Jay,
I actually waited for a year and a half before getting my resurfacing. The first two Docs I saw when I started to have aggravated hip pain wanted me in surgery the next day for a THR. I found this web site and then called Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. I was trying to get Dr. Su but he wasn't on my plan and they referred me to Dr. Boettner. After an examination by Dr. B, his first question was, "Why are you in such a hurry to get your hip replaced ?" He took a conservative medical approach and we monitored my hip condition regularly. At the end of October, this year, he stated that the window for resurfacing was closing. 5 weeks later I had the surgery and now I'm 18 days post op. If you've got a good doctor, trust his/her judgement. Pain is not always an accurate indicator for when the procedure is necessary. My pain could have been "tolerable" for quite some time but by the time it became intolerable, I would have had no choice but THR.
JW