Too much information

When you are at the wrong end of your 40’s, it is not often that you get told you are too young for something. My doctors had been telling me for quite a while that I am too young for a hip replacement. Now, however, with the deterioration of my left hip joint being to the point where the cartilage has worn to such an extent that there is contact between the femoral head and the acetabular socket in the pelvis (ouch, it smarts a bit), there is no option but to have it replaced, for quality of life, to be able to walk normally and, not to mention, pain relief.

So, I asked the consultant who will be carrying out the surgery, Mr Samuel Parsons FRCS, what kind of implant I can have or will be given (bearing in mind I am fortunate to be able to do this in a private hospital), as I had concerns about the types recently in the news. He mentioned a couple of makes (the usual suspects, Stryker, Smith & Nephew, DePuy) and materials, such as titanium, oxinium, 4^th generation ceramics to mention but a few. To be honest, I do not know if it is a good thing or a bad thing that I work as an Engineer in the medical sector. I asked questions about what the implant is going to look like, what materials it is made from and I mentioned my preference for a ceramic head. We even had a discussion on whether the stem would be cemented or un-cemented. A cemented stem is most usually for recipients of implants that are in their, shall we say, more mature years. Whereas the un-cemented stem, with a hypoxy-apetite (HA) coating to promote bone growth, is the usual preferred option for the younger recipient, as it lends itself well for revisions. The surgeon said, that if I look after the new hip it should last me twenty years.

Later, out of curiosity, I googled the particular make of implant that I remember being mentioned in my consultation. In nearly all the entries I saw the words ‘lawsuit’, ‘recall’ and ‘the xxxxxxx implant found to make squeaky noises’. “Oh dear, I don’t like the sound of that lot”, I found myself saying to a colleague at the coffee machine, but he put my mind at rest a bit when he said “It’s the ones that don’t get recalled you want to worry about!” I downloaded the ‘Synergy Cementless Stem’ installation instructions (sorry, surgical procedure), planning to read it at my leisure. It contains lots of useful information including some interesting diagrams in rather graphic detail showing surgical saws, hammers, reamers, etc. doing exactly what they are designed for. Now I am not that squeamish, I don’t mind the sight of blood (as long as it’s not mine), but knowing what is actually going to happen on the operating table certainly makes me wince! I wonder if they will let me keep the bit they cut off?

Back in the late 80’s, I had another type of bone restructuring operation, a ‘mandibular osteotomy’ (I had bone removed from my jaw to adjust my bite). I was not told what the surgeons were going to do, just that eating would be an issue for a while after the operation. The doctors and surgeons (if you were ever granted an audience with one), did not seem to be very forth coming with information in those days. Back then we did not have personal computers, smart phones, or even an ‘internet’ to do a search on. We could not trawl/surf the web for the masses of information available today; some of it useful, mostly repetitive and some quite misleading (just like the newspapers really!). The mine of information available on the internet is truly staggering but with regards to what I consider to be rather invasive surgery, is it a case of too much information and would it be better to just not know certain things? Possibly progress in information technology and its availability should be limited in certain areas? Maybe back in the good old day’s ignorance truly was bliss!