Here is my story about my hip resurfacing. It starts in October of 2006 when
I went to a local doctor in southwest Michigan and had my right hip X-rayed. I
wanted to make sure it was arthritis and not something else. He said it was
indeed arthritis in my hip and I would have to have it replaced in three to five
years. I laughed and said fat chance. After my visit I started taking
glucosamine/chondroitin regularly and ibuprofen if I had pain. I am quite active
and started to ballroom dance which put more stress on my right hip. The
activity that hurt the most was driving. I could not drive for more that 30
minutes without pain going right down to my knee. The same pain was involved
when I rode horses. During the week, while I was at work the pain was not too
bad but on the weekend when I would walk extensively at the farm or do more
manual labor my hip would hurt. As my hip continued to deteriorate I could not
ride my horse and dance in the same day. When my leg started giving out while I
was dancing I knew something had to be done.
I went to the Cleveland Clinic in August of 2009 and asked the surgeon if there
was anything else I could do besides replacement. He was a replacement surgeon
and strongly recommended replacement. He mentioned resurfacing but told me there
were a lot of issues with it. I scheduled replacement surgery for April 29th. I
had a lot of time before the surgery, so I started doing some research. I was
disturbed about the restrictions that are involved with hip replacement. I read
more about resurfacing and decided I needed to see Dr. Brooks at the Cleveland
Clinic about this procedure. My appointment was February 24, 2010 and he said I
was a candidate for resurfacing and it was scheduled for May 5, 2010, Cinco de
Mayo.
Because I am from out of town Phil, Dr. Brooks' Physician's Assistant scheduled
my preop examination on Tuesday May 4 to save me an extra trip to Cleveland. I
traveled to Cleveland with my wife and we got a hotel room for the week. My
daughter is a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic so she was with me as well. I was
getting rather apprehensive and thought about going back to Michigan but decided
that was a foolish thought and continued. My surgery was scheduled for 8:30 AM
on Wednesday morning so I had to check in the hospital at 6:00 AM. I was taken
to the pre-surgery suite at about 7:15 AM and wheeled in the operating room at
8:23 AM. I was back in my room before Noon just in time for lunch. I felt great.
I of course had no pain with the spinal and was in a very positive and upbeat
mood. Dr. Brooks came to see me in the afternoon and saw how well I was able to
move my right leg with my "dog leash" and said as soon as the spinal wore off I
could get out of bed and walk.
After I ate dinner I got out of bed, got rid of the hospital gown, and started
walking with my walker. It felt great. My wife and daughter did not want me to
walk too far so I spent the rest of the evening in my chair before I went back
to bed. On Thursday morning I got up, got dressed and walked with my walker as
much as I could. On Friday they taught me how to use crutches, made sure I could
go up and down stairs and released me from the hospital at about 2:00 PM. That
night we all went out to dinner at a nice restaurant in Cleveland. My wife and I
spent the night in the hotel and drove back to Michigan on Saturday morning. It
was a four hour drive and I really had very little pain in my leg. Saturday May,
8th happened to be my birthday and I dearly wanted to be home on my birthday so
that worked out well. Oh, I should probably mention that on May 8, 2010 I turned
63.
I can't say enough about the care I received at the hospital. Cleveland Clinic
took over the Euclid Hospital several years ago. The whole staff was excellent
and took very good care of me. I owe a lot of my speedy recovery to Dr. Brooks
who is a magician when it comes to this surgery. He did an excellent job.
Unfortunately I will have to have my left hip resurfaced soon and you better
believe I will be right back at Euclid Hospital with Dr. Brooks doing the
resurfacing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 2010
James Laveglia - Hip Resurfacing Part II
I forgot to mention that the picture is of me and my daughter 10 hours after
surgery. After my stroll down the hall with my walker after dinner on Wednesday,
May 5th I came back to the room and took this picture with my daughter.
I went back to work on Tuesday, May 11 for half a day. I have a desk job so that
was a fairly easy task. I did half days for the rest of the week. I have to
admit I was tired after being at work for just half days that week. I was not
prepared for the swelling that occurred in my thigh, lower leg and foot. By the
end of the day it was fairly painful and I would go home and raise my foot up. I
had to wear a sneaker on my right foot for several days. The swelling lasted
less than a week and although there may be a very slight amount of swelling in
my ankle and foot today (8 weeks post surgery) for all practical purposes it was
pretty much gone at three weeks post surgery.
I travel quite a bit and I had a trip scheduled for Japan on June 14th (5 weeks
and 5 days after surgery). My 6 week check up was scheduled for June 16th so I
contacted Phil and asked if I could come in for my check up on June 10th (5
weeks and 1 day after surgery). He said that was fine. They took X-rays and Phil
had me walk without my crutches and told me I could go to Japan but to continue
taking my aspirin until I got back. It is a 13 hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo
and this was a preventative measure. Phil noticed I had a slight limp when I
walked and he gave me an additional exercise to do. He told me to lay on my left
side and raise my right leg as high as I could and to do this exercise 90 times
a day. This was difficult in the beginning but it has really strengthened my
muscles and my limp is gone.
I have been inspired by the post surgery video’s on Surface Hippy especially the
video of the young lady dancing 4 weeks after surgery. I dearly wanted to make a
dancing video 4 weeks after my surgery but I just could not dance very well. I
continued to work on it and I did make a video of me waltzing 5 weeks after my
resurfacing surgery. I will send that video to Surface Hippy. At that time I
could actually dance better than I could walk. I went for my check up in
Cleveland the next day and with the exercise that Phil gave me it has really
improved my dancing and walking.
It has been 8 weeks since my resurfacing surgery and I can honestly say I am
very happy I did this procedure and I have been very pleased with my recovery.
Dancing has become a big part of my life and before my hip resurfacing I was
unable to perform the Viennese Waltz as my hip would not hold up to all the
movement and pressure that is required to perform this dance. I am learning that
dance now and with my new resurfaced hip I am able to do the dance with no pain
and my hip does not give out. We are putting together a Viennese Waltz routine
for our dance competition in September and once we have the routine down I will
take a video and submit it to Surface Hippy. I recommend this procedure to
anybody that is thinking about hip surgery. It is truly a phenomenal procedure.
