what made you decide to resurface or "just stick it out" and not have surgery?

[kwarendorf]

so I have scheduled my surgery for June 6th with Dr. Boettner of Hospital for Special Surgery.

He was my second opinion. He was great and I know they do good work at HSS! You will be in very good hands :)

[rickt]

 ;D  HI my decision was based on age  i was first told i had arthritis and here is some pills and live with it that did not fly good with me so i got a second opinion and was told i had a torn labrum.I went to get that fixed but he told me i had bigger problems and needed hip replacement so that started freaking me out i didn't know what to do next i thought only old people get that so i did research on alternative hip replacement options and came up with resurfacing. ::) now i started looking into this option I know in my head i will  need a total hip replacement or something later but found resurfacing to give me more time to do things before slowing down due to age  I am 44 and post op 6 days and not regretting this at all the first moment i woke up i new all the time i spent researching and finding the best doctor for me was all worth it and i hope this will get some one to slow down a minute and research research research because there are options for every one     rickt

[DirkV]

Hi JD,
I'm a 15 and 16 months post op as a bilateral. At this point, I'm so happy I had the surgery done - and that it was successful. Like many accounts, I gradually shed components of an active life - tennis, running, hockey (my primary sport), bicycling - in that order in the 4 or 5 years before surgery.
An aside on bicycling. After a 'professional' fitting at a local bike shop to see if I could do anything to keep riding with arthritic hips, and no relief and hanging up the bike, I saw a coach who specializes in fittings, and was able to keep riding right up to surgery. I did have to get a new bike (guy who does the fit doesn't sell bikes :-) )that allowed me to have a position that minimized ROM step-over, but it's a good bike that still serves me well post op.
The re-claiming of riding allowed me to put off surgery for a year plus. It would be hard to imagine a lifestyle without some kind of semi-serious activity.
Like you I was still able to do a fair amount of activity, and I wasn't in constant pain. I think my aha moment was an accumulation of 3 or 4 days during a vacation time when I suggested my wife and kids go to a movie, but I'd not go because I had a few chores to do around the house. So I hobbled around mowing the lawn and climbing a ladder to do some work on a roof and got in a black mood because I was doing work in pain while they were sitting in a movie. The pain and bad mood sneaks up on you until you forget that you were the one who made the plans for the day. Then a day or so later, my son asked if I wanted to shoot some hoops and I said no because although it wouldn't hurt to walk around and shoot, I'd always jump a little to try to grab a rebound or try to run a couple steps to get a loose ball, and then I'd be in pain the rest of the day. Then again a couple days later, we were planning a family hike and rather than some outback adventure, it was what loops can we do where the gimp can circle back if necessary. I have a great family, and they didn't have a problem accomodating the infirmity, but I realized that the impact it was having.
What this surgery offers is the chance to get that stuff back. From the mental perspective, you'll know when you are ready. From a post-op perspective, it has been great to re-acquire activities in life. My latest aha moment was talking with an ad hoc acquaintance about the visiting the Grand Canyon, and this guy's advice that a hike to the bottom is the best experience. My wife and I started to discuss the vacation plans of the next couple years (bike ride across Iowa is already penciled in) and how we might fit that in. Never did the thought occur: what about my hips.
Good luck!
-Dirk

[JohnnyD]

thanks again for the replies!
i am still going to see dr su in 5 weeks.
yes, i am excited to gain back an active lifestyle again.  yet, still, these days with no pain is keeping me on the fence.
i swam 3 days last week with no pain as a result...or did it cause pain later on?  i did have several bouts of pain, in the groin, near pubic bone, and in the gluteals, usually at night.
i have noticed that there is an increase in nights of pains when i am laying on my back.
this is sort of new.  maybe the arthritis is growing?

i am wondering- how common is the gluteal pain with people that need hr?
is it common to have issues bending down, especially for periods of 30 min to an hour, like when gardening?

thanks again for all of your help
jd

[Tommy]

I had gluteal pain REAL bad, at night was the worst but sitting on it for to long time was bad to. I had gel-pack injections as treatment it work for awhile in the groin and the front of the hip but never stop the pain in the rear.
                                       Tommy

[JohnnyD]

i used to have really severe gluteal and sij pain in 2005, i couldn't even handle the elastic on my boxer shorts touching the backside for about 2 months.  and i couldn't press on the break pedal in my car without using the right foot as well, and, i couldn't handle walking in any shoes but crocs since they have the most cushioning. 
in feb 05, i had an accident where i got bilateral sports hernias.  2 months later, still undiagnosed, i thought i felt better and went out for a skate, but took a fall on to my left hip.  i think it was then that i really damaged my hip because things went from groin/lower ab pain to posterior pain really quickly from that point.
currently it is not nearly as bad.  before, i couldn't walk.  that is why i am "on the fence," but when i read this thread, i again realize that my parents, in their mid 60s, can do more than i can at 38 years old.

