What is like to be a patent having hip replacement surgery. Perspectives from a surgeons wife. Hear all about the procedure, getting ready for the surgery and what to expect after surgery + what its like to be the wife of an orthopedic surgeon and still be reluctant to have a procedure.
What is like to be a patent having hip replacement surgery. Perspectives from a surgeons wife. Hear all about the procedure, getting ready for the surgery and what to expect after surgery + what its like to be the wife of an orthopedic surgeon and still be reluctant to have a procedure.
Well , you bone connect . You foot bone , your foot bone connected to you heal bone . You heal bone . Connect to you ankle , bone ,
Speaker 2:Your ankle . Hello and welcome to the Bone and Joint Playbook with Dr. John sst . Tips for pain-free aging. Dr. John SST is a board certified orthopedic surgeon with over 35 years experience in the Dayton, Ohio area. He is also a clinical fellowship trained surgeon in total joint replacement from Harvard. This episode is brought to you by
Speaker 3:Ted's authentic Greek salad dressing and marinade. It's healthy gluten-free and delicious. You can find ted's in Dayton, Ohio at Dorothy Lane Markets Health Foods Unlimited and Dots markets. That's Ted's authentic Greek dressing and marinade. Thanks Ted.
Speaker 4:Hey, well thanks Danielle for the introduction. We are back again today with Dr. John s from the Bone and Joint Playbook. Hello, Dr. S
Speaker 5:Hello, Terry .
Speaker 4:It's November, 2023. What have we got on the docket today? What's our title of this podcast?
Speaker 5:Today's topic is the Other Side of the Knife.
Speaker 4:Uh , Dr . S That sounds great, but I think there's a something more important we need to talk about who's sitting across the table from us today?
Speaker 5:Well, that would be my wife Debbie Erst .
Speaker 4:Hello, Debbie . Say
Speaker 6:Hello, Deb . Hi there. How are you ?
Speaker 4:I'm great. And why do we have Debbie here with us today, Dr. Erst ?
Speaker 5:Well, I believe she's going to shed some light on what it's like to be the patient having the surgery, what a perspectives are from a surgeon's wife and a patient who is seeing both sides of the , um, surgical equation, so to speak.
Speaker 4:Sure. Well, Debbie, let me ask you a couple questions. First off, my sympathy for , uh, for , you know, we know who you're married to, <laugh> . Um , um, so a few basic questions. How old are you, Debbie ?
Speaker 6:I'm 63.
Speaker 4:63. Well , you're the same age. That's great. And what is it that said I need to have hip surgery? What, what was, how long was it going on? What were , what were you feeling? What was going on in your body? Um,
Speaker 6:Very briefly. I had , uh, fallen about seven or eight years ago and let this go for seven or eight years. So
Speaker 4:You had
Speaker 6:A fall? I did have a fall. Um, probably had had the issue for a long time. I just didn't know it 'cause I had no pain. Right. Um, and then as it progressed I knew I needed hip surgery, but I didn't wanna have it. And quite frankly, I was afraid to have it. My fear was that something would happen to me and I would leave a lot of responsibility behind. I think a lot of people feel that they just don't wanna voice it. Right. There is a fear. And it finally got to a point where I was <laugh> . I was counting how many steps it would take me to go do what I had to do in a day because the pain was so bad.
Speaker 4:Wow. And where was the pain? Just in one side of the hip?
Speaker 6:Yes, it was on my right side, but it was <laugh> the whole, like I was a mess. I looked like , um, Chester on gun, smoke on Oh , I know. Chester steroids. Yeah. It was awful.
Speaker 4:So just real quick on those scales that you see in the hospital, we have a little smiley face to the sad face. Where was your
Speaker 6:Pain at? I was a sad face.
Speaker 4:You were like all the way to the end.
Speaker 6:You were ? Yeah. I wouldn't admit it then, but I'll tell you now. It was horrible. And
Speaker 4:What was your husband who's , uh, world renowned surgeon telling you at
Speaker 6:The time he was utterly frustrated, <laugh>.
Speaker 4:What was he telling you to do?
