Surgery Tips

Derek McMinn Tips from his Patients

I'm a 48 year old male who competed in collegiate wrestling and still, for the last several years maintained myself in pretty decent condition even though I couldn't run for 5 - 6 years before my hip surgery.  I am hopeful that more of you will feel comfortable sharing your own recovery experiences with the group so we can continue to learn from each other's experiences.

While I've read thousands of posts on hipresurfacingsite, hipsrus and surfacehippy over the past three years, my own experience is limited to my left hip and the time I've shared with my friends on the ward at Edgbaston, my neighbor who had his surgery (McMinn Centre and Edgaston as well) four weeks before us and helped us get ready for ours, and the communications we have had with each other offline.  My takeaway from all this is as follows:  

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Dr. Rogersons tips from his patients

Two other helpful purchases he suggested are:  forearm crutch bag that is very handy to put small items in:  (www.walkeasy.com)  and ice packs.  The ice packs are polyurethane durable packs by Sammons Preston.   You are really going to need them because they bring great swelling & pain relief!    For me, I was very thankful that my husband got two raised toilet risers (with arms) for our downstairs and upstairs bathroom.  It would have been impossible for me to lower like that and not break the hip precautions stated below!

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Derek McMinn's Tips from his Patients

9/29/10

Logistics:
 
Cal and I spent three weeks at the Premier Inn in Birmingham, on Hagley Road.  Of course, I was in the hospital six nights.  It's a budget hotel, but we recommend it highly.  The restaurant attached to the hotel is very good (we're both into healthy eating), and the buffet breakfast in particular is a great value.  The hotel is a short walk to McMinn's consulting office, and a little more than a mile away from the hospital.  We didn't rent a car.  Cal walked between the hotel and hospital a number of times; it's an easy 30-minute walk though a pleasant residential area--he walked it, I didn't.  We used the local buses a lot (multiple times every day), although there isn't a direct line between the hotel and hospital; it's a complicated connection.  Otherwise, the hotel or hospital can call a cab for you; it's about a $10 fare including tip.  The hotel can be booked on the internet at Booking.com.  Based upon our experience, I would definitely reserve the "triple room for 2 adults and 1 child."  We looked at the "double disabled room," thinking that it might be appropriate, but the "triple room" was much better.  There is a separate fee for internet access.
 
The night before we flew out of Heathrow, we stayed at the Premier Inn at the airport.  It's labeled "M4/J4," signifying the road junction where it's located.  There is a shuttle bus to the airport.  You can reserve this hotel on the above website also.
 
We found it easier and cheaper to fly from San Francisco to London and then take a bus to Birmingham.  There is a bus station at Heathrow. 

Dr. Bose Tips from his patients

Vicky also has created a Checklist for patients going to India here India Checklist

Posted on January 20, 2010 Message #154844
Notes From Chennai -10 Days Post Op
Mike Turner RBHR Dr. Bose 11 Jan 2010
We head back State-side tomorrow after a visit just short of three weeks.  Nothing earth shattering I'm sure but here are some fresh thoughts about our trip to India for my RBHR. Hopefully a SurfaceHippy or two soon headed this way will find a tidbit of the information useful.

- I carried about $50 in singles but very early on wished I'd brought $100 or even more. They are priceless for daily tipping and all of the drivers, porters, etc opted for US greenbacks when I offered them dollars or rupees. One driver stated he wanted to have a buck to show his children.

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Dr. Gross Tips from his Patients

Dr. Gross Tips
by Karen Mitchell
RH Biomet uncemented / Dr. Gross (SC) 04/02/08

Here's some info on the knowledge I learned about Dr. Gross:
Dr. Gross is very advanced (for example):

  • He's done over 1500 hip resurfacings
  • He does minimal invasive surgery (small 4 inch incision)
  • He uses your blood to make a mixture to put in the femur cap and along the incision for bone growth and faster incision healing

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Dr. Su Tips From His Patients

This is a summary of my Medical Clearance/Pre-Admission Screening at the Hospital for Special Surgery on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021). My spouse accompanied me, which turned out to be the right thing to do. (It's important that your spouse or significant other sit through the education class with you so that they know what to expect when you return home/better able to help you. )  Also, I was asked to bring all medications and supplements (vitamins included), so I just took all the bottles - particularly the prescribed medications so they can see the original labels.

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Dr. Vijay Bose Preoperative

Birmingham Hip Resurfacing Surgery - Preoperative investigations
JOINT REPLACEMENT SURGERY
Preoperative  preparation Protocol

(For Dr. Vijay C. Bose patients)

Joint Replacement surgery
has seen many recent developments and now gives consistently gratifying results using appropriate implants in the respective age groups. However it is a major surgical undertaking and must be given the utmost care and preparation. It is never an emergency procedure and thus the patient must be in an  ‘Best possible condition’ at the time of the surgery.

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