Walk with me
Want to know what it's like to have a hemiarthroplasty of the hip? On Tuesday, I had my second surgery in 18 months, to the same leg. In May 2018 an intramedullary rod was put in my right femur to stabilize a fracture. This was done urgently by the on call surgeon. Because of the bone tumors and the radiation and chemotherapy I received for my cancer, the femur never healed properly and in September this year I managed not only to fracture the leg again but I broke the top of the rod. This time around my surgery was done by the pathologic orthopedic surgeon (he specializes in broken bones caused by cancer), he's the expert! His plan; remove the hardware and perform a hemiarthroplasty using a cemented bipolar implant.
Surgery went mostly as planned, though removing the hardware proved to be more difficult. The surgeon said he had to "bring in the muscle" in the form of a second surgeon, and use vice grips to remove the rod. This, he says is why I have so much more pain than my roommate who also had a right hip replacement.
The surgeon told me that the top of my leg bone (greater trochanter) was crushed and he couldn't do much with it, he sutured it to the implant and hopes it heals. He also used bone cement, since my femur and pelvis are full of holes from the tumors, this should help strengthen the site and make sure things heal this time around.
My new hip is a bipolar implant which has its own ball joint and so should provide better range of motion once healed. Since there are no longer any screws going through my leg I should also have less pain, and maybe even be able to sleep on my side again! Because of the deformity in my greater trochanter however he says I will not be able to extend my leg to the side (abduction), a small price to pay for less pain and overall better range of motion.
Now the healing, 6-8 weeks with pretty stringent restrictions, NO bending, twisting, kneeling, crossing my legs or ankles, no driving. And 12 weeks before resuming regular activities. This will be the challenge for me, to NOT do things. I have to keep my knees lower then my hips, not flex my hips more than 90 degrees. It's harder than it sounds, if you pay attention you'll notice just how often you do those movements in normal life.
Hopefully I will be discharged home today. I'm sore and the muscles feel weak but it gets better each day. I will continue to do my physio exercises 3 times a day, and listen to my body when it needs rest.
I have a large dressing covering the 40 something staples in my leg, I will change this daily and the surgeon said to wait longer than usual to have them removed (2 months!), because if my past radiation and ongoing chemo he worries it won't heal as quick.
My arms and hands are tender, bruised messes from failed attempts at starting IV's and arterial lines, not much I can do but wait for it to heal.
So now you have an idea of what it's like to have a removal of intramedullary rod, and hemiarthroplasty with insertion of bipolar implant. I hope this is as close as it comes for you.
I will share some photos with you, a warning, some may be graphic. If you compare the xray of my hip from before to the new one you will see the huge difference, which hopefully translates to huge improvements!
Surgery went mostly as planned, though removing the hardware proved to be more difficult. The surgeon said he had to "bring in the muscle" in the form of a second surgeon, and use vice grips to remove the rod. This, he says is why I have so much more pain than my roommate who also had a right hip replacement.
The surgeon told me that the top of my leg bone (greater trochanter) was crushed and he couldn't do much with it, he sutured it to the implant and hopes it heals. He also used bone cement, since my femur and pelvis are full of holes from the tumors, this should help strengthen the site and make sure things heal this time around.
My new hip is a bipolar implant which has its own ball joint and so should provide better range of motion once healed. Since there are no longer any screws going through my leg I should also have less pain, and maybe even be able to sleep on my side again! Because of the deformity in my greater trochanter however he says I will not be able to extend my leg to the side (abduction), a small price to pay for less pain and overall better range of motion.
Now the healing, 6-8 weeks with pretty stringent restrictions, NO bending, twisting, kneeling, crossing my legs or ankles, no driving. And 12 weeks before resuming regular activities. This will be the challenge for me, to NOT do things. I have to keep my knees lower then my hips, not flex my hips more than 90 degrees. It's harder than it sounds, if you pay attention you'll notice just how often you do those movements in normal life.
Hopefully I will be discharged home today. I'm sore and the muscles feel weak but it gets better each day. I will continue to do my physio exercises 3 times a day, and listen to my body when it needs rest.
I have a large dressing covering the 40 something staples in my leg, I will change this daily and the surgeon said to wait longer than usual to have them removed (2 months!), because if my past radiation and ongoing chemo he worries it won't heal as quick.
My arms and hands are tender, bruised messes from failed attempts at starting IV's and arterial lines, not much I can do but wait for it to heal.
So now you have an idea of what it's like to have a removal of intramedullary rod, and hemiarthroplasty with insertion of bipolar implant. I hope this is as close as it comes for you.
I will share some photos with you, a warning, some may be graphic. If you compare the xray of my hip from before to the new one you will see the huge difference, which hopefully translates to huge improvements!
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| Post surgery selfie |
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| Bandages, bandages, bandages |
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| Keep it together |
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| Icky Echymosis |
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| Bipolar hemiarthroplasty implant |
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