Broken surprises.

It has four years since I had the replacement and four months since the bone graft.

Recovery from the graft is proving to be interesting, more difficult than I thought and with a surprise that my surgeon has never seen from this already unusual surgery.

I had a check up six weeks ago and I am still processing the news, the x-ray showed that I have fractured the bone graft. Clear through middle, where the stem tip hits the bone. We are a bit of a loss as to how this has happened and what this means for the success of the operation. It is gutting.  The unknown of this is a bit tough.

The recovery has been difficult with stiffness and flexibility. I am finding it frustrating and depressing, having a toddler around has made extra hard and I am thankful he came along after the hip replacement! It may have been easier to put this off till Squeaky was in school but we have so many other unknowns this had to be sorted.

I had four Hydrotherapy sessions and they helped. I am finding being focused on the physio difficult and really need to be better. I find I can lift and carry Squeaky but a bit loathe to run after him and he is running! Everywhere!
I need to find some motivation and not let this fracture drag me down and hope that my bone merges in with the graft. I need this leg to be back to normal regardless. I have to this but am so worried it is has failed and all this pain and the lack of flexibility is for nought.to write this a few
I have tried to be sparkly about this but am failing a bit. I am still off work and trying to get myself and this damn leg. Then forward.

Monitoring not treating for the moment.

The clinic has a lovely play area.

For the last week we have had almost interruption free sleep. It is astounding, wonderful and still a novelty. Last night Mr Gin and I were chatting and we realised that it is over nine months since this happened. We may get a full nights sleep but we were on average up four times a night, so sleep deprivation felt normal. I got to a point that I could not remember if I had got up but Squeaky had a different dummy or the such like that indicated I had been up plus being shattered! When I was very much out of action Mr Gin was up at least five times a night. So, this week has been bliss!

So, what has bought about this change? Squeaky is out the abduction brace! After six months in the brace at night and three months in the Spica cast we are not doing anything hip related treatment! This is brilliant because the last month has been a hard slog with the brace, he really was getting uncomfortable at night in it and at most he managed five hours before we had to take him out of the brace so he should sleep well. He was generally happy to go in the brace but it was increasingly obvious that he was getting unhappy with it.

We had the three months check-up last week and we both were hoping that because Squeaky had started walking that we could ditch the brace. We arrived in plenty of time to the appointment and went for the standard x-ray. This time we insisted that Squeaky have both his parents with him and as a result it was less stressful and much less upset on his behalf than last time. Holding your child down is never a nice experience but having both of us there meant it was a swift experience and he got Mummy and Daddy cuddles to help with the tears.

In medical speak his angles look good.

 We saw an Orthopaedic Surgeon, Nick, a new face as Ms Biljsma was on maternity leave. He checked out the x-ray which shows better coverage of the socket, also his walking is good, no sign of a limp and his movement feels solid, no shifting of the joint. He got in another consultant to look at all he had and they were impressed with the walking and the quickness he found a computer mouse!

We were told that we need to be vigilant for changes and any concerns with his movement we should get him in for another appointment. We will be back in three months to check progress and hope that there is no regression but the outcome of this visit is we are not treating but monitoring. I expect the monitoring will continue into his teens but it brilliant that we are brace free. Thinking back, we have done 11 months of bracing and Spica cast, this is almost half his life. Thank goodness it is over for now. Now for more sleeping through and learning to run and skip!

Held together with Zip ties.

I am currently propped in my bed with Wonder Woman playing on the TV. My right leg is sore, painful to the bone but slowly getting there. Would you like to know how I got here? Are you okay with slightly gory post operative pictures? Yes? Read on! No? Close the window and find something else to read!
Last Tuesday I was up before the household, quick shower and final pieces packed and off I went, early enough to catch a night bus to the station. Travelled on the tube with the retail workers and work boots and tool boxes. My mohawk sans produce tucked up in a turban and a totally comfy but weird slogan for the day hoodie and I arrived early to UCLH. (University London College Hospital)

In totally British fashion there was a queue at the door as the department did not open till right on the dot of 7am. Peed in a cup and was told I was the first on the list. Which was a surprise but good. Went thought the standard medical questions and the nurse went off to get my gown and assorted gubbins. She returned with the news there was no bed for me at the moment and I would have to wait. No idea how long that would be and that generally these things resolved themselves. I hoped so, having to rearrange all the arrangements we had made would be a pain. The Anaesthetist arrived and was very pleased that I would rather a spinal over a general anaesthetic.

