IN NEED OF COMPLETE HIP REPLACEMENT
I JUST TURNED 48 BEEN .TRYING FOR 7 YEARS NOW TO HAVE A HIP REPLACEMENT .I HAD NO INSURANCE TIL NOW . BUT BECAUSE IT HAS TAKEN SO LONG ,AND MY MOBILITY WAS DEMINISHING MORE AND MORE EVERY YEAR ,THE 145LBS. I LOST BACK IN 2010 IS NOW BACK AND IT BRUNG COMPANY . I GOT UPTO OVER 320 .MY HEALTH WAS BAD .BUT THEN I FOUND OUT THAT THEY NOW WERE NOT GOING TO DO MY HIP SURGERY BECAUSE OF MY WEIGHT.THEY TOOK 3 YEARS TO TELL ME THIS.BY THEN , THE PAIN MEDS THAT I WAS FIGHTING SO HARD TO STAY AWAY FROM WERE NOW A DAILY NECCESITY . THE PAIN STILL IS UNBAREABLE . ITS BONE AGAINST BONE AND HAS BEEN FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS . I CAN BARELY WALK , AND THATS EVEN WITH THE AID OF A WALKER .ON A WHEELCHAIR OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE.SO I GOT PUT ON A LIST AT A COUNTY HOSPITAL FOR A GASTRIC BYPASS AND TRIED LOSING WEIGHT ON MY OWN WHILE I WAITED FOR MY NNUMBER TO BE CALLED .IM NOW DOWN TO 252 AND I HOPEFULLY GET MY SURGERY DATE HANDED TO ME ON THE 12TH OF MARCH. MY FEAR IS DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS. AND IT ALSO SEEMS TO BE MY BYPASS SURGEONS. I NEED TO WALK ALOT AFTER THE SURGERY. BUT IM SO LIMITED . IM STARTING TO GET SCARED ON WHETEHER THE SURGERY IS WORTH THE RISK. AM I JUST GETTING COLD FEET .
on 2/26/14 10:23 am
I had knees and hips done......before the bypass. It's worth it to me....even though i use a wheelchair, i can walk some, and the social consequences of life in a chair SUCK.......less employment, less socializing, less housing opportunity, less independence, more financial burden. The surgeries are hard, but they are kind of like childbirth....i don't remember the pain now. I also have had ulcers, which healed with medication. There are people here that have had DVT and have experience. The hip surgery is a LOT easier than the knee surgery, although neither is a walk in the park. At the same time, walking, and moving is sooooo worth it. They gave me compression stockings after the surgery to prevent DVT. IDK your whole medical history. I have about ten different kinds of doctors.....from orthopedics to gastro to oncology to cardio....asthma etc.....and some of them "get" the bypass, some don't. Doctors often also have big huge egos. I do my own research, and ask a lot of questions and get second opinions, and get the doctors talking to each other. My Bariatric surgeon has had many a conversation with other specialists, and they talked risks of surgery. I make my own decisions and there are not any easy choices. I know that I would definitely do another leg surgery again, in a hot minute, if there was a slight chance of getting rid of the wheelchair. I am grateful for it, because I would be incapacitated without it. At the same time, it is lonely, and expensive and socially frustrating. Plus the pain of not being able to walk, and move, plus muscle break down.....good luck whatever you decide. Maybe your docs can chat.
Gina, where are you located if you don't mind? You need other doctors!! The surgeons around me are of the belief that losing weight and replacing bad joints are integral to each other, you cannot have one succeed without the other. Your docs are still in the stone age. Did you have your WLS on the 12th? How are you now?
I had my first knee replaced when I weighed 321. 5 years later, after a bad fall with injuries and weighing 355, my left knee was replaced. My mother, at 201 had both hips replaced, surgeries were within 3 months of each other and she was about 74 years old. She rehabbed at my house so I can speak for that experience as well. Before any of my surgeries, I watched it being done on the internet, live surgeries. By the time I got there, I knew what to expect. In fact, when my first knee was done, they only gave me an epidural and I sort of woke up while they were using a hammer on my knee, I could hear them but couldn't feel a thing. They remembered that.
The recoveries are hard and there is pain but they give you strong medication and when all is said and done, you remember very little if any of the pain. What you DO remember, is how badly you hurt BEFORE the surgery. And then you realize what a great choice you made!
Let us know how surgery went. I wish you all the best.
I am not a doctor and do not profess to have medical knowledge. Any post I make on this or other sites is from my own experience and nothing more. See a qualified doctor for medical issues.
I am in Pasadena California.well I didn't have surgery on the 12th but did get my surgery date of April 21st.. My insurance has greatly limited me on any options I have as far as where , who, how, any of my choices are. To be very frank, I have no other options than the one single surgeon they have offered me.so I either go with him or opt out. Which is making me very uncomfortable. But I have been in so much pain since 2006,that I would at this point even consider letting a blind man do the surgery if he said he could .my surgeon is Stanley Klein in Torrance.he has been doing this since the 80's. But the staff is so unorganized and under staffed.I'm getting more reluctant the closer I get. And don't know if I'm just getting cold feet or what.
Well a quick update. I had the gastic bypass in april 2014. Two weeks later major complications . had to have a second surgery becausemmy body flipped out a bit from the bypass. It had nothing to directly do with the "bypass" itself. It was just what every body. Needs to always have in mind can happen from ANY SURGERY.Anyways i had a second surgery that left me laid up i n the hospital for over a month. But shortly after a 4 month healing process . i was off and running. Ok not really running. But i was losing the weight quickly. And in november 2014 i finally recieved my hip replacement. It was awesome i was doing so good after the surgery that within 3 months i was riding a bicycle . something i had not been able to do since 2006. I have gone from a wooping 360 plus pounds down to a mind blowing130. I feel great look awesome . and could not have wanted anything more. I recommend the gastic bypass to ALL WHO ARE SUFFERING FROM OBESITY.
