I need surgery advice. My surgeon is surgery happy! PLEASE HELP!

[CatEyes]

I had surgery on my right hip 6 1/2 weeks ago. They went in and drilled the inside of my dead bone at the top of the Femur bone and then put a still rod in there and then a rod ran down half way down my Femur bone and they put two pins in the bone half way down to attach to bottom half of the steel rod. I am still on Lovenex shots. I have been on those shots for over a month now and i still have 5 days left including todays shot. The shots is a blood thinner that stopps traveling blood clots. I saw the surgeon yesterday and he wants to do surgery on my other hip on October 10th. Next Friday.

The surgeon asked if i been walking on my right leg and i told him yes and he said that is good and i should be walking on it. I still have a limp when i walk and when i go up our porch steps, my right hip still feels a little weak and i can definitely feel the rod in my femur bone.

I told my visiting nurse today that i forgot to tell the surgeon i was still taking those Lovenox shots. So she called and left a message with his nurse. She told me that if she were me that i would take todays shot and then stop the shots because they want you off of all blood thinners for at least a week before surgery.

I met another one of the same surgeon's patient that had the same surgery one week before i had mine and she is still in a lot of pain because the rod goes almost to her knee. She told me that she met another one of the surgeons patients at the old office he was at and he did surgery on the woman's right and left hip, both knee's and both wrists for evascular necrosis. The same problem i have in both of my hips. I talked to my dad and he blew his top. He said that it sounds like he is sugery happy and told me to put off the surgery and get another opinion. What do you guys think?

ETA: I had to have blood tranfusions with my last two surgeries

[Funmommy]

Not sure...
but I'm sending you :hug:

[QuiltyConscience]

If you are concerned, then definitely get a second opinion.

[jessiehannan]

I would want to know WHY he wants to do surgery on the other hip.
Is it causing pain?
Is there excessive wear?
Will not doing the surgery cause problems later?

[Amy_G_]

It's your body, if you want to wait, then tell him you want to wait. I'd prefer to have one side pretty well healed before doing the other side personally. otherwise you might end up down for too long. kwim? but he may be thinking that you are in so much pain,it's better to get it over with now.

do you have a handle on your pain medicine useage yet?

[CatEyes]

It's your body, if you want to wait, then tell him you want to wait. I'd prefer to have one side pretty well healed before doing the other side personally. otherwise you might end up down for too long. kwim? but he may be thinking that you are in so much pain,it's better to get it over with now.

do you have a handle on your pain medicine useage yet?
Yea he said the sooner the better cause i am in alot of pain. My SI joints is giving me the most pain for 2+ years now. He says that he does not do SI joints. He can give me injections but i have had injections in them for over a year now and most of the time it really didn't help.

Yea I went to taking 2 capsules every 6 hours for a couple of days then went to one a day. He gave another pain medicine that is in a different class. It is called Hydromorphone HCL 2MG every 6 hours. I told him the Oxycodone wasn't really taking care of the pain and that my body got used to it and i weaned myself off of it. He saw that i had alot left. He gave it back to me to discard it. But DH has a bad tooth ache and he has been taking 2 capsules at night for the tooth ache.

[steelady]

I don't know your condition, but it kind of sounds like the bone is dying and needs some sort of structural re-inforcement. If there is no other way to help repair the damage caused by your condition (and I have no idea if there is), it may be that surgery is the only option when that condition gets to a certain point.

Having said all of that, given what you've already gone through, I would also get a second opinion to ease my own mind about having to need surgery again.

Further, I would want the surgeon to explain why it needs to happen in this time frame (I'm wondering if they need a certain amount of healthy bone in order to reduce the size of the rod, amount of complications, recovery time). Don't consent to anything until you understand and agree.

[CatEyes]

I would want to know WHY he wants to do surgery on the other hip.
Is it causing pain?
Is there excessive wear?
Will not doing the surgery cause problems later?

Yes it is causing me pain. I thought when he did my right hip that it would take care of the SI joint pain i have been having for 2 + years. But i am still having alot of pain in both of my SI joints.

Well i do have wear problems but the main problem is that the bone is dead in there.

He told me that the surgery he did on my right hip will last a minimum of 5 years and he said i will eventually have to have hip replacement surgery in both hips later.

[CatEyes]

I don't know your condition, but it kind of sounds like the bone is dying and needs some sort of structural re-inforcement. If there is no other way to help repair the damage caused by your condition (and I have no idea if there is), it may be that surgery is the only option when that condition gets to a certain point.

Having said all of that, given what you've already gone through, I would also get a second opinion to ease my own mind about having to need surgery again.

Further, I would want the surgeon to explain why it needs to happen in this time frame (I'm wondering if they need a certain amount of healthy bone in order to reduce the size of the rod, amount of complications, recovery time). Don't consent to anything until you understand and agree.


I was pregnant from 2004 to Feb of 05 and got preganant again 8 months later and had our youngest. The doctor that did my surgery said that the babies was cutting off the blood flow to my hip bones and it caused the hip bones to die. He was wanting to do the surgery cause i am in alot of pain. I feel like i should wait a while and let my right hip heal some more. I just do not know what to do really. That is why i was asking on this board what should i do.

[Sputterduck]

Have you gotten a second opinion? That is really really important.

I've never heard of pregnancy causing hip bones to die. Has anyone else? That seems really off to me.

[CatEyes]

Well i had to have a hysterectomy in 07 because my uterus dropped and way lying on nerves and was causing me alot of pain, plus i had endometrosis to. The surgeon explained to me that since my uterus dropped with the pregnancies, the babies head was cutting off the veins that was going to my hip bones (top of the femur bones) and the blood flow was stopped because of the babies head was lying on the veins.

[CatEyes]

ETA No i haven't got a 2nd opinion yet.

[Sputterduck]

Please do get a second opinion.

[Tweet]

Have you gotten a second opinion? That is really really important.

I've never heard of pregnancy causing hip bones to die. Has anyone else? That seems really off to me.


I have.A good friend of mine had two babies very close together. She was in a wheelchair for over 2 years afterward and had hip replacement surgery this last year because of the bones dying.

I'd get a second opinion if it were me. There is no harm in that and at least it might put your mind at ease.

[Sputterduck]

I have.A good friend of mine had two babies very close together. She was in a wheelchair for over 2 years afterward and had hip replacement surgery this last year because of the bones dying.

I'd get a second opinion if it were me. There is no harm in that and at least it might put your mind at ease.


Wow. That is awful. Poor lady.

[CatEyes]

I have.A good friend of mine had two babies very close together. She was in a wheelchair for over 2 years afterward and had hip replacement surgery this last year because of the bones dying.

I'd get a second opinion if it were me. There is no harm in that and at least it might put your mind at ease.


That is awful. How old is she when she had hip replacement surgery. The surgeon said i was too young to have hip replacement surgery at age 36 and i still have cartilidge (sp?)

Here is a link that tells all about the disease and what it is caused from. It is a long article though. http://www.emedicine.com/RADIO/topic70.htm

[CatEyes]

Well i got the surgery rescheduled for Halloween morning. Since my kids have a half a day that wednesday and then they have thursday and Friday off. Friday is Halloween. DH said i will be carved up like a pumpkin. lol