Patient Stories

Karen

Hi, I’m a 39 year old female who has just been diagnosed with Dysplasia after a long history of over 30 years of problems. I am very grateful that I have private healthcare, which in the UK, is amazing and I’m under a top surgeon in London.

However, due to the recover time (for both hips) and the horrendous looking treatment, I have asked for some other opinions as to why I can’t have bi-lateral replacements instead (as I don’t currently have arthritic hips), especially now the ceramic/titanium THRs have very little wear. So that’s where I’m looking for your help and stories of anyone that was able to opt for replacements instead of PAOs who didn’t have arthritis.

It all started when I was 9 when I started having pain in my knees. I was told it was growing pains. At 15, I was told it was attention seeking (as I used to run middle distance and either won, or suddenly slowed and colapsed). At 22 I had an X-Ray of my knees and that was clear (mmmm…). At 26, again, they found nothing. At 31 I was told “you probably have osteo-arthrytis” without even doing a bloody test. So for 9 further years, I suffered (wanting to be such an active person in my head!) until I was walking up stairs on all 4s. (I don’t think I need to go into other details about restrictions and pain as you’ve all suffered it!)

With no pre-existing conditions, I decided to get private healthcare and when I asked medical friends for the right surgeon to be referred to… they diagnosed me on the spot with Chrondomalacia Patellae (knees). I had no VMO muscle at all. My IT bands were extended and my cartilage cleaned up (I was left with 10% in my left and 25% in my right).

I began to be incredibly active after my knee surgery, even becoming a cycling addict and took part in a 300 mile ride in 4 days, just 6 months after surgery. However, the hip pain I was experiencing as well never went away… even after 8 months of Physio and over the next 3 years, got worse and worse to the point that after any form of exercise (and randomly without warning) it would bite me. It was also incredibly difficult to stand up after a seated position without aggressive pain.

So I’ve now been diagnosed (which was a shock considering I was expecting a bit of Physio!) and I have a left labral tear to boot. I’m now occasionally on crutches and I’ve penciled my first hip in for June 16, subject to not being told replacements will work!

Looking forward to some comments!
Karen
PS – Wonderful site and congrats on your recent donation!