Speaker 6:Uh, he really felt I should get that hip done five years ago. Yeah . Um, but I had responsibilities and I knew that I couldn't do something unless I was comfortable doing it. And that's kind of the, the whole point. If you're not comfortable doing something, you're not gonna do it. You can't be forced to do anything. Alright .
Speaker 4:Dr . Erst, how common is what we're hearing from Debbie where somebody's prolonging something? What , what , what was the saying you like to say? I can't, we can always fix something down . Push a
Speaker 6:Rope uphill.
Speaker 4:What ?
Speaker 5:Well, you , yeah . You can't push a rope uphill basically means you are not gonna make a decision for somebody for an elective problem. Like arthritis. Arthritis never kills anybody. It disables a lot of people. We know heart disease and cancer kill people, but arthritis just slows you down. It hurts. It limits your movement. It limits your activities. And I tell people when this limits your daily happiness where you can't go to watch your kid's soccer game. You can't go to the store and walk through the store without holding onto the cart or wondering how far it'll be. Where's the next chair? You avoid going to , uh, social events because that's right . Your hip or knee bother you so much, then it's time to think about doing something about it.
Speaker 4:Alright . So as, as the husband of Debbie and a surgeon and you know, what goes on during surgery, what, what was it that finally got her to the point where she says, okay, let's let's do this thing. And then what did you do? Because you didn't do the surgery, did you?
Speaker 5:I did not. Uh, there's a, there's a, there's kind of a line in the sand on , um, operating on your family members. Um, I think if small procedures are being done, I use an example like , uh, taking an ingrown toenail off or doing a , a simple knee scope or a simple procedure. Those are pretty fair game for the surgeon if they have a level of comfort to do that on a family member. Otherwise, a major procedure, you wouldn't want to have that responsibility if anything would ever go wrong. If there's ever, you know, that emotional part of the procedure that gets involved, you don't need to have that in the equation. So I think we , uh, both decided that we would let her decide where she wanted to go for that.
Speaker 4:Alright. So I , I know you, you know, everybody in in the town who does these kind of surgeries, but what was the breaking point, Debbie? What was the point where you said, I'm gonna do it? Was there one thing?
Speaker 6:Um, I couldn't do anything.
Speaker 4:You couldn't walk
Speaker 6:There and believe me, I was doing it and I was struggling to the point where I couldn't even breathe. By the time I got to the end of the house, we were, I mean , he would go place , I'd say, go, go , go do whatever you want. But I was going nowhere. Right. It was horrific. But again, I didn't admit that until after I had my hip done because I didn't wanna hear it. Me , me , me , me . You know, it's a , so I couldn't stand it anymore. I had, my life had changed dramatically and I'm very active Okay. With my business. I don't have the time to sit.
Speaker 4:Right. So , uh, what , what , how did we find the surgeon? How did you know who to take her to? Did you, did you do this work or did he, did he figure this out? No,
Speaker 6:He really did. Truthfully, I would've been very happy with any of the surgeons in his group, anybody. Right . They are great surgeon . Believe me, I'm the person who would tell you if they weren't. They are amazing. I don't wanna put somebody in his group in a position to be working on me. God forbid something happens. Yeah , sure. Everybody screwed. Right. So he had trained with this surgeon in Louisville and he can take it from there. How he, how he found him ?
