When Paul Rizzo’s left hip started hurting at the end of 2022, he knew he’d likely need a hip replacement.
He’d gone through the same thing with his other hip several years before. “With my right hip, it got to the point that I could barely move,” says Paul, who recently turned 65.
He’d tried everything to manage the pain, including physical therapy and injections. “It helped, but the pain always came back.”
Paul had felt scared about seeking a hip replacement back then. As the owner of Rizzo’s Greenhouse & Flower Shop in Lock Haven, Paul worried about how joint replacement surgery would impact his ability to do his job.
Could he still push wheelbarrows and get down on his knees to plant? Could he climb ladders to make repairs to the greenhouses? And how much time would he need to take off after surgery?
Former UPMC orthopaedic surgeon Mark Rackish, MD, walked Paul through the procedure, letting him know what to expect. In September 2019, after years of pain, Paul had hip replacement surgery for his right hip at UPMC Williamsport.
North Central Pa Ortho
‘The best decision I ever made’
“I woke up from the operation, and within a few hours, they had me walking up and down the hall,” Paul remembers of that first hip replacement. Though his incision was sore, the pain that had become etched in his brain for so long was gone.
“I knew right away that it was the best decision I ever made,” he says. “I only wished I had made it sooner.”
Which is why he decided not to put off getting the second hip replaced. “I realized that I didn’t need to go through that again,” he says. When the left hip started hurting, he reached back out to UPMC Orthopaedic Care.
It turned out that Dr. Rackish had since retired from UPMC, so after looking at his options, Paul made an appointment with Kyle Hubler, DO, in the spring of 2023. He just had a good feeling about the surgeon, he says.
His instincts were correct: Dr. Hubler was just as soft-spoken and caring as he had hoped.
‘Now I have the freedom to work at what I love to do’
The physical nature of Paul’s work can be quite demanding on the body, being on his feet every day. It’s work that he loves, but it isn’t easy on his joints.
After meeting with Dr. Hubler, he confirmed that Paul could greatly benefit from a hip replacement.
Paul’s second hip replacement surgery went just as smoothly as the first. As he did after the first surgery, he spent the night in the hospital.
His recovery followed a similar path to the previous surgery. He used a walker for the first few days, mostly to steady himself. Then he used a cane for about a week.
After that, he could stand and walk on his own. “A few days after surgery, I was able to come over and do the flower arranging,” Paul says. A few days after that, he says, he could water the flowers and wait on customers.
“It wasn’t long before I was back to doing everything,” he says. He was quickly pain-free, climbing ladders and hauling mulch. “Now I have the freedom to work at what I love to do.”
He can’t say enough about the care he received at UPMC. He even had some of the same nurses the second time around, and they remembered him. Those personal touches mattered, he said.
He agrees that the anterior approach UPMC surgeons offer made a huge difference.
His Best Advice: Don’t Wait So Long
If Paul could change anything, he’d go back and have the first hip replacement sooner. He spent so much time limping, dreading the pain that found him day after day.
It made life — and his job — unnecessarily hard.
“Keeping the business running takes a lot of responsibility. And it’s certainly easier to do without constant pain.”
Paul now can move with greater ease. Rizzo’s does the flowers for the chapels at UPMC Williamsport and UPMC Williamsport Divine Providence Campus.
“I think about all the pain I went through the first time, and how I wouldn’t have had to if I wasn’t so worried,” he says. A fear of surgery is natural but find a surgeon you click with and start the conversation, he says.
“They can give you a quality of life that you maybe haven’t had for several years.”