Hi, my name’s Hank Chafin. I am just recuperating from hip surgery. It was such an ordeal as I was leading up to this surgery that I had to make definite decisions about doing something about it. I had bought two lounge chairs. I was unable to get in and out of my chairs. I couldn't even swing the golf club. And having that been a part of my life for the last 45 years, I decided I was going to have to do something. So, I researched many of the doctors in the Dayton area and after sorting through them I came up with Dr. Bauman and I went to him, set up an appointment. And, he offered to give me cortisone shot treatment first. Once we had that, after about three or four days -- it worked for about three or four days, then after that -- nothing, the pain was back. So I called him right away and I said “Listen I'm ready for surgery”. He said “Okay, let’s set the date”. So we set the date and we moved ahead, May 14 he performed the surgery and since then I've been a new man.
When you think about pain, the pain that I was experiencing was pain that you wouldn't expect. It was the kind of a shooting pain, both in the front portion of my hip and in the back portion of my hip and when I would go to rise up out of a chair it just shot right up my back. And then, you know, when I’d go out to play golf, I’d I take the golf club back just about halfway, and I could feel the pain shooting up my back and it inhibited, it prohibited me from taking the golf swing like it's supposed to be taken. Not that golf is the most important thing in the world, yet, it was a part of my life, and I did not want to give it up at such an early age of 71. Some of the difficult things that I had to go through that I feel was, we had 19 steps at our home go down to the basement and I would have to hold to both sides of the railing on the steps going down, coming up, to even transfer myself from one portion of our house to the portion. And this was difficult at best, and I also had difficulty, as I said before, I could not perform the golf swing. And one of the other things that was really difficult was getting in and out of the car. I drive a truck, and every time I would go and get into the truck I had to hold the door with my left hand and get my right leg swinging and then I would swing it up into the truck and then I would slide my right arm and pull myself in. So, there was a definite pain level that I did not want to endure. And I knew I must do something, and do something quick.
I had fear, being a jock all my life, playing sports I've had broken legs, broken wrist, hernia surgery, and I've had a lot of experience in injuries, and I was really afraid, realizing that this is a big bone, this was not a little finger or a wrist, it was the biggest bone that provides support for my body. I had great fear about going through this surgery. That was one of the hardest things I had to overcome. And I will say this; Dr. Bauman was the chief person in helping me overcome that. He, he had a way about himself that helped instill in me a confidence that I knew he could do this to my satisfaction.
I in got the car with my wife and we drove to Miami Valley South and this person met us at the front door. It was still dark. I thought “Hey they’re looking, they're ready for me, they're ready to take me in.” They took me to the area, the waiting area, and I was there hardly any time and then they ushered me ride on into the room where the surgery was going to take place and showed it to me. Then they put me in a prep room, and let me know that Dr. Bauman would be here and everything was going as planned. And lo and behold, the next thing I knew he was there and we were in surgery and it was over. And I, I just woke up and I said, “Have you started yet, when are we going to do this?” He looked at me and he kind of smiled, he said “It’s done”. I was shocked, I could not believe myself. And my wife was there in the room and my son and granddaughter Elizabeth. I was shocked. The day had started out with a lot of fear and now here I was through it, victory! Victory was mine! And I felt awful good about it.
Let me just tell you about the staff there at the hospital. It seemed like that every time I was in need of something, maybe that had a little pain coming on, somebody, a nurse was standing at the door. I mean I did not ever have to toot the buzzer that they had on the bed. Never once did I ever have to toot it, throughout the night.
When I started the rehab, Dr. Bauman was very confident in me. He had a lot of trust in me, just as I had had in him when I chose him to be my surgeon. He had confidence that I could do the rehab without supervision. They had taken me down to the rehab section there at the hospital, and I did all the things that they had to do there, and so everything I did very well and so when it was time for me to go home he told me, and the nurses told me, what I was to do with my rehab: what, how many repetitions, how many of this and how many of that, and I followed it to the letter. I think that probably had something to do with my quick recovery. I was just in last week to see Dr. Bauman. He looked at me and said, “You don't need to see me”. And I said, “What do you mean”? He said, “You can do anything you want to do. I heard about you winning the golf tournament”. So it, and I feel that way, I feel like that his help and Miami Valley South staff, the people there, they really instill in you. I want to let you know I appreciate them. I guess that's about the best way I can say it, I really do appreciate the treatment I received from the time I stepped in the front door to the time I left and they put me in my vehicle to go home, it seemed like they were my servants. They were in a sense, they waited on me hand and foot, took care of me, and I'm pretty well today. I'm looking forward to these next several years. I was getting, to be honest, I felt like I was on the downhill slide, that the sun was setting on me. But not now, it's just coming up.
