20 February,2015 01:30 PM IST | | Delaveen Cherag Tarapore
Rajni Mirchandani, a Breach Candy resident, underwent four surgeries after a fracture in her femur bone, spending Rs 12 lakh on treatment, but could walk only after the fifth surgery
If a surgery is not successfully performed, the resulting circumstances could cause as much pain and discomfort as the original problem. A Breach Candy resident found this the hard way when she had to undergo three surgeries in the past two years to treat a hip joint dislocation after a fracture in her femur.
The Breach Candy resident who underwent the surgeries, Rajni Mirchandani, with Dr Pradeep Bhosale. Pic/Sameer Markande
She also spent a total of R12 lakh on the treatment until then. The fourth surgery ultimately proved successful. In December 2012, Rajni Mirchandani, (65), suffered a fracture. "I was sitting on a couch and when I tried to get up, I just couldn't lift myself", said Mirchandani.
Mirchandani, who suffers from obesity, weighed around 92 kg and had suffered a fracture in her femur (thigh bone). The fracture is generally caused due to wrong sitting or walking positions in people suffering from obesity, said Dr Pradeep Bhosale, director of Arthritis and Joint Replacement Surgery at Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital, who did the fourth, successful hip surgery.
She was first rushed to Breach Candy hospital, where a femur reposition surgery was performed. But the repositioning did not heal, and the next whole year Mirchandani could only walk with the help of a walker or a stick.
The first hip surgery
A doctor from Bombay Hospital suggested she undergo a hip-joint replacement surgery. On April 1, 2014, it was performed at Bombay Hospital. But within three days of the operation, she suffered a dislocation again.
On April 4, 2014, a closed method surgery was carried out to reposition the ball and socket of the hip joint. This requires the use of physical manipulation and needed anaesthesia. However, this surgery also failed and the ball and socket remained dislocated. An open surgery of the hip-joint had to be carried out again on June 6, 2014.
But an X-ray some months later showed the dislocation was there. The continuous dislocation was due to obesity. However, the components the plastic cup and a surgical cement ball were malpositioned and the poor quality of the pelvic bone added to the problem, explained Dr Bhosale.
A distraught Mirchandani then consulted six different doctors. All of them said that an operation could be performed again but it would include many complications.
The fourth hip surgery
Finally, she decided to undergo treatment from Dr Bhosale at Nanavati Hospital who conducted the hip-joint replacement surgery for the fourth time. The surgery was performed on February 12. Dr Bhosale said this time a ceramic ball and a cementless cup was used.
Bone grafting too was done in order to rectify the poor bone quality. The operation cost Rs 5 lakh. Mirchandani had already spent Rs 12 lakh on the earlier treatment. But it was successful, much to Mirchandani's relief.
She could walk with a walker the very next day. "I just wish to resume life and meeting my friends at the earliest," said Mirchandani, who works at her brother's hotel, and looks forward to getting back to work.