I sat around for a while, and Mr Gin joined me after dropping Squeaky off at childcare. I met Mr Hutt’s Fellow (possibly Registrar) and we signed forms and again I was told they generally sorted the bed issues out. While we waited in the waiting room Mr Hutt dropped in to say everything was ready to go ahead, all the bits assembled. He thought there was a bed but the surgery wouldn’t happen till the afternoon.

I was taken up around 11:30, dressed in the hospital’s finest gowns. I walked to theatre, this something if found interesting, normally there is a wheel chair or bed involved. I left Mr Gin behind, he wouldn’t be there when I got out as he had to pick up Squeaky.

The spinal went smoothly, both Anaesthetist , Mr John Dick and Chris (missed the last name) were lovely, apparently I sat very still but to be honest I didn’t feel it at all. Good work. Mr Hutt was relived that I had selected to be sedated, personally I didn’t want to be awake, nerves would make me extra chatty.

The operation was a bone graft, a piece of donor bone was to be attached to my femur with wires. The medicine/science is that the donor bone should grow into my bone and make it thicker, hopefully this will take the pressure that I can feel and spread the load. Thus hopefully lessening the pain from the stem tip that is resting against the inside of my femur.

I woke in recovery, a bit fuzzy and sore. Lovely staff, as always, recovery nursing staff tend to be the most attentive, I am assuming that recovery is a place that you have to be on your toes. I call Mr Gin, because they realised there would be no one to meet me and I really wanted to let him know I was okay. I had a lovely chat with a Filipino nurse, we talked about being a long way from home and the British weather. Then I was very proactive and threw up my nice short bread biscuit in a vomit bowl. I was feeling a bit dissociative which was to be expected but this nausea was not something I have had with a spinal. I was given a drug to help and then a swift and slightly painful bed change because my bladder was not really there so to speak and throwing up set it off. My blood pressure was low as was my heart rate, this was little bit weird, it is not a rare side effect of a spinal but the heart rate was causing concern. I needed to drink more water. Another nurse came in, a fellow who obviously spent a lot of time in the gym. We had a conversation about my gym experience as a 40 tiny woman compared to his as a hefty nurse. He felt my lower heart rate may result in being fit. (I am not sure if he was being nice, it is odd being called fit by a medical professional.)

I was taken up to the tenth floor where I was looked after by an amazing Irish nursing assistant called Kathleen, she found my home so I could call Squeaky which made me cry. She decided that a slightly nauseous, weepy, Australian mum needed that phone quickly and located it for me. She also took away the sausages and mash that landed on my table that really didn’t help and found a sandwich. Small things that helped. I rewarded her by throwing up the sandwich but in bowls, sadly still required another bed change. Another anti – nausea drug and pain killers followed. My temperature was low, not sure why, the nurses covered me up in blankets and tried to get me warmed. I was surprisingly in a single room, I was warned I would be moved onto a bay, which was fine, but I was happy to be a in a single room for the first night, feeling as spaced as I was.

A friend, H, who worked locally came over after work and sat with me for a bit. We looked at the amazing view over London but I have very little memory of the conversation because the combination of three anti-nausea meds, painkillers and wearing off sedatives really made life interesting. My blankets began undulate on their on accord, looking like that they were breathing. It wasn’t a pleasant experience but I think H thought it slightly amusing!

She left and I dozed for a bit. The downside to low blood pressure is that nursing staff want you to drink water, that in turn means that you need to pee and then that means bed pans! Ack, and getting onto those bastards is hard with a very stiff and painful leg! I hate, loathe bed pans. End of subject.
In the morning, the Surgical Fellow I met before the surgery arrived, looked at the scar, which is lower than my replacement scar, and felt that as long as the physio team agreed and I got an x-ray and that looked good I could go home that day. That was a little bit of surprise, we were expecting a bit longer and if we could get out in the early afternoon it would be all fine. My temperature was higher but blood pressure a touch low.

