So, the ball, my friends, is rolling...
Wednesday I got my "medical clearance" to have surgery thanks to all that super fun lab work. My primary care kept saying "Hip replacement. How old are you again?" Yup, I'm the lucky girl getting a hip or two replaced before my 30th birthday. Then he told me about Bo Jackson having to have a hip replacement young. "He had avascular necrosis, but people were always smashing into him." So, great I get the same diagnosis from walking around that this guy got from playing football. I think his way sounds more fun. My doc also went on to make sure I knew that I'd have to have this done again as they "don't last forever."
I also met with the physician's assistant to the Ortho that's performing the operation. We're all set for Thursday the 29th at 7:30am. They have to remove the plate and pins from the femur rotation I had as a teenager first and then they'll be replacing my left hip with a titanium one. She said they have to custom order one my size. It made me laugh, I guess pediatric hip replacements aren't so common. On that note she kept answers questions and then adding "But you're not our typical patient." Between my age, my size, my 13 previous orthopedic surgeries/CP and the fact that I'm a breastfeeding mother I'm proving quite the challenge.
She also informed me that this procedure has a high risk of blood clots so I have to be on injectable blood thinners for 3 weeks. Did I mention how much I hate needles. When I reacted with shock at the idea of sticking myself everyday she said in that eye rolling tone of voice "oh, come on you had a baby." Of course it wasn't until I got home that it occurred to me this might be a problem for breastfeeding. I called and got the name of the one they're using. Here's what the Internet said:
There are no data on the excretion of fondaparinux into human milk. The effects in the nursing infant are unknown. The manufacturer recommends that caution be used when administering fondaparinux to nursing women
Wonderfully informative as that is I called the lactation department at the hospital. They came up with the same thing, but their information said that although the blood thinner would be in my milk the, but doctor doesn't think it would be digested by the baby. She recommended I call the pediatrician so my research into this continues...
If you are interested, look up Gabriel Magno. Ignore the music stuff. I think he's on his third set of hips. He had his first before the age of 30, too, I believe. I first met him in the late 1970s after the first replacement. He's written some interesting stuff on his journey. Thanks for the very interesting updates!
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