Hello. I was looking around online and came across this forum, and see that you are in the same boat that my wife was a little over 1 year ago. She was born with hip dysplasia and it was not common enough of a condition that they could fix when she was younger. They told her that she would have problems when she hit 30 years of age, and it was at that exact age that she had problems. Let me tell you a little bit of the horror story that we are still going through in connection with this surgery that was performed.
About 1 1/2 years ago, my wife was having hip problems that turned out to be a form of arthritis associated with the hip dysplasia. She saw several doctors, and they all shyed away from telling her what could be done to correct the problem. She was living in a lot of pain, and we were finally referred to a prominent physician in Salt Lake City that performs PAO surgeries. They looked at her hips and told her that she was not a good candidate for the hip replacement surgery, as she was too young. They said that she would have to have the surgery done several times in her lifetime, and so they declined to do that surgery. The went forward with the PAO last September. She was in the hospital for almost a week, recovering. The surgery has left her with many things....a 10 inch long scar on her hip and groin....numbness that goes down her leg that is very uncomfortable for her....and an addiction to pain meds. She has had complications with the surgery and the pain is still as intense as it ever was, and she even says that the pain is more severe than it ever was prior to the operation. She is up all night, has chronic pain, and has a hard time getting around on occasion. Sitting for any period of time is aweful, and I have to endure seeing her cry herself to sleep at nights. It's terrible because there is not a thing I can do for her except provide moral support, which doesn't help with the pain.
We have seen the doctor that performed the surgery and he said that everything looks normal, and even alluded to the fact that the pain might be in her head. It is most definitely NOT in her head. I live with her, and I know. The doctors' answer to everything is "cortisone shots!" If you have never had one, it's where they inject a HUGE needle into your hip, in an effort to relieve the pain. She has had 4 within 1 years time, and none have helped in the least. In the last visit to the doctor, I even advised him that I was not too sure I agreed with her getting another shot, as the prior 3 never did a thing for her. He gave her the shot anyways. We drove 250 miles, each way, all for nothing. He does not have the slightest clue as to what is going on, and I'm scared for my wife.
Oh, I almost forgot, she had seen local doctors here...including an orthopedic surgeon, and they told her that something was not right, and there was even a period of time that they told her that she had an infection in her blood from the complications, yet the original doctor stated that the local doctors knew nothing, and that there was no infection. It's pretty scary when you have doctors arguing over something like this.
So here we are today, with my wife in agony, and now her left hip is going out. My wife is rightfully scared to death of doctors, as she feels they have hacked her up and got her addicted to pain meds. Even the local doctor here actually admitted that "we've done this to you". How scary is that?? Our local doctor tried to get a referral to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, but there is a 6-7 month waiting list, and that's just for an appointment. We would still have to drive south approximately 800 miles, and take the time off of work to do this. And, are you ready for this??....between me and my wife, we have 4 kids all under the age of 6!! Actually, it's 6, 5, 5, and 3. Sorta makes it hard for my wife to take it easy around the house.
Basically, at this point we are completely at a loss as to what we should do. I'm sure that doctors are scared off by her issues, and I'm not sure that another doctor would be anxious to go back in for additional surgeries on a hip that was operated on by another doctor. What's also frightening is that our original doctor told us that they would consider "experimental" surgeries as needed. This would be things like removing the screws in her hip and possibly cutting the tendons that run along the side of the bursa. It only sounds like it's going from bad to worse. I'm at my wits end.
So....If you are considering this operation...get at LEAST 3 opinions!! We have heard of success stories, but we are not experiencing that ourselves. If you, or ANYONE has ANY advice for us at this point, please email me. We don't know if we should seek legal council, as the original doctor is not providing the level of care that one should expect for this caliber of surgery. He ignores us, and we are just frustrated beyond belief. My wife is concerned that she will have major health issues from the methadone, oxycotin, and soma that she is on. I only want the best for her, and need any advice we can get. PLEASE HELP!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!!!
Trevor