Speaker 5:Well, the , um, you know, the thing we tell patients is , uh, when you're ready to have a hip or a knee or a shoulder or any major procedure, you obviously have already had x-rays that warrant that point of the, the treatment plan, which is replace the joint because it's pretty worn out. Like a , like any other body part can be with arthritis. Then it's time to do some homework and figure out who is doing that procedure well and who's doing enough of those and who may be , um, your best option. And it has a lot to do with , um, uh, what , what what I did is I had trained with the doctor in Louisville. Uh, so my partners had al also gone down there. Uh, we talked before about some of the newer approaches to the hip and the using the front incision called the anterior hip that , um, has a little better protection against sitting on chairs and crossing legs for protection against dislocation and other issues that people are concerned with. So he had been one of the initial , uh, pioneers to do that procedure in the Louisville area. Uh , had trained with the , the doctor at UCLA who had developed the table that lets the leg down for that procedure, which helped us be able to do it. 'cause a lot of us did conventional pocket incisions for hip replacements. Um, 'cause that's the, the tables weren't available to help us do it the other way, I guess. So after um, she decided that's who she wanted to see, she went down. And we're gonna talk a little bit about what things you'd want to ask your doctor. Yeah , yeah . If you decide, okay, I'm gonna go in for this pretty important visit and meet the doctor who's gonna do my procedure, what do I want to ask them ? But
Speaker 6:That's very important to be able to meet that doctor. If you go to somebody and you never get to see, I had somebody ask me the other day, well, did you get to see 'em ? Well, yeah. There are people who do not get to see their doctor until the day of surgery. Yeah,
Speaker 4:I've seen that before.
Speaker 6:Yeah. I wouldn't go to somebody like that. Right. If I can't see you and you can't talk to me one time, I'm moving
Speaker 4:Around . So how many times, because you come across as cautious, right? Very mm-Hmm , <affirmative> . Very . And, and , uh, how many times did you meet with the doctor
Speaker 6:Before? I met with him once because he was in Louisville. Okay. But you know, he had done how many had he done? That was the big question we had. And he does, if I'm not mistaken, I don't wanna speak outta turn one surgery. That surgery, that's all he does. So who better to do my surgery than that? Right. That's all he does.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I I agree. I kind of think if you're specialized in one thing, you're gonna be the best.
Speaker 6:Exactly. And he was, I don't care if he's gonna be the, you know, greatest Betsy guy was great. He was very nice. But I think if, if they won't answer your questions, they don't understand your concerns, you don't go to them. This guy was great. He answered questions, he sat, he listened. I, my biggest fear was dying on the table. Right. Not just, I think there are a lot of people like that not dying because anesthesia can't keep me alive. Dying because I have something else. I had a heart attack, I had this, I had that. Sure . That was my fear. My fear was what happens to everything behind me.
Speaker 4:Okay. So , so let , let's let's kind of recap. You're 63. You had hip issues going on for Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> for a pretty long time after a fall. Right. And then how long ago did you have the hip?
Speaker 6:I had it done in May. You
Speaker 4:End up May . And what was the operation called?
Speaker 5:A well, it total a total hip replacement. Total hip .
Speaker 4:Total hip replacement. Mine
Speaker 6:Was a little different though. I , my, I had not seen this before. My incision was like a bikini cut. Right. Yeah . In the hip joint. I , it was, it's amazing. It's wonderful. So
Speaker 4:What did, what did you, what did, what's a good patient pro practice for getting ready for surgery? Walk us through some of the things that Debbie had to do and that every patient should do to get ready for a surgery like this.
Speaker 5:Well, the most important thing anybody does before a major surgery is make sure they have someone who's their coach or family member that's gonna be with them in their house after the surgery. You can't have surgery if you live by yourself and say, I'll just take care of myself after this big procedure. The hospitals won't let you do it. So , uh, we used to be able to keep you in the hospital a few days, send you to a , a nursing facility, like a , a rehab area. Insurances now don't even pay for you to be in the hospital. So , uh, those options are, are few and far between. Unless you're really sick and then you go through a procedure and you're in the hospital long enough, then Medicare covers your couple weeks in a , uh, rehab facility. Um, but other than that, you need to get a family member to stay with you for a couple weeks. They're gonna have to get your medicines for you. They may have to get your ice packs. They're gonna help you get around the house. Your goal should be to have somebody make sure you don't fall. So you wanna move your , um, throw rugs and your dog leashes. Think about getting a grab bar in your shower. Have things that think about where am I gonna sleep? How many steps would I have to go up or down? And how would I do that? So there's a lot of preparation you do on the home front, but then there's other things that , um, you would consider based on whether you're gonna travel after surgery. We don't want you to get, get a blood clot sitting in a car or a plane or an automobile. Um, and then we don't want you to , um, um, ignore what your work requirements might be.
