Final meeting with surgeon before my revision

Posted by babette @babette, Sep 18, 2019

I'm so relieved! I was really dreading my revision, but I had a terrific consult with my surgeon today. I'd emailed him 12 questions and he responded to them with so much information, intelligence and by showing me examples on my X-rays of why things are bad and how he will fix them. I feel so much better going into this. One thing he said that struck me is that he cares less about PT and more about ongoing movement - walking, riding my stationary bike as soon as I feel up to it. It has been a hellish 14 months (and dh is "loaded for bear" re: suing surgeon #1) but can it be that I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel?

Oh, and Dr. B. mentioned that my surgery will be on his birthday!

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@babette I am so happy for you! It’s great to feel so much confidence in your doctor and that he is so good about responding to your concerns.

Dr. Fitz also does not place as much emphasis on PT as on movement. Of course Dr. Fitz and your doctor used to be at the same hospital so perhaps they share philosophies.
JJ

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Oh @babette - I am just feeling thrilled for this good news. I believe this is your turning point. I want to check back in with you. Can you remind me of the day you are having the revision done?

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Thanks so much Debbra! My revision will be on Friday, October 18.

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@babette

Thanks so much Debbra! My revision will be on Friday, October 18.

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@babette -I'm wishing you the best of luck with this revision. I'm going to be out of town the actual day you have it, returning that weekend. I'm going to check in on you when I come back to see how things are going. Fingers crossed!

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@babette

Thanks so much Debbra! My revision will be on Friday, October 18.

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@babette I really feel that your revision is going to be all that you hope for. You’ve done your homework, found a great doctor and a great hospital, you’re going to feel like a whole new woman!
JK

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Thanks so much for all the support and good wishes; they mean so much to me. @jk Boy would I love to feel like a whole new woman, or even my old women before things fell apart!!

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@babette

Thanks so much for all the support and good wishes; they mean so much to me. @jk Boy would I love to feel like a whole new woman, or even my old women before things fell apart!!

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@babette. Boy, can I relate to that! Since my femur fracture I’ve been pretty miserable. There I was going along, “fat, dumb, and happy” and this fracture has changed everything. I can’t exercise, can’t do much. I just want to get back to the way things were. 😖. On top of everything I am sure that my A1c will be high when I go soon, due to the inability to exercise.
JK

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@jk Having been active all my live, the past 14 months of a sedentary lifestyle + unrelenting pain have been really hard on me. I know I'm de-condtioned to the point that I'll probably start my rehab doing very little, and walking short distances, building up by baby steps. I long to ski (surgeon says OK), play tennis (also OK) and go for *long* walks with my dh. I'm so sorry you're dealing with a femur fracture - did I miss that part of your story? What in the world happened?!

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@babette

@jk Having been active all my live, the past 14 months of a sedentary lifestyle + unrelenting pain have been really hard on me. I know I'm de-condtioned to the point that I'll probably start my rehab doing very little, and walking short distances, building up by baby steps. I long to ski (surgeon says OK), play tennis (also OK) and go for *long* walks with my dh. I'm so sorry you're dealing with a femur fracture - did I miss that part of your story? What in the world happened?!

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@babette. It was sort of strange. I had sciatica in my R leg and made the mistake of taking a very long ride (6 hours) and then had to sit for a 2 hours. This is not good for sciatica. The next morning I had incredibly intense pain, literally worse than childbirth, I suddenly felt very light headed from the pain and was heading from the kitchen to the family room to sit and had a Pre-syncope episode - just short of fainting, I did not totally lose consciousness. I did go down on the tile floor and had a “minimally displaced fracture of the greater trochanter of L femur”.
This led me to call my PCP to see if I should have a bone density test. Turns out that my last was in January 2014 and I had osteopenia then. I should have been having density tests every two years and when it got worse been put on one of the medications. No one ever told me that and my PCP dropped the ball. I had the test this week and sure enough, I have somewhat advanced osteoporosis. Frankly I am furious that this was not addressed when it should have been. It it had been and I had been taking bone strengthening medication the fracture may not have happened. I am fortunate that it was not worse.
I think my PCP is a short timer.
JK

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@babette: let me add my best wishes for a roaring success this time around. Your surgeon for the revision sounds like the best! I’ll look forward to you sharing the progress after your sugery.

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