Thanks Linda for being there with your Totally Hip Support Group.

Right now I am in a state of turmoil what with my right hip and leg feeling so good one day and so bad the next day. I look at & feel my incision area daily for any sign of infection. Actually my hip is secondary to other medical problems I am facing right now. A yearly cat scan last October showed a small soft tissue mass in the area of my colon where I was treated for Stage 1 cancer about two years ago. Exploratory surgery was scheduled for last month but called off when my Heart Doctor said my Treadmill test showed some concern. An angiogram showed one blocked artery and one week later I went through angioplasty with a stint inserted into my artery. I stayed in the hospital overnight and my bill came to $23,000 and that does not include my doctor. My wife and her friend had a trip planned to Hong Kong and Korea from March 28 to April 16 so my surgery was postponed to April 26. I had a second Cat Scan in January which showed the mass got bigger and now I am scheduled for a third Scan Saturday Apr 15. Meanwhile my wife returned Sunday Apr 9. As you will see in my upcoming adventures my wife has been through so much and I know I would not have made it to now without her.

HOLLY MOLEY Linda - I hope you will bear with me as I feel I need to get this off my chest. I guess I am a SURVIVOR. My story begins.

First in spite of what I have been through my doctors and the medical staff have all been the best. I can't say the same for the financial staff - maybe it is because I am in Finance myself. I am extremely lucky since my main nurses at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu are my daughter's best friends. Since they come from Wisconsin we are like their family away from home. I'm their away from home Pops.

My medical problems leading up to my THR began after I lost a lot of weight in early 1981 and started to train to do the Honolulu Marathon which is held in December. I went on the high protein water diet and my weight drop from about 300 lbs to 185 lbs. When I first started to train I couldn't walk a block without stopping to take a break. I did a little bit more each day and in March started to train with the Honolulu Marathon Clinic. I was 45 years old at this time. I soon was able to run at least 6 miles a day. The December 1981 Honolulu Marathon was the first of some 40 marathons I have completed.

About two years after losing all the weight and completing in races and marathons I developed a severe pain down my right leg and butt while on tour as a Department of the Army Civilian in Korea. It was a pinched nerve in my back which the Army Hospital in Seoul and acupuncture couldn't help. I continued to run my six miles each day in spite of the pain and after about one month was pain free. I was OK for a few years and then after the Honolulu Marathon in 1987 I went out for a run about a month later and barely could make it back home. I had gained some weight and did not train too good for the run. I went to Straub Clinic & Hospital and the Sports Medicine Orthopedic Doctor diagnosed pinched nerve and after cortisone injections and medication did not help told me to lose some 50 lbs before undergoing spinal cord surgery. I suffered for some 4 years, had another tour in Korea, gained some additional 50 lbs and upon my return to Honolulu in 1992 visited the Straub Neurosurgeon and told him weight and all I was ready for the surgery. An attempt for an MRI of my back caused me to panic and want out of the place pronto. The laminectomy of my spinal cord was done May 1992.

The surgery and recovery went well and I was pain free for about a year. During this time I retired from Federal Civilian Service Jan 93, worked with H & R Block during the tax season, and was hired (57 years of age) as an Accountant by the City & County of Honolulu Sep 93. However towards the end of the tax season the pain down my leg came back and my Doctor at Honolulu Medical Group prescribed VOLTAREN. He did say it may cause bleeding. I was soon scheduled for a physical before starting the optifast diet program. The morning of the physical (Wednesday) I noticed something was wrong when I went to the bathroom. I did not tell my family doctor (also the optifast Doctor) about my stool being black, because I was looking forward to starting the diet fast. By Friday morning the bleeding was so bad I could hardly move. My wife dragged me back to our family doctor who put me right into the hospital for three blood transfusions over the weekend.

