My Hip Replacement Journey — Females Over 50

My journey to fitness began when I had a bad body image and all of my friends at that time were getting liposuction, face-lifts, and breast lifts. I had reached 200 pounds. The year 2015-2017. I was running and had friends that told me I was fat and had a big butt. I also was going through menopause. At that time, I was experienced stress where I lived and at my job. I was running and eating low carb diet. This did not work for me. I changed my gym and friends. I became friends with Sandy Walker and she became my running partner until she moved to Alaska.

I started going to a gym called A World of Fitness. I had heard good things about Mark Miller, owner and fitness guru. He introduced me to Brittany Owens, an awesome trainer. Brittany was young and taught me quite a bit about running. I had never heard locket to pocket with my arms. I began to get faster and faster. I was so pleased with my progress. Brittany helped me to work through all of my injuries of the feet and knees. I was so excited to start running 5ks. Then I progressed to 10k, 15k, half marathons. Brittany left and I had a new trainer. Amy Schooler came into my life. She was hard at work to get my core stronger. That is when I would cry and just vent about all the stress in my life. I have never worked as hard as I did with Amy. I had a healthy body and weighed 167. I was eating healthy and much toned. I was running the 5k with Amy and that is when I felt a pull in my hamstring and quad. I just figured it was a pull when I ran up a slight incline on a sidewalk. I stopped running and walked to my truck. I went the next week to work out and could not walk. I was on a cane.

I had planned a trip to Alaska to see my friend Sandy. I had x-rays done and I had a partial tear of my hipbone. The doctor told me the walking in Alaska would be good for me. I Heidi Pettenger and David Curiel were great the week before and helped me pack. They had me eat high protein food for the injury to heal. Heidi helped me to get wheelchair access for my flights. Alaska had tough terrain and crutches were interesting. Alaska was fun.

I decided to see an orthopedic. The x-rays showed a broken hip. I had to have emergency surgery July 22, 2016. The surgery went very well and I had no pain meds. The nurses were laughing because I ate a pizza after coming out of the anesthesia. I was so hungry and had a headache. I was up walking the next day. I was doing so well that I took a shower by myself. The hospital nurses were very impressed that I was healing so quickly. I had wonderful help from many friends during this time.

I went back to teaching September 6, 2016. I was taking Valentus products, these helped to keep my weight down since I was not able to exercise or walk. I finished teaching in a lot of pain and found out my hip was still broken. My body rejected the rod and it was coming out on my left hip area. The orthopedic sent me to another doctor, which was a specialist. This doctor would not see me until I sent all information through the mail and they still would not guarantee my surgery. I was so angry that I called Jewitt Orthopedics and Dr. Desai took my appointment. Dr. Desei looked at my x-rays and asked if I had any questions. At this point, I was on a cane. I said schedule me for surgery. He immediately left the room and the nurse came in. She told me there was nothing on the schedule for surgery and he opened the date up just for me. June 14, 2017, surgery was scheduled. I was very excited. By the time June came, I was on a walker and could barely walk.

Pre-op was on June 7, 2017. I went to Jewitt and Dr. Desai had to fight the insurance for a second surgery. The insurance was saying that I needed rehab work and they were not going to pay for the surgery. Dr. Desai told me that surgery was a go and he would make sure financially that I would be okay. So many people came to help me out while I was in the hospital.

Surgery day June 14, 2017, Heidi took me to the hospital in Orlando and the surgery was a success. My friend Brenda Sorensen relieved Heidi from the hospital in Orlando. I still did not take any painkillers after surgery. Brenda brought me a pizza. I was up and walking within one day and released in 3 days. I was so happy my sister Becky came for one week and was the best nurse ever. She was working in rehab and knew exactly how to work with me and get me out of the house. I had many friends that took care of my cat and other items before I came home from the hospital. My recovery was fantastic. I had the best home health care. Dick White is also a runner and he was my home rehab. I had a great physical therapist with Wuesthoff hospital. They told me that I was the fastest recovery rehab person that they knew.

I am in a running group here in Florida. Sandy and I are running together when she comes in from Alaska. I am happy to have a great friend since 7th grade in Brenda Sorensen. The journey continues in the next chapter of my healing hip era.