Appointment with Dr. Ball - La Jolla, CA

[Terry_Smith]

   Well, I had my appointment today with a Dr. Mai in Riverside CA today.  He's done ONE (1) BHR and according to him 30 - 40 THR's.  A very nice man, but not the one I think I want regarding my hips.  He did look at my x-rays and it appears that my hips are victim of AVN.  The left one is very worn down, and he doubts BHR will be possible.  The right hip is far less degenerated, and looks like a better candidate.  I'm scheduling an MRI, and hope to have it done this week.  After the appointment, I came home and have scheduled an appointment with Dr. Ball in La Jolla, CA, with 250+ BHR's I'm sure he's done more than 30-40 THR's.  If the THR is to be done on my left hip (and possibly the right one), I want the MOM and the best surgeon I can get.  Dr. Mai also wanted to wait 6 weeks between surgeries, and from what I see on-line, it shouldn't have to be that far apart in surgeries.  I feel that Dr. Ball will be the better choice.  Nothing against Dr. Mai, but these are my hips, and i would rather not be a patient he learns more on.  My appointment in the 27th of November, unless they get a cancellation.  Wish me luck.

Terry

[Terry_Smith]

  I had my appointment with Dr. Scott Ball today in La Jolla, CA.  Dr. Ball is a very nice man, informative, and very up front.  After looking at my hip x-rays from a little over a month old, he wanted a new set to look at, so off I went (down the hall) to get a new set of pictures.  Yep, they still looked bad, and slowly getting worse.  He said that both hips are "do-able", though I'm not the "best candidate".  With the re-surfacing, he said at best, there's a 90% chance that there will be no problems after 5 years, vs. 97% for better candidates.  In a range of 1-4, 1 being best ,and 4 being not a candidate, he rates me between 2-3.  Better than I expected.  We also talked about MOM, and he said if I were 10 years older, he wouldn't consider re-surfacing, but being I'm only 44, he hates the idea of me losing so much bone so early (he did mention that Dr. Amstutz, who he trained with, wouldn't even consider a MOM for me but would do the re-surfacing).  He mentioned a "modular" THR, being titanium socket, with a thin shell metal liner, and a 36mm ball, in case of possible ION issues or reaction to the MOM.  Personally, with a 1 in 10,000 chance of a possible reaction, I'd rather go with the large diameter MOM, but we aren't quite there yet.  So, even with all this, it's possible once he gets in there, he might still have to go the THR route, which I'm aware of and can accept.  So, I call his office Thursday the 29th and see when in January he can work on me.  December is totally booked (he had to beg the OR to give him 1 extra day for another patient).  In the meantime, I'm going to continue swimming and focus on losing more weight.  He will do my left hip first, and 4 weeks later do the right hip, as the left is FAR worse. So, until then, I'll have to tolerate the pain and discomfort.  I plan on keeping off my feet as much as I can to minimize wear.  I'd rather have re-surfacing done and chance an issue down the road than lose all the bone now, and face possible revision later on.  I'll let Dr. Gross's office know that I won't be coming out there after all for surgery.  I feel that Dr. Ball will do what's best for me, and with my finances, the travel and follow-ups don't make South Carolina my best option.  That's the news as of now.

Terry

[Pat Walter]

Hi Terry

Sounds like Dr. Ball will try to get you your hip resurfacing.

I hope everything will go well for you in January. 

Keep in touch. We all wish you the best.

Pat

[Terry_Smith]

  Well, I've gotten cleared for surgery by my doctor, but my insurance hasn't approved it yet.  Apparently they are having issues approving the re-surfacing, so it's in review, and hopefully I'll hear something in a week.  Once (if) that happens, I'll get scheduled.  The fact that the hips are getting worse doesn't make waiting for this any easier.  Once I get more info I'll post it.

Terry

[Pat Walter]

Hi Terry

I hope the insurance company approves your surgery soon.  I have quite a few letters of appeal on my website that helped a lot of people when they had to appeal their insurance companies decision.

I hope you won't have to do that.

Good Luck.

Pat