Here is a quick note regarding what you might expect from your first appointment since your hip labral tear surgery.
- The doctor will go over what took place during the surgery
- I asked a number of questions that I will go into more detail below
- Someone will take a look at your incision sites
- The next appointment is set for 1 month
- On your way
Pretty easy and pretty standard. I almost always have a list of questions to ask the doctor and write these down before going in and literally bust the list out during the appointment to ask everything that I need to ask.
Here were my questions:
- Is there anything I can do to help prevent or minimize tendentious?
- Nope
- Why is flexion limited right now more than other movements?
- Flexion brings the knee up, so imagine your femur bone rotating up in the socket. That is right where the labrum was repaired so you want to avoid that motion to let things heal
- How did you make things tighter? (Doc told me when he tractioned my leg, typically there would be resistance. Mine had none which let him know mine was loose in the socket.) I read about a ligament getting loose, having shallow sockets, etc. Was that the case with me?
- He told me my ligament was good and my socket was not shallow. He actually drew out for me how he tightened this and basically, it is shifting the femur (I believe anyway!)
- What was your opinion of what caused the tear?
- The bone spurs on the acetabulum
- Hip replacement was spoken about before the surgery. Thoughts on this now that surgery is done?
- He told me (and showed me my hip in the photos they took during surgery) that my cartilage looks really good and based on the cleanup that he did, he sees no reason why I would need a hip replacement
- I asked if my PT thinks I am progressing quicker than the protocol, do they have the authority to advance me?
- Yes, within reason. The earlier in. the process the less aggressive in advancing things
- When can I start driving a manual?
- When I get off crutches and am comfortable shifting
My Doctor. Would I recommend him?
I can fairly confidently recommend the doctor that did this surgery, Dr. Dumont out of Lexington Orthopedics in Columbia, SC. There was one pretty big thing that bothered me regarding surgery, which basically was a medicine that is on my allergy list (and a true allergy, I broke out in what looked like poison ivy) that was going to be given to me during surgery. I had made sure to ask, thankfully. When I asked why it was going to be given to me when it was clearly on my allergy list, the nurse said she did not know. When Dr. Dumont was asked before the surgery what to give me instead, it was almost like he didn’t believe that I had reacted to this antibiotic.
Aside from that, and them being very persistent I give a pain med a go even though that was also on my allergy list, I really like Dr. Dumont. Many doctors I think just don’t have great patient social skills and come across as awkward. This is not the case with Dr. Dumont. Also, I didn’t feel rushed. The fact that he had personally called me after surgery when I was concerned post-surgery is great. He also drew things up for me or pointed them out on posters. I am such a visual learner and I very much like to know the why behind things. The nursing staff was incredible and I can’t rave about them enough.
The fact that I am a solid 3 hours away from the doctor does make things far less convenient but I could really care less. I want the best when it comes to surgery like this. So, if you are within what is a comfortable distance for you from Columbia, SC, I would recommend Dr. Dumont.
