I’m happy to share that my total hip replacement was a success! I had the surgery on Tuesday and was home Wednesday afternoon. My first home physical therapy session was Friday and he cleared me to walk the cul-de-sac. All the pre-habilitation has paid off!
Out walking the cul-de-sac.
Thank you to everyone who has sent well wishes and flowers and text messages. They are very much appreciated and each one brightens my day.
So, it turns out that my right leg was 1.5 centimeters shorter than my left leg. Over time, with the cancer eating away at my hip, the socket flattened out. The top of the femur also flattened out. It was months in the making so I didn’t necessarily notice the leg difference. It feels weird now to have both the same length – the right feels longer than the left.
He put a ceramic socket in and attached it to the cement/hardware that he put in a couple of years ago. My hip is not strong enough to have the socket attached to the hip bone, like in a normal hip replacement.
The top of the femoral head is metal (titanium I think). When he was putting it in my femur cracked (again, weak bones) and so he had to wrap some wire around it, kind of like a wine barrel. Overall he said the procedure was good and doesn’t expect any kind of complications with the healing.
Ann came out and was my caregiver for which I am extremely grateful. Maddy took the day from school to come to Denver and wait with Ann during the surgery.
The weather has been good and so I’m looking forward to walking outside. My PT comes again on Monday and I’ll be looking to walk longer. The cat is happy that I’m spending a lot of time in the recliner! On Monday I’ll get back to working, probably from my recliner!
I’ll have a check up in 2 or 3 weeks. I’m still planning to go to Belgium with Maddy for a breast cancer symposium later in September. The work must go on!
I also have a PET scan mid-September to see if the cancer is stable or growing. Keep those fingers crossed! 🤞
Happy end of summer everyone. It’s been a good one for me all things considered. I had some work travel and also some fun personal travel. I was in Wisconsin with Evelyn and Maddy to visit family and shortly after that we took a family vacation to Kauai, Hawaii.
The Nepali coast. You can only see this area by foot, boat or aircraft
Kauai was beautiful as you might expect, it is called the Garden Island! We had a grand time. I was not able to do all the things they did with hiking and surfing. I did mange to read two books and get through a full season of a Netflix series. Those are things that an are tough to do in daily life.
My cancer is still here of course, just hanging out. I had a PET scan in July and it was a bit “brighter” than the previous scan. What does that mean? Could mean that the bones were healing (growth) or it could mean that the cancer is growing. Confusing? Absolutely!
My tumor marker numbers (taken via blood work) have been pretty reliable. The higher the number the more active the cancer. Over summer, they had been creeping upward a bit. But….the most recent blood work saw them drop back down.
So, my oncologist decided we would repeat the scan in 2 months instead of 3. I am scheduled for a PET scan mid-September. After that we will determine if we should switch medication (progression) or stay the course (stable). We talked about what is next….a different kind of chemo. There is the possibility of getting into a clinical trial which I will try to do. More on that later when we get to that point. It is good to have options. As I’ve mentioned many times before, there are limited lines of treatment. Once I run through them all, then that is it. So, we want as many options as possible. Adding in clinical trials is a way to increase the number of treatment lines AND help advance scientific research.
In the meantime, I have this fracture starting in my acetabulum (extending from the socket of my hip) extending upward into my hip. The femur connects with the fracture when I step, causing a fair amount of pain and discomfort. I continue to walk with a cane to relieve the pressure. I actually wore out my first cane and had to buy another one!
Tuesday, September 3 (the day after Labor Day) I will have a full hip replacement. I’ll stay in the hospital for 2 nights and then recover at home. Glen has some international work travel so Ann has kindly agreed to come out and help me. I’ve been told by numerous people that recovery is not difficult. I’ve been working with my physical therapist on some pre-habilitation to make sure I’m in the best possible place. In addition to the PT exercises I continue to walk daily. I’m up to 8000 steps a day which I think is pretty good.
I did learn what it means to have a full hip replacement. If you are squeamish you might want to stop reading here!
They cut off the top of your femur and replace it with an artificial top. It could be metal or ceramic or plastic. Your bone is hollow and so they basically hammer the artificial femur top into your bone so it stays. They also put something in where the socket is. I’m not positive how that will be attached but likely with special cement. Apparently the material of the femur and the new socket are not the same material, it is rare for a surgeon to use a metal-on-metal replacement.
