Dan's "Hip" Story

Editor’s note: Dan is a 32-year old former Marine and current Geisinger employee who, on Jaunary 5^th, will undergo a total hip replacement at Geisinger Medical Center. Throughout his preparation for the procedure and his recovery, he’ll be blogging here about his experience. Follow Dan as he shares his story, and comment on the blog and share it with friends.

So how does a 32-year old end up needing a total hip replacement? It probably starts all the way back in middle school where I was the awkward fat kid. Determined not to be that person through high school, I got active in sports and joined the cross-country team and lost, in one season, 40 pounds. That was it, I was hooked on running.

Several years later, after college, I had a fairly normal job selling health insurance, when one day on my way to work I flipped on Howard Stern and he was talking about planes having crashed into buildings and I thought, “Wow, this is in poor taste even for Stern.” Several station changes later I realized it was far from a bad joke.  The events of 9/11 flipped a switch in me I didn’t know I had. I knew that I needed to do something bigger with my life; I wanted to help protect my country, my family, from something like 9/11 ever happening again.

I knew little of the military, but I had always heard the Marines were the best, so I went down to see the local recruiter and a few months later, I was shipping out of the Harrisburg MEPS on my way to Parris Island, SC. If you have ever seen the boot camp scenes from Full Metal Jacket, picture that, but not as funny when they’re yelling at you instead of some character in the movie. The drill sergeants take basic ad hominem attacks and elevate them to an almost ritualistic art form that is amazing to behold, unless, as I previously mentioned, they are directed at you. Still, in the end, completing boot camp and becoming a Marine was the single most rewarding experience of my life. It’s a designation I can carry with me to the grave: United States Marine.

Unfortunately, my right hip just wasn’t as patriotic as the rest of me, and the kind of training it takes to wear the uniform puts considerable strain on the body. Plus, I was always adding in extra miles of running because I loved it, and because it was very hard for me to meet the 204 lb weight requirement for a 6’1” Marine. Couple that with my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) being a videographer (which meant dragging around 60+ pounds of camera gear over my right shoulder) and something was bound to give. It did.

Towards the end of my third year in the Corps, my hip started to catch, and I developed a bone spur that was causing an impingement and considerable pain in my right hip. I consulted the naval physicians and they decided that a minimally invasive surgery to remove the bone spur would be effective and should return my normal range of motion. The surgery didn’t go exactly as planned: a guide wire was lost inside my hip during the procedure, and what should have only been an hour or two turned into an all-day affair. The doctor explained to me after the surgery that finding a lost guide wire in a hip was like finding a needle in a haystack (very comforting). Initially, though, the operation seemed to be a success and I started to rehab almost immediately. 

As a result of the surgery and the recovery process, I had abruptly gone from running five to ten miles a day to participating in very little physical activity other than physical therapy. My metabolism basically just crashed. I gained weight, which is heavily frowned upon in the military – it can even lead to a medical discharge under other than honorable conditions if you don’t stay within the weight standards.

For me, staying within those weight standards – a 6’ 1” Marine is not to exceed 204 lbs. – had always been a challenge, even when I was running a couple miles a day. I had always floated in the 210 range, mostly because I don’t have a build that fits normal guidelines: I’m 6’ 1”, but only a 30 length in jeans. I have an unusually long torso with short legs, and I just have a top heavy build. Making weight was such an issue for me that I even tried to get my percentage of body fat down by doing water displacement.

Even using that method – which put me well within body fat standards – proved irrelevant, because ultimately, the weight guidelines and the tape measure were the only approved methods of making weight. Fortunately, I was well liked in my unit, and I would usually starve myself for a couple of days before weigh-ins. That way, if my weight was only a pound or two over the limit, they would let me slide.

Above, I'm on the left, with Sgt. Bryson Jones and Cpl. Troy Loveless in Savannah, GA, celebrating Cpl. Loveless' 21st birthday.

Post-surgery though, my weight jumped to almost 230 lbs in about a month, thanks to the sudden lack of activity. And as I mentioned before, this is frowned upon.

Two months after surgery, I was nearing the end of my four year contract with the Marines and I needed to do two things to get out honorably and not receive a medical discharge: I needed to make weight, and I needed to pass the Marine physical fitness test (PFT).

The PFT consisted of a 3-mile run, crunches and pull ups. To pass, I needed to complete the run in less than 26 minutes, do 60 crunches in less than two minutes, and then complete at least three pull-ups. A perfect score required a run time of less than 18 minutes, 100 crunches in two minutes and 20 pull-ups. If I was unable to meet the minimum standards, I would probably be granted a medical discharge, but for some reason that just didn’t suit me. I had started this crazy adventure, and I wanted to finish it with my head held high.

So two months after my surgery, I was back beating the streets and running again. And a month later, just three months after hip surgery, I was in good enough shape that I managed to pass the PFT, despite considerable pain in my right hip. It was one of those moments where you realize some victories are only visible to the individual.  I received my honorable discharge and re-entered the civilian world, but my hip was definitely not fixed.

Above, I'm on the right, with L.Cpl. Sean Hernandez at the Marine Corps Ball in Parris Island, 2006

Several months removed from the Corps, I went to see an orthopedic surgeon in San Diego, where I was living at the time. I was told that I had no cartilage remaining in my right hip; it was completely “bone on bone.” How could this happen?  My surgery had been completed less than year ago, and I had cartilage when the operation was performed. The doctor said that I might have come back too early from the injury, destroying the rest of the cartilage, but he also believed I was just genetically predisposed to have bad hips. The running, Marine Corps, and surgery merely accelerated the process, he explained. After looking at the x-rays of my healthy left hip, he told me that one would eventually wear out much sooner than normal as well. Lucky me.

I asked what my options were, and he told me a total hip replacement, to which I replied, “I’m 28.” He advised me to tolerate the pain as long as I could, and then have the surgery.

Over the course of the next three years, I consulted three more orthopedic surgeons while working in San Diego and New York, and all of them told me that I needed a hip replacement, but that I should wait as long as I could; since I was so young, I might end up needing to get the replacement hip replaced as well.

During the four years of waiting that followed, I learned that having chronic hip pain messes with your entire life, and your entire body. It even changes your personality to certain degrees: pain makes you cranky. Doctors prescribed me Percocet for the pain, but I soon learned that I could not function at work hopped up on pain killers, so I sucked it up and used over the counter anti-inflammatories.

My range of motion kept worsening and I could no longer do simple tasks like tie a shoelace or clip my toenails, so I switched to slip on shoes and got pedicures. I went to a concert with lawn seats and realized I couldn’t stand that long. Feeling so completely handicapped was a drastic blow to who I had become as a Marine, when I was so physically fit and active. Activities I used to love, like running, skiing and mountain biking became impossibilities, and I gained a lot of weight.

Then in February 2010, my father started suffering from health complications, and I decided it was time to move home to Pennsylvania and be close to my family. Watching Dad go through his ordeal (and, thankfully, recovering) helped me realize that I was ready to get my life back. Time was ticking, and despite the advice to wait, my quality of life had become unsatisfactory. If I need another hip replacement in 20 years, so be it, but I wasn’t going to lose another year living a limited life when a treatment option was available.

And that’s why I’m preparing for a total hip replacement. It’s a long story, but I’m hopeful it will have a happy ending. I’ll be blogging throughout my pre-surgery and recovery days, so be sure to follow this blog and tell your friends about it! And share your comments as well – hopefully we can have some fun conversations.