[Pat Walter]

Hi Johnny D

I just wanted to add that sometimes pain is not the determining factor to how deteriorated a hip can be.  Some people feel a lot of pain with moderately deteriorated hips while others can have very bad hips and not feel as much pain.  Only a surgeon looking at your x-rays can determine how bad your hip/s are.  Sometimes you can wait too long and miss the window of opportunity for a hip resurfacing.

So it is best to get several expeirenced surgeon's input about your hip condition.  Then you have good info to make a decision on.  The expeirnced surgeons will not replace hips that are not ready to be replaced.  They don't need to make work for themselves.  So feel confident the best surgeons won't suggest you have a resurfacing if you don't need it.

Your life can easily and quietly slip away as your hip/s deteriorate.  You just don't even realize how much you have given up to make sure you don't have pain.  Bad hips can steal away your active life without you realizing it until it can be too late.

I don't know how bad your hip is, but again, it is best to get input from the doctors first - then decide what to do.  You can't make a rational decision without facts and only the experienced surgeons can give you those facts.

Good Luck.

Pat

[larry2458]

until reading some of the above posts i thought i was alone in having good and bad days.
another thing that strikes a chord is giving up the sports you love,in my case running,and doing the only things left,cylcing,walking and swimming to try and stay active.
as somebody else said i think being able to cycle gave a bit more life to my hip.

pat mentioned some people being in more pain than others and there being other reasons for an op.
for me it was range or lack of movement in my hip and back.its only since the op that i realise how slowly i used to bend or kneel down due to a stiff back.being able to squat on my haunches now is such a pleasure.
                                                go for it
                                                 larry

[JohnnyD]

thanks again, everyone
i have in fact lost my active life---but i haven't been able to tell what was the cause of that because i suffered a bilateral sports hernia in 2005 and it wasn't properly diagnosed until 18 months later.  i think the cause of the sports hernia was partly due to a bad hip setup- my muscle imbalances that were initiated to compensate for the bad hips eventually lead up to the tearing of the abdominals and groin muscles. 
1 year post op for the sports hernias, i still had some groin pain on both sides and one side had the gluteal pains.  the trochanter pains crept in slowly from there.
then 2 years out post-op, they dx'd me with bilateral hip fai with labral tears.  and that is where i am today, one year after that dx.
so it is tough for me to tell what is the cause of so much pains- atrophy, hips, etc...

[hawaiieric]

Back to the posting Question...

When you start acting not your age..as in older then you are..
I was told I was looking like an old man walking around..now I feel great!
I was also told by those before me, why didn't I do it earlier..so why wait?
If you know its bad, and not going to heal..do something about it...
Eric

btw, now 7+months out..my body is coming back to its normal age...as in younger then life...I feel great..and I only encourage RESURFACES for active people like me..................live life!

[JohnnyD]

thanks eric
i will see what dr su says in one month.  i guess i will make him the decider.
what gets me worried is the overall atrophied state i have been under- i am 15 pounds underweight.  my shoulders atrophied from misuse and i need to get them stronger before i can use crutches!
i am excited to get back into sports.  my surfboards and kayaks are getting bored, as is my beach cruiser.  and how cool would it be to be able to rollerskate, it's been since i was a kid and i am looking forward to boogeying down the sidewalks in style.

