Knee & Hip Replacement Community

Hello I'm a 46 year old male who lives in West Central Wisconsin, I have had complications from Pancreatitis in 2006 which lasted about 9 months, went back to work and on October 24th (birthday) 2008 I was diagnosed with AML sub type Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, during which I also contracted Tularemia in early 2011 caused by the baterium Francisella Tularensis a very rare disease here in Wisconsin, but was diagnosed after a few doctor visits and some testing and was treated promptly with no issues during my treatment of cancer.
Then being cleared to go back to work in March of 2012, I found a job and started April 30th. ( the rest of what I tell you here takes place over a 4 month period) The first 2 weeks of work went pretty well considering I was out of shape and went from being disabled to working overtime at a physical shipping and receiving job, then I started noticing hip and groin pain when getting up after resting for a moment, this pain soon went away after making a few strides (walking) and things seemed ok, I figured it was just my body adjusting to the work, during the next couple weeks the hip pain gradually kept getting worse to the point that it just wouldn't go away anymore after getting up and moving around, the pain was there all the time during movement but it much better at rest while sitting or lying down. At this point I was taking Aleve and lots of it with no relief from the pain and was now walking with a pretty noticeable limp. The pain got to the point that I had to see a doctor so I went to the local clinic on June 4th where they did X-Rays of my hips, and they told me everything looked good and wrote it off as Bursitis, and sent me back to work, and then on June 6th - only a day and a half later - I finally couldn't take it anymore and had to quit my new job, which I was only about 5 weeks into, I felt awful but what do you do? After three more doctor visits where they tried treatments of high dose Naproxen, which failed and then a treatment of Prednisone which also failed, I finally got to see an orthopedist on August 13th which at that time he pulled up the original X-Rays that were taken back on June 4th here at my local clinic and reviewed them and said "I don't know who read these X-Rays but" and then proceeded to show my wife and I where he detected AVN ( Avascular Necrosis / Osteonecrosis ) of both hips and immediately scheduled an MRI for the following day. Then later I returned for the follow up appointment with the orthopedist for the MRI results, the doctor found that both my hips are now past treatment that could reverse or stop the AVN and suggested the only fix at this point would be THR (total hip replacement) for both hips. The pain is severe in my right hip and I'm just starting to feel discomfort in the left hip, some days are better and some are very difficult I get pain in the hip, groin, buttocks, thigh, knee and sometimes into the calf, even sitting, standing and sleeping can be difficult at times, getting dressed can be joke and I walk mostly with cane and if I go to a store I use the electric carts there. The Orthopedist has set me up with an appointment on September 5th for Cortisone shots through fluoroscopy into both hips to ease my pain and we will continue these injections as needed, for as long as possible since the head of the femur has not yet collapsed and if the pain can be controlled he would like to hold out for 1 year or even more if possible, although he don't think it will go that long.
My AVN is most likely due to having Pancreatitis, Chemotherapy, and extended doses of Dexamethasone which i received during complications with Leukemia. I hope the cortisone injections work as it will be a long painful wait for new hips if they don't. I didn't write this to seek help from others although any input would be welcome, but more to inform others of my situation and share some knowledge of my experience thus far with AVN. Thanks, Jim