John Timmis, a Police Officer on the
Roads Policing Unit in South Warwickshire, discovered he had
arthritis in both hips after a skiing accident in Val
D’Isere in 2003.
As a child
I went to an RAF school (Gaydon) and caught virtually every
illness going including measles, mumps and whooping cough.
Hay fever blighted me through my teens but otherwise I was
fit and healthy and very active in sports - swimming,
canoeing, and rowing which gave way to racquet sports in my
early 20's.
I joined the Police Force in 1978 and have
picked up a few injuries since then including putting a
chainsaw into my left knee, chopping my fingers up in a
rotary lawn mower and injuring the left sacro-iliac joint in
a low speed off-road motorcycle accident. I caught pneumonia
after the chainsaw incident and while I have been left with
some lung scarring and a susceptibility to bronchitis etc,
my respiratory functions are otherwise pretty good and I now
do a fair bit of regular cardio-vascular work at my local
gym.
On the advice of an osteopath I ceased to
play racquet sports after the motorcycle accident which left
me with a weak sacro-iliac joint on my left side. I also did
a lot of trail bike riding, hill walking, particularly in
the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales and I enjoyed
skiing until my Hip Resurfacing operation in December 2005.
Three years ago whilst skiing in Val
d'Isere, I caught an edge at high speed and crashed
spectacularly injuring my left hip. (By now you'll have
noticed the trend of left leg injuries!) I limped through
the rest of the holiday but the pain never went away and
gradually my flexibility and mobility decreased. A colleague
at work had recently had bilateral Hip Resurfacing and
noticed the way I was walking. We discussed his case and
when I asked what was the best bit he replied "I no longer
have to get dressed on the staircase!" This comment rang
alarm bells for the only way I could get my socks on in the
morning was to sit firmly on the stairs and shuffle my
bottom down the next step towards my feet. I booked an
appointment with the Doctor soon afterwards.
While I awaited surgery I did try following
the homeopathic advice of Margaret Hill (alkaline diet) on
the recommendation of friends who had found it relieved
their rhumatoid arthritis but this did nothing to reduce my
osteoarthritic pain and just upset me that I couldn't eat
many of the foods I liked. With arthritis you have few
enough pleasures so why take your favourite food and drink
away too?
Due to the old sacro-iliac injury I have
had osteopathic treatments maybe once every 18 months or so
for the past 20 years to resolve stiffness and immobility
problems or to reposition injured joints. When it became
apparent that the hip pain was something separate from the
old injury it was the osteopath who suggested an X-ray which
identified the arthritis in both hips.
My operation took place in December 2005
The day after my operation I felt nauseous
from the anaesthetic and could not move or feel my legs for
the nerve blocks that had been put in. I really thought I’d
made a big mistake. While other patients assigned to
different surgeons were already taking their first steps, I
was out of the game sleeping for much of the day.
However, despite my initial fears this
proved to be a good tactic by my surgeon and just 36 hours
after the operation I awoke at 5.30am to feel both alive and
invigorated. I could once again feel the sheets on my legs
and the strength had returned to my arms and shoulders. I
pulled myself across the bed, slid my legs to the floor and
stood up on a Zimmer frame to find that the anticipated
gnawing pain which I had previously experienced in my left
hip had gone completely and I was also actually level again,
instead of having a shorter left leg
I took a walk to the nurses station, drank
a cup of tea and from then on I never looked back. By 8am I
had got rid of the Zimmer frame and was now on two sticks.
By 11am I was able to negotiate stairs and was released home
before the others on my ward. The journey home was the only
uncomfortable bit, simply because of the muscle damage and
tenderness in my operated buttock. Within five days I was
down to one stick and within a week I was using no sticks at
all.
Twelve days after my operation I was well
enough to go out clay shooting at a local (and flat)
shooting ground where I achieved my best score of the
season. It was so nice to be able to put weight back on my
left leg and thus my shooting technique was no longer
compromised by the arthritis pain. At two weeks I felt so
good that I foolishly believed I could drive a car, but
operating a clutch and accelerator while looking over your
shoulder is not a good idea so soon after hip surgery and I
never made it off the driveway. Intense groin pain is a good
teacher! After that I followed Doctors orders and took
things more gently, gradually increasing the walking, then
swimming, until at six weeks I could cycle and swing a leg
over my beloved motorcycle again. What a milestone that was.
At that point I was ready to drive again and I returned to
work at eight weeks.
Police duties require a good level of
fitness and even middle aged Inspectors have to pass fitness
and self defence courses before they are allowed back to
full duties. A two week period of intense physiotherapy five
months after the operation has now improved my core strength
and resolved some balance issues which I noticed when
shooting (the receptors were telling my brain I was still
arthritic and thus whenever I made certain movements beyond
the previous limits of my arthritic hip I felt as if I was
about to fall over). Over a year after the operation I can
cycle, row and use a cross trainer but still cannot run
properly for anything more than 100 yards because I can feel
the jarring impact through my new joint. I am however
noticing a gradual improvement and at 49 should I really be
worried about not running when I can now do virtually
everything else pain free?
My main hobbies now include clay pigeon
shooting - I am a member of and team manager for the GB
Police Clay Shooting Team which once again won the 2006
Inter services series. In April 2006 just four months after
my operation I personally won the annual Inter services Clay
Shoot hosted by the Royal Navy at Newnham Park near Plymouth
beating over 120 of the best shooters from the Armed and
Emergency services in the UK.
I felt on top of the world with this win
but this was to be followed by a further prestigious victory
at the Police National Clay Shooting Championships in
September when I beat almost 250 other officers and support
staff to win the skeet event having shot a personal best of
99 out of 100.
I also enjoy motorcycling both at work and
as a leisure activity and it is so nice to be able to throw
my leg across a bike again, instead of shuffling over the
seat as I did before surgery.
A week after the operation I began training
a new gun dog "Freddie" a very active, liver coloured Cocker
Spaniel. His need for substantial daily exercise ensures I
get out and about and keep myself mobile which is crucial in
a managerial role which all too often sees me piloting a
desk for most of my working day. I can now cope with steep
hills and ploughed fields without a problem. Life is truly
fantastic once again
Since my surgery I also use my local gym
for an hour at a time on average four to five times a week,
working mainly on my flexibility and core strength.
My only regret is that I didn’t seek help sooner. I
struggled for a good two years hoping that my hip would cure
itself but of course it did not. I hate being ill and I
don’t like hospitals. I genuinely feared the operation but
once I’d had it, the transformation was absolutely amazing
and having realised I’d just wasted two years of my life I
would now recommend it to anyone.
Between them, Corin, Steve Krikler and his
amazing team at Rugby's St Cross Hospital have not just
given me my life back - they have also put the fun back into
it too and I cannot thank them enough.