Speaker 4:Well, let's talk one , one of the most important things we had early conversation was, and I didn't realize this, that after surgery , a dental visit Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> or a , uh, colonoscopy could be devastating.
Speaker 5:Well, there's devastating because the simple statement, an infection in a total joint is a disaster has been one of the things I've always told my residents , um, you need to be aware of. And I tell my patients that, that you don't wanna get any bacteria in your bloodstream that could go to your new hip or new knee or new shoulder because we have, you know, too many to count bacteria types in your mouth. So if you're having a root canal, you're now causing bleeding. You a lot of dentists and total joint surgeons will tell you not to floss and cause bleeding in your gums. After a joint replacement. You're stirring up those bacteria if they get in the bloodstream and go to your total joint, now you got a problem. You've got things that shouldn't be where they should be.
Speaker 4:So is that, is that true before surgery? You should not have those things?
Speaker 5:No, you absolutely do it only after. So let's say you have a, a , a tooth abscess or a cracked tooth. Always get that fixed, then do your total joint later. Okay. So you always get your dental work done. Make sure your blood sugar, if you're a diabetic, if your blood sugar is elevated, you'll, you'll have a high risk of an infection. So we look at the , um, it's called a three month marker called an A one C . Right. And the A one C has to be under 7.5 or either you or your surgeon are making a mistake having surgery of any kind, whether it's a shoulder scope or a total joint replacement because now, you know, sugar is a, is a happy medium for bacteria. So , Debbie , Debbie , so you don't want , uh, you don't want to have a patient who's , uh, poorly controlled with their diabetic or having , um, let's say chemotherapy agents for cancer. Sure. You don't want their immune responses blended so they can't fight off an infection. So
Speaker 4:You don't wanna , and Debbie, how far in advance did you , you met with a doctor? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And then how far in advance was the surgery scheduled?
Speaker 6:Well, it was actually scheduled a month or two ahead, but we had to cancel it. So I'm gonna say five months was when I finally had it. And you
Speaker 4:Took advantage of all these Don't do these, don't do this.
Speaker 6:I did. And the one thing I did , um, 'cause I was fairly athletic before all of this, is I exercised my leg miserable as it was for those four or five months in between. Okay . To get ready for the surgery. I'm not on medication . So I didn't have to worry about what I took and what I didn't took . Sure . But I did anything and everything John told me to do prior to that surgery to get ready, I did it. Okay. I wasn't too good afterwards, but beforehand I was like a drill sergeant. It was . And , and ,
Speaker 4:And did you , was it down in Louisville? You got this done? Yes. And how long were you in the hospital <laugh>?
Speaker 6:My surgery started at seven 30 in the morning and we were in the car driving home. They were putting me in the car at 9 45. What? I swear to you, it was unbelievable.
Speaker 4:That's no, there's no
Speaker 6:Way. Honest to pee . And I felt great. We even stopped on the way home. Took my little, I , I don't think I even used a walker. I used a crutch. What I had. I was very, very, very fortunate. I mean, I never had a one second of bone pain, surgical pain, scar pain, nothing. Even,
Speaker 4:Even after the, nothing , the la la medicine as doctors calls it wears off.
Speaker 6:Nothing. Seriously. I was so , I swear to you, I had no pain. Well,
Speaker 4:You , you'll have to plug this doctor down ville , because that freaked .
Speaker 6:Yeah, he would . I mean, you know, I think it's a lot as the doctor and I think a lot as the patient, I did get, you know, when you're cutting skin, you're going to get some skin nerve pain. Sure . And I did have some of that, but I took nothing for it. This was, I mean, I've had five knee scopes. It was easier than a knee scope elsewhere .
Speaker 4:So is this typical? Right .
