Post hip replacement complications

mortea55 · Newbie Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 1

My mother is 83. In 2001 she fell and broken her pelvis in the groin area. She was operated on and a plate was attached across the break. The operation was not a success. She had so much arthritis in the hip that the head of the femur was popping up into the hip joint when she walked. In 2002, she got a hip replacement in the same hip. She never walked correctly afterwards even after rehab, physical therapy and exercising on her own daily. Her leg is 2 1/2" shorter than the other one. Her greatest complaint is that she feels a fullness in her groin as if there were padding inside of it. It makes her leg pull to one side. She also developed weak veins in her legs (something she did not have before) her feet are constantly red and swollen. She has been back to the surgeon who perfomed the operation many times complaining of this. He takes an xray and tells her everything looks fine and there is nothing he can do. SHe has been to a circulatory specialist and he told her that the weak veins come with old age and there is nothing he can do just elevate them and soak your feet, which is what she was doing anyway. She is getting very despondant. Her ability to walk is getting less and less daily. She doesnt know what to do and feels as if she should go into a nursing home. She also has a colostomy do to rectal cancer 10 years ago.

Have you heard of anyone with these symtoms after hip replacement? If so, is there anything that can give her some relief and get her walking with more ease?

hip girl · Newbie Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 1

My surgeon is well known. He did my first replacement and it dislodged 6 times over years. He revised it in 2005(April). My right hip was really bad, so I saw no reason why he shouldn't replace it as he knew my body, or so I thought.

I came out of surgery with my right leg pulling down, 2 inches longer than my left....it wasn't really the length of the leg(because they measured equal, but the fact that he used a short stem off set which took my leg out to the side. I could never get it under me. When I would lie on the ground it would shoot out to the right.
My back was jacked all the time. Because I couldn't get it under me, when I would stand it looked as if it was 2 inches longer and it threw my right side forward. It was horrible. I went back several times during the first three months crying. I knew immediately when I got out of bed that he did something wrong.
He called me hysterical. I went to many doctors in the same area. I live in a big city. They all protected him and said they couldn't help me. My parents live in another city. I went to a doctor there who was from Europe. He wasn't a member of the boys club. By that I mean he wasn't yet a member of the hip and knee association. They all protect each other. He was refreshing. He studied in Europe, extremely intelligent. .
He took my case. It was even worse....my surgeon lied on the operative report about the parts he used.
When they opened me up, they found they didn't have the correct corresponding parts. They had to call to a Hospital down the road to see if they had them. I was open on the table for an hour and a half.
There were so many mistakes made in my surgery, my therapist said she wondered if he even did the surgery.....as it turned out, I never saw my surgeon before surgery. That bothered me. He was there at the end, but not the beginning. Anyway, this wonderful doctor helping me had planned to redo the cup because my original surgeon tilted it back(another mistake), but he found that whoever did the surgery reamed too much bone. If he took out the cup, there wouldn't be enough bone to support another cup....so the only alternative he had was to redirect the lining forward. The stem was found to be very lose. It seems my body was fighting the stem because it wasn't lined up right(as I already could tell). This doctor replaced the stem with a longer one just like the one on my left. He shortened my leg because the muscles were already stretched coming from my back that attach to the hip from the prior surgery. He also found that the surgeon did not attach a set of muscles. So....he reattached them during his surgery.

I am writing to let you know that even the best surgeons make mistakes and bad judgement calls. They can put in the wrong replacement. The problem is that once the stem is put in and cemented or porous, they would often times have to slice the femur to get the stem out. In my case, my body was fighting the porous stem he implanted and it was loose already so they didn't have to break/slice the femur to get it out....if they had to, it would have called for a bone graft. Then they are facing a law suit if they admit they are wrong and all their buddies will cover their ass. One surgeon, before he even examined me, told me I needed a psych eval!!!!
He said if I didn't have a psyche eval,he wouldn't treat me. Then he examined me and could clearly see that something was wrong and said he wanted me to have a CT. I agreed, but I had already had a CT at the hospital near my parents' home. I only went to him because he was near where I live and I preferred to have it done there, but as it turned out the the hospital near my parents' home was the right choice.
You will probably have to take your mother out of state. The doctors will protect each other. My original surgeon tried to blame my back, but it was the same back I had when I had the first hip surgery...so that didn't fly. Then believe it or not, my x-rays disappeared. My husband went to get them. The tech said they were all there from 2000. When my husband got there, all I got were shoulder and neck films. I called and he said he doesn't know what happened to them, they must have been sent to a study????!!!!!

It's just bizzare. You both know something is wrong. You are probably so right. It's just getting someone to help you. I wish you luck. Try a surgeon out of state. If you have relatives, maybe your Mom could stay there. Get all your CT's, MRI's and x-rays. I hope you get help and this doesn't depress your Mom so much that she just gives up.
I was able to locate all x-rays prior to 2000 and locate all CT's, MRI's done offsite. Make sure you obtain the surgery reports. The hospital has to give those to you and there should be x-rays done during surgery that you can ask for. If your Mom saw any other doctors regarding her hip, make sure you get those x-rays.

Also, I am a young woman in regards to having hip replacements. I am 54. My profession was very physical. It was going to either be knees or hips and as it turned out, the hips went. Lots of spurs and osteoarthritis. This whole ordeal was so enlightening regarding the brotherhood that exits with certain ortho's.

I can stand straight with my hips under me(as before). This new doc was a miracle worker. He's an amazing doctor. I hope you find one for your Mom. Don't give up.

Post hip replacement complications

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