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Karen Mitchell 4/02/08 RBiomet Dr. Thomas Gross PDF Print E-mail

The Long Journey

"I thought I pulled a muscle like usual..."

Around the age of 14 1/2   I was outside in our neighborhood playing some ball game and felt a "twinge" in my right thigh area.  I didn't give it must notice since I was always doing some kind of muscle pull. Karen Two and a half months go by until I can't walk on it anymore and mom takes me to the general doctor where I get x-rays and find out I have a slipped epiphysis and need surgery. They admit me and put me in traction for 2 weeks in the hospital first to see if it will correct the problem. It doesn't so off to surgery for 4 pins screwed into my right hip. About a year and a half goes by and I noticed my foot was turned out on that leg. We went to see my surgeon and he said I can remove the pins now and put a shim in to make your leg so straight by shimming it, at the mid-thigh outside area.

So I went in for the surgery had the 4 pins removed and was given an osteotomy and the tin-like shim with a large pin that went into the femur head. I came out of that surgery with a low grade fever.

As time went on I started to get a hard mass in my hamstring which later burst...I learned later that I had two "staff" infections from that surgery and the shim and was walking around with it for a good 8 months or so. "...You're too young....wait until you can't take it anymore..."

Grin and Bear It
Off to surgery again to remove the shim part and clean out my leg. I was in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 6 weeks of my life; it was a depressing time as I missed my high school graduation. My surgeon told me that some day I will need a total hip replacement (THR) when I get older. But maybe by then they will have something new out. For now, I just need to grin and bear it and try to preserve the hip as long as I can. I was only around 18 years old when he told me this. So, I went on with life completely ignoring the leg...I had no patience for any complaints from my leg if I over did it. It got worse and worse, my pelvis started to tilt, the bone on bone was making a awful grinding noise, and if anyone bumped my knee and made my leg go to the side (when I was sitting), I would go through the roof with pain. I started wearing a lift inside my shoe that really embarrassed me. If I had to take my shoes off in someone's house, I would hide the lift or my shoe.

The pain was becoming unbearable when I hit my forties. Having a high pain tolerance, I was taking Ibuprofen types of pills only if I was walking around in pain like a caged animal. My limp was really bad now, and I couldn't reach my foot anymore.

Had Enough? Karen before xray  

In 2007 I went to a local orthopedic surgeon, where he told me about hip resurfacing and Dr. Gross in South Carolina. What's hip resurfacing, I asked...well I did some web surfing and found the surfacehippy.info web page...WOW! Finally something that might work for me (only being 43 yrs old). After some insurance bologna, I finally had surgery with Dr. Gross in SC on April 2, 2008 at the age of 44. 

 

 

The Miracle Karen 6 months

Life is great! I have a normal positioned pelvis (so no more back pain), my op leg is just an itty-bit shorter (but not really noticeable). I have more range of motion like when I was a kid, - and NO PAIN! It's just unbelievable...nothing short of a miracle.

Dr. Gross had said my bone density was great (4.2), but my leg was almost fused into the socket because of bone on bone. He said it was a difficult surgery. I finally can have an active life and do whatever I want. What a great thing! I'm so glad I found out about hip resurfacing.

 

Oh...and "yes" I can reach my feet now and more...

 
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