Of course Optifast at this time was out and a scope down my stomach revealed bleeding ulcers. I was put on medication and after about 6 months, another scope, and begging and crying to my family doctor, I was finally allowed to go into Optifast early 1994. I lost over 80 lbs and in general I was feeling pretty good except the pain down my leg kept getting worse. Since I was no longer going to Straub I asked my nurse friends for a good Neurosurgeon at Queen's Medical Center. I then went made an appointment to see Dr. Taniguchi and he finally consented to see me after trying for 20-30 minutes to convince me to go to another doctor since he doesn't like to deal with another doctor's scar tissue. My first surgeon was now retired. I went to the Queen's MRI unit and they calmly showed me how to fit into the MRI I went through MRIs of the knee and the back. Too bad my hip was left out. The MRIs showed something wrong again with my back. After additional tests and getting the ok from my Family/Diet Doctor back surgery was performed Aug 94. After surgery I went for Physical Therapy and things were going OK for about a month. My Physical Therapist was having problems with movement of my right hip. As I was running out of the prescribed 10 PT sessions I was having more and more trouble walking. My Physical Therapist suggested I see an Orthopedic Doctor. I went to see Dr. Taniguchi and after checking out my leg told me to see Dr Pavel at Orthopedic Specialties on the 6th floor. I pretty much realized at this time I was in for Total Hip Replacement Surgery. I went to Queen's and got some info on THR. Sure enough Dr Pavel after X-rays said my hip needed to be replaced. We had it done Dec 19, 1994. What a Christmas present. I went back to work 3 weeks after surgery. I used a Walker for two weeks and then a cane for a short period of time.

I was feeling great until late Sep 97. We walked the Honolulu Marathon Dec 95 and Dec 96. For the Dec 97 Marathon we joined the Leukemia Society Team-in-Training program. In return for raising money for the Leukemia Society they trained us to run or walk the next Honolulu Marathon. We had about 3,000 Team-in-Training people join us from all over the country to do the Dec 97 Honolulu Marathon. Meanwhile in the midst of my fund raising/training I developed what I thought was a stomach flu. It started Tuesday/Wednesday and I took off Thursday morning to train and raise money. I went to Queens to collect money from my nurse friends and really wanted to stay at the hospital. I barely got through Friday and finally went to see my Family Doctor on Saturday. By this time I was feeling better and my fever went down to 101. I was told to come back on Monday to see another doctor who scheduled a CAT Scan the next day at Queen's. After the Cat Scan the Radiologist gave me the bad news and called for the doctor who prescribed the test. When he came he admitted me into the Hospital immediately. I was lucky my daughter was still home and she was able to get my personal stuff from my office and my car from the parking lot. Tuesday afternoon I meet Dr Susan Steinemann for the first time when she visited me at the Hospital. It seems the Cat Scan showed something wrong with the area around my appendix. She scheduled exploratory surgery for the next day. However early Wednesday morning I was told surgery was postponed. Dr Steinemann I guess wanted me to stabilize and mentioned surgery in about 8 weeks. I told her no way since I wanted to do the Honolulu Marathon for the people who donated some $2,000 and my 7 year old team-mate. I did complete the Marathon in 11 1/2 hours and was firmly convinced I wanted the surgery as soon as possible. Surgery was performed Dec 19, 1997.

As soon as I woke up in the recovery room I knew it was not routine surgery. After about 10 hours they finally let me go to my room. The incision area went right of my navel for about 8 inches. About 2-3 days the incision got red and infection was developing. Dr. Steinemann pumped some morphine into my IV and in my room opened my incision and for about 5-6 weeks was allowed to heal from inside out. The gauze and dressing had to be changed 3 times a day. In the morning before work I went to Dr. Steinemann office, in the afternoon a nurse friend came by before starting her shift at 7PM, and then I waited for my daughter to come home from work. Believe it or not the worst part of the surgery came about 2 days after surgery when the pathologist report showed 1st stage cancer in my colon. I visited cancer Dr. Rajdev after the surgery and we started chemotherapy earl Feb 98 and it lasted 6 months (one week of chemo and three weeks off). The chemo had a terrible effect on me -fatigue, skin that caused blisters on my feet and cuts that wouldn't heal, a bad taste in my mouth, etc. I was in total misery. Instead of losing weight in, spite of food tasting so bad, I gained 50 lbs. I could hardly move. In the midst of this my family and I were going through a stressful period - On 1 April I got a pink slip from the City & County of Honolulu, my youngest daughter was to be married May 31, we had family coming from Korea, Indiana, Connecticut, Philadelphia and my sister and family from California. I was to take two weeks leave and on Sunday a week before the wedding I had a real bad stressful day and in the afternoon I fell down in my carport and broke my right shoulder.

It was a clean break and after being treated at Queen's Emergency Room I went home. By this time Dr Pavel was semi-retired and so I was able to be seen by his associate, Dr. Kane. Little did I know that this was the start of Dr Kane & I going through a lot together. Surgery was not required on my shoulder. I changed my annual leave to sick leave and tried to enjoy my family being here and my daughter's wedding. Soon after the wedding I got the word that the City cancelled the reduction in force. After my chemo was over I visited my Family/Diet Doctor (Dr.McEwan) and in spite of telling me no-more Optifast he brought it up. At this time I weighed almost 300 lbs and could hardly move. We started Optifast and I keep on the shakes for 16 weeks (4 weeks extra), joined the Gym and did a lot of walking. I lost over 80 lbs and started to feel much better. But starting about Nov 98 my right hip started to be painful. The pain got worse as I lost more and more weight.

