operative walking about an hour or so after surgery. She had almost no precautions to follow, no one had to come into our home afterwards, and I never had to help her get in or out of bed. Her overall recovery was MUCH faster. It can be hard to find people who do this approach. It requires special training, and it also requires a very expensive specialized table on which to do the procedure.

 

[mbs]

Love the pretty photo!
Happy to follow this thread of positivity, although in my case it will be hip surgery at 54.
Will be getting dry suit certified before getting surgery, as I don't want to miss this summer diving.
I am hoping to get the surgery early spring, April time, and just use Uber to get around. Then PT my way to recovery like Wonder Woman.
Has anyone here had the hip surgery?

My wife/buddy had hip replacement this past December and TKR coming up on 3 years this fall! She is 58. The knee was the result of a skiing accident 20+ years ago and the repairs went bad. No explanation for the rather sudden hip problem. It was fine and then one day it wasn't. Bone on bone, cysts all along the edge due to irritation. We just got back from Bonaire and she had the best dive trip in recent years!!! She does not climb the ladder with gear on and I'm not sure she will ever do that anymore. She also has started to use 63cc tanks rather than 80s.

I would be curious to hear any professionals opinions on anterior vs posterior technique for replacement. She had traditional posterior with a modification for small boned/lighter patients. I have read that the anterior approach may have quicker recovery. Certainly fewer restrictions during rehab like the dreaded no crossing the legs!!! I wonder if there are any issues with one over the other with diving in mind?

She went home the day following surgery! Had at home pt for 2 weeks which was different than with the knee. Different Drs, but for the hip he was adamant that she would be too tired to go to a facility for pt. Damn if he wasn't right! She was really tired the first few weeks, more so than with the knee. Otherwise same drill as the knee - work hard at pt and you will get great results!

 

[FishCity]

Congratulations on diving again!

And best wishes for everyone's recoveries.
PT is our friend, and Uber was priceless in getting to doctors and rehab until I was driving.

 

[mbs]

My wife has had both hips replaced, and I will urge you to look carefully at your options. There are two very different ways to do it. My wife had one hip done one way and one hip done the other, and the difference was night and day.

The first one was done traditionally, and she had the traditional recovery period, which was not pleasant. She had to follow a list of precautions (like not crossing her legs), and she had to have a visiting nurse (or something) come in o our home for a while.. I had to help her into and out of bed for a couple of weeks, IIRC.

The second hip was done using the anterior, minimally invasive approach. She did her first post-operative walking about an hour or so after surgery. She had almost no precautions to follow, no one had to come into our home afterwards, and I never had to help her get in or out of bed. Her overall recovery was MUCH faster. It can be hard to find people who do this approach. It requires special training, and it also requires a very expensive specialized table on which to do the procedure.

Plenty of folks doing the anterior technique, at least in NYC! I would expect if Francesea is near to Boston she will have a lot of options as well! I really wanted my wife to do the anterior, but her dr did not do it and the timing just worked... The dr who did her tkr wanted to do some really new robotic assisted technique, that was not recommended by family/friends in the dr business...

 

[Damselfish]

My husband has also had both hips replaced, first traditional and second anterior. Just like @boulderjohn describes, the difference was pretty dramatic. The second time I got stuck in traffic when going to pick him up after 2 nights, and he was standing at the curb with his bag waiting for me. (Having declined the usual offered wheelchair, pointing out that he had been pacing the halls all morning waiting to get sprung.)

 

[Bubblesong]

I will research anterior. The first doctor I went to said "This is what I do and new-fangled techniques don't work". I knew that guy was not doing the surgery as I walked out the door.

 

[mbs]

Get yourself to a good hospital in Boston!

 

[large_diver]

Get yourself to a good hospital in Boston!

Whether knee or hip, I definitely highly recommend New England Baptist if having surgery in Boston. They only do elective orthopedic surgeries there...so low infection rate and they have the hip/knee replacement process down to a science. Also definitely speak to multiple surgeons to try and make an informed opinion. It is kind of amazing how widely their opinions can vary on what is best for you

 

[lv2dive]

You know, I haven't had my surgery yet, so I hope this bears out and I'm not being overly optimistic about outcome but one of the other reasons I put it off was that I was waiting to find a surgeon who:
- was highly recommended
- had experience with people who have hypermobility issues
- I connected with

If he (let's face it, something like 90% of ortho surgeons are male) met those criteria I was off to the races. The first surgeon didn't. I definitely think there is something about intuition that should be taken into account. You may not like your surgeon but you have to at least connect with them on some level - trusting your gut is important

I will research anterior. The first doctor I went to said "This is what I do and new-fangled techniques don't work". I knew that guy was not doing the surgery as I walked out the door.

 

[boulderjohn]

You know, I haven't had my surgery yet, so I hope this bears out and I'm not being overly optimistic about outcome but one of the other reasons I put it off was that I was waiting to find a surgeon who:
- was highly recommended
- had experience with people who have hypermobility issues
- I connected with

If he (let's face it, something like 90% of ortho surgeons are male) met those criteria I was off to the races. The first surgeon didn't. I definitely think there is something about intuition that should be taken into account. You may not like your surgeon but you have to at least connect with them on some level - trusting your gut is important

It is important to get multiple opinions.

When I was limping about in great pain, my GP did not want me to get a knee replacement. He was an older physician very near retirement, and I realized he was not keeping up with changes in the knee replacement world. He had the antiquated notion that my replacement would fail before too long and leave me truly crippled. He finally agreed that I could get 3 opinions from orthopedic surgeons. It was on the basis of their opinions that I had one really sorry knee that needed to be replaced that he agreed that I could go forward with the surgery. What was a revelation to me was how very different the three were in so many ways. The one I chose was far more to my liking than the other two.