Surgery Is Scheduled For Tuesday Sept 8th

The hip replacement is scheduled for Sept 8th 7 am, the first work day after the Labor Day weekend. Three weeks from tomorrow. I hope surgery is a little like car manufacturing where it is better to buy a car assembled on Monday after the weekend then Friday at the end of the week.

The surgeon will be using a device made by DePuy. The Corail model. Ain't she a beauty? It is a metal on metal implant. I believe the stem is made of titanium and the ball and cup liner are made of cobalt chromium which is extremely hard and should outlast me. If they dig up my coffin 500 years from now all they will find will be a funny looking metal thingy bouncing around in a large box. The stem and outer cup later (the darker grey textured cap) is covered with hydroxyapatite (HA) which encourages bone growth. They don't glue these in anymore but instead once positioned the bone grows into the device to secure it.

The surgeon will be making an Anterolateral incision ( between the side and front of the hip) of about 5 inches. Surgery should be about two hours.

* There are quite a few manufacturers of artificial hips and many different approaches to surgery. I don't want to imply that the above is any better or worse than what another doctor may use.

Introduction

I am a male 61 years of age and live on Long Island, New York. I am 6' 210 lbs. My main source of activity is cycling with my local bike club. For a little background I am a "B" rider who averages between 15-16 miles per hour on 50-60 mile rides. The roads of the North Shore of Long Island where we mostly ride are comprised of a lot of short but steep hills along with good stretches of flat roads.

For the past nine months to a year I have been developing a pain which I thought was some kind of groin pull or injury to my upper quad. Over time it got progressively worse, especially after riding where the next day I am pretty sore. When it also started to hurt along my backside and side I decided to go to an orthopedic doctor. At that point I figured it was some kind of hip inflammation and was hoping a cortisone shot would fix it. Much to my surprise when the surgeon saw the X-ray he immediately knew my hip was in the end stage of arthritis. The articular cartilage, which is similar to the shiny ends of a chicken bone was completely gone. Bone is rubbing on bone.

He told me I would at some point relatively soon need a total hip replacement. He said I could continue to ride as I wouldn't do any further damage. When I did not want to handle the discomfort any more I should have the surgery. This started me off on an extensive internet search for information which is typical of my compulsive nature.

The point of this blog is to document my hip replacement journey so anyone else in the future in a similar situation can have an idea what to expect. As everyone's experience is different, this will be my story.