Hi All,
Thank so much for all the great input on this difficult decision. I'm glad to see I have a similar thought process to all of you,it is encouraging. I wasn't sure if I should share my conversations with the surgeons I have had, but thinking twice about it, why not?
I sent my x-rays and other data a month ago to 5 surgeons: Su, Pritchett, Gross, De Smet, and Brooks. Dr. Pritchett respond immediately and gave me his personal number to speak to. He was awesome and answered all of my questions and said I was on the right track and he would expect I will have an excellent outcome. Even with follow up questions, he responded immediately. He even joked and said I would be a record for him since I have 11 anchors in my left hip
Brooks responded within weeks and answered all of the same questions and was consistent with Pritchett.
De Smet was amazingly quick with his emails and has said the same as the others.
Dr. Gross called me within the time frame they state on his website. He spent almost a 30 minutes talking to me and sounded extremely confident. Once again, stated I was a good candidate like the others did, but what really stood out was that he asked me if I wanted any recommendations for surgeons in Europe! He gave 4 names, all of which I had researched, and one of them was Dr. De Smet. He gave me an extremely strong recommendation for Dr. De Smet.
Dr. Su's office hasn't got back to me. I even sent an email after a month and they didn't respond to that either.
With all this said, they all seem fantastic. I have ruled Dr. Brooks out because of his surgical approach and post-op protocol; even though his stats are unbelievable. Dr. Pritchett sounds great, but his distance is putting me off a little and since I am on the cusp of a 48mm, I cant find any longterm data on the synovo preserve incase I need a smaller size, even though the synovo preserve sounds theoretically great. Dr. Gross sounds great and is in-network but the date of surgery wouldn't correspond with my partner who would be my caretaker. I am trying to get surgery in June or in July the latest, and I think Dr Gross is further out then that. Dr. Su has always left a good impression on me from reading his literature and watching his videos, but the lack of response from his office is a little deterring. Now, that leaves me with Dr. De Smet. He seems to be the most experienced and the endorsement from Dr. Gross was huge! Logistically, he would be the easiest as well since it is a 7 hour drive from where I am at, or a short flight. The only problem with Dr. De Smet, and why I probably haven't booked a date is because of the finances. My insurance doesn't cover me out the states unless it's an emergency. With that said, Dr. De Smet's office is still trying to get preauthorization (really cool of them).
Financially, Drs. Brooks, Gross, and Pritchett would be the cheapest in that order. I have Carefirst BCBS PPO and I am in-network with all three of them. Drs. Su and De Smet would be the most expensive.
I know money shouldn't be the issue here, but it still lingers in the back of my mind since I probably have my right side I have to deal with in the future. Logistically, Dr. De Smet would be the easiest and most preferred. Next would be Drs. Su and Gross since I have family in Washington, DC.
Regarding devices, the Biomet and Conserve+ give me peace of mind because of the success with the smaller sizes (although Dr. Pritchett thinks I would be a 48mm.)
So all-in-all, I think I can't go wrong, but since I had two surgeries in the last 1.5 years, it's really hard for me to make a decision. For my arthroscopies, I chose a surgeon who had over 2000 scopes and I just pulled the trigger. In hindsight, I could have done more research. All I am waiting for is to hear back from Dr. Su. I promised myself this time around I would wait until I hear back from everyone.
There it is...my whole story! Please feel free to let me know if I am missing something, or whatever you think will help. I cannot stress enough how grateful I am for this site and for everyone who contributes. The world needs more of this!