To all--Thank you much for your posts. I appreciate all comments made and I've certainly learned a great deal in this process. We all have a tendency to think that our particular ailment is the worst of its kind. After much research, I have concluded that while all arthritis requiring surgery is serious, there are many who have and have dealt with problems far worse than mine. Karen, your story, in particularly, is very moving. I appreciate people's passion on this topic, and the fact that the site itself is so open to all opinions and addresses even serious problems, complications and risks. I also appreciate hearing from others with my problem and particularly from someone who had SCFE which was never diagnosed.
After additional consideration, I am going to have BTHR on April 1, 2009-anterior approach, MOM. I'm comfortable with that decision and with my OS. I'm 51 and my hope is that this will be a one time deal for me. If I'm wrong and I need a revision some day, I'll deal with it. My OS is on the list of surgeons who have done many resurfacings, though admittedly, not at the very top of that list. He has suggested BTHR for me. As someone had suggested, he probably is more conservative than most, but I am OK with that too. And I like him and trust his judgment. As an aside, I also have a good friend who had BHR last year with one of the very top docs on all of these lists, and he had complications which will require revision THR. So, I suppose that has tempered my decision a bit. That is not a knock on resurfacing, just a recognition that in surgery, stuff happens.
I guess my only gripe or concern is the failure of OSs to address options like BHR as part of the consultation. My first 2 OSs were with large, reputable practices that performed a fairly large number of resurfacings, but the particular surgeons that I saw apparently did not do them themselves. No one mentioned resurfacing to me, despite the fact that their brochures say that they would do just that. In fairness, I didn't ask all the right questions, but I, like many people I think, do get a little bit flummoxed in such consultations. I still don't really know if the reason resurfacing wasn't mentioned was because I was not a good candidate or because the surgeon simply didn't do them. I suspect it was the latter, based upon my current OS's very positive opinion on resurfacing. I simply assumed that I was not a candidate. I think that, in hindsight, had I known more earlier, I might have sought out Dr. Gross, who is so highly regarded on this sight, or another experienced doctor on the topic. I don't think I would have traveled overseas to have surgery, but I'm very impressed by those of you who have. I do think OS practices, either statutorily or otherwise, ought to be required to address all available options with patients. Just an opinion, but this site and ones like it currently are the main source of information on resurfacing. But this information should be addressed and disclosed fully by all competent surgeons. Currently it is not done very well, in my opinion.
Thank you for this very useful site
Tom