Just over a year ago, after waiting 14 months, I was thrilled to finally get a new hip. Great, thought I, life will begin anew for me pain free and able to do all the things I did in my youth. Well, the reallity is somewhat different. Here is what I discovered after the fact and too late for me. All hips are not created equally and in our wonderful country of Canada not all provinces provide the same hip.
At first I was relatively happy, relative being the key word here, I mean I could bend over somewhat, I could sit and walk without the same amount of grinding pain I had before and I could actually sleep without waking up crying in pain and disturbing Steve every time I did that, so yes I was relatively happy. That is until one day in early January when I came across an article in the Globe and Mail, our premier rag in Toronto (being the most expensive) from a columnist named Margaret Wente. Now it seems Ms. Wente also had hip surgery, two to be specific, but had hers in the Province of Quebec. Now why would she do that I wondered until I read a little more and did a little research on my own. Seems that the surgery done in Montreal is less invasive and provides a better hip. In fact the hips provided to Ms. Wente are considered lifetime hips, the recovery was a lot faster than mine was, and allow her to live her life relatively unrestricted. There's that word again.
Now here's the things that are forbidden to me for ever and ever that Ms. Wente's superior hip implants allow her to do. I can no longer ski, run, jog or play tennis. Accidentally squatting or crossing my legs at the knee could damage the implant or cause me to fracture my femur, and worst of all, my implants will probably wear out in 12 to 15 years which would put me back in the hospital for a revision at around age 70 or so. The thought of having another operation like that has me lying in bed at night worrying.
The hip implant I have has a plastic lined cup to hold the ball and as I move around my daily life the ball grind away at the plastic. Over time, little bits of plastic will come away and start floating around in my body. The newer and more expensive implants are made of ceramic and therefore will not deteriorate.
I think our Government is penny wise and pound DUMB by not using these newer implants keeping in mind that revision surgery becomes unnecessary and that is were their savings will ultimately be.
Oh yes, I almost forgot the best part of this story. Ms. Wente had her Quebec surgery with her superior implant paid for by guess who? The taxpayer of Ontario thru OHIP. Neat Huh!