But he's out now.
For the past few months I have been troubled by an increasingly knackering arthritic hip.
Total replacement carried out last Wednesday, now recovering at home.
The experience was not as bad as I feared, although I leaked a bit on the table so I needed a blood transfusion the next day to cure a fainting problem.
That's one of the benefits of having the job done at a proper, fully-equipped NHS hospital.
Private hospitals just don't have the resources to deal with anything that isn't straightforward.
A bloke in the next bed had gone private, but the NHS was having to sort some nasty complications for him.
Looks like my job went as well as can be expected, although I will be on hobble power for the next six weeks or so.
This post is by way of a small vote of thanks to the NHS in general, and those at University Hospital, Durham, in particular.
Given my job, I will find some way of offering some practical help to them when I'm back at work, probably in the New Year.
In the meantime, I'm happy to answer any questions or offer reassurance to forum members.
Or feel free to post your experiences.
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Thought you'd been a bit quiet recently iffy - good to see you back.
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...Thought you'd been a bit quiet recently...
I took the netbook in, but the dongle signal was poor and I didn't feel like having forum fun anyway.
Patients are allowed to use mobiles on the ward, but most - including me - did that very sparingly to avoid disturbing others.
Apart from one bloke who appeared to be using his mobile to run his business - selfish sod.
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Hope it's been reasonably painless iffy - noticed one 4.00am posting - guess its hard to sleep there ! Thoight they hadn't de-banned mobiles.
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>> That's one of the benefits of having the job done at a proper, fully-equipped NHS
>> hospital.
>>
>> Private hospitals just don't have the resources to deal with anything that isn't straightforward.
>>
>>
>>
While discussing the options for major abdominal surgery with my GP he recommended NHS over private, If it goes pear shaped you have the backup of an on site intensive care unit. He said private is OK for peripheral small jobs but not major stuff.
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At a previous job I got family medical insurance, so when Mrs F needed some work doing on her shoulder we went private. It seemed like a good idea - private room in a BUPA hospital - but she felt a bit 'out of sight out of mind'. On at least one occasion when she pressed the button for the nurse, no one came.
NHS for us every time.
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I wondered why you'd bin a bit AWOL lately, did you manage to get a blanket bath by some gorgeous nurses??
And, what was the grub like? - I keep hearing it's awful in most hospitals these days,
Did you have any knee replacement patients in your ward? how did they get on, compared to you Hippies :)
I wish you a speedy recovery Iffy.
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My wife has nursed in an NHS hospital, and Nursed in private hospital, and having had BUPA been a patient in both, so she has a unique insight.
The bit about inability to deal with complications is dead on the money. Funnily enough, without the NHS the private sector would not survive!
How long did you have to wait iffy? I suspect I am not that many years behind you with respect to iffy hip.
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Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I know we've crossed swords, but I wish you well nonetheless.
Although it is major surgery, hip replacement is almost routine these days and I have seen the huge difference it makes to the patient's quality of life. In a few weeks' time I'm sure you'll be pleased with the outcome.
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...I know we've crossed swords...
Taken, and I hope received by you, in the correct spirit.
Thanks to everyone for the good wishes.
Pain: I don't think I'm any more manly about that than anyone else, but I didn't find it too bad.
The worst bit was post-op when I was rolled in a sheet onto a trolley for an X-ray.
Food: plain, but mostly of reasonable canteen standard, and it had the great benefit of arriving without any effort from me, and no clearing up to do afterwards.
Knees: didn't come across any knee patients, although they do them.
Several medics have told me knees are more complicated than hips, so complications are more likely.
Sleep: didn't get a lot, there's always something going on and the snoring of other patients was a problem.
I was kept occupied during the day with tests, washing, toileting, medications, eating, questions from staff, and so on.
Lunch was cold one day because I didn't have the time to get to it.
Surprising how busy you can be lying flat on your back.
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>> Surprising how busy you can be lying flat on your back.
>>
Er - yes.
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...Er - yes...
There's something about that in the recovery advice sheets.
No bunk-ups for me for a while.
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I noticed Iffy wasnt around, thought he had gone here...
boringconference.com/2011-event-details/
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...thought he had gone here...
One of the benefits of my (limited) seniority is I can usually sidestep the dullest jobs.
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Hope it all goes well Iffy. Friend of mine has just had her third hip replacement and her disastrous experience was part of a recent programme on Channel 4. There was an interesting piece in the London Review of Books a few weeks ago re hip replacement politics in the light of future plans for an NHS revamp. Worth a look if you've got time to kill before warming up the CC...
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...Friend of mine has just had her third hip replacement...
Oh dear, doing a hip again is less than ideal.
