Hip Replacement

I reiterate what I said before and others have also. It is your right to be referred to an Orthopaedic Consultant. You are obviously having problems coping because of pain and you would prefer to have 10 good years or even many, many more with a new THR than suffer in agony. Ask for a referral letter and try to forget that he is/was a professional partner of your husband.

Absolutely!

Thank you for your support and advice - I will have to go back and discuss it with my GP.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that I am awaiting surgery to my broken foot (opposite leg to hip problem!) - I am still using a crutch out of doors because of this and I limp indoors. They plan to remove a fragment of bone that broke off my heel bone and is impinging on a neighbouring bone and causing pain. I think I need to try and get this sorted first. If this op does not work, then the option of a bigger op to fuse the bones in my foot might be on the cards and this would involve going back into plaster and really going back to square one.

I think that my awkward gait from my foot problem has made the hip worse and that is why the pain has become so bad.

It was a year yesterday that I broke my foot - happy anniversary I hear you cry!!

Oh! I really can sympathise! My bilateral ankle and foot pain limits my walking to indoors only! Even with crutches I'm limited to a few yards only.
My biggest problem is that I am in pain at rest as well!
The only time I'm pain free is first thing in the morning before I get out of bed!
Sorry to moan, but I'm really fed up at the moment!
Still, things could be worse!
I do have some mobility!

Also the leg that needs the knee replacement has been taking extra weight so that is another reason why you have had more pain. You need to get the foot sorted and well healed as it will have to bear extra weight post operatively when you have the knee done.

If you have a fusion you will be non weight bearing for 6 weeks and it will be a few months after that before you will feel back to normal.

You cannot contemplate even going on the waiting list for a TKA until you get the other foot sorted. If you have the knee done first, I would hate to see you b****r that new knee up when it takes the extra strain when you are non weight bearing.

Don't like you being fed up Galen so sending some

I had to have both hips done 16 years ago and they are still going strong. It transformed my life and I wouldnt hesitate to do it again. I feel for the people who've had subsequent problems. I think the secret is to find a surgeon with a good reputation even if it means having the op some distance from home, which is what I did(on the NHS)
They see me every 2 years for xrays etc. and have been very supportive. I went back, by request , to the same team when my knee needed replacing 3years ago. So far so good!
Good luck to all about to take the plunge!

Thanks, they had me non weight bearing for 3/12 with my ankle fusion (even more painful now than before)

Sorry to hear about all your pain galen - it is so very tiring I know - and the lack of mobility can be so frustrating. Pain at rest is the real b****r - sorry that this is part of your life.

An additional problem for me is that the fractured foot and subsequent immobility has altered my balance and I am very insecure when out and about.

Your comment about pain from ankle fusion galen makes me even more determined to try and avoid the foot fusion if possible. It's a much bigger op and has no guarantee that it would improve my current situation.

I agree about finding a good surgeon - a friend of mine has had a hip replacement that keeps slipping out and she has to go back and have it put back in. She's pretty fed up with it and who can blame her.

As a result of an RTA at age 50, subsequently a hip replacement became necessary at age 60.This was done via BUPA and lasted for 15 yrs.(using an Exeter joint).During these 15 years I was able to carry on cycling and competing in veterans races. inevitably it wore out (it took quite a bashing believe me) and another replacement was advised(NHS this time) in a different part of the country where sport is not frowned upon.
The day duly arrived op performed. Awoke to be told that the joint was septic and the new joint could not be completed until the area was clear of all infection. Sent home minus joint and a course of powerful antibiotics. Eventually re admitted to Hospital and new joint fitted. My left leg is now 11mm shorter than it was.( This has presented a shoe problem which is easily sorted). I am now at 78 back cycling(not competitive). Ok cutting my left toe nails and putting on socks is sometimes awkward but so what. I can still do what I have done since the age of 13 which has kept me fitter than most people of my age and enabled me to have a full life. As a PS. can I offer a small piece of advice, try and be as fit as you can before going through a hip or knee op. If you can have the use of a stationary bicycle post op you will recover much quicker. Do not be afraid go for it.

I agree about getting as fit as possible, xrouler.Also important to do prescribed exercises post op. I too have one leg shorter and have to have a raise put on one shoe, a nuisance but worth it. I dimly remember stiletto heels from college days! I took it all for granted then but have learnt to appreciate what I can still do and make the most of it.
However, it's difficult to be positive while coping with constant pain and I was a very grumpy old woman before my ops.I dread the day when it all finally gives up and I have to be dependent on others for everyday things.

