Bi-Lateral Hip Resurfacing Accomplished

So here are my new hips courtesy of Dr. Edwin Su, his great staff including Blair who sewed me up with stitches as tight as a seamstress working in an atelier in Paris. Special Kudos to The Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC, (#1 in the USA for orthopedics), and Smith & Nephew manufacturing, (cause good parts are key). Now as you can see, (because you know how to read x-rays), this picture taken 4 weeks after surgery show all is well in hip-land and now we wait for bone to grow around the socket.Except fornot lifting or walking with over 20 lbs. while standing, no jumping up and down, and definitely no bungee jumping), I have no restrictions in terms of movement. At almost seven weeks out I am on spin bike with resistance and working up a sweat. I am walking on treadmill and lifting weights seated or lying down. I do physical therapy 3 times a week and scar massage at least once a week. I feel really good and I am super happy I found this procedure and could have it done before my hips were too messed up for this operation. In fact when I came out of surgery my friend Robert told me the doctor said that had a waited even a little longer I would not have been able to have this procedure. When it comes to elective surgery you want to know you had it done at the right time because I was thinking, if I waited a just a little longer they would come up with artificial cartilage or some solution that didn’t involve cutting or drilling. And yes, I had a lot of fear about this operation and it did involve major cutting and drilling from just cutting me open to get at the hips to reaming the femoral head to make it a little smaller to wacking the new hip hemishpere into place! I did get fearful at times yes I was on the phone with my surgeon on the way to NYC requiring a pep talk to keep driving torwards the hospital instead of away!!


And even after the operation I feel that it doesn’t matter how many medical shows you watch on TV with the competent caring staff. When they were wheeling me down the back hallway to the operating room which without my glasses looks like the back of a kitchen at a large hotel I start thinking that something is definitely wrong and that I have arrived at the “Hospital of Horrors” and that soon my body parts will be dispersed all over the world for the best possible price,
And while I know I am supposed to be wheeled into Operating Room #1 I have no way of knowing if I am actually going to arrive in Operating Room #1. But I comfort myself by knowing that I will recognize my doctor and his assistant realizing much to my dismay as I am wheeled into the room that everyone is in surgical masks, shower caps, and other means of concealment. Luckily, the anesthesiologist was from New Zealand so I recognized his voice as he proceeded to very efficiently knock me out!
But let me backup. I showed up at the hospital Tuesday morning in good if somewhat tense mood. But hanging in the patient waiting room with other people was distracting and it was only when I walked through the doors into the pre-op area and put on the gown with the mandatory ass reveal did I start to get nervous. Well luckily my friend Robert was with me as my hips and upper legs were shaved and labeled and signed by the doctor. ES are my surgeons initials and #1 means cut here first! It didn’t even matter that I was doing both as I had to select an order in case they had to stop halfway through to get home in time to watch “House”. So after I was prepped I waited in bed making "My Name is Earl" phone calls to make sure that I had made all needed ammends and went into surgery with a clear conscience. But they came to get me pretty quickly so I didn't get to everyone which is why you probably didn't hear from me.
So I am excited to be healing and looking forward to cycling with my new resurfacing buddy
who doesn't know he is my new re-surfacing buddy. (I shot these photos of Floyd Landis at the 2005 Tour de France final time trial!) But his parts were also manufactured by Smith & Newphew and they sponsor him as a cyclist and I am asking them to sponsor me on my MS ride this spring so you never know. I'll update the blog in the coming months and start asking you for donations to my MS ride!!!