Speaker 5:Well the, I I will tell you that hip replacements are the number one satisfaction surgery in orthopedics. So they're our happiest patients. So, you know, we talked a little bit about knee replacements in the past using robots or not. And the problem with a knee replacement is no matter how we put it in with a robot or a computer or you know, what they call optical navigation, you know, just like one of my partners says it's like a Ferrari. I do these by hand. I got great eyes and I'm making you a great car here. But if you don't do your recovery or therapy afterwards, a knee replacement is really not gonna be a , a , a good , uh, outcome. You , your knee hurts when you bend it. And if you don't bend it, it gets stiff. So the recovery for a knee is a lot different than a hip. A hip is so painful and stiff. Once you replace that joint, then it's a matter of stretching the muscles around it that have been protecting it and tightened. And the body just has to get used to the, the new hip. But the pain, the pain generators are gone. So hip replacements, our biggest goal is to tell people don't fall after surgery. Be careful. Uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about therapy afterwards. And , um, there was a little bit she brought up, which is important called prehab or the rehab you do before surgery. And especially on a knee, the day we do your knee replacement, your thigh muscles is about 60% weaker than the other leg. So you can do some of those leg raises with your knee straight, put a purse on the end of your ankle there and lift that if you want. Those are heavy and you can, you can do a lot of that ahead of time since your recovery's quicker. And then it , like with a knee, all you have to do is get the motion, get the bending back, get the movement back. Um, on a hip, hips are gonna move right away better than they did before 'cause they were so stiff and painful. So , uh, they're totally different , uh, recovery , uh, aspects of a knee and a hip. But , uh, again , uh, some of the doctors and , and , and her doctors sent a lot of text messages or some emails, gave brochures. There are YouTube videos. You can look at things that will prepare you for what you might wanna do to recover quicker or what you might wanna do afterwards to speed up your recovery. So let's
Speaker 4:Talk about your recovery. Debbie . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . Debbie . Debbie. 'cause a lot of times we talk in the theoretical terms. Sure . He's giving me all kinds of stuff. But you're a real patient. You're a real person. Right . You went through this real procedure, right? You say no pain on the way home, no pain at home. You were No . When were you up and walking around? Like , kind of like normal? How long was it
Speaker 6:That day? I
Speaker 4:Mean , but that day you were you using a, how long did you use a pain ?
Speaker 6:I took crutches with me. I went overboard.
Speaker 4:Oh , hold on one second. Debbie. I wanna get you to kind of pull that phone away from there. 'cause it , it will give us some, sorry about that . There you go . Say that again.
Speaker 6:Um, I had , um, I was walking, like when I got home and I walked with crutches. Now I kept my crutches longer than anybody advised me to .
Speaker 4:How long, how long is advised to keep crutches?
Speaker 5:Uh, I tell people two to four weeks for a hip. And the reason for that is these are machined to fit inside the bone. Yep . Like, it's called a press fit . So that wedges into the bone and the bone grows into the implants and it takes a , takes a few weeks. So even though you feel better if you're walking and putting too much stress across the bone , um, I think it's a mistake to get rid of your , uh, walking device. Whether it's a cane or crutch or a walker. Walkers are certainly more stable, but I tell people again, don't fall. The goal after these surgeries is to be careful. Don't do things without considering how you're gonna go up a step. We go up with our good leg down with our bad on stairs. There are things that therapy will help you or assist you with. And then there's things that you really don't need therapy for. You just need common sense for.
Speaker 4:Alright . So one , one of the things we talked about earlier, if Debbie didn't do this surgery, what would happen? Right. Where, where do you think she would be right
Speaker 5:Now? She would be more miserable. She would be limping <laugh> . Well, it's true. I mean it's, you know, it's, you know , when you don't have brake shoe pads on your car, it squeak grinds and the car finally stops and then you get going again. And then you do it again. Until you put new brake shoe pads, until you fix the problem, it's not gonna get better. Okay. Again, you know, arthritis isn't gonna kill anyone. Right. But it's gonna debilitate you. So you are then not going out , uh, for an evening of social fun . Not , but you're
Speaker 6:On the risk of falling a lot more too. I think I was more , more afraid of falling. Right. Um, it had gotten so bad that I knew yeah, the arthritis might not kill me, but if I fall and hit my head somewhere, that could Oh
Speaker 4:Yeah. Absolutely. So ,
Speaker 6:You know , that was a big factor.
