In this second part of my journey with Perthes Disease I talk about healing from my first Femoral Osteotomy and recovery.
The first thing that springs to mind about having a ¾ body cast removed is the stiffness in the joints. For a long while after the cast was removed I remember refusing to straighten my legs due to the pain in the joints particularly my knees. I had Hydrotherapy and Physiotherapy but still couldn’t (or wouldn’t) straighten my leg. I remember quite vividly being held down while they forced my leg straight – I remember the screaming now. But once I had done it, I could do it by myself.
Around this time I was allowed back to school, but was not allowed on the playground in-case I got knocked. My mum and grandparents alternated picking me up. I used to love going with my grandparents as I always got corned beef sandwiches from the Sainsburys café. It seemed so posh 😊. My mum would treat me to a woods road chippy.
I don’t remember having many restrictions shortly after that period. I am sure my mum would remember more, but it was around this time I started going to Rollerworld and later playing Roller Hockey and then Ice hockey. Hockey is what became my passion growing up – I loved it. My dad tells a story where he was taken into a room and asked to explain to the doctors about the bruising I had, hockey was a tough sport. But I carried on playing it through my life right until the age of 27.
The good thing I am trying to show here is I was resilient, I was not beaten by Perthes! I was a tough kid. But that did not stop the bullying in primary school. Some of the kids were rotten, but I was taught from a young age to stand up for myself by my dad. But this was the early 90’s so there was only one way to do this. This affected me so much that I cannot stomach confrontation now – 30 years later.
I then had 10 years with only a small handful of minor procedures being done. When I was 19 I was really struggling again and required another femoral osteotomy which was the same operation I had when I was 9. The pain I can remember now, it was awful. But it was a good option – at the time they were hopeful it would give me another 10 years of activity before the inevitable total hip replacement would be needed.
The surgery was tough, but despite living on my own at this point 20 miles from home, my mum and grandparents still come and helped me everyday. The healing process was longer this time, I was now an adult and it seemed to take for ever before I would be able to start my physio.
Next time I’ll talk about my Open Hip Debridement
Bipolar Ironman 