The Physio arrived, a lively lady named Stacey, arrived with crutches. I had morphine before she arrived in anticipation of this being tough but I was so ready to walk to the toilet it wasn’t funny. We went through a refresher of crutch using and I gently stood up. I then swore, a lot, it fucking hurt but manageable. Mr Hutt had told me that it was likely to be more painful than replacement, he wasn’t wrong. So, up I got, I was going to pee. I turned and my ears began to ring, my head felt tight and I felt really hot. I realised that I was going to faint. I told Stacey that I had to sit down, rapidly and she told me to lie down. She then harassed the bed to get my head lower than my feet. She was quite concerned and checked my blood pressure, which was low, not very low but a bit of concern and my colour was extremely pale. More goth than goth.  The Physio decided that I wasn’t going to be discharged the day with low enough blood pressure.  It took a while for my colour to return.

Stacey decided she would come back in the after lunch to see how I was going and do walking and stairs then. Annoyingly I was to stay in bed until she came back and that meant bed pans.

Mr Gin visited with snacks and I perfected some origami as we waited for the x-ray and physio. The Pharmacist dropped by and discussed drugs, including one that I had not tried before.
Dihydrocodeine, first test to see if it made me throw up and if it works.  During the day I ended up doubling it up with morphine as the pain was pretty full on. In an attempt to feel more human I changed into a nightie of my own which helped.

Stacey the Physio returned and I was fine with the crutches, although the leg was sore, I was happy to give it a go. We did not do the stairs as there was no wheelchair but I wasn’t going home anyway because the x-ray had not happened. But I did not have to use a bed pan so I did not care!
So, Mr Gin went off to pick up Squeaky and H dropped in before she went off a meeting. I was nice to have her company, we admired the view again and I wandered around a bit on my crutches. She headed off on to her meeting and I settled in for the night after saying good night to Squeaky. By 9:30 I was struggling to remain awake so I went to sleep.

The morning was an early start with the Physio turning up before the joy of the pain med cart. I walked on my crutches to the stairs, the leg was very sore but I was going to do this, I miss Squeaky and my bed. (I missed Mr Gin too, but I was seeing him.) There was two Physios and we went up and down a flight of stairs. Oh boy, it hurt, my leg is so stiff, the femur hurt a lot and the incision was tight. I did it though. I got back to my room and Stacey was a gem and located a some morphine, I was very pleased to see it. It takes a fair bit to put me in tears but there was I lying on the bed sobbing but after a while it settled.

Stacey was happy to discharge me, now it was only an x-ray and we were golden but considering they had ordered it yesterday, I was a little worried. I had a pain free nap and an entertaining time doing origami feeling floaty.

The x-ray happened and I got to see the hardware, I have five metal zip ties attaching someone else’s bone to my femur. No wonder it hurt! The x-ray technician thought I was brave, which not what I would call it.  There was a dressing change and the unveiling of the incision, it joins my replacement scar which means it that is one very long scar! The nurse said it was very neat.

The time was slipping away and Mr Gin had to go and pick up Squeaky. Thankfully the lovely R was pleased to duck out of work and wait with me while I butted my head against the wall of hospital policy about not prescribing oramorph. I was not happy with the pain management of the codeine, ibuprofen and paracetamol combo. It removed some of the pain but I wasn’t overly comfortable. The doctors suggested that I stay another night but I wanted to come home and hug Squeaky.
In the end I left with R and we had a bit of a tough time getting a cab due to being officially discharged at 5 pm. Getting discharged from hospital is unbelievably complicated and time consuming.

Home was lovely, Squeaky was lovely and it was good to see Mr Gin and eat real food. All in all it was a very different experience to Epsom and I felt it was odd that I only saw Mr Hutt once.

Cast free, Bracing for walking.

