Denis, 46, works for a communications company in Ireland on Network Quality Management and has a passion for both watching and taking part in sporting activities.
I started playing basketball when I was 11 years old and have won numerous
honours and tournaments at underage level. I captained my school to winning
their first all-Ireland basketball tournament, played my first senior national
league game at 17 years and was lucky enough to have played with some of the
best Irish players of their time. We won national league and national cup
honours and I represented
my county at underage and senior level.
At that time the first Americans were introduced to Irish
basketball professionally - two Americans per team were
allowed and the standard and atmosphere at games was
electric. I played about ten years at senior level with Blue
Demons.
Watching famous marathon runners at the Olympics inspired me to see whether I would be able to run a marathon and I trained for a couple of months doing between 60 and 90 miles per week. My first competitive road race was the Ballcotton
ten miler and I finished that in 61 minutes. My ambition was to finish a marathon, but if I was going to do one it would have to be to the best of my ability and was delighted to finish the marathon after "hitting the wall" in
three Hours and three minutes. I had trouble with my knee at this stage.
During the off-season I played football with Crosshaven AFC at Munster senior league standard. In the 1990 season I was voted player of the year at senior level with my club. After games I had pains in my groin and I would be sore for a number of days. During the season the problem persisted. After a consultation with a rheumatoid
Consultant and sports specialist I was told that I had arthritis and at a later stage I would need to go for a hip replacement. At 32 years of age and having an active lifestyle these were not pleasant words to my ears.
I took up swimming and found that it gave me short-term relief from the pain. Over the years my life was revolving around going to the pool. I was reluctant to have a hip replacement, as the life of the
total hip replacement (THR) was 10 -15 years depending on the activity of the
patient. After about ten years the pain and lack of mobility destroyed my quality of life. I was on painkillers and anti-inflammatories and found it difficult to sleep and I was in agony if I had to walk a short distance - it was time to go for surgery.
It was around this time I learned of metal-on-metal Resurfacing - I meet an Engineer who had both hips replaced and gave me very detailed accounts and booklets on hip replacement - he spoke very highly of
metal-on-metal Resurfacing. I had to wait two years to have the operation
because the surgeon was the only one doing resurfacing in Ireland. I now have
had both my hips replaced within ten months of each other, my 2nd on February 19.
The 2nd day after the operation I was out of bed and walking on crutches slowly. I began my physio exercises. I was in hospital 11 days and walking on crutches without a limp, I felt great. Each day I kept up the physio exercises and walking varying distances with crutches. After
three weeks the wound was healed. Because there are steps into the swimming pool where I live I began swimming. I felt that the exercising in water and swimming eased the muscles. At about the
five weeks I started about ten minute non-frictional cycle in the gym after first doing stretching exercises. I built this up progressively. By the 6th week I was walking around my home without the crutches and I painted two rooms. I also participated in a basketball game between coaches and under 19 players! I did not do any running but enjoyed being on court again playing. My surgeon was not very enthusiastic about this, but he put no restrictions on what I can do and he was very happy with my progress. After the 8th week I was back at work. I am building up my legs in the gym without putting pressure on them and going for longer walks. It's great to be able to get a night sleep and just to be able to play football or basketball with my kids in the garden again.
My mobility is not great at the moment, but I am continuing my stretching exercise programme and I am hopeful for the future. I coached underage kids basketball for the last couple of years, but it became a struggle because of the pain I was suffering. I am looking forward to starting again this summer and maybe joining in. If
metal -on-metal Resurfacing had been available earlier, I am sure I would have had it done long ago.
To anyone suffering with arthritis all I can say is do not suffer as long as I did. Metal-on-metal
Resurfacing has given me an opportunity to live life again and recommend all patients to have a positive outlook in their recovery programme.
