March 13, 2017

To start off I am a 41 year very active male.  I was always active in sports growing up and played college and semi pro football.  I would workout 5-6 days a week, basketball twice a week, weightlifting, cardio, & crossfit, in addition to being active with my family.  I had never been seriously injured previously.  I am 6’1″ 235 and in very good shape.  One morning in late July I played basketball early morning with a group of guys and later that afternoon took some clients out to play golf and about half way through I could not turn on a golf ball.  I have pain in my groin and was certain I pulled something or it was a nerve.  From that afternoon on, my walking was not the same.  I went to a chiropractor, fascia doc, & it wasn’t getting better and I was limping still.  I finally went to an orthopedic friend and got an X-Ray.  He said it wouldn’t be a big deal and probably just a nerve issue.  When I came back in the room he flipped the screen & said “what the heck has happened to you?” I said what, he stated look at this, you don’t have any cartilage in your right hip.  I about passed out… He told me I will need a hip replacement and just see how long I can put it off.  I was devastated….  I got an injection the next day which helped moderately for about two weeks. Then went back to normal.  I started searching the internet for options to replacement and basically found stem cell treatment which had little success for the hips and then came across surfacehippy website which opened up an entirely new option for me.  This website changed my life.   I went through the stories and searched doctors.  I narrowed down to Dr. Brooks with Cleveland Clinic as my first option.   Distance was not a factor for me, he was about 500 miles from my house.  I e mailed him and he immediately responded.  I sent my X-Ray to him and he said I looked like a candidate for resurfacing.  We set an appointment for first week of December which was the earliest he had.

My wife and I went to the appointment and after meeting Dr. Brooks the resurfacing was the clear cut option for me.  The first open appointment he had was 3/8 which I took. By the end of December I was on one crutch and was in a ton of daily pain.  I struggled to sleep and move but continued to lift weights, upper body and spin bike 100+ miles a week since this was the only cardio exercise I could perform.

On the day of surgery everything went as scheduled.  I was scheduled to arrive at 10:00 for check in and was prep’d;  surgery was at 1:00.  I woke up in recovery about 3:10, without anymore hip pain.  I was fortunate that I did not have any nausea nor dizziness which occurs for many.  Thursday morning I was up on a walker, and early afternoon I was on crutches walking laps.  All went well and I had therapy once more Friday morning which I moved much better.  I was happy to be released late morning and was on my way home for an 8.5 hour car ride.  I have continued to cut back on the pain meds and ended up working 4 hours Sunday morning.

So far, I am happy with my results and would encourage anyone that is considered this procedure I highly recommend it.  Thank you so much to Surfacehippy & Pat for all the advice and insight into this procedure.  This site has been pivotal for me.  Very happy with Dr Brooks and my nurse Layla was the best!  She took great care of me overnight.  I will continue to update as time goes on!  Feel free to contact me with any questions.