Left Hip Replacement

I’ve put this surgery off for a long time!  Somehow the thought of someone cutting off my leg… while only a temporary state during the procedure, wasn’t particularly enticing!  

I was doing PT for hip pain never realizing it was the joint!  I really thought it was just pulled muscles.  We finally did an X-ray that showed advanced OA in the left hip WITH A FRACTURE (!) and mild to moderate OA in the right hip!  This was not good news!

I thought I could suck it up and live with it, but it got so bad that getting out of the car almost brought me to tears!  This is NOT how I wanted to spend my new found freedom in retirement, so decided to do the surgery.  Dr. Kaper, his NP Sherry, and his staff are beyond amazing!  They weren’t pushy to do the procedure (“We’ll be here whenever you’re ready”!)  They all had an awesome sense of humor ! He was recommended by the PT (Maggie Klausing) as using an anterior approach to the hip joint and not cutting through any muscles or tendons.  They are just separated to allow for access to the hip joint.  

It turned out to be life-changing!!  The surgery was done in an out-patient facility and began about 9:00 a.m.  I was HOME by 1:00 pm!  There was NO pain.  There was swelling which was controlled with ice packs.  I literally walked out of the surgery center when it was over (with a walker)!  I used the walker for about a week and then ditched it when walking around the house.  By 2 weeks, I was done with it completely!  There were no sutures… he used a ‘zip-tie’ like thing that I got to remove at the 2-week mark!

They gave me Meloxicam for 2 months with the option to take it during the third month.  It’s an anti-inflammatory.  I will forever be in love with this med!  It takes pain out of ALL joints!  I felt like I was 20 again!  Too bad I can’t take it forever on a daily basis, but I guess it gets a little hard on the kidneys!

The total experience was so easy I’ll have no qualms about doing the right hip when needed!  There is absolutely NO pain in the left hip anymore!!  YAY!!

Update: (1/10/22) Just found this awesome video on TikTok showing how the ZipLine closure works!  https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdMQM9B9/