It started out as a stress fracture.  I was just walking literally and it broke, unbeknownst to me.  I thought it was a pulled muscle, because no way in the world would I even think of a broken bone. I rested it for about a week on painkilllers (stupid for not going to the doctor, but at the time I really hadn’t even thought of anything being broken), when it got to the point where all I could do was "crawl" without using my right leg, it took 45 minutes to get 20 feet in front of me, and 1 1/2 weeks elapsed by now---I had asked my mom to help me with laundry because I was in so much pain--long story short, she made an appt with triage who called my primary and said to call my psychiatrist (I was in a wheelchair, and I couldnt do things the nurse practitioner asked because the blood supply and muscle function were almost shut off and she /primary were stupid).  My mom called him, and he asked why they didn't order xrays--so he ordered xrays, and the next day I went in and they took one xray, got me on a stretcher, had me lay flat, and brought me to MGH by ambulance, where I had emergency surgery 11/2 07.

I recovered, over time, but every time I went back for a follow-up appt there was still a fracture that the hardware was holding together (see pictures in my profile of the 2 times I had surgery) and I was never pain free, but could get by.  I did the PT, everything they said, but each time I went back to the surgeon it wasn’t right--so I saw the chief orthopedic surgeon, who did my second hip surgery, and said he was doing his best at saving the bone because (he gave a specific reason I cant remember, but it made sense).  (I was getting xrays at every appt so they could see if progress was made).  SO I had a second surgery 9/22/08.  All the area he worked on eventually healed, just not this part still that wouldn't fuse.

So when I saw him last Thursday, he said it was a definite hip replacement at this point and he was very firm about that.  So then I saw the surgeon he referred me to today, who specializes in joints and things similar to my situation.

Hip replacement surgery info: as of 3/16/09

The resident met with me first and said this will be a more complex surgery than the average hip replacement.  My injury was prone to non-healing the past two times b/c of the lack of blood supply in the area that did not heal.

One leg is a little shorter and they will try to correct that.  I will need a blood transfusion.  The goal is to make me pain free, stable and to get a good fit so it will not pop out of the socket.  I will probably continue to have some residual numbness around the incision.

The surgeon I saw today confirmed that there is no chance for my leg to heal as it is and that I definitely needs a hip replacement.  He explained all of his concerns.  Because of the damage from previous surgeries, this is a bigger deal and high risk.  It will take longer than the normal hip replacement that people get for arthritis, etc.  It may even take a year to regain all of the strength and to heal completely.  But within two months I should be pain free as long as al goes well (best case scenario).  I will be able to bear weight right away, unlike the last two surgeries.

More operations also increase the risk of infection.  No way to check this ahead of time.  When they open the incision they will biopsy tissue for infection, if it is present they will put in a temporary antibiotic replacement, and then 3 months later do the surgery again.  If there is a hidden infection they don’t see and they replace the hip, they would also have to redo it.  Also, he said because of the way the bones were broken, and because of the previous surgeries, there is greater risk of it popping out of socket.  Normally, 1 in 200 facing hip replacement are at high risk.  I fall in the category of 10 in 100.  It should be a two-hour surgery.  I will have a ZMR hip replacement with a 36 millimeter head and 16 gauge wire.  Again, risks are infection, bleeding, risks of needing transfusions, risk of dislocation, risk of additional surgery if there is an infection.

This whole thing started from a stress fracture from walking.  No falls, nothing.  They think the bone was worn down from osteopenia, meds I have had been on, and a result of having an eating disorder for so long, especially when I was still growing, when it started at 15 years old.