This image shows the various parts and how they fit together.
This image is pretty self-explanatory. The material for the socket and femur head will be TBD. My surgeon said he will be doing a posterior approach which might take a tad bit longer to recover from.
I am cautiously optimistic that this will go smoothly and I will be up and about in no time. My surgeon has green-lighted me to take an international trip 3 weeks after my surgery so he thinks the same thing apparently!
A few fun photos from summer. Missing here is Maddy’s first day of senior year, visit to Wisconsin, and many walks and lunches with friends.
Onward!
Red Rocks to see Santana. Amazing!We did a private air tour of Kauai which was great except that Maddy got motion sickness. Preseason game of Broncos and Packers. I can always rely on my good friend Amy to get me out and cheering for the Broncos!
I feel like I missed summer so I’m being intentional about eating lunch outside in the sun! I hope you are still getting outside now and again to get some fresh air and vitamin D.
This past week was a busy one medical-wise. I had my regular monthly appointments. Additionally I had an MRI on my lumbar spine region (lower back) and met with a neuro-oncologist.
My medical oncologist is lowering the dose of one of my medications (Ibrance). There are 3 dose levels. I’ve been on this highest dose for 4 years. Apparently after being on it for that long it is common for white blood cells to start to tank (neutrophils specifically). So, I will go to the next lower dosage. It should not affect the efficacy of the treatment.
It’s interesting that the default is to start patients on the highest tolerable dose of a drug and then lower the dosage when there are side effects or complications. There is a group of patient advocates that are trying to change this so doctors don’t default to the highest dose to start.
Anyway, this change should not affect my treatment. The change will happen next month.
The neuro-oncologist believes he has found the source of my nerve pain. It appears that I have tumor on both the L3 and L4 vertebrae. The tumors are on the inside of the vertebrae and pushing on the spinal cord. That is what is generating the nerve pain in my hip and leg.
His recommendation (which I will follow) is that he do surgery to remove the tumor material. It’s not scheduled yet, hopefully will happen within 2-3 weeks.
We don’t know if the tumors are new or if they are “old” and just got pushed/moved around. The first step will be to get me out of constant pain. The second will be for my oncologist to determine if the cancer has awakened or is still sleeping. I won’t have that information until early October.
With Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) the cancer spreads beyond the breast. I have bone only disease. This is good in that bone only disease does not kill you. However, it can mess you up royally. The cancer in my spine has now made it very difficult to walk. The current nerve pain only allows me to lay and sleep on my left side. It’s possible though that the bone disease can cause incontinence and other very unpleasant things. So, when I say “Things could be worse.” They could, indeed.
Maddy has started her junior year of HS and a new year of dance. Evelyn is moved in to her apartment and in the thick of classes as a sophomore at University of Colorado Boulder. (She is VERY excited for the football game tomorrow! Look for her on tv.) Glen finished his fly fishing trip and will be traveling for work next week.
I have work travel scheduled (which will likely be cancelled). I also am/was planning to go to a breast cancer symposium in Pittsburgh, attending as a patient advocate. We will see how all this travel shakes out with impending surgery. I don’t have a great feeling about this travel happening either.
This back surgery is a bump in the road. One thing at a time. Thanks to everyone for your support and love. Right back at ‘ cha!
We take our spine for granted! Stop doing that!MRI scrubs. It is extremely rare to be given scrubs that fit!My work buddy. I’ve taken over Evelyn’s bedroom as a workspace. Better light!
Thanks for all your well wishes. I had my hip/pelvis stabilization surgical procedure yesterday. Everything went fine. It was an out-patient procedure and we were back home around 6pm. My oxygen levels were quite low so I had to hang around for the afternoon until those got back up to acceptable levels. I am mobile and could walk immediately afterwards.
Glen is in Chicago for work so Nancy flew out and it taking wonderfully good care of me.
I have 2 incisions. They injected some cement and put in 2 screws in a cross-cross pattern that are about the length of a pen 😳. I don’t have much pain but that is probably thanks to the OxyContin.
I will have a post-op appointment in January. The second step in all this is some radiation on my pelvis to knock down any cancer. That will also be after the new year.
I very much appreciate you all – I feel the love with all your texts and messages. Thank you.
Life As I Know It 