Way OT - Hip Joint Replacement

• by donr
• 2019-05-01 04:47:53
• General Posting
• 880 views
• 2 comments

I'm still alive - Been about two weeks helping MD Daughter cope w/ a failed left Hip prosthesis.  She had original hip job on left about three yrs ago.   That was after having right hip done two yrs previous.   Left hip failed after a relatvely short time - ball came out of joint twice in a two day period, requiring a revision.  The suture line in the soft tissue tore open.  FFWD to last winter - left hip started squeaking, grinding, popping, etc.  Got worse over time - her staff could hear her walking down the hall.  Sitting, walking & anything else became painful.  Two weeks ago she was standing in kitchen, looking around for her car keys & was startled by a loud "POP!", followed by excruciating pain.   She weht to see a chiropractor friend who was also a licensed X-Ray tech & he took a shot of both hips.  Left ball was almost out of joint, obviously.  Saveral large chunks of scrap & a cloud of "shrapnel" in area below ball joint joint space.  Sone of it was several inches from the joint.  Daughter took a photo of the X-ray , sent it to her surgeon  in TN, along w/ a call requesting an appt sooner than mid may.   He sched it for 25 Apr.  Several days later, I got a call from his PA asking me to confirm that she would be there.  I asked him his opinion of ther X-Ray - he said pretty bad; then I asked the probabality they woukd keeep her there for immediate surgery.  He asked me If  I was driving her up.  then said "Pack a bag! "

Arrived at his ofice at 2:45 Thurs PM, they took an immediate X-Ray.  Ten min later we are sittting there looking at X-ray - there are now a half dozen chunks of fragments scattered around & a large cloud of shrapnel.  The ball is now about half its normal size & clearly out of place.  The ball has obviously failed in layers & the fragments moved abhout in the spaces between the muscles.

Took 3 1/2 hrs for him to repair it Fri AM.  Took a new ball & a liner in the old socket, since the inner surface of the original socket  was severely scored by the extremely rough surface of the failed ball.  It was a ceramic ball.    Got her out of hosp & into a rehab facility Mon PM. 

Wife & I are exhausted after last two weeks,.  Really crashed last night.  Her recovery?  Out of bed Fri PM for potty breaks.  Walked Sat AM.  Mon was able to walk 150 feet, twice.  Today did about 200 feet each in  3 sessions. 

Fragments are in bonded storage at hosp pending action against manufacturer for failed device.  This is going to be interesting!

Thought you old timers would appreciate the troubles that can come from other body replacement implants.  I've checked statistics - hip & knee prostheses fail at a much higher rate than PM/ICD's.   Her surgeon does about 250 replacements per year.  There are 5 other  surgeons in the practice - dunno how many they do, but they only do hips & knees.

Donr