Left Revision Surgery 8/30/13

I had my exploratory surgery revision on my left hip August 30^th, 2013 at Rush Oak Park in Chicago, IL under Dr. Nho. It ended up being 3.5 hours long, normally it is around 1.5-2 hours. 

I had a very hard time in recovery for several hours. Luckily before surgery I had requested to stay the night rather than going home that same day. Well, to the IMD Guest House for Rush patients. (Please look them up http://www.imdguesthouse.org/ Normal rate is $50 a night unless you qualify for a discounted rate. It is such a great place to stay where it feels more at home and there is a full kitchen to cook and eat real meals)

When I woke up from my very long surgery, I was so worried they wouldn’t have found anything wrong. Dr. Nho and his assistant at the time advised there was a 5mm hole in my hip capsule before any action was taken by them. When they put your hip into traction for the surgery it should require some force. The hip apparently went like “butter” and did not require any force. This is NOT good; imagine my femur wobbling around, unstable, for almost a year? Here I was starting to feel like a crazy person seeing all of these doctors without any solid answers. He did not have to use the cadaver grafts and had enough tissue to repair both my labrum (2-3cm tear) and capsule with two anchors. He had to make a third surgical hole to check my glute medius and minimus and luckily there was no tear there. He cleaned up around the trochanter bursa but did not actually have to remove it.  A very small amount of bone was removed from my femur as well as my acetabulum that was missed in my first surgery. The final step was a capsule plication. He gave me a good analogy about plication: instead of patching a hole in your jeans with a patch, you are grabbing the jeans and cinching and tightening the fabric then sewing it. In the case of the capsule, this is in hopes to provide stability to the joint for a hip that has been very unstable.

I stayed in Chicago for about 5 days and saw the physical therapist a few times. Dr. Nho has a very clear post op protocol. The stationary bike and isometrics were started pretty much right away which I was not used to with Dr. Bruckner. It was such as nice change! I could already tell my joint was more stable. Dr. Nho also prescribes a CPM (continue passive motion machine) and an ice machine. All surgeons are different but I feel these two medical devices made a huge difference in my immediate post op pain.

Strapped into my boots at the hospital 

Hanging at the IMD guest house in my boots! 

So lucky up have a fellow "hippie" visit me at the guest house in Chicago. Samantha had never met me and picked up some extra Rx for me at Walgreens as well as some food. Talk about instant bond! 

First few days at physical therapy at MOR off of Harrison. Make sure to see Katy!

My mobilegs are in the back there :-)

Due to all of the work I had done, especially with the capsule plication, I was expected to be very limited with weight bearing 6-8 weeks. In the end I was on crutches (mobilegs) for about 12 weeks. He was worried about my recovery at about 6 weeks out, better by 12 weeks… just a very very slow recovery for me.

Here's some pretty bad bursitis post op!

My dog took care of me while in my CPM machine!

I really really focused on my physical therapy. Luckily I found someone who does ART and focuses on the janda method. Things weren’t perfect and I definitely felt better after my second surgery but still not better than before my first surgery. I had to move in February 2014 which was physically really hard on me.  I also was in a small car accident in February 2014 where I was rear ended.  I don’t believe the car accident impacted me in any way, luckily!