Carol: Double Hip Replacement

Carol knew she needed her hips replaced, but she wasn't ready. Yet she was in constant pain and could only sleep a few hours at a time. For three years, she was on crutches.

Taking care of her little granddaughter Bailey became harder as Bailey grew and Carol became unable to pick her up.

Deciding the time was right, Carol saw her doctor and asked to have both hips replaced at once. Her doctor referred her to Dr. Anthony H. Presutti at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene.

"Dr. Presutti was so caring and listened to my story. He listened. He knew what my fears were and he understood it, and he really made me feel okay ... so I said okay, let's just do it.

"Your incision - that's the only thing - is tender ... but as far as the joint pain, there's none. Nothing."

The very next day, Carol was in physical therapy.

"The physical therapists were wonderful," she said. Carol started with exercises in bed, then graduated to a walker. Within two weeks, she was walking on her own.

It's been two years since Carol's surgery. She just attended her 50th high school reunion and is walking up to three miles a day with her husband.

"These past two years have been, I have to say, the best of my life ...There's nothing I can't do. I love it."

She's fully involved in her granddaughter's life as well. "Anything that you would ordinarily do, we do," Carol said. "We never, ever see ourselves getting old. We never do.

"I used [Cheshire Medical Center in Keene] because I've lived here for 30-something years now ... My doctors have always been here. ... I just absolutely love Dr. Presutti and his nurse Mark. The whole department is fabulous, but he's he best as far as I'm concerned. I just absolutely love him."

For more information on the Joint Replacement Program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, visit http://bit.ly/dh_joint.

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Education

Tags:

• hip
• joint replacement
• joint pain
• hip pain
• hip replacement
• orthopedics
• orthopaedics
• presutti
• dartmouth-hitchcock
• keene