Off the Grid

Have you ever been rolling merrily along without a care in the world, only to receive an unexpected and unwelcome bit of news that sidelines you for a while?

That's what happened to me one month ago after visiting my orthopedist who originally replaced one of my two artificial hips.  He informed me I needed another new hip.

Yeah.  It's like this.

I was on a short vacation with the spousal unit.  I heard squeaking.  It wasn't the bed.  It was me!!  (Yes, I know what you're all thinking but it wasn't even during THAT).

WTF!?  My right hip produced a faint squeak if I moved a particular way. I could feel it too; the way one feels a cell phone on low vibrate.

I telephoned the doctor's office who had me scheduled the following week for X rays and a meeting with the doc.  I was hoping I had something that was nothing.  I knew better.  Squeaky parts are not consistent with functioning replacement prosthetics.

Three weeks later, I'm on the operating table, about to have the original prothesis removed and replaced in what is known as "revision" surgery.  I hadn't had time to process any of this.  I just accepted the urgent nature of the problem, a loosening prosthesis wearing unevenly on a polymer shielded hip joint with potential for fracture of the ceramic ball atop the femur.

I have been off the grid since early May when this began.  I wanted to write but heavy drugs don't stimulate creativity regardless of what some folks say.  As of last Wednesday, I weaned off the opiates and  am hoping Tylenol will hold me til I see the doc this week on my 4 week post-op follow up.

All I can say is, at the tender age of 61, three hip replacements and a knee replacement are not what I foresaw when I imagined growing old gracefully.

Pain and Uncertainty

As a short postscript to Sunday's post, "Pain". I spoke with my family doc yesterday. She called to tell me she'd finally received the results of an exam I had with a rheumatologist. She said I looked "fine". Trouble is, she did not realize she was looking at a four year old examination.

She wants me to have another one.

Doctors always tell you they simply want to "rule out" things. But that is code and it's hard not to worry and wonder what you'll do if they find something.

I had the original exam because my best friend's mother encouraged me, no, demanded I have one. She had visited and been concerned about my health: two hip replacements and ongoing joint pain with a pending knee replacement. She is a nurse with a Phd who worked in cancer med at UCLA, so when she tells me to do something, I do it.

Back in '05, I received a clean bill of health and was greatly relieved because the rheumatoligist looks for many different things including some kind of necrosis of the bone. I'd never heard of that so that was a new scary one to contemplate. I waited and waited to finally receive the results via a letter. All was well.

Now I'm going to repeat the process. Should I? It's half a day off work to drive the 80 miles to this specialist. But it's more than that. It's the repeat performance; the waiting; the uncertainty. Part of me says to ignore it and go on with my life because what will I do if they find something? Avoidance issues.

My father would say I'm "borrowing trouble". He'd probably be right.