In Dec 98 I saw Dr Pavel for my annual check-up. X-rays showed deterioration of my hip in the ball and cup area and a revision was recommended. I did the Dec 98 Honolulu Marathon and felt pretty good doing it. However after the Marathon the pain got worse and I went to see Dr Kane who by now was the main Doctor in the Group doing Joint Replacement Surgery. His calendar was full and I would have to wait almost 3 months for the revision. I got off the Optifast Fast and instead of 8 weeks refeed, did it in one week, and instead of 2 months full food was giving the OK for one month. With Dr Pavel's help surgery was moved up to Saturday Feb 20.

The revision surgery went well and I was fitted for a brace on Monday and it arrived from Florida Tuesday afternoon. I was informed that dislocations could happen more after a revision than a THR. It seems like things changed since my THR (Dec 94) and so on Wednesday I was to be moved to Rehab Hospital. This was a major disaster from the get go. First I was spoiled with my care at Queen's. Then the Handi-van finally shows up (I was to be moved in the morning and they arrived about 2 PM) and my nurse said their wheel chair was not safe for me. Instead of taking me down in the 100 year old wooden Queens wheel chair they had to go back to the van for a stretcher. When I finally got to Rehab Hospital I missed PT/ OT for the whole day. I asked them for a chair so I could get out of bed. The could not find one for over 24 hours and then the one they gave me had a very loose arm. It seemed the PT and OT at Queen's was on a parr with Rehab. The difference in rates was very small. What with the bad service and my room-mate being shot in the back over cock fighting (against the law in Hawaii) and having a scar going around his neck I really went into a complete state of panic. I thought they were going to come back to finish the job and get me too. After much pleading they let me out of Rehab Hospital a few days early on Friday afternoon.

Part of the deal was I will do PT at the Rehab facility at Queen's. PT was too good to be true. After 7 weeks I was getting stronger everyday. I was reaching 4 miles an hour on the treadmill and doing 30-40 minutes on the exercise bike. I was also doing some long distance walking. Probably in looking back I was overdoing it. Seven weeks post-0p on Friday evening at home I sat in a chair in the Living-room to watch TV. I don't know why, but when I got up I heard a pop sound in my hip. I tried to walk and after a couple of minutes another pop and it was back in place. It happened a second time the following Monday while in PT when doing my last exercise I was on my stomach and it went out of place when I was getting up. It quickly went back in place and I saw Dr Pavel that afternoon. He told me I would have to be careful for the next 11-12 weeks. The rest of the week went uneventful and Sunday was the big day my wife and I had planned for a long time to take a trip to Hong Kong & Korea.

Well the bubble burst Sunday morning about 3AM while I was sleeping. I got up with a start and apparently made some movement when I got up. I just don't know what I did but my hip dislocated and stayed that way. I woke up my wife and with the use of the walker got into the van and my wife took me to the Queen's Emergency Room. After an X-Ray revealed the hip dislocation the Emergency Room MD got the on-call Resident Orthopedic Doctor to the Emergency Room. A few hours already went by and my daughters came to the Emergency Room. I told my wife I will be OK and she should go home and get ready to take off for Seoul-Hong Kong. The Resident put me under and put my hip back into place. I left the Emergency Room about 10AM with a material brace that went from my ankle to my thigh. Stupid me I left the next day at 8.30AM with my two braces to meet my wife in Hong Kong. It was a tiring day since with Korean Air to fly from Honolulu to Seoul, stay in transit for 3 hours, and then fly to Hong Kong. By the time I got to the hotel it was 11PM Tuesday night. My wife told me the yearly International Leather Goods show in Hong Kong sucked and they had a better trade show in mainland China.

Stupid me again I said OK lets go. The City in China is about 150 miles from Hong Kong and we were there about 10 years earlier to visit the same type trade show. After checking with our contact in Hong Kong we left most of our luggage in the hotel and in the early afternoon left by train for mainland China. My wife had about 2 hours to visit the leather goods - clothes area of the trade show. We then went to the hotel where we stayed 10 years before. I believe the hotel cost was about $150. Our plan was to visit the trade show the next morning and return to Hong Kong the next afternoon. We already bought bus tickets. By the way anyone going to mainland China should plan to leave China from the same entry that got them to China. By going by train and returning back by bus we did a no no. But they had mercy on us. My wife and I had dinner and then went to our room. We were both pretty tired. We put on my material brace and during the night I noticed it was getting loose. Stupid me, again I should have gotten my wife to tighten the brace.

