Mother of 14 year old girl, with lots of questions!!

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am the mother of a 14 year old girl that is waiting to have a hip

resurfacing surgery. My daughter has legg perthes disease and has had

3 previous surgeries and are finally going to try a hip resurfacing. I

am nervous and yet I am excited that this might give her a quality of

life back, that she has not had for about 5 years. She is in constant

pain now. She does not have any cartlidge left in the hip joint and

her femoral head has collapsed. Every time her hip moves it is bone

rubbing on bone. I guess I am just looking to talk to some people that

can reassure me,that we are making the right decission going ahead

with this surgery. I hope to hear from some of you friendly,

experienced members. Thank-you in advance. Sharon( mom of Sonya)

[Guest guest]

Hello Sonya and Sharon:

I had legg-calve-perthes when I was 11 years old. I wore a walking

brace and used crutches for about 4 years and my hip bones seemed to

recover. But the bones never really recovered all the way and I found

as I passed age 40 that I was having more and more trouble walking.

My hip started to catch (like on a rough spot) and pop and it was

painful. The last two years I couldn't walk very much at all and my

hip hurt all the time. Many times it kept me awake at night. The

X-rays showed I had very little cartilage left and the top of my femur

was starting to flatten - it looked like a mushroom.

I had never had any surgery so I was a little scared - it sounds like

you are a veteran so you probably find that funny! I had the hip

resurfacing surgery on March 24, 2004 by Dr. Gross in Columbia, South

Carolina. Almost immediately I found I no longer had the nagging pain

in the hip. The pain from the surgery was not too bad and most of

that seemed to go away in a week or so.

My Doctor, Dr. Gross, put in a new hip joint called a Cormet 2000 -

it's entirely made of metal and we hope it will last a very long time.

If for any reason it does not last, the resurfacing approach still

leaves plenty of the femur bone left so that I could get a

" conventional " hip replacement with a stem that is inserted down into

the femur.

I am now back working at my job full time and I have started going to

a gym to exercise. My muscles are still weak and so I find I am sore

the day after exercising but then it feels better. I am also still a

little stiff - only recently have I been able to bend enough to put my

own socks on (without considerable effort).

Surgery isn't fun but you already know that. If your doctor thinks

this surgery is for you, I would tell you to go for it. I can get

around a lot better now than I could just a couple of months ago and I

am still recovering and getting stronger every day. My " new " hip

feels totally natural - it doesn't feel like there's anything there

that doesn't belong there. My muscles still pop - sort of like a big

rubber band - every now and then. I understand that is because they

are trying to find their way back to where they belong.

If I can answer any other questions, please feel free to contact me -

either through the group or directly.

Good luck!

RC2K Dr. Gross 3/24/04

> Hello,

> I am the mother of a 14 year old girl that is waiting to have a hip

> resurfacing surgery. My daughter has legg perthes disease and has

had

> 3 previous surgeries and are finally going to try a hip

resurfacing. I

> am nervous and yet I am excited that this might give her a quality

of

> life back, that she has not had for about 5 years. She is in

constant

> pain now. She does not have any cartlidge left in the hip joint and

> her femoral head has collapsed. Every time her hip moves it is bone

> rubbing on bone. I guess I am just looking to talk to some people

that

> can reassure me,that we are making the right decission going ahead

> with this surgery. I hope to hear from some of you friendly,

> experienced members. Thank-you in advance. Sharon( mom of

Sonya)