Five months ago I sat in the surgeon's office as he asked me, "Are you excited about your surgery tomorrow?". And I was. Truly. I was excited to be able to tie a shoe again, or put on a sock, or sit cross legged on the floor with Laurel, or walk a mile... so much to look forward to. I thought I'd have a month (tops) of recovery time and be back on my feet, working a new job, and living my new-and-improved life with my new bionic hip.
Since I was born with congenital hip dysplasia, a surgery was inevitable at some point. I spent months trying to find the right surgeon, someone who could do the surgery I needed and had an infection rate of less than .5%. We'll just call him "Dr. H" (short for the doctor from Houston). He was recommended by 2 other surgeons and was supposed to be one of the best for this particular type of less invasive surgery.
The surgery took longer than expected and Dr. H informed my family that he had to create a posterior wall because, apparently, I didn't have one. My anatomy was not normal because of the hip dyslpasia. Other than that, the surgery was a success, or so we were told.
The first night after surgery, I thought things were going pretty well, except I noticed immediately how long the surgical leg felt compared to before. PT went well that first day, but that night I was in excruciating pain and felt I had torn something loose. The sub-par nurses assured me I hadn't and gave me some medicine to calm me down. The next morning Dr. H informed me he was leaving the country for 2 weeks, which was news to me. I'll just sum up that entire hospital stay by saying it was a scary mess. The staff was composed of people who couldn't make decisions and wouldn't find out answers. I was very anxious to get out of there and go home. I went to my post-op visit only 5 days after surgery and saw the PA (doctor was still out of town) who told me things looked good and to just come back in a year.
Two weeks after surgery, I was still having a lot of trouble walking and severe, stabbing pain when I stepped on that leg. I called the doctor's office and was told to do some PT, that it was probably just stiff. After 2 weeks of that, I knew something was just not right. I went back to Dr. H who agreed that this was not normal 1 month post op. He thought that the "cup" had possibly shifted. Because he was leaving the country AGAIN for 2 weeks that Friday, he wanted to go back in immediately for a second surgery the next day.
Dr. H told us that he didn't see anything wrong when he went back in, but he added 2 screws "just in case" and shortened the leg length. He didn't see any reason why I should be in so much pain.
After the 2nd surgery, the leg length felt better, but there were still some things that were just not right. I felt a popping in the hip when I walked, which Dr. H attributed to fluid in the hip. And, speaking of fluid, the drain never worked after that surgery. Not one drop of fluid was collected from my hip, so there it sat, festering in my leg.
Two weeks post-op I went to get my staples out. Dr. H was still on his trip, so I was seen by another doctor who greeted me with a mouth full of food. I asked him to draw blood because I had been running a fever of 101 for over a week. He assured me that this was normal and that the incision looked good. I insisted they draw the blood anyway because the fever and chills did not seem normal to me. Sure enough, the results came back indicative of a possible infection. A week later, I was back in the office with a leg that was hard and swollen. Dr. H thought it was a hematoma and drained the fluid. Why it wasn't tested for an infection then and there, I don't know. He did more blood tests, told me to put heat on my leg, and come back Friday. The next day, the wound opened and started to drain. The blood tests showed declining infection levels, so they just wanted to "wait and see" what happened. I left for a week trip to see my in-laws the next day. While I was there, the wound continued to open, to the point where I had 2 holes, yes HOLES, in my wound. I sent pictures to the PA (because the doctor was gone- shocker) and he assured me it did not look infected. I went back to the doctor when I returned to town and they FINALLY put me on some antibiotics, nearly 3 weeks after the wound opened. They decided that the bloodwork had continued to indicate declining infection rates and that the wound did not look infected (2 holes, not infected... what?!?!) so it would not be necessary to clean it out.
Three months of wound care and PT later and I was still not healing. I requested they run more tests to see what was wrong. The first radioactive bone scan showed possible tissue infection. The second showed no infection. After running both tests, they told me they weren't reliable and that surgery was probably the only option. So... I found a surgeon here in Austin who is highly recommended and requested that Dr. H get me in to see him (because he otherwise couldn't get me in).
Last Friday I underwent a hip explant. The old implant was removed, including all the parts, and a spacer was put in to keep the hip open for a new implant in a few months. The surgery took over 4 hours and was very painful the next day since they had to cut muscle and tissue. Almost a week later and I feel much better- probably better than I did after the first less invasive surgery! I'm now on IV antibiotics 3 x/day and home health comes to my house daily for wound care, blood draws, and PT. I'm under the care of a surgeon, 2 general physicians and an infectious disease specialist (all at the surgeon's request). I feel like I'm finally in the right hands and finally feel confident trusting a doctor again.
Now the plan is to continue the IV meds for 6 weeks and then be off the meds for 2-4 weeks before drawing fluid to test. Once the fluid is drawn, it can be another 2-4 weeks to wait for the cultures (this surgeon is VERY cautious). Once I'm clear of infection, I'll undergo a final surgery to get the hip implant put back in. Then some PT and I'll hopefully be back on my feet!
As I sit here in the middle of the night giving myself my 3rd dose of IV antibiotics for the day I think... it could be worse. I could be going through something much more dire, like cancer. Or, worse, I could NOT be doing this at all because I didn't survive the surgery. At this point, I'm happy to be alive and thankful I found the right team of people to help me heal.
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