It has been a while since I have posted, family and work life has been stressful but not for hip reasons.

Squeaky is doing really well. The cast came off over four months ago. It was a day that proved to be tough but wonderful. He was very mobile in the cast and had got crawling in it down to a fine art.

We arrived to the clinic and of course there was the x-ray. Then into see Ms Bijlsma. She was very pleased with the position of the hip but the socket is still a little shallow. This meant while we were there Derek the Plaster Technician would be fitting Squeaky for an Abduction Brace to be worn at night (and naps but we agreed that the poor childminders could have a break) for three months.

Ms Bijlsma

Ms Bijlsma added her note to his cast and we went to get the cast off. We had headphones and a phone loaded with “Hey Duggee” music clips and two parents trying to make it as easy as possible. It was not as bad as previous times as the novelty of the having the phone given to him was a difficult thing to ignore. He was still very upset but that first cast free cuddle was wonderful, the weight difference was astounding.


Derek told us that Squeaky would be stiff and his skin would require extra attention for a while. His skin was discoloured and flaky, the likes from the plaster liner clear on his skin. He also was very smelly. As was the cast, which we took home!

Skin after the cast came off.

That evening after a long warm bath with his Dad, Squeaky tried crawling, such a little champion and determined.

We will not miss the plaster; it was the hardest part of this process so far, hard physically and mentally. Best core exercise I have ever done but draining. He has a longish scar to show for it and hopefully that is all!

We began bracing straight away, we have had a couple of nights where he got uncomfortable or it was way too hot to contemplate the long PG trousers
Over the next few days he started to commando crawl and gaining strength to crawl “properly”.
Over the past months he has moved from crawling to standing to confident cruising to toddling with something to push.
 At three months after the cast we had another check up with x-rays. The angles are slowly getting better but Ms Bijlsma wants him in the brace for another three months. She also felt that shoes would be a good idea to help with walking. He is 18 months old now, a little behind his peers but we are not concerned with that, he has moved from complete relearning crawling to cruising in three months.


Walking will put pressure in the hip too and help with the angles and forming the ball of his hip.
We are not out of the woods yet but we are getting there, next solid walking in his new shoes and running for the edge of the woods.

Let the spica journey begin

It has been two weeks since Squeaky had his open reduction at the Royal London Hospital.
It has been a roller coaster of a ride. 

We arrived at the hospital at 7.30 am with surprisingly chilled baby, even though he had missed breakfast.

We had met all the team. Dr Louis, the anesthetist, was amazing, calming and reassuring as Squeaky had a bit of a sniffle and said the operation could go ahead. Then Ms Biljsma and her team, we established the leg that required operating on and she seemed relaxed and happy. I said I was very keen on avoiding a femoral osteotomy. I know this was something that may have to be done but still wanted to avoid.
We were told we were first surgery and there wouldn't be long to wait. I took squeaky to theatre but we were sent back to the ward as there was no bed for when he came out of surgery.
In the end we didn't go to theatre till 11.30 am. Squeaky was very good and even napped although thirsty and hungry.

Surgery last 2.5 hours. I went to recovery, Squeaky was hooked up to a morphine drip and sporting a purple spica cast. It went down almost to his ankle on the left to just above his knee on the right. He was very upset but a mum cuddle soon sorted that out. He had a sleep in me as we waited for the ward nurse to come and get him.  Dr Louis popped in and said it went well. Then Ms Biljsma came in, she was very pleased, she said the hip went in better than she thought it would and that there was no need for a femoral osteotomy! I think a huge weight lifted at that point.

Sarah, the ward nurse arrived soon after and we were go to head to the ward. We collected Mr Gin on the way an and headed up with Squeaky in a huge bed and a morphine pump.

We got up on the ward and there was a visit from the pain management team and all the observations as well as Squeaky wanting to have cuddles. And with those cuddles as much as napping as possible.

We gave him food as soon as were allowed as he was starving. With food in his tummy he seemed more settled.