Well it happened again, this time dislocating with the stem about an inch or more from the cup. What to do, What to do. About 2-3 AM I'm calling the Hotel doctor. It a good thing I had with me some pamphlets on THR. I showed the Doctor a picture of a THR and he was overwhelmed. He did call for a Hospital Van and we were on the way to a big Hospital complex. HOLLY MOLEY. I was put on a pulley and I was first taken to the Emergency Room area where an X-ray was taken that showed a full dislocation. The Emergency Room looked closed and on the pulley was taken through a whole bunch of buildings to I guess an Orthopedic area. There were a couple of people at the Hospital who spoke some English and my wife and I were told the operating room area opens at 8AM. Some 31/2 hours to wait. We told them no surgery and they said ok no surgery. HOLLY MOLEY we didn't know what to expect next. Nurses came by and gave me some shots. About 7AM they brought in breakfast which neither my wife or I care to try. After 8AM I was back on a pulley and taken quite a distance to the Operating Room area. After a small wait they put an IV in and I was taken into a Operating Room. It appeared that five doctors were there to assist me. Something was put into the IV that knock me out. When I woke up the Hip was back in place. After a little while back on the pulley for the long ride back to the room I was in before. About 11:30AM lunch was brought in. My wife had some of this. It seems they wanted me to stay in the hospital for a number of days. We told them we had to leave that afternoon to go back to Hong Kong. We also asked them about the cost and paying in US Dollars. They finally said OK and the bill, believe it or not, came to almost $320. A car came and took us back to the hotel in time to catch our bus back to Hong Kong. After a small to do at the border they let us pass through. As I tell everyone about this adventure my wife and I were very lucky it happened then and not a week later when we bombed their Embassy in Belgrade.

Yugoslavia. HOLLY MOLEY.

The next day (Friday) we left for Korea. At about 4PM my wife finally let me take a walk to my old compound where I had previously worked for a span of some 15 years from 1962 to 1991. I saw some of my coworkers and was able to say hello and a possible goodbye. On the way back to the hotel I visited the National Medical Center Emergency Room and checked in. They said they can take care of me should the hip dislocate again. My wife wanted me to go home right away and after pulling at her heart strings she let me stay until Monday evening. On Monday I was able to see the head of the Orthopedic clinic who specialized in THR surgery. X-Rays showed my hip was in place but the doctor said each time it dislocates it gets less and less stable. During the weekend my wife and I were able to visit her older brother and her auntie with whom she will stay after I left. I spent the rest of Monday morning with my old staff and they took me to lunch. I left Korea at 6:30PM Monday and arrived in Honolulu at 8:30AM Monday.

I could not see Dr Pavel or Dr Kane until the following Monday and Tuesday (May 11). I got on Dr Kane's calendar for surgery on Monday May 31. Monday holidays did not stop Dr Kane from doing his thing. I then let people change my mind about having the surgery on May 31st. Dr Pavel, who wanted me to have the surgery, said if I can go at least 12 weeks without a dislocation I should be on the right track. Well we lasted about six weeks until I guess I did something foolish in the office. While talking with someone on our floor I sat on a table with my right foot about 2 inches off the ground. When I got up to walk back to my area my hip dislocated and I was stuck. I had them put me on a chair with wheels and roll me back to my desk. I called 911 and had the ambulance take me the few blocks to the Emergency Room. It was about 3 PM and so I waited there for Dr. Kane to finish with his office patients. This was Wednesday afternoon (June 9). Dr Kane came by and put my hip in place. I went home and went to work the next day. I was OK until the following Monday morning . Well on Monday morning while sleeping my hip dislocated about 4AM. Back to the Queen's Emergency Room. This time Dr. Kane had me wait for him to complete surgery and then put my hip in place in the operating room. I was able to leave the Hospital that afternoon.

I got by till Wednesday morning when I got up about 5AM. My wife was up and she was happy I was OK because she had a bad dream. My wife left to go to church and walking. I was tired and went back to bed. Sure enough I went to sleep and upon getting up the hip dislocated Again. My daughter had to get me to the Emergency Room. They found Dr Kane at the Airport as he was leaving for a Seminar on the Big Island of Hawaii. He had his Associate admit me in the Hospital after he put my hip in place in the Emergency Room. The plan was for me to stay in the Hospital until Monday when Dr Kane will be back and take care of my hip. Surgery was scheduled for about 4PM on Monday June 21.

