RPA: A bilateral hip replacement on TV!

Last week there was an episode of RPA of a bilateral total hip replacement.  The episode is still available on line, if you would like to see for yourself.  I don't normally watch medical programs as I don't do to well with the cutting and opening part which is before anything actually happens.  I tried to watch the BMHR procedure that McMinn has on youtube but failed to get past the first couple of minutes.  I have it on good authority that it is an interesting series of clips (I have a friend who is not squeamish and quite interested in these types of things).

When I got home last week on Wednesday, with my takeaway from work and just about to collapse on the couch, I got a message telling me about it.  We'd only just been talking about these types of programs that morning, so I took it as 'meant to watch' tv.  In the interests of research, I watched the whole episode to see the bits about the hip surgery.  There was a fair amount of unrelated surgical procedures that I had to get through to watch it too!  I persisted though and it was actually quite interesting.

I'm not sure that I would have wanted to know that much information pre-op.  After the fact it was at it's limit.  The cut of the femur was fine, I've come to peace with that part of the op!  The hammering in of the acetabular cup using a mallet not unlike the one I have used to put together Ikea furniture, not so much.

The lady having the surgery was probably about 20 - 25 years older than me, so it was a bit of surprise that the surgeon had elected to do a bilateral procedure.   The surgeon did say that one of the key reasons that he elected to do it this way was her attitude.  Yes, she was healthy enough but attitude was the surgeon's key indicator for success.

The program made it look like a piece of cake.  I had a very positive attitude going in and I didn't look anywhere near that good in the first week post-op.  It goes to show that everyone reacts differently to surgery and some bodies just handle it better.  To be fair, a positive attitude can't make up for the extra two units of blood they gave me before I started to be a bit happier.  She didn't have any drug induced hallucinations either which I'm sure made part of the difference!  Everyone is different as are their outcomes.  You just need to work out what the best possible outcomes are for you and work towards them.

The message really is that you have to have the right attitude going in.  You need to try to get up the day after surgery and start rehab.  You need to work at it to heal.  If you can prepare pre-op to be stronger and more healthy, all the more the better.  Give yourself the best possible chance to wake up looking as well as well as this lady was.

I think over the longer term, I have caught up and my walking is better but its probably not a good comparison given that I can't be sure how far post-op she was in the final scenes of the program.

If anyone does watch it from the link above, feel free to add the extra info in the comments and I'll update the post!  I just can't bring myself to watch it a second time.

You might want to close your eyes for the mallet.  It isn't fun.

Best Wishes to Tony for his total hip today!

Just a quick message to send best wishes to Tony who has had a total hip today.  He should be safely tucked in after a successful surgery earlier today and getting ready to start rehab to get his life back starting tomorrow.

Discussion Board worth looking at

I have come across a website with a discussion board that is definitely worthwhile having a look at:  http://www.surfacehippy.info/

Took me ages to find this out there and am glad that I did as there are a lot of other personal stories there and the owner of the board comments often.   Everyone has different experiences and there doesn't seem to be too many bilaterals (at my age), though the general information has been interesting and helpful to the process of getting ready mentally.  Not everything is stellar and completely positive, though I do believe it is a reasonably fair representation of a good cross section of people across continents, with different histories, different procedures and different 'spare parts'.

In the beginning when I was searching for information, I wasn't overly successful.  Now I'm searching for the obscure: like bmhr images, I end up with more reading material at: http://www.hipresurfacingsite.com/Other-Patients/Other-Patients/menu-id-41.html
This one doesn't seem to be as interactive as the other site, though still useful information.

Wonder why I was looking for bmhr images?  I saw a shirt on the surface hippy link that had a stylised image of the prosthesis (resurfacing not mid-head) which was kinda cute in a geeky kind of way.  So I thought maybe my own tee or maybe an iphone case with little bmhr's on the back would be cool :)