We played pass the baby and try to chill till after his dinner. Squeaky was really out of sorts and very much suffering with being doped up.  Mr Gin headed home to feed the cats and get some rest. I prepared for a night on an extendable couch.

Buckaroo on a dopey baby

It started okay, Clark settled and drifted off to sleep up kept waking. This continued with a lot of screaming and only sleeping on me. In the end it was decided to give him more morphine and some diazepam for muscle cramps. The spinal had worn off and he was very uncomfortable. He managed to pull out his morphine cannula which was a bloody mess but showed why they put two cannulas in babies, just in case they do that! It was a tough night being on a ward made it tougher.

The following day was a morning full of visitors, the pain management team, who where going to cut down his morphine with an eye for taking him off it. The OT fitted him into his buggy and gave me lots of information and was impressed with our organisation. A surprise visit from Dr Louis! The surgical team came in and agreed to make the hole around his bits bigger so we didn't have to fight to get the nappy in. The plaster technician was going to come and do this. Then for Squeaky, the best bit, Mr Gin arrived.

More cuddles, reading and playing happened. I went out for lunch and a bit of break while Squeaky slept and had lunch.

We waited for the plaster tech and got the morphine out. We then took Squeaky joy riding in his buggy! It became clear we were not going to see the tech so we had dinner and Mr Gin headed home.

I was a bit more prepared for the lack of sleep. We had some diazepam again but that hyped him up and he played peek a boo with himself for forty minutes! I managed to get him to sleep a little buy propping him up on his tummy. It was broken sleep after that and in the end I dozed on the couch with him wedge in but on me.

Mr Gin arrived early to rescue me and Squeaky played in the play room. We had a visit from the orthopedic team who chased up the plaster tech, Derek. Who some of you may remember for removing his other cast and fitting his palvik harness.

Once that was done it was a sign off from the pain team and the nurses and we could go home. I left the hospital about Lunch time and Mr Gin got Squeaky home for dinner.

A very long few days. More on the adventures with a small boy in a big cast soon.

Adventures in a Palvik Harness.

It has been eight weeks since Squeaky went into his Palvik Harness.
It has been a steep learning curve and also lessons in empathy with my mother.

We learnt early on that pee socks are important with little boys when trying avoid getting pee on a harness you are not meant to take off. We have got very good at wiping him down instead of bathing him. Although this comes more problematic when there is a nappy explosion. More so if you are getting ready to out to a party and you are in your favourite party clothes. Note if you pick up a baby have the legs their babygrow squish under your hand. Call in reinforcements and all wipes you can manage. That particular night was a two person job and taking velcro off and sponging off poo was not as fun as it sounds!
We found dresses work really well especially with the tricky nature of nappy changes, to be fair nappies have been the bigest challenge.
Squeaky himself is pretty happy, he kicks his legs like a footballer and is happy.  Holding him feels odd and you have to careful of where his legs are and we are no longer comfortable sitting in the rocking chair which is annoying.

Our first check up had been delayed a week and we arrived to a doubly busy clinic. Squeaky was scanned and it was felt that his right hip was improving but the subluxated left hip had not. This was gutting news. We took the harness of there and Squeaky was smelly, he had not had a bath for three weeks. We booked in the next consultation, feeling very sad and lots hugs given. Mr Gin and I headed home, with a smelly Squeaky, on a London bus in our own bubble of silence as we absorbed the news. On the way home one the surgeons we had spoken with rang, she had compared Squeaky's initial ultrasound with the one taken that day and said there was a small improvement. She asked that we come back in two days and get Squeaky fitted into a Harness again. We agreed.

We took him home and gave him a much needed bath. He was not all that happy as he stretched his legs out but the bath soothed his legs.  Out of the harness he felt tiny and delicate to hold.

We returned to the hospital, early in the morning, to be refitted. Squeaky was a delight, smiling and giggling and proving that he is resilient by not changing his behaviour over the next two weeks as we settled back into harness routine. We went back to the hospital in two weeks and had another check, again they felt there was minimal change but compared the ultrasounds there in the clinic.  They left in the harness and off we went, knowing that there was improvement but it was very slow and we were looking at  a possible three to five months in the harness.