It's a problem I will have to face.
The lifespan of the new joint is around 10 years, which means consultants are reluctant to do them in people of my age, or even a bit older.
On t'other hand, not doing it means life in a wheelchair and limited earning potential.
Redoing worn out replacements is known as remodelling.
One of the patients I met had two hips replaced about 12 years ago, and was in for his second remodel this year.
Seemed to have gone well for him, so it can be done.
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>>The lifespan of the new joint is around 10 years<<
Ceramic 4 me then, if I ever need to become a Hippy (again!)
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It is now 18 months since my troubles started - big surgery + chemo - went for a check-up last Friday and really only then did I realise how well I look now compared to the chemo patients I saw getting their infusions.
That was me 12 months ago when I was at a low point and about to go even lower before recovering in the last 4/5 months.
£100K would be my estimate of the cost - 6 months of tablets @ £200 / day was only 1 line item on the "virtual invoice".
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My wife had a hip replacement about 18 months ago.
Her hip is fine: no pain, but one leg is slightly longer than the other now - I guess the surgeon didn't hammer the spike in quite far enough.
She walks like a sailor just ashore, but is helped by an NHS supplied wedge in her shoe on the affected leg.
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...but one leg is slightly longer than the other now...
Pre-surgery, my leg length difference was quite pronounced.
It's much better now, but still there.
I'm hoping the lengths will equalise a bit more by the time I'm fully run-in in a couple of months.
The surgeon's lacky told me they do their best to leave the patient as even as possible, but I should be aware there may be a permanent difference.
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My late grandpa had it done in his mid 80's, but because of his age couldn't have a general and had to have a local. That must have been painful! Still never really walked afterwards and been in a wheel chair for the past couple of years.
Now does walking a lot wear hips out quicker I wonder?
PS Iffy glad you're now out of the hospital. If I was in I would get customers to drop of their laptops to the hospital although I think the hospital may have something to say about that!!
I think my dad actually enjoyed his last stay in hospital, he was in for 7 days and he thought it was just a big break :D.
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I hope you too, FB, are feeling much better - in your case I imagine it's been a long, slow process. 12 months can be comparatively recent in medical terms.
Chemo can be vicious stuff - effectively it's a poison targeted at the nasty cells which unfortunately causes a lot of collateral damage (though occasionally some people seem to sail through). I've seen the effects and have treated patients who have suffered from it.
I'm glad you got through that, anyway.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Thu 10 Nov 11 at 15:09
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I shall break my self imposed moratorium on posting to wish you well, Rob. Get well soon.
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Take it easy Iffski. Don't try the triple jump before you can hobble.
I trust there's some circuitry installed that will receive your secret instructions from Moscow?
Hope it isn't too uncomfortable anyway. I agree with you and others about the excellence of NHS treatment for serious conditions. World class actually.
Underlines the monstrous evil - it isn't too strong a word - of the US Republican Party in its attitude to free or subsidised medicine.
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Hadn't relaised you were one of the Robs on this site. Seem to be an awful lot of you - is it some sort of disguise?
All the best for a speedy recovery!
Simon
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Thanks again for the good wishes.
It would be wrong to single out anyone, but I'm sure we are all pleased to see Crankers is still with us.
Rats' point about his dad enjoying a week in hospital is a good one.
There was an elderly man in my ward - retired professor - who wasn't trying too hard with his physiotherapy.
I also noticed quite a bit of 'nurse do this, nurse do that' from him.
He was ill in other ways, but was obviously well settled into hospital routine.
The standard of bed, board and care he was receiving would could cost a thousand or two a week privately.
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>> Thanks again for the good wishes.
What material are the new joints made from? A workmate of mine had one new metal hip joint a couple of years ago, and transformed him. He was doing a lot of walking, cutting bowling greens, so you can imagine the joint was wearing away and causing him a lot of pain. I don't know what the metal was particularly - I'll have to ask him if he had a forged steel crank :)
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Good to hear you're ok and at home Iffy. My father had a hip done just over a year ago. Although he was in hospital for a bit longer than planned (he's on Warfarin following a heart op a while back, and it took a while to get his blood balance sorted after the hip op) it really gave him him a new lease of life once he'd recovered.
I've an idea the metal joints are made from titanium Corax - I'll ask Father when I speak to him.
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Is the joint self lubricating ? Or do you need a regular or long-life oil from time to time?
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>> Is the joint self lubricating ? Or do you need a regular or long-life oil
>> from time to time?
Yes, a small grease nipple is inserted, and a special natural lubricant is used, made from banana skins :)
Seriously though, the joints have to be self lubricating, and there are a selection of materials including metal and various plastics, but I seem to remember from reading an article that certain plastic joints can degrade over time and cause problems with blood poisoning.
