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David Vale *BHR for 11 YEARS!** 11/99, Mr. McMinn PDF Print E-mail
dvSeptember 17, 2008

In early 1999 I was 50 years old, my right hip was giving me trouble (limping, pain after walking about half a mile) and I had never heard of hip resurfacing.

A few years previously, I had seen my General Practitioner with the intention of getting a hip replacement. I recognised the signs – my father had spent most of his fifties in pain. Then, when he was 56, he had both hips replaced and was a changed man – country walks and no pain. My plan was to get it done early and make the most of my fifties. Wrong!

Vale Jennie LathamVale Orlando BloomVale Clement

The Consultant I was referred to said that I was nowhere near bad enough and if he did the operation at that stage, I might need a revision in five years and could be in a wheelchair a few years after that if further revisions proved impossible. I had already stopped all sports, but decided at this stage that there was no alternative but a more sedentary lifestyle and started to plan hobbies that would fit in with this.

Then my sister saw an article in The Daily Telegraph about Mr. Derek McMinn and the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing. It sounded perfect and after a discussion with my GP, I made an appointment and had the operation in November 1999.

I will skim over details of my week in hospital (The Nuffield at Birmingham). All went well, but I doubt that my half-remembered experiences will be of help to anyone else. Apart from one Top Tip for middle-aged men with an iffy prostate - ask your surgeon to consider fitting a catheter while you are under anaesthetic.

My BHR certainly changed my life. A few months later, I was going upstairs in the rather slow, cautious way I had grown into and suddenly realised that it was no longer necessary – I had no pain. I resolved at that point that I would simply become an energetic person again.

I returned to tennis after a break of three or four years and I still play two or three times a week. I enjoy walking and have found myself on the top of various mountains and hills murmuring a grateful “Cheers, Derek” under my breath!

At fifty-six I decided that 35 years working in IT was enough for anyone and got a place in a London drama school for an exhausting one year full-time acting course. I could never have considered this had I not had the hip fixed.

I have done a number of acting jobs since, including a spell as an understudy in London’s West End in a very high-profile production with a small cast including some very famous actors. Acting is not going to make me rich, or even famous, but it and my fifties in general have been great fun. Which was the objective.

David Vale
Rt BHR
Mr. McMinn, Nov 1999

 
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