Continually amazed

There are days that seem to drag on interminably, and then, there are days which remind why I chose this career in the first place.

I recently had the privilege of caring for an 82yr old lady who fell at her home 3 days before coming to hospital. During the fall, she sustained a fractured left neck of femur- a left hip fracture, which she even managed to walk on, until the pain was too much for her to bear, hence her admission. Fortunately, she was declared fit for anaesthesia by our Physicians, and we managed to perform a left hip replacement using a cemented stem, and uncemented dual mobility socket. The concept behind this new articulation, is that it provides more stability, thereby preventing dislocations to a larger extent, compared to the standard articulations. The procedure itself was stock standard, without any remarkable event or complication.

To my absolute amazement, the patient stood up and walked the day after the procedure. She claimed that she had absolutely ZERO pain in her hip… I could not understand this, and I have certainly never seen ANYONE with a fractured hip, stand up and walk the day after a hip replacement before. What I found even more unbelievable, is that in less than 6 days after her procedure, she was able to stand and walk independently- WITHOUT ANY CRUTCHES OR WALKING AIDS! What was more astonishing, is that she walked perfectly, without any limp or sign of having a recent hip replacement surgery less than a week ago!

I am truly blessed to have such strong patients. I pray that this continues, and that my younger patients  who undergo hip surgery, manage to walk just as well as this elderly patient. We should all take a leaf out of her book.