You probably think Hippy should be spelled Hippie? Well, he's that too. We were both hippies in the 60s-70s, but now hippy takes on a new meaning so I figured I'd spell it differently. Jim's hip has been bothering him for several months now. He traces it back to about fall of 2022. He doesn't remember it hurting when we were in Italy in May, it wasn't even bad when we were in the UK in August, but when we were home in December and January, doing our walks around the neighborhood, he started telling me to slow down. It's usually me telling him to slow down, so something was wrong. It got to the point that he just wouldn't walk at all, it hurt too bad.
He got a referral to a hip doctor and the doctor told him he had 3 choices:
- continue taking Aleve, like he had been doing
- get an injection that may or may not help. If he did this, he would have to wait several months for it to work it's way thru his system before he'd be eligible for #3
- have hip replacement surgery - FIX it!
Jim opted for #3. We're on medicare plus an expensive, good, supplemental insurance - so it wouldn't cost us anything. He's a good candidate and it's no problem to stay home for a few months. Surgery was scheduled for June 5.
I drove him to the hospital and we got there at 6:30am, he was home by 2:30 and walking. He had the required walker, but after a few hours he decided it was more awkward than helpful. He took it easy and just stayed home. He used the wall bed in his office downstairs.
Less than a month and he was cleared for activity. He'd been climbing stairs at home after about 2 weeks, driving in 3. At one month, we stayed at a hotel on the beach for July 4 and he went swimming in the ocean and walking over a mile to dinner.
Here's a before and after xray - after is on the left.
He's doing great AND walking without any pain now.
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