[UPwingnut]

I am 49 and only 6 weeks post op and already would do it again, in a heartbeat. I had two moments of 'alright already let's do it.'  I had met with my doctor a couple years ago, for a follow up on my right knee surgery and told him it was fine, but I was starting to have left hip pain. Well, I hadn't "started" to have it, it was just more obvious, with the knee healthy. At that time I was still functioning fairly well and playing hockey and golfing and so on. My first 'do it' moment was in mid January, 2009 when I quit playing hockey in mid season because I couldn't take it while playing, and the next morning was even worse. I was still officiating however, because it wasn't as bad. My mood was clearly getting worse as well. I am not in stellar physical condition, but I have always been active.
At the end of the season I went to see my doc again and this time he said surgery was inevitable. The head of my hip bone was squared up, I had severe impingement, and three lovely fingers of arthritis. The inevitability of surgery was my second 'do it' moment. As it appears you have, I researched the whole thing, and was very concerned about NOT being able to do the resurfacing. Replacement brings about situations I don't want to deal with yet, and my doc said I was a good candidate for the procedure. He reviewed all of the cautions of doing either procedure and left me with it. I phoned back a few days later and said, 'let's do it.' 
Anyway, it's very early and I could just be lucky, but I'm walking my old 30 minute exercise route already, I did some 'best ball' golf over the weekend where I chipped, putted and swung a few irons. I am focused on some low level public skating by the end of July (if I continue as I am) and I fully intend to try hockey again, by November. My guide is to start at a low level for the activity (like putting, then chipping for golf) and if there's no discomfort, carefully try the next level. There is no way I'm going to try a full driver swing for a long time yet, because of all the torque. I'm perfectly content being out on the course already, with my wife and our friends.
For being as young as you are, I sure wouldn't want to do the replacement if I didn't have to, but that's my opinion. As for crutches, I spent very little time on two crutches, and was off crutches completely, after two weeks. My doctor still marvels at the differences in recovery between replacement and resurfacing.
Anyway, good luck with the process. Gather all of the information you can, including your body condition, and then do what's best for you.
Take care,
Joe

[katielinco]

Hi JD,

I had 2 arthroscopic surgeries to repair a labral tear and then open surgery for FAI.  The recovery was a beast but I sent my films to Dr Gross and he didn't see any deterioration of the joint, so I thought it was my best course since it preserved all of my bone.  That was 2.5 years ago.

In January of this year, I stood up and almost fell over.  I had been doing some PT for tendinosis of my hamstring (which was probably the REAL problem when I had surgeries #2 and #3) and after about 2 months of trying to see if we could fix this new problem without invasive measures, she agreed that it was mechanical and at some point, I would probably need resurfacing or replacement.

I sent my notebook of surgical reports, x-rays, etc. to Dr Mont.  He first recommended a cortizone injection which he did and then wanted to wait and see how it worked.  Full relief lasted less than 2 weeks.  I had surgery on June 11 and I feel better than I have in years.  ;D  He found bone spurs/osteophytes all around the head of my femur.  If you look up bone spurs on WebMD, it says that they often develop in response to the body's attempt to heal itself.  I think, and it's only my opinion, that my body was not happy with the other attempts to fix what was going on and when I started to have problems in Jan, it was because of this.

I think surgery to repair FAI may work for some but for me, it was a waste of a lot of my time and energy and I wound up in worse shape than before.

10 days post-op with resurfacing, I have NO pain.  I haven't take any pain meds since day 4 and that was Tylenol.  Every surgeon has a different recovery protocol and with Mont, the restrictions are in place for 5 weeks.  That's a piece of cake compared to my last surgery which required 6 weeks of crutches.  Today, I'm walking with 1 crutch and can stand on both feet with no assistance.  Sleep is still the most difficult issue but I hear that's common and I'm hoping I will be able to sleep on my side in the next week or so.

I traveled from the Denver area to see Mont and thought that would make it harder.  Ultimately, the hardest thing about it was getting in and out of the car at both airports.  The flight attendants took good care of me and security was a breeze.

Good luck!
Katie

[JohnnyD]

thanks again for the replies.
katie, what happened to you with the arthroscopies is what my gut instinct is telling me will happen to me if i take that route.  after 7 surgeries under my belt already, i have learned to go with my gut a bit more.
yet i am still nervous!

as jeff clark said, prior to his recent resurfacing..."i don't want to be simply pain-free in a rocker...i want to rock!"

so i will find out for sure where i stand with dr su on july 15th.

my bigger fears are, more than just a left-sided surgery, are the need for bilateral.  the left leg is the way more bothersome in so many ways.  the right, apparently with the worse impingement, and more arthritis, doesn't bother me as often and is definitely stronger.  because i lack any gluteal muscles and barely have leg muscles left, i just don't know how well i'd be able to come back from bilateral surgery to the point to where i can surf and kayak again in 1 year.