We had got good at removing the harness by watching the professionals and marking the harness. This meant Squeaky got a bath once a week and when we had a poo explosion a quick wash. A little more civilised.

We went back for the seven week check last week. Again another ultrasound with minimal change. Two surgeons went off and compared the four ultrasounds. The right hip is looking like a normal hip but the left is showing minimal change. It is still subluxated. They recommended that Squeaky come out of the harness and he is booked in for a closed reduction.

The closed reduction will occur in July. They will inject a dye into the joint and manually manipulate the joint into the right position. They check if there is ligament pulling at the joint, if it is, they will cut it. Then they will put him in a spica plaster cast, that goes from his waist to the ankle on the affected side, knee on the other. This is done under general anaesthetic.

We are currently harness free and having to do another wardrobe exchange as a lot of the clothing that went over the harness swamps him now.  He is happy, chirpy self although the first night home in pain due to his legs stretching out.

It has taken me a week to write this because the escalation of Squeaky's treatment is upsetting. I am disappointed the harness didn't work, guilty that my genetics have bred so try and frightened about putting me precious little boy through this. He will be six moths old and having a general anaesthetic, scary. I really hope this works because I don't want him to end up like me and able to remember treatment because it went on so long.

Right now I am trying to focus on enjoying my delightful little boy and introducing him to his Australian grandparents. After they go, we focus on providing the best care and outcome for Squeaky, his hip and long term health.

Six months, really, yes really!

The Big Six month update.

It has been quiet on the blog because there is not all that much to report. Not much has changed but I have had the six months check up with Mr Hutt so an update feels to be in order. It is not an overly cheerful update because I am still frustrated but will try for an upbeat mode.

So, sports massage, brilliant idea, has sorted out my back. Fabulous! I have found a good masseur through work, she is close and reasonably priced. My rock hard calves have settled down which is brilliant. I suspect this is no longer a luxury but a necessary to help my body along as I try to sort this walk. Loosening muscles seems to help a fair bit and maybe it will help with the thigh pain I have having.

Thigh pain. A frustrating new thing along with a knee that is a bit sore and audible in its crunching! The thigh pain is from tip of the implant in my thigh bone, it is deep and ranges from nothing, a bit achy to quite sore. I rarely take pain killers for it but it is not something I want to live with. Mr Hutt has explained some of the issue comes from me being a dainty wee thing, well, short (153cm) and the stem being reasonably long. It tends to get sore when I put pressure on it from exercises etc. It is deep, under muscle pain. It was intermittent when I first got the hip done then disappeared and then came back in June and has not disappeared. Yet. There is hope as it all beds in that the pain will disappear and things will be peachy. The pain is such that I am bit wary of trying to run, even for a bus because I think that will be a nasty sharp pain. Mr Hutt, thinks in 12 month we will know if it is going to be an ongoing issue.

Sadly, if it does not go in that time, the only option maybe a revision and new hip. I want to avoid that. So much. So much. So at the moment lots research happening and exercising to gentle persuade the tip to bed in and the bone to become less sensitive! I just hope it is all worth it.

The knee could be muscles pulling on the knee cap which I will get my masseur to look at that and if that does not help, off to the GP! Frankly dodgy left knee is in the bad books because I would like the body to give me a break for a while.

Needless to say all the above it a bit tough to deal with and digest but recently finding someone with similar issues with the same implant and put in by the same surgeon has helped a lot.

Exercise. I hate the gym. But I am doing static biking, leg weight machine things and cross trainer. Not too much swimming lately but I am doing a fair amount of that, not quite cracked the 1 km in 30 minutes mark but hoping to soon. At some point there will be leg presses and rowing soon, if I can work out how to use the rowing machine!

