Back to you, P.

[Guest guest]

The folks at Yahoo! must want me to buy something from them...who

knows, but yes, they canceled my username (again) just before you left

for Belgium. Thanks so much for forwarding your April 5th summary. It

sounds as though the whole ordeal went really well for you and that

you're doing super! I'm sorry I missed you beforehand, probably by

just a few hours, but I did reply to your pre departure post and

emailed Koen so that Hugo could loan you a pair of my left behind

CrazeeWear pants. They must have liked them too much to part with

them? At any rate, I'm tickled you're doing so well! I'm gaining

ground more slowly now but I was back to aerobics the week of your

surgery, work as of 3/9, soccer coaching as of beginning of this month

and very, very slow running a little bit at a time. I'm trying not to

overdo or wear anything else out just yet! It is truly amazing how

almost no one else has heard of resurfacing, especially as it's been

mainstream everywhere else for so long. Testimony to the power of the

special interest lobby groups I suppose. I take my films along to each

new assignment and have steered at least a dozen people to

ActiveJoints.com since my return. You should be in great form for you

son's graduation and I'm thinking this Summer will be better than any

in recent memory for us all!

Take good care, and stay in touch!

Warmest regards,

Steve Vince

> Hi Steve,

>

> I sent this to the group on April 5th. You've got a new e-address,

again. Did Yahoo kick you out (again) about that time? I'm doing

well, 6 weeks post-op this past Wednesday. Out of the TEDs and

bending more than 90 degrees since then. Yesterday I saw a local OS

who has been interested in and supportive of my decision to go to

Belgium for resurfacing to get the OK to go back to work on Monday. I

gave her a copy of Dr. De Smet's article in Hip International, as well

as some info on the various resurfacing devices available

internationally. She took new x-rays, and everything looked like

they're still in the right places. I'm walking without a crutch now

except for long walks, and she was pretty impressed with my recovery.

Hopefully as we all come back from our resurfacings and do a little

CE with our docs, they'll get interested in this, and in turn, educate

their colleagues!

> I went shopping with my son and found a couple of pairs of baggy

cargo pants at Old Navy that were acceptable to him and that he could

wear I was done with them, and they worked fine for around the Holiday

Inn. For trips to Ghent & Brugge, I wore the lined nylon pants and

jacket from Sam's Club.

> Hope you're continuing to do well. When did you go back to

work? Since you're past the 3 month milestone now, are you doing any

sports, coaching kids' soccer, etc. yet? It was really good to hear

from you. Write when you get a chance.

>

> Przygoda

> rBHR 3/3/04 De Smet

>

> My Belgian Experience

>

>

> Hi All!

> I kept thinking I would catch up on all the back postings before

I posted, but this is such a prolific group (a good thing!) that I'm

still about 800 in the hole! Since I'm leaving town again on Tuesday

to check out colleges with my son on Spring Break, I thought I'd

better just post now...I'll be even deeper in backlogged postings when

I return this weekend.

> I flew into Brussels with my sister, Marilyn, on Monday, March

2nd, checked into the hospital in Ghent on Tuesday afternoon, and Dr.

Koen De Smet resurfaced my right hip on Wednesday. On Friday I

transferred to the Holiday Inn. The whole experience was great! Thank

you, thank you Dr. De Smet for giving me my life back! Marilyn is a

nurse, and Koen allowed her to observe the entire surgery. She was

really impressed with the whole surgical team. They didn't hurry, but

they worked together like a well-oiled machine, without any wasted

motion. My surgery took only 1hr & 20 minutes. I had no joint pain

at all after surgery, but the 24-hours of IV Acetaminophen (Tylenol)

was not sufficient to control my incision and muscle pain for the

first few days post-op, so I supplemented it (with the nurses'

knowledge and approval) with my own prescription Tylenol with Codeine

#3 from home. I had no nausea or weakness post-op, but my hemoglobin

level was 27 (should have been about 30), and Koen recommended a blood

transfusion. Since I was feeling so good, I declined, agreeing that

if I started feeling nauseous or weak I'd do later. In addtion to the

(small) risk of AIDS or hepatitis, blood transfusions from donor blood

can cause nausea, and fever as the body's reaction to blood that is

compatible, but still contains non-self proteins. I continued to feel

well, and resumed the iron tablets I'd been taking for a couple weeks

pre-op. I also used my own prescription and non-prescription

medications for non-related condtiions ( hormone replacement therapy,

vitamins, etc.) It seemed to be common practice for patients to bring

and self-administer their normal maintenace medications while in the

hospital, unlike in the States.

