Surgical Review Day

I was actually on time to see Paul this morning even though it has probably been the earliest appointment that I have ever had at the clinic.  Some of the muscles are already better than they were pre-op and everything else is coming along nicely.  I was pretty confident that the day was going according to schedule when I arrived in at the hospital before 10am even after stopping for a takeaway coffee on the way.

I headed into QScan to get the x-rays required for my appointment, only their machine was broken and I had to find my way to QLD X-ray to have them done.  After a few navigational errors, I found myself ready for a long wait.  At a few minutes before my appointment I wasn't sure that I was going to make it since my x-rays hadn't come back yet.  Thankfully the surgeon's office was still going to let me come to see him even though I was late.  A few people had already been delayed by the same issue so it turned out ok.  I really should have gone to have them done on a completely different day to allow for things to go wrong and though I would have been disappointed to reschedule, I would have understood.

The surgeon is happy with my progress so far and I got told to keep doing what I'm doing.  The x-rays look good and I'm due again for review on 9 April next year.  Providing there isn't anything requiring closer monitoring, I will go onto an annual review schedule from there on in.  

I asked the question about the ranges and was told that I'm actually doing ok with them and will continue to see improvements until at least the 12 month mark.  How far I actually get is going to depend on not only what I do, but the condition pre-operatively is going to affect the outcomes.  I did understand this going in and already everything is better than it was going in, but I am still optimistic that there is more that I can get out of this.  The flexion estimate is about another 10 degrees active (around 100 - 105 degrees).  Apparently what I have now is on par with the outcomes of a lot of total hips that are in the condition that mine were pre-operatively.  I see this as a positive sign for my progress this far.  It makes me feel a little bit better about not being on par with the BHRs and other resurfacing components on a number of discussion groups.  This doesn't often bother me, but every now and then it's nice to be reminded not to compare too closely.  I started off a long way behind them and I think that in the long run I will be far better off as I don't have the 'hey day' to compare my achievements with.  I was never a ballet dancer or a taekwondo black belt that I'm aspiring to be again. These people are likely to recover to a higher standard as they are likely to be in better condition going in but the loss of even just a little bit is going to hurt.  I am all gains, which to me, seems to be the better view.

I also saw a ceramic BMHR.  I even touched it.  They are pretty.  I think my shiny MOM component is better looking but the ceramic is nice (Not that you choose these items for cosmetic reasons!).  Dr Journeaux has done one of these in the public health system so far.  They haven't been approved for use by the private system yet even though the MOM's are (Of those his count is over a hundred and for the BHRs, I think it was nearing a thousand).  Still early days for all surgeons doing them though it is all positive (I linked to McMinn's info on the Ceramic BMHR over the weekend).  There are no revisions for BMHRs for my surgeon at this time which I think is a really good sign.  It means it's tracking well with the longer term statistics available for the BHR.

There are always changes in this field and regardless of what happens next, I got what I needed and at the right time.  The common consensus seems to be that it will be for a long time too!

I'm starting to get a little tired.  Probably due to the change in routine for today.  Though I tried to get to sleep at a normal hour last night, it really didn't work out since I'm used to later nights and later mornings.  I'm sure I've probably missed something in the summary of today, so feel free to ask questions.  If I think of anything more I'll add a new post later!