The Long and Winding Road

The diagnosis that my hips were nearly totally destroyed did give me hope and a medical direction to relieve the horrendous pain I had been going through.  Not a stabbing pain, but an internal hurt that generates from deep within and makes you feel sick, weak.  So bad in fact that the pain affected my mental state. 

 I set up my first appointment with an Orthopedic surgeon.   He talked about the surgery in general and set it up for several months ahead.  After that appointment I felt like I had no real feel for what was about to happen to me.  I started to do what I always do.  Research.  I read articles about hip replacement.  I watched hip replacement videos.  I educated myself.  I found that there were two approaches to this type of surgery.  I decided that if my physician agreed, the lateral surgical approach with its quicker healing time was my preferred direction.   I also knew in my heart that I had to have double hip replacement surgery.  A tall order for a 65 year old.  The next goal of my research was to search for the doctor that would perform a double hip surgery

In the meantime I had been having issues with MRSA.  Five months on a PICC line and a surgery on my elbow to get rid of the place that my body made a home for this awful infection.  

Treating MRSA meant that any hip replacement surgery would be delayed until the infection was completely cleared.  The extension of time until treatment meant that my body would continue to decline.  I had slowly moved to using a cane.  The usage of the cane was then replaced by crutches.  The longer the delays the more decline.  Next was a walker.  I felt small as it seemed that my body was giving up on me.  Helping around the house was all I could do and even the simplest tasks seemed monumental.  Tasks like doing the dishes or taking out the trash.  These tasks  were faced and completed using bravery, determination, and sometimes great pain..  

How bad had my hips gotten?  My left hip had no femoral head.  With the femoral ball gone the femur tip had begun to “drill” into my pelvic bone.  Almost 3 inches.  My right hip seemed to be almost nothing in comparison as the femoral head was ⅔’s ground down.  The walker became my constant companion.   One day that constant companion even gave up on me and collapsed on me as I “tossed” a bag of trash into the garbage bin.  Pitching me head first into the hard metal nearly knocking me out.  I found myself mashed up against the bin and lying in a jumble of my hipless body and crumpled walker in the snow.

I was able to find an Orthopedic surgeon that performed hip replacement laterally.  This doctor had tremendous ratings and patient comments.  I scheduled an appointment with this doctor for an initial appointment.  The first thing the office did was take X Rays.  Dr. Feliciano came in and described what he saw and said the best option was to do a double hip replacement plus repair the damage to my left hip joint by rebuilding my left pelvis.   Double hip replacement is rarely done.  Even more rare is to perform a double hip on someone age 65.  I knew I was up for this journey.  My doctor came to the decision that I was a good patient to perform this surgery on.  I was more than ready to get my life back.   Last week of February 2021 the deed was done.  Three weeks later I was up on my Zwift indoor trainer lightly spinning.