Two Weeks Post Hip Replacement

Hi I'm a 38 year old father, married, father of three kids. when out cycling with my eldest daughter at the beginning of April, we both came off resulting in a broken left hip for me, but fortunately not a scratch on my daughter.

I had a vertical fracture on my left Femur, leaving the ball separated. The surgeon reattached it with 3 titanium bolts, with hope of the bone fusing back together. But as the fracture was vertical, he only gave it a 30% chance of success.

Even though the repair was completed only nine hours after the accident and me following the non use of the leg for six weeks, followed by six weeks of touch bearing only. The bone did not fuse. Touch bearing was very painful and I could feel the bone rubbing.

Four weekly XRays showed the bone had partially collapsed after the initial operation, but the type of bolts were keeping it all tight together. The down side was that my left keg was now nearly an inch shorter than it had been before, any use if my left keg showed a pronounced limp.

I had a CT scan at the end of July to check progress and the straight of the Femur was beginning to callous over and the ball was starting to collapse. There was evidence of fibrous tissue between the two main pieces of bone, but no bone regrowth.

I was in a lot of pain, with a cocktail of painkillers and other medication to counter side effects. My quality of life was much reduced and I was unable to do many things that I would do normally.

Maintenance of my house and garden has been completely left this year, so I haven't grown anything to pickle which is a family favourite. Neither have I been able to brew any beer, as I can't lift any of the barrels.

I am now two weeks post full hip replacement. With an uncemented ceramic hip. The op was done just two weeks after the decision was made. I had my private insurance involved, but they would only step in if the NHS couldnt do it within six weeks. My consultant also turned out to be one of their preferred surgeons.

My quality of life is already improved. Pain control is just paracetamol, I do get occasional pains the full length of my thigh, but that is after prolonged exercise. I am down to a single crutch for the majority of the time.

The hip replacement wasn't the original choice of my consultant due to my age. Sadly this has added to the problem. With four months of limited use, I have lost a lot of muscle mass in my left leg. The bone of my pelvis has reduced on my left side and will take time to get back to strength.

The biggest issue for me now is lack of sleep. Sleeping on my back leaves me with a painful back and the wound is still to uncomfortable to lay on for more than a few minutes.

To be honest, considering how much it has improved in the last two week I wish I had been able to have the replacement at the beginning.

I now want to get back to being active and able to get down and play with my son, who was two years old just two days before the accident.

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