For about the last year my mom has said her hips have been bugging her. Since Christmas she has gone DOWN hill, limping where ever she went. She's needed help walking up or down stairs and in the last few weeks she's needed help just walking. I cannot believe how just in the last week she has been utterly miserable. So yesterday she went in at 5:30am for a hip replacement surgery. So the sick and twisted human that am begged if i could watch.. The Doc. said "NO" shocker. So then i asked for them to film it so i could watch.. guess what he said.. "No!" So for my final plea i begged them to just take pictures for me.. again "NO" was the reply.. so I've been cruising online and looking at pictures.. so i have to share. I'll try and not put anything too graphic!!
This is a picture of a healthy hip joint. The cartilage this there to provide a cushioning for the joints. The cartilage can get worn down but also can ossify and turn into bone.
This is an X-RAY (not my mom..i wish though) of a hip joint that the cartilage has worn out. So the ball of the femur is right on the socket of the pelvis. Bone on bone.. OUCH!!
This isn't the exact thing (no i don't know what it's called) that they put into her leg.. but it's very similar. They take the HIP IMPLANT and literally hammer it into the femur. (OUCH) When they were putting it in my mom her femur it splintered. So it split. (OMGOSH) Then they put the last three parts into the socket and hook them together.
HOW AMAZING IS TECHNOLOGY??? LOVE IT!!
This is what the joint now looks like.. ARE YOU KIDDING?? If you aren't loving all this information... I'm sorry cuz it's freaking awesome!! So now my mom has be in the hospital for 3 days. For the next 5 weeks she can only put half her weight on it. She has to use a walker or crutches. Guess who's gonna be the "go-fer"
Well in case any of you wondered what happens in a hip replacement.. now ya know!! I had a hard time finding actual pictures of surgery!! Sorry I know you were looking forward to it!
So I'm going to hop on my soap box for a minute and tell you, It's been very hard to see my mother in so much pain. It's been hard to see her not being able to be active. She loves to be in her garden and spend time with the grand kids and she hasn't had the energy to do it.. she has been in too much pain. So take care of yourselves..(Preaching to the choir here) Eat more healthy, don't put you're body under stresses that it can't handle. get more massages(not kidding.. you'd be amazed at the difference you feel) and most importantly, get active. Don't sit in front of the TV all the time. Go ride bikes, go hiking, hell just walk around the block, it will make a HUGE difference. I'm not saying it will completely prevent the possibilities but it will make a difference in the final outcome!!
3 comments:
that's so cool!!! Yeah...I was just thinking to myself..."we're going skiing on Tuesday...then to Disneyland on Wednesday and Thursday...then walking through houses to find a place to live on Friday...I'm gonna be DEAD when Saturday rolls around!"
fascinating post! seriously. the human body is so incredible and i totally agree with you about technology. i'm so amazed at the stuff they can do. just yesterday i was thinking about laser eye surgery (after a huge fiasco where i ran out of contacts, couldn't find my glasses and had to get ready for work BLIND) and its just insane that they can use lasers and make your bad eye sight, perfect. not to mention brain surgery and stuff. thanks for the pictures about hip replacement surgery too..i never really knew how that worked. neat!
p.s. LUCKY karissa!
hey i'm going into human development & family studies. i'll be done at this time next year so that's exciting. then i'm going to work full time for awhile and possibly come back for either a masters in educational psychology or a maybe a certification in child life specialty ,nursing or teacher. there are just so many things i'd be happy doing!
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