I have my first appointment with Stephen Raterman, in Tampa, FL,this Thursday (11/13/14). I feel I'm prepared with questions and insurance information. However, my films are a year old and I can definitely feel my hips have gotten worse. Will he be able to make an informed judgement on my candidacy for HR vs THR? I live in FT Myers so any preliminary tests,etc, I would prefer to have done here. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Snowdancer
I would say you need up to date X-rays mate. Most of the time surgeons can make an assessment and diagnosis via X-rays. However in some cases like myself X-rays don't seem to show much wrong and I had to have an MRI to get a full diagnosis. This seems fairly rare however and usually diagnosis can be done via X-rays.
Welcome to the site Snowdancer. Interesting user name for a person that lives in Florida! I would guess more current x-rays will be required. Mine were taken the morning of the consultation at the same facility. Hope you get all your questions answered. Let us know how it goes.