My Wife's Total Hip Replacement Surgery Part 1

10/20/2009

The condition of my wife Mary's hip (age 54) has been deteriorating for quite some time now. She has known for a couple of years that she was going to have a hip replacement done at some point, but after a house move in July 09, that was when it really got worse and hard to function on a daily basis.As I am fairly new at this blog stuff, I will work at timely updates as she progresses along in post op. so bear with me if I seem a little scatterbrained.

All this is complicated with the fact that she has Lymphoma, which is a cancer of the blood. Thankfully, she has not had to have chemotherapy for 2 years and her "numbers" are pretty well in check, although her oncologist keeps a close regular watch on her blood tests, she still has some things such as vascular inflammation that flares up occasionally. Along with this, she already has had 2 knee replacements. The family jokes about who is going to get what hardware after she's gone. Well, here comes some more.
After visiting her orthopedist a couple times and trying some injection treatments in the hip we realize that that treatment only buys a little more time and offers some temporary relief. Scheduled surgery is 10/21/09. The 2 weeks before, we get the usual blood work, chest X-ray, EKG, and pre-op stuff all in order.

We met with her oncologist a few times before surgery with the understanding that he has the final say so for the go ahead. We also asked him to consult with her ortho. to go over some things. He says this is as good a time frame as any and understands that this needs to be done and we have a good window.
10/21/09 8:30 am Day of surgery......go on to Part 2