> At the Holiday Inn the fabulous (included in the rate) breakfast

buffet was a gathering place every morning for all the new surface

hippies and their spouses and families. We'd share stories about the

good doctor and his staff, information about vouchers for the free

weekend and evening taxis into Ghent, train schedules to the nearby

medieval city of Brugge, and as we began to get out and explore more,

tips on sights and restaurants that were " must-do's. " One by one,

we'd leave the table to keep our daily appointments with Marc, our

physical therapist. We had Canadians, Americans, Russian immigrants

now living in Seattle, and a Dutch anaestheologist among our group,

and we had a great time together.

> Sunday and Monday (days 4 & 5 post-op) after my daily physical

therapy with Marc, Marilyn and I took a taxi into the old part of

Ghent and visited several cathedrals, windowshopped the lace and

chocolate shops, and stopped for tea or a late lunch before returning

to the HI. I kind of over-did it those days, so we stayed in on

Tuesday and Wednesday, exercised in the pool, and watched old movies

and CNN on TV. By Wednesday evening when Jan came for my daily

dressing change, it was becoming apparent that I was not tolerating

the waterproof dressing. Skin over an inch away from the incision but

under the dressing was weeping and breaking down. Switching to a

plain gauze dressing (no more swimming & no showering for 24 hours)

resulted in an immediate improvement.

> By Thursday (post-op day 8) we were on the train to Brugge for a

full day of sight-seeing, including a horse-drawn carriage tour.

Brugge was so beautiful we had to return on Friday as well! Saturday

(post-op day 10) was our last touristy day, so we finished touring the

art in the crypt of the Cathedral of St. Baaf in Ghent, then took the

train to Brugge again to watch a 81-year old lady make lace by hand in

front of one of the lace shops, take the canal tour, and shop for

chocolate, lace and watercolors. It was a long day, and I was tired,

but not exhausted, so we ate in our room, and packed our treasures and

dirty laundry in preparation for an early departure the next morning

> Sunday morning (day 11 post-op) we hit the buffet at 6:30 and

were loading ourselves and luggage into the taxi for the airport in

Brussels by 7:00. My swelling was down considerably by day 11, and the

flight was much more comfortable than I had expected. We traded seats

with another passenger so that I could have an aisle seat. Every hour

of so I walked the length of the economy aisle and back. I flew

economy both ways and actually was more uncomfortable on the flight to

Belgium than I was on the return flight after surgery! I'm not

tall--5'4 " , so taller patients might need the first class seating to

be comfortable, but I was fine in economy.

> I was so tired of sitting after the taxi ride and after the long

flight back to the East Coast that I didn't use a wheel chair in the

airports. Walking felt really good. I probably would have been

better off using one in Newark, however, since after the incident in

Spain, they were x-raying every piece of luggage and the conveyer belt

broke down. In a wheelchair I could have gone to the head of a 2-hour

line to get through Customs and Luggage Re-Check, but who knew!

Fortunately, we had a 4-hour lay-over before the flight to

Minneapolis, so there was still plenty of time to make it to our gate.

We caught one of those little motorized carts that nearly run people

down on the concourses to get to the gate, and that was much faster

than a wheelchair! We were met by family in Minneapolis about 6 PM

Sunday, and went to the Mall of America (close to the airport) for

dinner together.

> Monday, post-op day 12, I was driving, running errands, and

trying to catch up at home after being gone for 13 days. I stopped

using 2 crutches about 3 weeks post-op. I still use one crutch most

of the time, but sometimes walk short distances without it in the

house. April 19th I'm scheduled to return to my full-time job as the

night pharmicist in a local hospital.

> In my experience, if you are in considerable pain before your

surgery in Belgium, it works well to schedule your surgery for the day

after your arrival and plan to stay a few days longer than the minimum

recommendation. This gives you extra time for the swelling to go down

before your long flight home. If you need the extra time to recover,

you'll have it, and if you feel better and are walking better than you

did before the surgery (as I did), you have a few days to do some

sight-seeing with your new painless hip! Also, bring along any

medications you routinely take at home (except NSAIDs such as

Ibuprofen), especially Vicodin or Tylenol #3 for those first few days

post-op. For the ladies, I bought several pairs of over-size boxer

shorts to wear as underwear over my swollen hip. They worked very

well for me. I just washed them with my TED stockings and let them

dry in the room. Bring a couple of pairs of baggy pants, several

fast-drying tops, and a small bottle of Woolite. One couple in our

group sent all their clothes to the hotel laundry and ended up with a

150 Euro (about $200) laundry bill!

> Good luck to all the late April Belgium surfacehippies. Say hi

to Koen, Hugo, Marc & Jan for me!

>

>

>