The bloody walk. I have new sneakers but they are being rapidly destroyed by my twisty left foot. I am still hip hiking and a little bit of the waddle, a throw back from the old walk and also a bit with the thigh pain. Mr Hutt felt that perfection will not happen on its own and there are some terrible habits of a lifetime break. The skeletal foundation is the best we can hope for, we think the hip has settled about 1mm down which is not much but could have been the angle of the x-ray or a result of normal settling or a major collision I had with the floor 3 months ago. He is very pleased (as am I) with the movement I have. I can sit cross legged like a primary school child, this is something I have NEVER been able to do even as a child. The range of movement is very good and smooth. The muscles are building nicely but could do with some more building.  So, this means some more gym work and locating a physiotherapist to help with the walking. There is more in this than weak muscles, there are old habits and I do not really know what a proper walk feels like.  I think this is clincher, the past physio expected I would know what a normal walk would feel like. I really don’t I have never walked like a normal person, my gait has been awkward since I learned to walk on a dislocated hip as a two year old!

I am walking fair distances and with speed, I can keep up with Mr Gin pretty well and now there is no longer any forward planning for going out, I walk my local high street easily and climb two to three stories of stairs, although a bit puffy, quite well. My overall fitness and weight leave a bit to be desired but that is the story of my life and not really to do with the new hip. I could do with losing a good 30 kilograms and that might help with the overall fitness. Sadly, I find gym boring and rather like food and booze, so this is always going to be a struggle.  I have been walking more because of all things, Pokemon Go, it drives Mr Gin bonkers but gets me out and about. I am trying to catch buses that require more walking and generally not take the lazy way out. I have to try and cut down on the red wine.

Work is a stressful which makes cutting the wine down hard. We have a trip to Australia booked, I am sure that I will set some sensors off! I have also got it my mind this new hip is going to do some driving, a lot of it. I am looking forward to a holiday.

There is not much else to report besides a little six month celebration but that will get its own post!

Six Week check - Mr Hutt

So, today was my six week check up.

I trundled my way out to the far reaches of Wimbledon. Went through the now standard excitement of X-Ray (Yay for yoga pants) and then without much waiting it was off to see Mr Hutt.

Mr Hutt 

He was very pleased with the scar, even though I have had an awful outbreak of eczema around the scar. That should be solved with large amount moisturiser.

The implant is a titanium and ceramic S-ROM implant with a Pinnacle cuff. It is attached using ‘Press Fit’, which means they are both uncemented and the bone should grow to attach them firmly.  It has a long stem and the reason for some of the thigh pain I have. Hopefully this will disappear but this could stick around. It also is closer to a normal hip on its angles so I have a different range of movement. Not a huge different but it does explain why my turn in is not as awesome as it used to be. The small fracture I got in surgery was because I have round shaped femur and not elliptical like most people. The stem is shaped for normal people and was a very tight fit.

Mr Hutt was awesome and answered the three pages of questions I had. Very matter of fact. Very little sugar coating. The left hip looks good but not great and I should be aware that it could go but he said that is a while away yet.

He was impressed by the knee bruise, he felt it was referred bleeding from the operation.It was not something he had seen before. He said that knee had been twisted but not to the bruising extent.

He also said that I can ski and ice skate but to be aware that if I do take a tumble and fracture the right femur it is more likely to be a nasty fracture.  So I shall think about those. Cycling and swimming are for the win the win. This bit is for Red, Mr Hutt was slightly horrified at the thought of Skydiving and that the release of the shute could cause some issues. He did not say no but did look little bemused by the suggestion. He did say that marathons were totally off the table.

So, onto slightly more practical matters. I am able to get rid of the second crutch and when the Physios are happy with the walk, getting rid of the second crutch soon. Also, I can gently attempt to go for putting on socks and tying up laces. If my muscles allow it I should also be able to squat and to sit cross legged.  If I manage to sit cross legged, this will be something I have never done! Never!

There is very little I should not be doing. Most of the danger zone for dislocation is over, and I have to be aware of some twisting but generally it all good. I doubt Prima Ballerina is going happen but I think that there will be a new me.

So, this is a large thank you to Mr Jonathan Hutt for undertaking the job.  At six week I am more than happy with the outcome and the care both he and the EOC showed. Mr Hutt said that we really should know in 12 months how well it has gone.  Hopefully the year mark will be a show case for exciting new movement and life.