I had a RTHR at the age of 57. Best thing I ever decided to do. Wish I had had it done 3 or 4 years earlier rather than putting up with the awful pain. I'm able to do most activities without a problem. I'm even back into my high heels!

Update here: my GP is referring me to an orthopaedic surgeon to assess my hip and what should be done, given my foot problem. The chap I am to see was the none who originally made the right diagnosis about my second foot fracture, so (although I was eventually referred to a specialist hospital for that) he is on a position to take an overview and think through how the two problems might best be tackled.

I will wait and see what he says - I am seeing him on Monday week.

What has finally pushed me into trying to sort this out is that I sang in a concert for the first time since I broke my foot (22 months) and (even after two paracetamol and 100mg of Volatarol) my hip locked after standing to sing one movement and I was in a lot of pain trying to unlock it to sit down. It effectively stops me doing what I do best and what has been my life.

"one" not "none"!

Galen, sorry to read about the extent of your pain, and its causes. I didn't read your posts as moaning by the way, more as part of this conversation about the joys of joints that cause so many of us pain and frustration.

I have had a painful hip for a couple of years and it is steadily worsening. Recently I was offered a hip replacement but decided to put it off (I was going through a good patch).

When I see the Consultant again in October I think I'll go ahead and get myself put on the waiting list, which is only about 8 weeks long (at least I might get out of cooking the Christmas dinner!)

Mishap I too am apprehensive about having the op, especially as some people I know have had it done with an epidural block and sedative instead of a full general anaesthetic. Not sure if I'm that brave though I can see it would be a good thing to avoid a g.a.

If I am offered the op I will go for the spinal + sedative. I am hopeless with GAs - days of puking, which impedes recovery and rehab.

I am approaching a hip replacement; had my opposite knee done in April and it was a very positive experience, so I am in an odd sort of way, looking forward to getting the hip sorted out. DH had a hip replacement in February last year, and rode the cycle lap of the local triathlon in July! But he is very fit (in the older sense of the word at least..)

I'd rather have epidural and sedative any time. No risk of chest problems, quicker recovery time (I was sitting up and doing the DT crossword half an hour later.
Usually no sickness unless like me you have it as a side effect of the painkiller.

Galen - dos the epidural provide some measure of post-operative pain relief, or does it get "switched off" straight away?

If I have any concern about it at all, it is the post-op pain.

A close friend age 72 had his hip replaced with an epidural for pain relief. He was up and about very quickly, and 2 years on enjoys walking his dog, and cycling. Great, isn't it - good luck to one and all (Tiny Tim a bit of a hero of mine)

Mishap yes it gives post op relief.

petallus I was a bit thrown when the anaesthetist came round and told me he was going to do my second knee replacement with an epidural. However he was rather gorgeous so I went along with it. No problems at all! I had a moment's misgiving when they said they were going to begin and I was wondering if they were sure my leg was really dead, but it was fine. They would keep waking me up to taker my blood pressure though. When it was over I spent a pleasant half hour chatting to a nurse in the recovery room and then the pain started to kick in and we started on the morphine. Not a good move for me because morphine makes me sick, but I was onto paracetamol after a couple of days.

With my hips x3 I don't remember a thing until the sedative wore off. It was just an injection in my hand. Then 'hello Galen. We are taking you back to the ward now'.
The surgeon (a fellow Brummie graduate) came round after he'd finished his list, to tell me it had all gone fine. We discussed a couple of clues in the crossword and the deficiencies in modern medical education.
Ot was that easy

I have had my appointment and he was extremely helpful. He took an overview of my hip and my foot, which is what is needed.

He said that, although the changes on my hp x-ray might be described as "moderate", the position of the osteo-arthritis (inner side) is one that causes more symptoms than the x-rays might suggest. He says that a hip op would have a 95% chance of relieving my symptoms. He would do it under spinal plus "light general anaesthetic." He said that spinal anaesthesia has transformed hip surgery.

He looked at the blessed foot and at the last letter from the specialist hospital. He thinks the foot has deteriorated in the meantime, and that if I get re-referred there with my foot I should ask for a re-assessment rather than just to be put on the waiting list for the previously planned surgery. He was clear that the foot surgery has nothing liken the same certainty of outcome as the hip, and that my limp and pain and need for a stick could be permanent, with or without surgery.

But he did not think that my limp due to my foot would compromise a hip replacement.

I now have to decide what to do. I am tempted to use the money my Dad left me to go private for my hip surgery - I would be able to have it done sooner and I could be sure it would be done by this chap in whom I have some faith. It would also mean it would all be done with before some major musical commitments that I have.