In December 1998, on my birthday, Johnny Mathis had hip replacement surgery. Things went very well, I got to see him use that new hip this past year. So in December 1999 he had surgery on the other one done. He's not the only one. According to the American Academy of ORthopaedic Surgeons website, 134,000 total hip replacement surgeries were performed in 1995. What kind of people have this surgery? Again, according to tha AAOS, the average age of the patient was 67.0 years and she stayed 6.3 days. She? Well, yes. It seems that, again according to AAOS statistics, 59.7% of total hip replacements are performed on women. Something for us to look forward to in our old age, huh?
Interestingly, among the men who have the surgery, the average age is 63.1 years--roughly Mr. Mathis' age-- and average length of stay is 5.5 days.
You've got to watch out for the anaesthetics, though! My mother used to go nuts after being exposed to it, and if you have a morphine allergy, it can make you downright hallucinogenic! Here are some accounts given by real people relating their experiences with the surgery.
This is a very good explanation of the procedure before during and after the surgery.
I hope this short break has been informative, and helped to allay any fears about Mr. Mathis' surgery or even if you may need surgery yourself. Mr. Mathis will be fine. Promise.
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