Patients

Patient Testimonial

Pamela, Ceramic-Ceramic Hip Recipient

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When she was 11 years old, Pam broke her left hip in a bicycle spill, and the injury gave her problems from then on. But, nothing she couldn’t handle until about the age of 44, when arthritis set in.

“It started hurting more, and I couldn’t walk as much,” Pam said. “I certainly couldn’t ride a bike like I used to, and that was something that I really missed doing.”

Pam, now 47, who has worked in childcare for years, found that she could no longer keep up with the kids when they went on walks or bicycle rides, her favorite part of each day. Her doctor treated her with shots for the pain, but more and more, she said, she was losing ground to the arthritis and felt like she was too young to be missing out on things she had always enjoyed doing.

“It was depressing in a way, because I felt older than I really am, and because the kids had to slow down and stop often to wait for me,” she said. “Just treating the pain wasn’t working. I needed a real solution.”

In early 2005 she was referred to an orthopedic surgeon who told her about hip replacement, and in May she had surgery to trade in her old injured hip for a Wright Medical ceramic-on-ceramic hip. She said family support, especially from her mother and sister, was very important to her before and after surgery.

Pam spent four days recovering in the hospital then returned home, where she continued to rest but soon began physical therapy with therapists who came to her house several times each week. Within weeks she was walking with the assistance of a walker, and by June she was using a cane. By early August, she was walking without assistance and pedaling a stationary bike several times a week.

“I could feel the muscles working and the strength coming back. And gradually the pain became less and less,” she said.

Four months after surgery, Pam said she was still recovering from the surgery and had recently finished her outpatient physical therapy, but already felt a tremendous improvement in her hip -- very little pain, and a new sense of confidence.

“I look back on what I was going through, and I know it was time to get something done. It’s a tremendous relief to be able to live without pain and have my life back,” she said. “What I’m looking forward to more than anything is riding my bicycle outside again, and that’s coming soon.”