Hip replacement at 40.

As I write this, I'm day 8 post-op of having a total hip replacement of my left hip. The 'before' xray above shows the damage that happened to my left hip when I got JIA at age 10. I somehow managed the next 30 years with that hip despite the doctors describing it as 'very severe damage'.

And now I have a new one.

Today is the first day I've been able to sit up long enough to turn the computer on. Even now I'm struggling so this is a quick blogpost - with more to follow as I've been typing up post-op notes on my phone each day which will eventually make their way onto the blog as and when I feel up to it.

I've been keeping a mini-record of things post-op on instagram.

Even though hip replacements are commonplace these days, at aged only 40, it is still considered rare and 'young' to need a hip replacement. As such I've struggled to find as much information as I would like about hip replacement in younger people.

So I wanted to record my own journey through it. Not least because the reality is that I may need another in 15 or 20 years time when I'll be only 55 or 60 and so I want to remember the ups and the downs and reassure myself that when I'm feeling at my lowest points that things will get better.

I'm still at the very start of my recovery journey but it's made me realise more than ever that I want to do everything in my power to make sure Miss T doesn't have to go through this. Although there is no cure for JIA, we have to stay on top of her condition as much as possible to make sure she continues to the the treatment she needs to minimise the damage to her joints especially at her young age.

I am so thankful that there are disease modifying treatments available these days (which weren't being used when I was first diagnosed) but I wish there was more that could be done.

She had another GOSH appointment yesterday where her shrinking foot officially remains a mystery - another MRI to follow as the nerve tests and spine MRI didn't show anything.

Anyway I digress- and I need to get back to bed to elevate my leg after the swelling that appeared last night!