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Maybe Iffy's been reunited with his old Focus :-)
Will you be spending more time away from coast Iffy or do you get an eight year anti-corrosion warranty with the new hardware ?
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>> Thanks again for the good wishes.
As long as you don't want us to give you 3 cheers.
You can have one though
Hip Hip - hooray
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Glad you're at home and on the mend Iffy. Good to hear my recent pint of blood was of some help too ;)
I know a lorry driver and a warehouseman, both under 40, who had double hip replacements coincidentally in the same month last year - both are fit and well and working hard again in very physically demanding jobs. I don't know the projected longevity of their bionic bits though.
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I hope you get on with it OK Iffy. Not a trivial op as I understand it. Wife's BiL (does that make him my BiL, I never know?) had both done successfully in his early 40s, and again more recently - he was very happy with the results the second time.
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I'm shocked at the number of people that I know getting this treatment, one of which is a very fit 40 something, just going for his second new hip....
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>> I'm shocked at the number of people that I know getting this treatment, one of
>> which is a very fit 40 something, just going for his second new hip....
The human equivalent of replacing worn CV joints ?
A lady I know through work had both hers replaced before she was thirty. Some sort of congenital condition IIRC.
Used to see her and her husband who also worked for the same govt department on the train to Euston. The transformation from watching her struggle with sticks to walking at the same brisk pace as he other commuters was wonderful to witness.
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...I'm shocked at the number of people that I know getting this treatment, one of which is a very fit 40 something...
So was I - mention to anyone you are struggling with a hip, and most people will come up with an example of others they know in the same position.
Three barristers were able to provide me with first hand experience, all fifty-somethings, and all reasonably fit.
One of them is a keen rock climber, which may have played a part.
You can't catch arthritis, it just happens.
For some it happens at an earlier age than for others.
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>>You can't catch arthritis, it just happens.
>>For some it happens at an earlier age than for others.
>>
SWMBO has had it since she was about two. " Fortunately" restricted mainly to just a few joints for most of her life.
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Just logged in and read about your op, Rob.
Glad you're ok...get up to leafy north Yorkshire with a pile of books and get the caravan heated up.
I enjoyed some of my stays with the NHS...cheeking the nurses, the food wasn't too bad, earplugs sorted the snorers out. Had a lovely W.Indian nurse, she saw me writing and asked what I was doing. I said I was from the General Nursing Council and just happened to be doing her report. She believed me and asked what I'd written. I said it was confidential but I wasn't sure I'd spelled ' crap ' correctly !....How we chuckled !!! That night's bedbath was rather painful !
The NHS have kept me alive for nearly 18 yrs now...all praise to them.
HeHe.
Ted
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Surely, if you're 'active', then you'll need new hips and stuff sooner? That's my excuse for not taking any exercise - I'll just wear myself out sooner.
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...Surely, if you're 'active', then you'll need new hips and stuff sooner?...
Depends on what you mean by active.
Being generally fit, and not being overweight, is good for hips.
High impact activity is not.
My barrister mate told me his rock climbing may have been a contributory factor.
The way he does it, there's an element of jumping from one hard surface to another.
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>> The way he does it, there's an element of jumping from one hard surface to
>> another.
Cripes, if I'm right about what he means by that, it's scary stuff, even if you are roped up. Rock climbers, the extreme ones, are a different breed.
Last edited by: corax on Fri 11 Nov 11 at 16:33
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...Rock climbers, the extreme ones, are a different breed...
The same barrister scoffed at the Court Service's expensive attempt to make one of the docks in Newcastle Crown Court secure with a high glass wall.
"I could climb out of that in seconds," he said.
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>> ...Rock climbers, the extreme ones, are a different breed...
>>
>> The same barrister scoffed at the Court Service's expensive attempt to make one of the
>> docks in Newcastle Crown Court secure with a high glass wall.
>>
>> "I could climb out of that in seconds," he said.
Not with one of Group 4's finest either side he wouldn't. That sort of security is designed to stop a 'blitz' job where the defendant has an element of surprise.
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>> Not with one of Group 4's finest
Hmmm, my windy Labrador could frighten most of the G4S blokes I have seen,
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The ones I've seen in my time would hardly inspire confidence either.
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...The ones I've seen in my time would hardly inspire confidence either...
Defendants rarely appear in handcuffs in the dock, which makes the dock officers' job harder if a break for freedom is made.
I've seen a three or four dock jumpers over the years.
One managed to make it out of the building, was arrested half an hour later trying to cross a shallow river, and dragged back to court sopping wet to appear in the same dock.