HOLLY MOLEY - After 3PM on June 21 I receive a visit from the Business Office giving me two Form Letters. It's a good thing my wife was there to calm me down and hold on to the two Form Letters. I gathered one letter had my level of care changed from Acute to Intermediate for June 19 & 20. The second letter got my level of care back to Acute on June 21. The Letter stated I would be responsible directly to the Hospital for my room and board on June 19 & 20. I called Dr Kane's office and they knew nothing about a change in my level of care. They finally took me to the pre-op area and when the operating room nurse came to see me I knew my waiting was almost over. I believe surgery finally began about 5:30 PM.

Dr.Kane knew I was very upset and he had a whole bunch of support people visit me to include Psychologists. Dr Kane wanted to transfer me to the Progressive Care Unit on Friday but that morning I received another visit from the Business Office basically telling me my insurance will only cover about 1/2 the charges at PCU. I stayed where I was until discharge. About 10 days after discharge I received a Statement from Queens reflecting about $1,3000 due & payable now for the two days room & board. After many letters from me and Dr Kane I did not have to pay for the two days. In fact my insurance paid Queens for the two days in question. Queens returned the money and re-submitted the claim, insisting my level for the two days was not acute. It turns out the difference between Acute and Intermediate was $100 a day. I was already giving relief of all charges for the two days. All these stress for me and Dr Kane over $200.00. To this day I don't know who or why my Level of Care was changed, who submitted at least two claims to my insurance for the two days, why was I notified just before surgery, and why did it take 3 days to give me Form Letters. A telephone call or a visit (like before being moved to the PCU) would have been appreciated - I thought a major US Hospital was operational 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

My hip is firmly in place now. I wore the brace all the time after the surgery and I feel by rubbing against the incision area it helped cause an infection to develop. About a month after my surgery I was back in the operating room to have the infection cleaned out. This time it was not the usual incision for THR or revision. Dr Kane did go to the prosthesis and it was infection free. However it appears he had to go through muscle and when he closed the incision he used staples and heavy duty stitches. It was very painful with some relief coming when he took out the stitches. Well with two surgeries within a little over a month I was having difficulty with mobility and pain.

Dr Kane had Head Doctors visit me in the hospital again and I made an appointment to see one after leaving the hospital. I have been going back on monthly visits. He has me on anti-depression drugs. On the second visit I mentioned my leg was painful and he then asked if I ever thought of hurting myself. I'm afraid I did not give a good answer -I told him the suicide doctor was in jail and I couldn't visit him. Later on I did it again - I told him I was taking Tylenol PM to help me sleep. He said it has a chemical that causes confusion in people. I replied that it was OK since I was confused enough. I started Physical Therapy again and we were making some progress after 8 weeks. However the incision gave me much concern. It was bumpy with a whole lot of scar tissue. We made it through the end of November and then another infection developed. Back to the Operating Room on Dec 3rd. This time the incision area is pretty clean and no scar tissue is present.

I have been making quarterly visits to my cancer doctor and had normal blood tests. He had me take an annual SCAT SCAN on 9 Oct 98. It reflected a small soft tissue mass next to the colon area. The radiologist recommended another SCAT SCAN in about two months. Meanwhile I visited my Surgeon (Dr Steinemann) to get my options from her. The second SCAT SCAN was done 8 Jan 00 and it reflected the mass was getting bigger.

Other tests followed - up and down scopes, barium enema, chest X-ray, SCAT SCAN of the chest and blood tests. All were normal. Surgery was scheduled for Feb 24 but was called off When I flunked the treadmill test. My Cardiologist, Dr Bales, performed an angiogram which reflected one blocked artery. A week later he performed an angioplasty with a stint placed in my artery. I had a third SCAT SCAN on Apr 15 and am waiting for the results. Surgery is now scheduled for Apr 26.

I have been having a real rough time lately. I have wanted to put this on paper and I am grateful it's almost accomplished. It has been hard living on these clouds not knowing what going on in my gut and hip. I am very happy I found you and hope to communicate with you and the other hippies in the near future.

I close for now, take care fellow hippies and good health.

Stan

UPDATE:

UPDATE: July 21, 2003

Hi Linda,

I am Pam, Stanley's daughter.  My father passed away on Monday July 21, 2003. 

The last few years have been very hard for him and our family.  He is at peace now and free from the pain.  If you would like more information or details please e-mail me.

Thank you for supporting my family with his story.  He wore his totally hip shirt and hat with pride.  He loved to talk about your website, especially to other hippies.

Pam G

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