Speaker 5:And I would also just in, in the what , what's gonna happen if I don't do surgery? The other thing we want to do is aay their fears, which she was expressing about your heart. Like if, if we think you have a heart issue, you've had atrial fib or a you've had a stent put in your heart, we want you to go to your cardiologist and say, I'm gonna have a joint replacement. How am I gonna do with the procedure? What I need to stop my blood thinners ahead of time. What do I need to do to go safely through the procedure? So who
Speaker 4:Gave you , who gave you the green light?
Speaker 6:I got clearance from every doctor I had. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. They require cardiac clearance and that was fine. But we also, John suggested doing a doppler to make sure I didn't have a clot going in. Which , which we wouldn't know. Let's say I had a blood clot somewhere. Sure would know it. So we got clearance for that. Um, I got whatever clearances I could get I got,
Speaker 5:And you're gonna have routine lab work done. The anesthesia people review that before surgery ahead of time and they say, Hey, your blood sugar's fine, your electrolytes and potassium are good. Your EKG and your heart and your chest x-ray are okay. And there's also the option, I tell people, you can have just your legs put to sleep for obviously hip and knee surgery, not for shoulders, but you can have regional anesthesia where the arm is put to sleep for a shoulder surgery.
Speaker 6:That was a big deal .
Speaker 5:Me nerve block . She had a spinal procedure where they, they numb up the legs and you're not put all the way under, you don't have a tube in your throat. So a lot of people like that option. There's actually less bleeding and less risk of blood clots with a spinal versus a what's called a general anesthesia. Um, there are reasons anesthesia may not be able to do a spinal though. If you've had back surgery, let's say you've got issues with , um, your anatomy or make it more difficult for them to do. So that would be something you also ask them. It's like, do you do a lot of these spinals and do those work well? And you know, what can I expect afterwards? How long will my legs be asleep? Would I be able to get up and walk, et cetera . So
Speaker 4:Debbie, what there's , there's a thing we're talking about called milestones, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , and you can both comment on this. What are the milestones that are, are there that everybody who goes through this procedure should monitor? What are the milestones you had to hit?
Speaker 6:Well, I, again, I was really fortunate because again, with no pain. Now one thing people should know, and I don't know that they're told that, that often, that frequently, probably more often than not, and you can speak to that there will be some numbness. Sure. And my numb, my numbing pain was excruciating because of the, the nerve , the skin nerve was just, oh yeah . Just been dinging. Sure. Had nothing to do with the surgical pain. Okay. So the , they , they are two separate factors completely. Um, took a couple weeks, leg is still semi numb , got some tingling coming back, has no effect on what whatsoever.
Speaker 4:And how , when did you go back to see the surgeon? Was it two weeks later? Three weeks later? How
Speaker 6:It didn't, we talked to him on the
Speaker 4:Phone. <laugh> , you talked to him and he's okay with that.
Speaker 6:He was fine. I mean, I'm married to a surgeon who does the , the same surgery . So
Speaker 4:Is that true for e everybody?
Speaker 5:Well, in, in , in distance , um, medicine, when you go to the Cleveland Clinic, for instance, you may do a telemedicine follow up . It saves you a trip up there. They can take a picture of your hip wound and say, here's what it looks like. It looks great. As opposed to , um, having them drive, you know, three and a half , four hours
Speaker 6:Each. And honestly, John talked to him. I never even talked to him .
Speaker 5:I took an X-ray for him . I said, here's the post-op X-rays. Yeah . Two weeks later they look fine. Here's what she's doing. Um, we're doing that a lot with, you know, our little ladies who break their hips and they're in a nursing home an hour away. It's winter time . They don't need to come all the way down to Dayton , uh, in an ambulance in bad weather. Sure. Uh, to let me look at their hip and get an X-ray. I can order a mobile X-ray up there. They can take a picture of the wound and I can do a telemedicine encounter, which is usually all you need in , in , in a , in a case where there's a distance factor or a travel issue or , uh, and you gotta remember this, you know, when someone has a major surgery, they're not gonna be up and about maybe as quickly as she did. But we also set up home physical therapy for people so they can have a therapist come to their house for the first few weeks. Right . Insurance pays for that. And that saves the family member or the coach or the person staying with the patient. The difficulty of trying to get them out of the house into a car, into therapy, then back home. So that,
Speaker 4:But what is , what is the, okay, surgery is day one. When is she as good as new? Is it six months later? Is it eight months later? When is that point out?
