Alberta Land Rover Enthusiasts Club Forum
General => Non Technical Discussion => Topic started by: binch on February 06, 2017, 04:42 PM
Hey Gang,
Any word from Trevor???? Do we know how his new bionic Hip has gone?????
I think the ravens have started to circle the Camel Trophy ::)
Lol, those darn ravens, shoo them away from the CT will you...and tell Craig his services are NOT required! ;D
I'm still in town. I fly down to Denver tomorrow and get the new hip on Thursday just before lunch. I'll be back in my hotel room that evening but likely a tad groggy and certainly well medicated.
I will post a note on Friday though, confirming that I'm staill alive....that they in fact replaced the correct hip...and most importantly that they will actually allow me back into Canada. :P
okay....I'll send out the note to the ravens.
"Squadron leader to all birds, BREAK BREAK BREAK. Make your own way back to base where we can refuel and plan another attack on the CT behind a 4 pod of mossies.." 8)
Good travels sir!!!!
All the best Trevor!!
All the best Trevor, and I know you don't like me to touch your Camel Trophy but it will be in better hands than if the Ravens get it. I will only drive it lightly like my LWT.
Good Luck !
Thanks gents! ;D
Okay, that's it!!!! While W.C. Bader is down with a bit of leg trouble we're going in.....
Blue Leader to squadron...fire up your black wings and beaks!!!! We have a CT and G4 to locate and a short time to get the job done. We'll get everyone airborne and circle until the other three squadrons are all up. Once we are all up.....we're off!!!! And we'll call it operation BIG WING
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5757/20981917964_e5360416a4_o.jpg)
Hahaha, Bader would indeed be proud! The Big Wing to the rescue!!
Hi all,
New hip is in place. Got me some new titanium bits (and NO, you can't borrow it for spare Land Rover parts!) in the form of a new hip!
Surgery went extremely well. I was in the operating room at 12:30, job was done around 2:00, awake about 3:00 and up for my first walk on the new hip at 4:00.
We got back to the hotel room around 9:00, and (surprisingly) I actually had a really good sleep. Also surprisingly, I'm not that sore today....stiff more than anything. I'm sure there's still some drugs at work there helping the pain along, but overall I feel quite good.
The therapy regime is pretty straightforward, walk three times a day, no more than a 1/4 mile each time. They also gave me this cool little rig called a V-pulse machine http://www.breg.com/products/cold-therapy/devices/vpulse that helps prevent blood clots and keep swelling down.
Overall very happy with how things have gone, healing regime has now begun, and hopefully I'm out and about dancing jigs in 4-6 weeks!
Great to see everything is going well.
The title of this post is very misleading. :o
I get poop on me every day when I go down to collect eggs from my chickens and it doesn't merit posting about. ;D
Still, glad to hear all is going well for you Trevor. :) :)
Great update Trevor! Continue down the road.......
Great to hear you are up and running sir!
As for the rest of you......get those parts loaded into the crates so they can be shipped to eastern Europe for redistribution. I'm pretty sure WC Badder won' notice the cardboard cut outs we left of his CT and G4 8)
Final update on this thread, and some words of advice for anyone traveling this path.
Things went extremely well with this operation. The Anterior approach to hip replacement really is the way to go if you can swing it. They come in from the front, which differs from the posterior wherein the enter from the side/back of the leg. The big difference between the two is that by coming in from the front, they do not need to cut any muscles; that means much less damage to you, much less pain, and very fast recovery times.
I used a cane for the first few weeks, but it never was that necessary after the first couple of days. Since that time I've not needed a cane at all. Did not need any pain killers either throughout the entire process. I'm about 6 weeks out now and fully healed, been walking normally for 4+ weeks now.
For any getting a hip replacement, challenge your physicians about the anterior approach. It is for your own benefit. I do not think they do them in Alberta yet, however I'm not 100% sure on that. It is worth asking. I know for sure they do not do them in Ontario as my doctor was from there, and ultimately left that system to setup his own practice because of that. Ironically enough, he is now regarded as one of the top doctors in this field, and trains many of the top US surgeons in the anterior approach...Canada's loss unfortunately.
If you are having any joint replacement, inquire about the use of Exparel (https://www.exparel.com/) during your operation. They used this for my surgery and it is pretty amazing stuff. Once the incision is made it is injected into the area. It is a local analgesic with a long duration, about 96 hours. So think heavy duty freezing for 4 days. The benefit of its use is that it keeps you free of pain in those critical first few days, and lets you, and your body, focus on healing without having to pop a ton of pain killers. It is really amazing stuff. Query your doctor on it if you are going for joint replacement and demand it. I'm not sure if it is used in Canada though, but I would really recommend asking the question and demanding its use if you can.
Lastly, I was given a V-pulse machine (https://www.breg.com/products/cold-therapy/devices/vpulse/). It does two things; prevents blood clots and also keeps the incision area cool, thereby reducing swelling/pain. This is a replacement for regular icing the incision area, and ankle flexing exercises for blood clot prevention. The V-pulse is infinitely more effective at those tasks, and with much less stress on you. Which is good because you can again focus on simply resting and healing.
That's my two bits, hope some of that info helps for anyone that eventually has to travel this path.
Very informative write up Trevor. Thank you for sharing.
I am curious if there are alternate surgeries are available for knee surgery.
What would be the best way to explore alternate surgeries in the US compared to Canada? We only live once, and I intend to enjoy the most of it.
Glad to see you are up and running.....need the Camel Trophy on the trails buddy.
Cheers
Thanks Emad, and I agree fully. Life is too short to suffer...we've got one life, live it!
Regarding knee replacement options I don't have a lot of information on that, other than some anecdotal discussions when I was down in Denver. Those chats simply indicated the techniques used here are a bit, shall we say, dated when it comes to knee replacement. I'd start your research at Peak's website (this is where I went for my hip) as they offer complete knee replacements and these guys are on the forefront of this space.
http://www.peakorthopedics.com/
Their website has a lot of info on what they do. From my experience they are also very quick to help answer any questions you might have initially. so do not hesitate to call them.
One thing I would strongly recommend though is if you are experiencing issues with your knee, take steps to get it fixed sooner rather than later. You will get a lot of bad information from the Canadian system suggesting you wait, or worse, forcing you to wait. Don't drink that Koolaid, it'll only harm you not help you. Push hard to address the problem early, either here or abroad.
I have gone through the whole process and now am within 3 months of surgery, then Wham, developed some heart issue 2 weeks ago, slow heart rate, pulse down in mid 40s, trip to the Royal Alex and all. Now I have to wait until they figure that out. May need a pace maker which has to be done first. Oh well, I'm still alive.
That sucks, sorry to hear that. Hopefully they can get everything sorted out in short order and get you back on track.
Thanks Trevor. It appears to have settled down. I have an EKG ON Tuesday that might tell something.
Great to hear that you are doing good Trevor