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>> I've seen a three or four dock jumpers over the years.
>>
>> One managed to make it out of the building, was arrested half an hour later
>> trying to cross a shallow river, and dragged back to court sopping wet to appear
>> in the same dock.
I lost one on the stairs down to the cells at the old Bloom Street magistrates court in Manchester. It was always chaos and ' chummy, 'a spotty teenager, slipped my grasp and legged it through an open door.
A couple of weeks later , I was due for a lecturing for the loss. I was on Peter Street with a colleague drooling over the Jags in a car showroom when the lad sauntered round the corner into my alert presence (haHa). He was swiftly grabbed.
I got told off and commended at the same time.
Ted
Swear filter wouldn't accept my version of ' Told off '.
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>> Glad you're ok...get up to leafy north Yorkshire with a pile of books and get
>> the caravan heated up.
That's the cause, a cold caravan in Damp North Yorkshire.
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...Damp North Yorkshire...
Damp?
Soaking wet more like.
For me, the caravan season is over until next March or April.
At least I won't be troubled by burst pipes this winter.
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Glad it's gone well, Iffy.
Were you a sportsman in your youth? (Or should I say, are you still in your youth and still a sportsman?!) SWMBO runs the practice of an orthopod (sorry, orthopaedic surgeon) in Reading who specialises in hips and knees, and some of his patients are half my age (63) with clapped-out joints through sporting activities making demands on the body that it wasn't designed for.
Fortunately I don't have many regrets, and being useless at sports is certainly not one of them.
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Way back in the 1980's, we lived beside the Thames in London betwixt Blackfriars Br. and Southwark Br.,
Every morning before work I would be out there 'jogging' along the embankment, over one bridge and back over t'other,
Although my cardio vasc's were benefiting from that treatment, the same could not be said of my joints (not those joints)
I did take it up again when we lived in Tenerife but I find walking (low impact) to be more suited (to me)
There's an old (bout my age!) geezer who often 'jogs' past my remote moorland abode, nothing unusual about that obviously but, I live at the bottom of a steep hill, and he's running up the critter!!
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We are designed to run, we had to when we were hunter gatherers, and sometimes someone elses potential dinner!
We were however a lot shorter then, and much less weighty. There was no hard concrete or asphalt surfaces around, and we sprinted barefoot, on our toes, with the tendons in our foot and the Achilles providing much of the spring and shock absorption.
Jogging around hard streets, heels pounding the pavements is not good for any of the joints, all of them, all the way up to your neck. You never hear of sprinters with bad joints. (torn muscles and tendons tho!)
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AND we ate a stone age diet as well, hence the much less weighty bit :)
I'm 6ft & 13st so not made for pounding concrete really but (and this is a BIG but) if jogging is carried out properly i.e. your feet hardly leave the ground, you land softly using well designed footware, (a running version of mimsing in a way) then I would say that is OK but, very, very few people jog like that, and when I see these big hairy a$$ed geezers pounding away every year at the first sign of Spring, I think Cuckoo, Cuckoo!
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Cycling certainly does for knees. When I first started doing long distance stuff I was in pain for weeks. Although it improved over time I developed a slight limp I still carry today. Only rarely troubles me now. Most of the older guys in the club wore knee bandages and several had scars from cartilidge surgery.
Touring bikes of that era (early eighties) tended to have gearing similar to sports machines. Well over 40 teeth on the small ring and fewer than 20 on the large. The MTB revolution brought us affordable wide range triples and soup plate sprockets. Getting and using spinning gears massively reduces the strain on the knees (and makes hills a cinch). Even the Brompton in its wide range guise has sub 40 inch first.
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You are the same weight as me Dog,I'm a inch taller.>;).Agree with your assessement about big a s s e d men or women jogging not good for the soul.I used to play rugby broken fingers and a few black eyes name of the game.
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>>You are the same weight as me Dog,I'm a inch taller<<
My brother up in N. Staffs is 6' 3" and has had awful trouble with his back over the years,
Vertibre fused together, hip replacement, we should have kept on all fours!
Rugby hey, you must be a toughie TugboatDutchie :)
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>> Vertibre fused together, hip replacement, we should have kept on all fours!
Like the one on the left in this picture?
tinyurl.com/d8dd9kk
There's a couple of blokes in our workshop that would match those, and they wouldn't be the far right pictures :)
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 12 Nov 11 at 19:36
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>>There's a couple of blokes in our workshop that would match those, and they wouldn't be the far right pictures :)<<
Geezer I bought the place in Warleggan up on Bodmin Moor was a sort-of Siddha, he and his cohorts used to do yogic flying in the annexe (I often wondered why it was so peaceful in there)
I watched a group of these ere yogic flyers once (T.M.) on the idiots lantern, they don't really fly (tehe) they sort-of hop about the place while in the Lotus position (and you wont find that in the Kama Sutra!)
