After my diagnosis of Avascular Necrosis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avascular_necrosis by my reumatologist Dr. Dolan in August of this year, I was referred to Dr. Ahn MD for he next step, a Total Hip Replacement ( Posterior Approach ) of my right hip on September 7th 2012.
A very devastating medical condition and in my case, caused by past illnesses and 2 medications I was taking in the '90s that have since been pulled from the market.
I've been in chronic pain at levels of 7-10+ for the last five years, many of the years on pain medication and, ALL of my attending physicians' including me, a PA-C conceded that the cause of my symptoms were connective tissue damage, tendinitis or just plain aging with a little arthritis thrown in.
NONE of us had the forethought after MRIS, Steroid Epidurals and the like to have my hips x-rayed; interesting how one becomes complacent, and more interesting how we medical professionals become complacent that this disease is an age associated issue and not something ( at the time I became symptomatic in 2005 at age 49, now age 56 ) more associated with the symptoms the patient is modeling.
I had two choices:
Have the surgery before the end of this year, get well, walk better, be pain free, get off of the pain meds, and have quality of life with 20 years on this hip replacement.
Or, end up in a wheel chair for the rest of my life, in chronic pain, on pain meds and quite possibly lose the use of my right leg from atrophy and lack of blood flow which in turn would eventually result in amputation.
I opted for the surgery and so the journey began but, without Dr. Ahn's excellent surgical skills within his scope of work and very informative information, I would not be a Yelp-Man-Walking today!
http://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-duke-ahn-ymkj6
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I saw Dr Ahn the morning of the surgery in surgical prep, he checked in with me and his staff &surgical coordinator Reina, made per-registration very easy; everything was in place when Marty & I arrived at St Mary's Medical Center in LB at 6 AM as I was prepped, shaved, checked out from head to toe and, that they were doing the correct hip and Michael P was Michael P; questions I was asked over 20 times, I'm OCD, I counted!
Yes, it was a rough 4 days in the hospital, I had a PCH Morphine pump that gave me a dose of 3mg every 20 minutes, the staff was exceptional and I was up for my first walk at 3 PM the day of the surgery.
Dr Ahn made sure everything was covered and my needs were met as I told his attending "No, I'll tell you when the Morphine pump is discontinued, that I needed Norco every 6 hours in addition to the Morphine and, that I was bringing my meds in from home because the Pharmacy was dragging its feet getting them ordered for me as they did not have them in stock.
Also, I told my Primary care MD, and Dr. Ahn when I was going home, that I needed a walker for my height, an all in one shower chair/toiliet seat extension; my needs were acknowledged and I was heard, not so much because of my credentials but mostly because I found a surgeon who listens to his patients and their needs and, he knows we know our bodies better than anyone.
The bottom line is this, if you are experiencing ANY type of chronic pain and the duration is longer than normal or, if you feel the need to investigate thoroughly as in my case, orthapedically, get to a referred MD who will get you to the appropriate surgeon; in my case I was blessed, truly blessed to have found Dr. Ahn; don't wait, don't hesitate I came close once again to losing more than just my ability to walk pain free, I came close to losing everything ( remember my emergency appendectomy in May!? ) life has to offer. and thank you Marty, Andrea, Erin, Robin, Tess et al for being there for me with words of encouragement and love.
I will begin PT for 11 visits, have been evaluated fo this in my home and will have the choice of how long I need it-Dr Ahn's staff set this up too!
Now, I must get ready to re-shoot this video ( Thank You Andrius! ), and with my hip back in the jamming again I can swing it better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGCD4xb-Tr8&feature=my_favorites&list=FLqnALI5WVBPMF6YF3kzGp4Q read more