The march of the limping baby boomers ...
Keeping a healthy mind was my topic last week, but I have to admit to recently neglecting mind for body – I’ve ‘ad an ‘ip done. Replaced. What a miracle. I’m walking without a crutch in little over a fortnight, although the instinct to trust this amazing installation is still tentative.
I’ve been on a stick since June, when I carried something too heavy and wound up with a painful bout of sciatica lasting until November.
The sciatic pain suddenly left, thanks partly to the persistent efforts of Todd Wolfe’s top physio, Leana, but there was a different one left. X-rays showed the right hip was shot.
The sciatica qualified for ACC, but the hip was simply worn out, so doc referred me to Te Whatu Ora Taranaki.
I knew I was in trouble when I saw other orthopaedic patients limping around the base hospital waiting room on double crutches. My two walking sticks borrowed from Lin, who used them for her brisk walks, just didn’t cut it.
The man heard me out, of course, but any efforts made to convince him that at 77 I’m still a productive member of society – and not wanting a new hip to go for leisurely walks – were in vain. He shrugged nicely and said the public waiting list was two to three years.
I took up his referral to orthopaedic surgeon Charlie Lewis, an Englishman who moved to New Plymouth more than a dozen years ago. He operates as Coastal Orthopaedics Taranaki and has done more than 2500 replacements.
Charlie operates kindly and efficiently. I was signed up to go under the knife within weeks … and left with the problem of raising about $28,000 to get my leg working again.
I could make comment about the Government’s inefficiencies, but this is the scenario many boomers face over the coming decade or so as we head for old age and death. And it’s clogging the health system, no matter which political parties are in power. Enough of that, though. Here’s what happened.
There were a million forms to read and fill in, and a meeting with anaesthetist Joerg Heim, who (with Charlie) suggested an epidural spinal anaesthetic was better for a comparatively short operation (55 minutes in my case; having my prostate out in 2010 took five hours). Joerg declared me fit.
This meant an operation at what I still call Iona, where I last went under the knife in 1964 for ingrown toenails. Now its
Southern Cross, and still an efficient outfit with wonderful staff.
Charlie was doing half a dozen ops on hips, knees and other joints on my day, which for me began with prep for the epidural. While I sat on a bed faced into the bracing arms of a nurse, Joerg did his thing on the middle of my back. We were away.
They still put me out, so after a brief encounter with a flock of people in the operating theatre, I awoke in what seemed an instant and was wheeled to my suite to be pampered for three days.
Recovery focused on avoiding clots, one of the biggest risks with orthopaedic ops. I’m still wearing the dreaded knee-high tight stockings, which have me looking like a Turkish plate dancer and requiring daily visits by the nurses from HomecareNZ to get them on and off (my legs seem to have grown longer).
After getting around on one $26 crutch purchased on Temu, I’m now down to a walking stick and trying to follow Lin’s advice to walk upright.
There was one incident. After the dressing came off last week and being told I could drive when confident of being able to hit the brake hard (about six weeks), I decided we needed to go the supermarket. Halfway home, I was in such discomfort I asked Lin to take the wheel.
We ended up at base hospital emergency department late that night, with me spending 10 hours in various parts of the building lying on a bed and waiting.
The staff were patient and caring, but it was a Sunday night and they were chocka with people in much more serious straits than an old man with a sore groin. I could still walk – nothing of concern had occurred. The X-rays were excellent. Perhaps I had overdone it.
Here I am back home again, actually listening to advice to slow down. The new hospital wing will open next year … and staff can’t wait to get in there. It’s a combination that is going to benefit us all.