Patient Stories

Bekkah

I’m Bekkah and I’m 21 from Scotland. From a fairly young age I’ve always walked with a swagger and sat with my legs in a ‘w’ position. No indicators at birth that anything may be wrong with my hips and that continued until I was 16. I was a very active young person, I Thai boxed at a competitive level, played football and danced as part of my theatre school, there is suggestion that the amount of activity I took part in helped to strengthen the muscles outside of my hip joint and keeping symptoms are bay. At around 15, I took time out of all extra curricular activities to study for prelims and exams and soon after would rather have spent Saturday nights with my friends than in the gym or studio. I fell away from everything.

A few months later and I start having severe discomfort and pain in my left hip, I stop taking part in PE, and dread my waitressing shifts due to pain. I start to fall down the stairs and experience a dislocating sensation. I go to see my GP who tells me it is growing pains and not to worry. I persevere with my hip for nearly another year with a few nasty ‘dislocating’ episodes and tumbles down the stairs. During my 6th year in high school I had one of these ‘dislocating’ episodes after losing my footing on a concrete stair well in school, my mum came and got me to take me to the hospital.

After several X-rays, the doctors couldn’t believe my mum when she explained I hadn’t had any previous issues with my hips as a baby. I was referred to a specialist and told that surgery may be the only option.

I was referred to the new University Hospital where I met the fantastic surgeon that has seen me through tears and tantrums. He made a very basic explanation to me about what bilateral hip dysplasia was and how severely affected my hips were. He told me the pros and cons of surgery and sent me for a million X-rays. He then told my mum and I that he would have been apprehensive to do the surgery as my dysplasia was the worst he had seen.

June 2015 at 19 years old I went in to have my left hip corrected with a Gantz Osteomy, my surgeon snapped my hip in 4 different places and held it together with 4 screws. I came out of surgery 6 and a half hours later having had an epidural with a plethora of problems. My operated leg was mobile (it definitely should not have been) and my right leg was dead to the world.

I had to remain in intensive care until my epidural could be removed. After being wheeled to the ward where needles to say I was the youngest patient by miles, my recovery soon began. It was a long and winding road, the bruising I had was horrific and the nerve damage I had post op, I never had any feeling return. I hated my crutches and how immobile and dependent I was on other people made me miserable and grouchy.

The race was on to be better and off both crutches for the new uni semester starting in September. 11 weeks of hydro and 9 of physio helped along the way.

Still have 4 screws in my left hip and going in for same procedure on my right in June 2017, but I’m wondering if the procedure helped. I still feel much discomfort in the left hip and due to using my right as a weight baring leg, it is much worse now than it ever was…

Bionic hips please!!