The last time I saw my Ortho, which feels like years ago after the relentless marathon of tests and appointments before my last surgery, he informed me that we may have to do this in stages. (Deep sigh) Considering we were ready-set-go on replacing my hip back in May I feel like there shouldn't have been any surprises. Wrong-O. I remember being told the hardware that's already in my hip "complicates" things. Now he was saying that it was possible perhaps even likely that he would have to remove the hardware in one procedure and replace my hip in another two months later.
(No air left in the room feeling)I was instructed to get the report from the surgery were the hardware was "installed" so that he could better assess the necessity of staging the procedure. A dozen phone calls, a release form, a typo on my part causing mail to misroute and some persistence later the Ortho got all 44 pages of my surgical history from 3-18yrs. The next day I met with the physicians assistant who said...(3 guesses) they didn't know. Shocker. What it boils down to is he can't know for sure until he's in there. The plate and pins were put in in 1994 so there's probably a good bit of bone growth. What the Ortho can do (and of course didn't before I came in) is consult some equipment reps about the best way to get that stuff out. It's hard for me to find a positive note to end on.
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