I was in terrible pain and housebound before my fantastic life-changing hip replacement in June 2019.

I have been an active person all my life as a registered nurse since I was 17, so walking and exercise has been my normal. I may be overweight and only 4 ft 11” but that did not stop me doing the things I love, including swimming walking my dog Bertie, being with my family, holidays with my eldest daughter and my own international travel. I had been able to retire early from the NHS as I had worked for them for over 35 years as an ICU sister and wanted to pursue another career in nursing outside of the NHS.

It was early 2017 when I was starting to have pains in my groin when walking the dog and on holiday, but I was still able to get about and drive to do my job. Sadly, the pain got worse and worse. I had an X-ray which showed I had arthritis in the hip. I love travelling and walking, but I could not walk around the cities and in our tour of Bologna in June 2018 I was in pain all the time. This progressed to such an extent that in September 2018 when we were in Spain for a short late summer holiday, I could not even get in the pool easily and had to use a stick for walking the short distance even after taking the analgesics that had been prescribed.

I became a frequent visitor to the GP and he eventually agreed to a second X-ray in December 2018, which showed that I had a deteriorating hip. It did not show the extent as it was only a report, so the GP did not actually see the deterioration or even the X-ray. My GP had nothing to go by to see how bad it was, and I ended up crying in the surgery. I kept going back asking for more pain relief as it was not getting better, but nothing was done as my hip scoring did not warrant further investigations. It was so bad that I could hardly walk upstairs, go shopping, gardening or dog walking. My friends knew I was in pain as they could see it in my face. I was unable to attend meetings or do my job properly as a nurse.

At long last I got referred in March 2019 to the MSA team. The physiotherapist looked at the X-ray and examined me and said, “WHY HAVE YOU NOT BEEN REFERRED EARLIER, THIS IS A BAD HIP”. At long last someone believed that my pain was not my imagination. Instantly we discussed who I wanted, and I had already been told of the excellent work that Mr Shah has done with people and hip replacements. He put me on the urgent list for a consultation with Mr Shah and I took an appointment as soon as one came up.

When Mr Shah saw me in the clinic, he saw me as an individual whose quality of life had been taken away from her. I was pale and in severe pain just about walking with a stick. He said immediately that I needed a new total replacement hip and that it will make a difference. He did not need to examine me. He could see by the state of the X-ray and my walking difficulties that I was in urgent need of a new hip. I offered to take any slot that came up.

The 14 June 2019 will be a memorable day in my life, the hip replacement surgery was done. Four hours after surgery I was got out of bed and walking with a Zimmer, no pain except from the surgery but not from the hip itself. I was determined to get up and about as soon as possible. I did all the exercises required and by the time I left I was back walking with one stick most of the time. I kept going with the physio exercises and gently mobilising. Bertie my dog was thrilled to bits as he had been aware of my pain and was so excited, I could walk again to take him out.

When I saw my friends, they all said that I looked like a new woman, my face had lifted and was looking brighter and happier than they had seen me for years. I went back to work three weeks after surgery with a new lease of life. I can now walk the dog again, and my daughter and I went to Rome nine weeks after my hip was done and had an amazing time walking around Rome free from pain. It was the best thing to happen over the last three years, it has made such a positive immediate impact improving in my quality of life.

THANK YOU MR SHAH and your team.