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Dear Cupid > Forums > Cupid's Lounge > S.O.S.

S.O.S.

birdynumnums, posted over a year ago

Ouch! I'm turning 53 on the 21st, and just found out that I am going to need a hip replacement. Feeling very old, depressed and betrayed by the body that has carried me through the years and given me my babies. I'm flying over to England on Saturday to visit my daughter, so if any of the British Aunties see me in London, a limping woman with a tall blonde, please don't run up and kick out my cane!!! LOL! Black Humour!

It's bothering me even more because I am starting to really think like I am just old and frail, that I am starting to even think "Am I a muggers target now because I look like the weak one in the pack?" and "Will I be in a wheelchair at 93 instead of walking like my Grandmother?" I have 40 years ahead, God willing, and hip replacements don't last that long. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to get a wheelchair on a boat. All of a sudden, all of my plans for the future are being turned upside down. Up until last Friday, I had no worries, and I was doing 50 minutes 6 days a week on an orbital tracker up till last September, and now, suddenly, I'm old. Sorry, Having a HUGE Pity Party for my Birthday, and "It's my party so I'll cry if I want to..." Anyone out there with any reassuring news or advice?

Posted on 15 May 2008 @ 22:38 (London time) - permalink
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Susan Strict, posted over a year ago

Ho hum. You're only a couple of years older than me.

Had problems with gallstones yet? I did one of those last year. Huge, it was. You wouldn't have thought you could grow something that big inside you and not know about it until it got stuck somewhere!!

Hip replacements are good. My grandmother had one when she was in her early sixties, and it was still working fine when she was 98 - except for the jokes about her being the bionic woman... she got SO annoyed!

As for wheelchairs, now you're really well away although I suppose that's only for a short while until they put in the hip thingy and maybe a short while afterwards. My friend Brenda is a real menace in hers, scattering pedestrians left, right and centre. Boats aren't a problem. She's been on three cruises, although I feel deep sympathy for the ship's crew and the other passengers. There's not so much space to get out of her way in a hurry on board, and the number of crewmen and women who must have given themselves hernias lifting Brenda and her chair around on that ship just doesn't bear thinking about.

Age, and frailty, is as much a matter of attitude as of physical wellbeing. Things start to go wrong, sure, but you fix them or find solutions. My Dad, at 84, has just started dating again. I despair, and worry, but he's thoroughly enjoying himself. You're not old. You've hardly started!

Posted on 15 May 2008 @ 23:0 (London time) - permalink
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Tisha-1, posted over a year ago

Birdy, you're not old, you've just found out that human bodies have frailties that in non-medical terms, suck big time! My mom has had both hips replaced and she tears around like a young teenager. She's in better shape than I am, I am ashamed to admit.

The good news is that you have time to be ready for your op. My mother's post-surgery hospital roommate for her first hip op was an older woman who fell down in church and was not prepared for the surgery or the rehab that follows. She was in a major depression, and was just not willing to deal with the facts. You are. You are physically fit, you are keeping your body in shape, moving and healthy. Hip replacements don't last forever, of course, but if you are stressing the bones, they stick around. This sounds counterintuitive, I know, but bones that are not stressed by muscles and tendons do not stay thick, strong and healthy.

My mother was told that something, an injury she doesn't remember, in her childhood probably caused the wear in her acetabulum and ended up with her needing the hip replacement.

Honey, I've worked with transplant patients who have had all kinds of awful symptoms before they got their transplants. This is no fooling, here, some just kind of gave up, and some faced it with so much bravery and sheer determinedness that I stood in awe of them. I remember one little girl who would have me hand her the needle I was going to draw blood with and stick it into her own arm. She was 11, and looked like a 6 year old. She had so much sheer courage that I still stand in awe of her today. Of course, letting her draw her own blood was against the rules, but dammit, I bent them for her. She was doing what she could to take control over something she had no real control of.

So you go out there and take control back! You take on this stinking operation that you need and you dominate your surgery and your rehab.

Make sure you have the surgeon who does these all the time, by the way. I think you're in a good town for that, right? Don't mess around with that, become a smart healthcare consumer.

And have a kickass time in London, you youngster you. My best wishes for you. So there.

Posted on 15 May 2008 @ 23:29 (London time) - permalink
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, posted over a year ago

Sweety you is def not old, Most peep think its the old that have this kind of op , But hunny it can happen to anyone at any age all depending on the Circumcision oooooh sorry svedish again I mean circumstances!!!!!!! (:0) Its mostly done because the elderly fall down and bust a hip... Its like me back hun..I was 41 and had to give up working as it went doollally tic tic..Its not anything to do with age hunny bunny its to do with them bones and hun you will be fine, Dont no if anyone else in your family have had trouble hunny, but it is mostly Hereditary somewere down the line, Bones are funny things my son he is only 18 and has just had a C.T and M.R.I for his back, Yes it can get ya down BUT HUNNY DONT YOU LET THIS BEAT YOU! CAUSE ITS JUST NOT WORTH IT! You will do fine come through this great and be pain free and dancing around, Your not old your young n fuckin beautiful AND DONT YOU BE FORGETTIN DAT! LOTS OF LOVE N SQUISHY HUGS MAD SVEDISH MANDY XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 10:30 (London time) - permalink
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, posted over a year ago

Don't you worry birdy you are only a couple of years older than me so still a kid.

