I was gone for lacrosse on Friday, or day ten. But Monday I started calling patients who are a couple years out from a specific type of hip surgery, and score them based on symptoms they may or may not be experiencing several years out of that surgery. It was hard to do because so many patients have either moved or changed numbers, and for some of them it was impossible to track them down. Sometimes, the patient left us the wrong number, so it was very challenging to get in touch with that person. Once I started accumulating several results, however, I started feeling more and more optimistic about the project. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the patients' symptoms. A large amount of the patients seemed to be experiencing back problems, which affected how long they could sit or walk without experiencing any pain. For the most part though, in accordance with the surgery, several patients scored a 100%, which is outstanding. Also, all but two patients are glad to have had the surgery, with one reason being that arthritis had developed in the hip and had progressed to a level that rekindled the pain that the surgery had temporarily fixed. Tomorrow I will continue to work on my project.
