Things go south

Once I got home, I felt like I was improving for a few days but then this stopped. My hip felt sore, and the shifting or offset thing was happening more often. Getting onto a toilet seat was horrible, just the worst, because as my femur hit the seat, I'd feel this terrible sudden motion. Not really painful, but REALLY REALLY CREEPY. 

I as scheduled to see my doctor for a followup on Friday March 6, about 12 days after surgery. By the Wednesday before that I was about to call for an early visit, but then I just thought I'd give it two more days. 

The day of the appointment, the discomfort was so great that I couldn't sit in the front, mildy shaped seats of our Prius -- I had to use the bench seats in the back. We got to the doctor's office, and about 10 minutes after getting X-rayed Dr. Ferrante came in to the examining room, and to his credit, did not beat around the bush to tell me that the cup had slipped and I would need another surgery.

This was bad news, but frankly, given how I felt, I knew something was up, and bummer that more surgery was, anything to fix the creepy motions and clunks and growing pain were fine with me. Dr. Ferrante apologized for the 10 days of lost recuperation, but said that most likely he could get me back on track fairly quickly, using a dysplasia cup that could be help in place with screws (nothing would have to be done with the femoral component, which was fine). His one concern was that there might have been some acetabular fracture or issue that had caused the cup to loosen, in which case I would need revision to a conventional hip and work to stabilize the acetabulum. But he considered this unlikely.

Chris actually asked if I had breakfast -- i.e., he was willing to operate that day! I just wasn't ready for that, so I choose to go in the next morning, a Saturday, to get the cup replaced.