Simple movements like walking and sitting on a chair or climbing on the bed were a painful experience as she was suffering from avascular necrosis for one and half years.
Seventeen-year-old Ashida Nair (name changed) is all smiles as she leans on a walker and makes short but hasty steps on the second floor corridor at Bombay Hospital. “I feel like walking,” she smiles.
The simple movements like walking and sitting on a chair or climbing on the bed which we take for granted were a painful experience for this teenager who was suffering from avascular necrosis for one and half years. After a hip replacement surgery she is back on her feet and enjoying every step.
Avascular necrosis develops because of loss of blood flow to an area of bone. “It is usually common among the elderly. Among children it is highly uncommon unless they had previous fracture or they have been on heavy doses of steroid because of kidney related illness or if they have gone through chemotherapy,” explains Parag Munshi, consultant orthopedic and joint replacement surgeon at Bombay Hospital.
In Ashida’s case her left hip was severely affected by lack of blood flow. “Her femoral head and the socket were collapsing leaving her in spasm of unbearable pain,” says Munshi, orthopaedic surgeon who operated on Ashida. “She is the youngest patient to have a hip replacement in the city if not in the country,” says Munshi.
Ashida beat blood cancer in 2005 after three year long medication and radio therapy at Bombay Hospital. She was declared a cancer survivor. However, she developed avascular necrosis eventually that rendered her completely at mercy of her family. Her father quit his job as the Nair family could not afford a professional help at home with their modest income.
The smile on Ashida’s face, however, has pushed the memories of the bad days behind. Her mother, Gita Nair, a school teacher at a Borivili school says Ashida is smiling after three years. “She wants to compensate the one and half years when she could not walk on her own, adds Nair. The pain left Ashida invalid. “She could not walk even from her bed to the bathroom,”. A month from now Ashida will be able to resume a normal life. “I am eager to attend my classes,” says Ashida who is a standard 11 student at a Malad College.
Hip replacement surgery is usually done for the elderly in India. “Ashida was an exceptional case,” says Munshi who performed the surgery on August 7. An artificial femoral stem was inserted in Ashida’s left thigh bone that enables her to walk again.
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