Lorre Haschke's friends have a hard time keeping up with her these days. Two years after having both hips replaced using a new minimally invasive Direct Anterior Approach that leaves muscles and ligaments intact, the "retired" 59-year-old is back to walking three to five miles a day, riding her bicycle, swimming, volunteering at her local hospital, traveling and being active at church and even hula-hooping for exercise.
Anxious to get on with her life after three years of intense, debilitating pain, Lorre couldn't wait to get up and start moving. Three days after having both her left hip replaced and her knee rebuilt from an earlier fracture, she went home. The next morning, she got out of bed — and without a cane or walker — she washed, put on make-up and drove to her primary care doctor's office.
Her doctor — who had predicted she would need several weeks of rehabilitation, several months of physical therapy and a full year to recover before considering the second hip replacement — was shocked to see her walking, driving and scheduling her next pre-operative appointment just four days post surgery.
A month later, when Lorre's surgeon replaced her right hip, she didn't even fill the prescription for pain medication. She has been so impressed with the less invasive total hip procedure; she wrote a letter to her surgeon's insurance company touting its benefits.
"I didn't have to go to rehab. I required less anesthesia than with traditional hip replacement. I didn't need pain medication afterwards, and I was back to walking three to five miles a day within a month and a half," she says. "To this day, people who live in my Houston subdivision still knock on my door and ask: Are you the lady who had both hips and a knee done and then we saw you walking? Who do you go to?"
In addition to rebuilt hips and a knee, Lorre, who has brittle bones due to osteoporosis, has also broken her wrist several times. But now that she no longer needs three sessions of acupuncture a week just to be able to walk, sit or lay down, she is always raring to go.
"I'm fine," says Lorre. I go. I do. I'm happy." She adds, "While acupuncture got me through for awhile, it wasn't going to heal me. That's what my surgeon and the Stryker products he used did. They helped me get back to the things I love."
Individual results may vary. Not all patients will have the same post-operative recovery and activity level. See your orthopaedic surgeon to discuss your own potential benefits and risks.
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