Speaker 5:It's , it's a lot sooner than that. Um, um, I had a , I don't if
Speaker 4:I'd agree with that.
Speaker 5:I mean, I think it depends, again, it depends on the patient to a large degree. But I can , I can tell you that most people in , in six to 10 weeks are feeling pretty good about their surgery. I think hips are a little quicker than knees. Yeah. I think at a year you're gonna say, wow, I'm not sure I even remember having my knee replaced. True.
Speaker 4:Debbie, will you confirm that?
Speaker 6:Uh , sort of, sort of.
Speaker 4:That's good. It's sort of this is , that's is why
Speaker 6:We're here . Yeah . Sort of . No, I think everybody likes to say, oh my gosh, you know, I had this hip replacement and I was back doing this in two weeks. Well, you know what? Probably not. I don't think you might be doing it, but you're not doing it without some trepidation. Sure. For sure. Um, I think probably a more realistic now could , I can tell you that I probably don't even feel like I have one. I forget that I have a , a total hip. I have no symptom. No nothing. The scar, the scar doesn't even show. So, but I don't believe that inside of six months you're a hundred percent. I don't. So
Speaker 4:Do you wish you had done it earlier?
Speaker 6:I , I wish I had had the ability to do it earlier. Um, it's not that I didn't do it because I just didn't want to, I didn't do it because I couldn't. Okay . I had two other responsibilities that took precedent for that. Okay . So had I had the ability, yes. I probably would have . Okay. Yeah . I've had five knee scopes. Every time I needed a knee scope , I'd camp out on somebody's doorstep until they took me in. It wasn't the surgery I was afraid of.
Speaker 4:Okay. Um, you know, as we're winding down this podcast, Dr. Erst, what are the things that we should make sure we, we cover here?
Speaker 5:Well, I, I do want, I I , I think on the , in that little milestone , uh, topic, there's a lot of interpretation for doing it. And I think doing it can be , uh, light duty work versus construction work. Big difference. So when you go back to light duty work at desk, at a desk, right . It's certainly at two weeks, that's very feasible and reasonable. Yeah . If you're a construction worker, you're looking at a much longer recovery to get back to what are called usual duties for that. And
Speaker 6:You've gotta be very careful. Very careful. Very careful.
Speaker 4:'cause you can screw
Speaker 5:It up. Well, you don't wanna run or jump on an artificial joint. Okay . Ever . So if we get into ever , ever, it's , it's a fake joint. And I think 999 out of a thousand surgeons would say don't run or jump. Okay . You can play golf, swim, ride a bike, do whatever you want. It's, it's avoiding falling, don't fall . It's avoiding impact. This is a fake joint. You want these to last a long time. Uh , some of these are, are lasting quite a while . And that's a good question. Ask your surgeon on what they think the longevity will be. That's why we delay some of these surgeries with some of the biologics. We talk about the PRP and the, and
Speaker 4:Debbie , you bone aspirin
Speaker 6:Is I did , I had , uh, PRP and stem cells and
Speaker 4:I'm afraid to ask , did , did you notice something good from those?
Speaker 6:Oh my god. It kept me an extra five, six years.
Speaker 4:Really? So you gained five, six years.
Speaker 6:I did. Yeah.
Speaker 5:You of your stem cells were seven years ago.
Speaker 6:Right . So I probably started probably five, five or six years. I prob I should have done it again. I should have redone it every couple years. But anyway, it got me where I needed to be. I will tell you the last six months of my , uh, before my hip surgery were hell , but you know what, the , the stem cells, I would recommend stem cells and PRP, am I allowed to say stem cells to anybody? <laugh> .
