My 50 yr friend w ho has moved to NV some months ago, fell earlier this year and ended up in NV hospital and what would be a 2-4 day hip replacement hospital stay, her stay was 19 days....and when she finally got out had a right leg with a bunch of cuts like from a scaple.... Talk about being a piece of meat on a butcher block table!!!!! Her surgery side is totally numb and PT and OT people say she will NEVER having feeling there again. I can relate to that one 13 yrs in post op. But my hospital stay way back was 3 days....... I'll have to ask her more WHY she was kept there for so long, she did say she asked for rehab facility and it didn't happen, not sure of WHY for all the time, she does have other health issues heart related and some others so, but she kept blaming BAD docs and medical care in NV....
I have heard similar reports, but most hip replacements benefit the patients I know. I don't know if I would go under the knife or not. I guess it would depend on haw my mobility was affected or what the true pain level was. There certainly are better places and worse places to have surgery, and just because someone or some place performs a procedure doesn't mean they perform it well or often. If it isn't done 50 times a year, I probably wouldn't have it done if it was an option procedure.
I was told [for a hip replacement] I would need to agree to a rehab center for at least 15 days. This was due to my heart disease and pre-diabetes. And the fact that i live alone ... they would not send me home alone. Just in passing a comment was made later that ..... since my insurance will cover it ... they might just keep me in the hospital itself . It's all about the money, who wants it, and who will be paid. So .... I said no thanks , and i do not want a new knee and/or shoulder either.
When my uncle had his hip replacement, he did his rehab IN the hospital. One end of the corridor on the ortho floor was "surgical" and the other end was "rehab". He just moved three rooms down the hall. There was no need for him to have to move to a rehab facility for his stint in rehab. Maybe your friend was doing her rehab in the hospital and just didn't realize it?
When I had my hip replacement done in October 2005, it went fine. My wife took me to the hospital on a Wednesday AM and had surgery the same day. My first overnight stay, I was woke up numerous times to have vitals taken. Wife took me to one rehab session at the hospital on a Friday AM and I was released that afternoon. My wife took a few days off of work to be with me. My company medical plan paid for an In-Home PT for a week, then I had to go to PT place down the street from where we lived. My wife took me each time. She had to be at work at 8:30AM and my PT was at 7AM. After one hour of PT, she took me home and then took off for work. The PT definitely hurt at times, but I made it thru it. I knew something was wrong when I tried sitting in a new saddle, on a saddle stand, and couldn't get my right leg "up and over" the saddle. IOW, the cartilage in my hip was gone (bone-on-bone) and I was also walking with a slight limp. When I returned to work, I was using a cane for awhile to walk with. I was off of work some 14 weeks, but got State Disability and used all of my Sick Pay I had. So, I still got paid every two weeks during the time I was off. I had to sleep sitting up on our couch and my wife slept in a recliner for a few nights next to me. Our bedroom was upstairs and there was no way that I could get up the stairs. At the time, we had a mobile intercom system. One was sit up by the bed upstairs and the other by the couch I was sleeping on. I would tell her "goodnight, I love you" over the intercom and she'd say the same to me. Today, 2023, if I walk to much, the hip can start talking to me (little pain) and I've had a Handicap Placard since 2006. As for wife and I, we are both very, very grateful to my surgeon and that I did get the hip replacement.
@Cody Fousnaugh where was the surgery done? Were you in Florida then? Florida orthopedic surgeons have a good reputation dealing with hips and knees.
If your friend fell, she may have broken her hip in which case, shards of bone may have needed to be found and removed instead of a straight forward femoral head removal. I worry about osteoporosis in case I need a second replacement as I get older.
Wellllll, I kept going to the farm even though the pain was getting bad. I have a pretty high pain threshold. But one day I said I was done!!! Unfortunately you just don't run to Hips R Us. You have to research surgeons and then get an appointment with your normal doctor for a referral. Get an MRI, get an appointment with an orhopoedist who, if he is any good, has a long list of patients ahead of you. But my surgery went well. Post surgery, the pain was nothing compared to pre-surgery. They offered me all sorts of equipment to take home and use but all I needed was my cane. I used it as a cane, a leg lift, a grabber....I was at the barn in two weeks. Walking was all the therapy I did. But my surgeon cautioned me not to climb on the roof.
Yes my friend fell and broke bones, and she didn't have the luxury of doing any reserch on docs...the bottom line here is WHY did the hospital NOT just move her to a rehab facility, she asked them to, but no they kept her in hospital 19 days. She has a very low opinion of NV docs and hospitals.....one major BIG BIG Gamble like all of NV.
Interestingly enough, a Nevada surgeon, Dr. Servestini (not sure how it is spelled) was a major pioneer of bilateral hip replacement. He started off using nylon and later went to titanium. How do I know such things? My son’s mother had both hips replaced by him. The nylon prosthetics were wearing out and he replaced them with titanium free of charge. Note: The Nevada Industrial Commission ate the cost of the 1st replacements and whatever other costs associated with the second one as well. After the titanium hips were replaced, she literally did whatever she wanted to do pain free.
Not sure about the why. I know the last time I went into the hospital, I kept telling them I felt fine but they wouldn’t discharge me. I found out it was because they didn’t like my oxygen levels, had me doing inhale/exhale exercises several times/day. Now why that couldn’t have been done equally well outside the hospital, I don’t know. My guess would be that there was some stupid, arcane insurance regulation that got in the way.
Is your friend 50 years old or she has been your friend for 50 years? If it's her age, that is awful young to have a bad hip I'm thinking. Personally, I would find some way around hip pain as opposed to willfully be put under the knife and have a long rehab, even if I came out of it pain free and it's a "maybe" if it all turns out OK.
We were in Colorado for my hip replacement and one rotator cuff surgery (right shoulder). Other rotator cuff surgery (left shoulder) we were in Florida.