How my summer plans almost got messed up?

As people get older, they may be faced with having hip replacement surgery. Since I have had 4, I thought I'd publish some information and funny stories about my experiences with hip replacement surgery. The first starts during the summer of 1980.

I had a great summer planned for 1980. I was going to:

Go scuba diving in the Sea of Cortez

Take a course in Marine Biology at a small college in San Diego

Drive from San Diego to Northern California, pick up my daughter, M, drive to Portland, pick up my granddaughter, ‘J’ and then drive to Vancouver, Canada and take the ferry to Victoria. Then we would drive home along the Oregon coast and camp along the way. 

Best laid plans don’t always work out. For me here is why my summer was almost not to be. 

For many years when I was in my late 40’s and early 50’s I had problems with my left knee. Basically it hurt, both when I walked and when I was sitting or lying down. Mostly I tried to ignore it and did the things I wanted to do. All the doctors I went to said there was just a little arthritis in my knee but nothing serious. Finally in 1980, I went to a doctor who said the problem wasn’t my knee, but my hip. Went to an orthopedic surgeon who confirmed that it was my hip and he recommended surgery for a total hip replacement. I asked what would happen if I didn’t do that. He said, if I wanted to walk, I would have the surgery. So, yes of course I would have the surgery. 

However, I wasn’t going to spoil my summer plans so scheduled the surgery for the middle of August, 2 weeks before I went back to work at the community college where I taught. Read about Trip to Canada