Speaker 4:You're allowed to say if you a
Speaker 5:Biologic, you
Speaker 6:Can say anything. Biologics, whatever. I would recommend them to anyone. Do they work on every single person? Maybe not. I don't know. But they sure work for me. That
Speaker 4:Would be a fascinating, I'd like to dig more into that if we had time. So maybe we'll park her , come back again on that. They
Speaker 6:Were amazing.
Speaker 5:I would leave two other things and , uh, in everybody's mind. One is if you're, if you've had a surgery report, any postoperative, redness, drainage, complications to your doctor as fast as you can, because that's an infection even could be even weird Pain
Speaker 6:Could be just
Speaker 5:Weird pain. It could be. And you also , uh, a couple other things. Any shortness of breath or breathing issues. We talked about blood clots. A lot of , uh, surgeries have a , a , a preventative measure taken . Aspirin or some of the blood thinners, Eliquis, Xarelto , Lovenox, Coumadin, or Warfarin. All those are are surgeon specific or surgery specific based on what is the best time to prevent any problems after surgery. But again, those are, those are important things to tell your doctor about if it's unusual for you. Um, I would also tell you that, you know, this is , uh, your life is a marathon, not a sprint. So you want this body part to heal and become something you can enjoy the rest of your life with. So you don't wanna, you don't wanna push it too soon. Um, I, I had a surgery of my own and, and you know, it took a while for me to be able to do some things that I wanted to do. Uh, like, like my shoulder surgery required a lot more time to actually throw a baseball again than I thought it would. And that was the only thing that bothered me. So I thought, what would my doctor tell me? Probably wait a little while before you do anymore
Speaker 6:<laugh> . But did you listen, here's the
Speaker 4:Question. You did not listen any <laugh> . But
Speaker 5:Again , um, again, I think think about , um, asking yourself what you wanna do , um, after the procedure and when you need to do it based on your work, your travel, your , um, your deductibles. We talked a little bit about the time of the year. This is the end of the year now. A lot more , a lot more , uh, surgeries are being done because of patients higher deductibles they have to pay starting in the first of the year. Sure. So all the things go into a decision , um, like having a , uh, big procedure. Do your homework, find the right person and make sure you're ready for the procedure. Which I think, you know, Debbie certainly was by the time she had hers , uh, carried out.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, we could probably make this podcast three hours long and not cover everything. So we'll probably end it right here. Uh , Debbie , any final words or wisdom from somebody who's thinking about doing hip surgery but is kind of reluctant?
Speaker 6:Do it. You know, do it . You just gotta find the time. Don't let somebody push you. Find the time that you know you can do it. You have to be mentally, physically, and emotionally ready for any surgery. Right. You really do. And if you're not, all the pushing in the world isn't gonna make you do it. So just block people out and do what you know is right for you.
Speaker 4:Well thank you very much for joining us and , and don't fall, Dr . Erst. I I may say that you married up by the way, <laugh> .
Speaker 5:Well, and uh , thanks for that Terry. I know that <laugh> also, I will , uh, give another plug to Ted's dressing our sponsor. Um, you know, it's gluten-free and dairy free . Dairy free . Sugar free . Sugar free . It's got great things in it. It's good for marinating and for your salads. It is. I love it . It's going , uh, viral soon with a , uh, website and shipping potential. So our listeners in South Africa and Norway can, can enjoy Ted's also.
Speaker 4:That's right. Uh , personally autographed bottled by Dr. John Earth
Speaker 5:Or by Ted
Speaker 4:<laugh>. Or by Ted . Alright . Well folks, thank you for joining us again today for the Bone and Joint Playbook with Dr. John Earth . This is Terry O'Brien with Tri-Level Records and we'll see you very soon.
Speaker 7:Thank you for joining us today on this episode of The Bone and Joint Playbook with Dr. John Erst , tips for pain-free aging. Please join us again for another episode produced by Terry O'Brien
Speaker 1:Bone, your thigh bone connected to you hip bone . Your hip bone connected to you .