Newstalk Breakfast presenter Ciara Kelly saw her life changed “in a very short window” after undergoing two hip replacement surgeries in recent months.
Speaking on The Anton Savage Show today, Ciara explained how she went from someone who ran and walked every day to someone who could barely walk 100 metres.
“It came on me so quickly,” she said. “It changed my life in a really short window of time and not for the better.”
Developing psoriatic arthritis, Ciara not only experienced a lot of pain but was forced to see the normal parts of her life slip away.
“I couldn't do anything I started saying no to all sorts of things that I liked doing, seeing people, going to gigs.
“I got to the point where if I had to clean my teeth, I would sit on the edge of the bath because it hurt to stand.
“I started to go ‘Christ, maybe this isn’t temporary’.”
Ciara said she “did actually worry I was going to be disabled” in the long-term and realised she had to take action.
Replacing both hips at once?
Going to surgeon Dennis Collins, Ciara was hoping she would be able to replace both hips as soon as possible.
“I pleaded with that we do [both hip replacements] all at once,” she said.
“Partly because I’m self-employed and I can't take that time off, I asked if we could them both.
“He laughed and went, ‘Ha, no’.”
Ciara chose to wait the minimum 12 week waiting time in between, desperate to follow through on the decision she made as soon as possible.
Undergoing hip replacements in September and December, Ciara said the process wasn’t even, but was somewhat humorous.
“Dare I say out loud about my orthopaedic colleagues, my former colleagues, but it’s like carpentry,” she said.
“Literally, there's drills, saws, hammers, nails and screws.”
Ciara's recovery
Now that she’s back and well, Ciara said she didn’t realise the full extent of the toll her psoriatic arthritis took on her.
“I was wrecked all the time,” she said. “And I didn't really put two and two together and kind of go, ‘This will all be fixed too’.
“The other effects are minimal, so minimal that I was out on Friday night dancing on a chair.
“That’s how normal I am now.”
Listen back to Ciara’s story here:
