@cthomas1554001, for your safety, your personal contact information has been removed as per the Community Guidelines (https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/about-connect/tab/community-guidelines/). We recommend sharing personal contact information using the secure private message function rather than in the public forum.

However, I'd also like to point out the benefit of sharing here in the support group where you all receive support and information from several people and learn from each other.

Hi, I too have had a Girdlestone, a little over 1 year ago. You mention you were waiting for a shoe lift of 3 inches. Could you tell a little more about that process and where you went for that?

The first orthotics and prosthetics clinic we went to didn't know what to do with me because they had never encountered someone who had had a Girdlestone. There is about a 4 and 1/2 " difference in my leg lengths. That's a really tall shoe lift and my husband is afraid I'll turn my ankle on it..

Hello..."one day at a time" is a perfect motto in the early stages as I well remember. After my surgery, I was in the hospital for 3 weeks and had physical therapy there and asked them to teach me how to do steps as we were vacationing in Florida (1000 miles from home) in our camper at the time this happened. I had to learn to navigate steps so we could eventually make the trip home to Michigan in our 5th wheel camper. I'm sure your therapist can teach your husband how to do this too, and it sounds like they are giving him some good starter exercises. For steps, I use one crutch and a handrail. You have to think "Up with the good, down with the bad" , meaning when going up the step you put good foot up first, and when going down step, you start with the bad foot. I can go down our basement stairs (14 steps) with handrail and one crutch. I can do up to 3 or 4 steps with just 2 crutches if there's no handrail, but I rarely have to do that. The shoe lift will definitely help to even out his legs and balance. I'm about 2.5 to 3 inches shorter on that leg. I actually had my husband make my shoes by glueing soles from one shoe onto the other to build them up and then he puts silicone around it to smooth it out. I'm not sure if I can attach picture here to show you. I have about 10 pairs of shoes he's made me! Haha! I'm sure your husband will be able to fly again. There should be no reason why he can't when he's feeling stronger. I realize someday, I may end up spending most of my time in a wheelchair, but I'm trying to hold out as long as possible for that. I was in good shape and walked 5 miles daily before this happened to me. We have friends who's son has been in wheelchair since age 17 from motorcycle accident and Brian is now 46, married with 3 kids and nothing slows him down much. I admire him for his positive attitude all these years. I hope you can open the private message I sent you on this website and respond to me there also. Time for us to head out to go camping now. We have a small pontoon and so we drive separately. I pull the pontoon boat and my husband pulls the 5th wheel camper. Yes....I can drive with no problem. I'm missing my left hip and drive with my right foot, but to be honest, I don't think I would have a problem even if it were my other hip. Plus, there are always hand controls that can be installed on a vehicle for paralyzed people like my friend, Brian. That's what he uses. I'll be offline for the next week, but look forward to hearing from you again....Wishing your husband all the best and keep up with those exercises....Cindy