As for the hip thing, my mum had a bad fall just a couple of years back and her pelvis and hip bones got smashed so badly the surgeon said it was the worst he had ever seen.

Any way they patched her up and she is now bombing around again like speedy gonzalez on crack cocaine. Not bad for a 72 year-old eh?

Here's another cheerful tale from the clinic...

Guy goes to the doctor and says "c-c-c-c-can you h-h-h-help me d-d-doc ive got a s-t-t-t-t.."

"Ah" says the doctor "You have a stutter", he asked the guy to strip down for a physical examination. And noted that he had a 9 inch penis. "you know what?" said the doc, "There's your problem you are over-endowed in the tackle department, you need to have a transplant with some one with a much smaller appendage.

"W-w-w-w-w-will that c-c-c-c-cure m-m-m-me?" stuttered the stutterer....

"Sure will, we will arrange surgery imediately" said the doc.

A couple of weeks later the guys returns. "Hey doc my stutter has gone completely! But my wifey is not pleased with this pathetic two-incher ive now got!And chance of having a reverse operation and getting my own knob back again?"

And the doc replies; "N-n-n-no f-f-f-f-fecking ch-ch-chance!"

Waz

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 13:26 (London time) - permalink
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birdynumnums, posted over a year ago

You guys are the best cure! Thanks Susan and Tisha - it's reassuring to hear that other people have had them last longer than ten years (so far the only neighbor I had told had a HUGE horror story for me - why on earth do people do that?). You guys are the best medicine! I'll get to the point where I will pull myself up by the bootstraps, but right now I'm going to fly over to see my daughter and boo-hoo a bit more. Waz - do you think that they make a vibrating hip replacement? 72!!! That's great, that's a real tonic, hearing that! Thanks! And MANDY! Thanks for the big Svedish HUGS!!!!!!

Love you guys, you're the best! I thank God for all of you and this website, your warmth and craziness has gotten me through a lot these past 10 months! I look forward to seeing what you are all writing every single day! Hopefully, my daughter has internet, or I'm going cold turkey for the next 10 days... THANKS!!!!

SMOOTCHIES!!!!

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 18:12 (London time) - permalink
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Tisha-1, posted over a year ago

Birdy, go have fun!

And I think the exchange rate is like $2.02 to the pound so bring your entire bank account.

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 18:33 (London time) - permalink
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birdynumnums, posted over a year ago

Yeah, Sucky. AND I'm a Canadian finally living in the U.S.... Talk about picking the wrong time financially! I was in Europe during the change to the Euro, and we all went to the ATM machines at midnight on New Years to get the new currency! How nerdy am I...

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 20:21 (London time) - permalink
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Tisha-1, posted over a year ago

Nerdy birdy! Nerdy birdy bo birdy... banana fanna...

Sorry, I'll stop now.

So are you going for some great meals in London? I miss the really great Indian food, and I was a fan of so many of the restaurants there.

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 20:34 (London time) - permalink
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birdynumnums, posted over a year ago

OMG! I got my daughter business cards that say her name in "The Name Game" text!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHA!

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 23:1 (London time) - permalink
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Tisha-1, posted over a year ago

Great minds sink alike!

And where are our membership cards? Did we ever settle on the right name? I'm going to have to go look back on the forum threads to see what the final verdict was...

Posted on 16 May 2008 @ 23:8 (London time) - permalink
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BigSis, posted over a year ago

You're a tough ol' bird Birdy...oops, sorry, less of the old, we're almost the same age, you'll be fine, I know you will....I feel it in my bones.

: )

Good luck and hope you have a great holiday.

Where abouts in London are you going to be visiting? I know London very well.

Posted on 18 May 2008 @ 20:45 (London time) - permalink
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birdynumnums, posted over a year ago

Hi Trish! Am in her flat now! It's near the Bow Road station in an old match stick factory. Hubby has gone onto Rotterdam.

Posted on 20 May 2008 @ 20:1 (London time) - permalink
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Tisha-1, posted over a year ago

Birdy!!!!!!! How's the jet lag? I am seriously jealous of you right now, you know. Bum hip and all. ;D

I'm living vicariously through you for the London experience at the mo...

Keep us posted!

Posted on 20 May 2008 @ 20:50 (London time) - permalink
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pepper27, posted over a year ago

Hi Hunny bunny

Its little svedish me, Hope your ok hunny thinking of you sweetheart as tish says keep us posted lots of squidgy hugs love MAD SVEDISH MANDY ACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!:)

Posted on 25 May 2008 @ 13:53 (London time) - permalink
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