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I was always quick Dog started Judo at 12.My mate Jan was strong I was more agile than him.
Don't feel to bad now good days and bad days.>:)
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>>I was always quick Dog started Judo at 12.My mate Jan was strong I was more agile than him. Don't feel to bad now good days and bad days.>:)<<
When I was in a Detention Centre (HMDC Send) for 3 months back in the late 60's, I met a chap from Deptford in S.E. London, Tony Paul was his name, on the short side, blue eyes, fair hair - quite good looking (like me!)
There was a huge Canadian in there known as The Bear and he had an 'altercation' with Tony one day, it was all over within just 18 seconds, Tony had The Bear on the floor quick as a flash, then introduced his boot :-(
Tony was a Karate black belt.
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I spend two years in a boarding school with my brother.It was run like a detention centre I had to learn very quick to look after myself.If not live became a misery.Never mind Dog look how you have turned out a model citizen.>:)
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>> When I was in a Detention Centre (HMDC Send)
Thats just round the corner from where I live dog, you'd like it in there now, its a womans prison!
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>> Jogging around hard streets, heels pounding the pavements is not good for any of the
>> joints, all of them, all the way up to your neck. You never hear of
>> sprinters with bad joints. (torn muscles and tendons tho!)
I was running up to 60 miles a week on the roads and pavements around Alcester as a teenager. Similar distances until the family came along, but at 47 I'm still putting in up to 30 miles a week. No joint problems yet.
Mrs F doesn't really do exercise (although she enjoys her tennis) but is thinking about a hip replacement.
Genetics/luck of the draw is a significant factor.
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...Were you a sportsman in your youth?...
The only thing rugby, cricket and hockey have in common is that I played them all badly at school.
The new hip has strengthened my resolve to lead a healthier lifestyle, but sport wont come into it.
Recreational cycling will, I'm looking forward to going for a wobble on my Brompton, which I've barely used for months.
What are the tyre pressures Bromp?
About 80psi?
Last edited by: Iffy on Sat 12 Nov 11 at 09:15
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Which tyres?
TBH the Brompton Yellow/Green or Schwalbe Marathons should be fine at 80. I pump my Marathons up to 100 with the track pump but they're getting a bit too hard then.
The old Raleigh Records were a bit lower maybe 70 but I doubt anybody still runs those.
Comparing notes in more detail which model's yours?
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...Comparing notes in more detail which model's yours?...
A 2010 six-speed with the standard T-shape handlebar.
I specced it in light and dark green, so it's more of a country Brompton than an urban warrior like yours.
Schwalbe Marathons, decent saddle. dynamo lights, mudguards and a carrier.
The tyres have been flat for months, but the bike's been in the cupboard under the stairs, so nothing should have come to much harm.
Speaking of storage, it fits quite well in a 50p carry bag from Ikea, a little more cost effective than the £100+ plus bags sold by Brompton.
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That sounds like an M6R in Brentford speak. Mine's the same model but with a Cornflower Blue frame and black forks/rear triangle, Brooks saddle and batttery lights,. A dynamo seemed too complicated for a 15 minute commute given other's horror stories.
Bought in 2009 using my employer's Cycle to work scheme - so strictly speaking still owned by HMG.
Still hang on to my 1999 L5 (M5L in modern nomenclature) as well. Retired from front line service after 10 years but used as back up and by Mrs B from time to time.
The Dympna bag's capacity to cover a B is fairly well known. I've got the 'official' nylon cover but it's very rarely needed. Most places I go are unphased by a rider turning up, folding the bike and either carrying it straight into a meeting to stuff under a desk.
Left in conference cloakrooms it often has a brother/sister for company!
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...A dynamo seemed too complicated for a 15 minute commute given other's horror stories...
Rarely used the lights, but I'm determined to get back on the Brompton in the next few weeks as part of my rehab, so that may change.
I'm told the light cables fail near the fold, although common sense suggests that will take some time to happen in my case because the bike will only be folded two or three times a week.
You put your Brompton to proper use which will show up faults quickly.
Some of the peripherals don't look brilliant quality to me, given the price of the bike.
The handlebar grips are cheap and nasty, and are already showing signs of wear/slippage.
Any maintenance tips appreciated.
Last edited by: Iffy on Sat 12 Nov 11 at 23:55
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Want one now. Be great in London. Santa ????
:-))
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Iffy's been to hospital - Focusless
