These two biographical fragments were
published together
in Noesis, the journal of the Mega
Society, #178, September 2005.
.
My Hip Malfunction and What I Know About It
May 1986
Kevin Langdon
I was born in 1943, with a condition later diagnosed as
bilateral hip dysplasia. The condition was not discovered until I was a year old . During my early childhood, I had a series of
operations intended to correct this condition, including implantation of a pair of steel pins which are still in my hip joints,
but they did not produce fully satisfactory results.
I walked with a limp throughout my childhood and early
adulthood. On my thirty-third birthday, I had a fall out of a tree which caused enough trauma to my hips that I had to appeal
to passing hikers to carry me home (which , fortunately, was nearby). I recovered from this incident , but I believe it weakened my hips significantly.
A year or two later , I was living in a walk-up apartment and
I reached the point one day of being unable to walk. My orthopedic physician, Dr. Sanford H. Lazar, who practices in San
Francisco, prescribed complete bed rest for two weeks with supervised therapeutic exercises for the hip joints, in a hot pool,
every week day. At the conclusion of the two weeks, I was back to the point at which I 'd been before this incident . I moved out
of the walk-up.
By this time, it had become clear that there was a slow but
steady deterioration of function in my hips. A few years later, in approximately 1982, I began walking with a cane. By February
or March 1986, my condition had deteriorated to the point where I experienced a lot of pain and stiffness in my knees as well as in
my hips and I started using a walker.
My condition has been diagnosed as osteoarthritis; recent
Xrays show that nearly all of the cartilage is gone in my hips, but my knees do not show any abnormality. Dr. Lazar has
recommended replacement of both hip joints.
I do not want to undergo such a radical and expensive
procedure until I have exhausted all other avenues of relief from this condition. I am currently taking indocin and a variety of
nutritional supplements, trying to keep the stress on my hips and knees to a minimum, and arranging to be able to exercise in water
every day. I am also investigating several other approaches, though more cautiously , including Chinese and Tibetan medicine,
homeopathy, etc. I am sceptical, but I don't rule out any possibility. If I knew of a good faith healer, I 'd try that .
I would appreciate any further information about this condition and other possible approaches to a solution.
The
Rest of the Story (So
Far) (2005)
Kevin
Langdon
In
May
of 1986, my hip joints failed
completely, within
an
hour of
one
another. There are two “cutouts” in the bottom of the pelvis where the
femora
join
it
, known as the acetabula. Additionally, there are
smaller
“cutouts”
above
the asatabula, known as the “
false
acetabula.” In each
case
my femur had ridden up into the
false
acetabulum.
I
couldn’t straighten up
further
than
about 135 degrees and
I
was unable to walk until my mother, with
whom
I
was living at the time,
arranged
to
get
me
a walker.
In
addition to the loss of
function,
I
was in excruciating pain
most
of the time. When
it
was worst
I
took
some pain medication but
I
avoided
it
most
of the time because
I
didn’t
want
todull
my
awareness
.
Severe
pain is
debilitating
and
it
consumed a
great
deal
of my
energy
.I
needed relief but because the state of the
art
of hip-replacement surgery was
changing
rapidly
and the
old, cemented
type,
which
was what was
available
then, tended to fail within ten years and
I
was in my early forties
it
didn’t make
sense
to rush into
it
.
It
turned out
that
I
had to
wait
four years for my hip replacements but fortunately relief from my
chronic
pain came much sooner.
The
year before,
I
had heard
an
interesting
lecture on Tibetan medicine by the
late
Dr. Trogawa,
one
of the most
senior Tibetan physicians.
I
was
very
impressed by the
presence
of this man and
it
was
clear
to
me
that
he was drawing on a wealth of practical
knowledge
. Through
friends
at a local Tibetan Buddhist
center
I
learned
that
Dr. Trogawa was to be in
San Francisco
just
a few months after my hips failed.
I
made
an
appointment to see him.
I
was
instructed
to
bring
a urine
sample
.
When
I
saw Dr. Trogawa he was dressed in a traditional
Tibetan monk’s robes, with a shaved head. He definitely
looked
like
the
serious
Tibetan Buddhist practitioner he was. He greeted
me
and
asked
me
about my condition. He
asked
many
questions
and
extracted
from
me
a history of my
physical
ailments over my
entire
lifetime.
He
examined
my eyes, my ears and my mouth, stirred my urine
sample
with a
stick
and
looked
intently at the swirling liquid, and
took
my pulse for about two to three
minutes
for each wrist (Tibetan doctors are
trained
to be
sensitive
to
certain
subtle
rhythms
in the pulse)..
He
said
that
I
had too much lung (wind),
one
of the three
principal
humors
of Tibetan medicine. He prescribed three
different
kinds
of
little
round Tibetan herbal pills,
certain
dietary
changes, and herbal baths.
I
was in a
lot
of pain
so
I
followed
his
advice
religiously—and within two weeks the pain
completely
went away.
This
was a miracle, for
which
I
was extremely
grateful
, but
I
was still
left
with nonfunctional hip joints and
I
still had to drag
myself
around with a walker,
which
was inconvenient and often
embarrassing
and
severely
limited
my mobility and
drained
my
energy
.
Any
particular
type
of Tibetan herbal pill is typically
composed
of
between
ten and twenty
different
herbs,
most
of them found
only
on the Tibetan plateau.
Some
are pleasant-tasting, others are bitter, still others are
just
weird. They
’re generally
taken
with “lukewarm boiled water.” In addition to helping with the condition
that
had caused me
to seek out Dr. Trogawa
they
also seem to act as a tonic,
promoting
general health, good
energy, and
an
overall sense
of wellbeing.
I
was glad to have this
support
while
I
was unable to walk
normally
.
In
1990, Dr. Lazar
told
me
that
the
new
type
of hip replacement was
available
and
I
decided
to go ahead with
it
. We’d originally planned to have the operations three months apart but when
Dr. Lazar saw how
well
I
was doing after the first surgery the second
one
was
moved
forward
two months. This turned out to be a
very
good thing, because
it
made
it
much
easier
for
me
to
learn
to
use
my
new
hips. (
I
also had
some
good
physical
therapy assistance,
which
I
made good
use
of because
I
was a
very
quick
study.)
The
hip replacement involves removing the head to the femur and
inserting
a titanium-alloy replacement with a ball at
one
end
and a
long
prong at the other
which
is
inserted
into the top of the femur. This alloy is
so
porous
that
bone cells actually grow
through
it
and
it
becomes
very
strong
over time (
I
had to be
very
careful
for the first six months to a year after the operations).
An
artificial socket, made of a ceramic
material
(to
avoid
the
spontaneous
bonding of
very-closely-fitted
identical
materials) is installed in the pelvis. The two together
provide
a surprisingly
flexible
and functional joint.
They
had
me
standing
on my
new
artificial joint the day after each surgery.
It
felt
very
strange
at first but
it
only
took
a few days to
get
so
used
to
it
it
was as
if
they
were my naturally-grown hips.
I
expected
that
it
would
take
some
time for my hip joints to
get
stronger
and the
associated
muscles to
get
used
to my
new
capabilities
and deatrophy, but
I
didn’t
expect
that
my hip
function
would
continue
to
improve
for over a decade.
I’ve
continued
to see Tibetan doctors periodically (but
only
once every few years). My hips
continue
to be pain-
free.
For
information
on Tibetan medicine see the
links
near the bottom of my page:
http://www.polymath-systems.com/misc/misclink.html
Kevin
Langdon Biographical Data
Polymath
Systems Home Page