The past 15 months have not been very kind to me in that I've had surgery on my right femur and left clavicle as the result of bicycle crashes. When the doctor repaired my femur he mentioned my hip joint was bone on bone and I might need a rig ht hip replacement in the future. Well the future is now because over the past 12 months the pain and stiffness in that joint is reminiscent of what my left hip felt like 15 years ago. This time I am not going to wait like I did back then and have scheduled the surgery for December 17th. It will be more complicated because before my hip can be replaced the metal nails and intramedullary rod inserted last year have to be removed. The doctor in Rome GA who did the original femur repair recommended doing this in two separate procedures, but he also thought I should consider having this done in Atlanta since going back and forth to Rome would be a hassle. He even recommended a doctor I should consider.
I went to the recommended Atlanta ortho doctor who felt that the removal and replacement procedure could be done at the same time. In a pre op visit he outlined the procedure in detail. Interestingly removing last year's hardware will take as long as the replacement procedure. Nevertheless there is a good chance I will be able to go home the same day. That will be my immediate goal: get out of the hospital as fast as I can. I am very adept at figuring out how to pass post surgery protocol as home is always preferable to a hospital. As always my longer term recovery goals are measured in terms of cycling. I did a road bike ride 6 weeks after my left hip replacement and 4 weeks after each knee replacement. Each of those rides were about 20 miles. I will aim for a short road ride in 4 weeks. Hopefully that sets the stage for me to complete a 200 km RUSA event on January 30th. If I'm on target I may solicit someone to ride a tandem with me. While this may seem far fetched I did complete a 200 km event on a tandem in October, 2014, 4 weeks to the day following femur surgery.
I'm often asked why I do this stuff. The answer is always the same: given all my orthopedic issues cycling is one of the few aerobic activities I can still do. I gave up running, basketball, tennis, hiking and to a large extent even swimming and walking. About all I have left is cycling and canoeing/kayaking and it's much more convenient to cycle. Wish me luck with the surgery and more importantly the recovery.
See you on the road!!
