Dr. Peter Callander in San Francisco?

[BerkeleyGirl]

Hi. I'm new and have spent hours on this site, learning so much. Thank you all.

I haven't seen anything in here on Dr. Callander, though he's one of the docs listed with 100+ resurfacing operations. Can anyone share experience?

Also, has anyone taken a long road trip (7 hours) 8-10 days, say, after the operation? Or does the situation totally vary? Seems to me it would be easier than a flight.

Much appreciated.

[Pat Walter]

Hi

Many people travel great distances to have their resurfacing.  I flew to Belgium which was an 8 1/2 hour flight.  Others flew to India or half way across the US.  Few people are lucky enough to have a really expereinced surgeon in their own neighborhood.  If you are a woman or have difficult problems, you want to choose the surgeons that have done a thousand or more resurfacings.  A few just under 1000 are also becoming experinced too. You can see the surgeons at the top of my list that are very experinced.

When you travel, the doctor makes sure you stay long enough to recover to a point that you can safely travel.

Pat

[BerkeleyGirl]

Hi, Pat. Thanks for this reply. I hadn't thought about the fact of being female (I'm 5'6", 138 pounds, fairly athletic, medium boned) making a significant difference. Are there devices that are especially good for women?

I could do this surgery in LA or San Francisco. LA has Dr. Amstutz (who takes no insurance) and Dr. Schmalzreid (who's on my insurance plan), and SF has Dr. Callander (also on my plan) -- all great docs. I'll hunt on this site for questions to ask specific to being female.

I have none of the usual risk factors for degenerative athritis (never was fat, no family history, not yet old!). I think I injured my hip years ago by doing advanced yoga: I'm very flexible, and repeatedly I stressed my hips while they were severely turned out, etc. It felt really good at the time to "open" my body like that. I recall one time that I felt a twinge, like a fiber of tendon or something had slipped over the bone, like a rubber band slipping. On and off for four years I had minor pain, definitely with yoga and sometimes with hiking (though I did the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal two years ago with no problem!). The past 18 months I've been joyfully hiking in the San Francisco Bay Area a LOT... no yoga at all... by as of 4 months ago, I can't walk more than a couple of blocks before the hip is so inflamed it wakes me at night, etc. Just today I tried a second MRI-guided steroid injection; the first one 6 weeks ago helped a tiny bit so I thought I'd give it a second "shot," so to speak.

I'd appreciate any guidance on navigating this procedure for the female anatomy. Thanks!!

[Pat Walter]

Hi
No point worrying that you are female.  If you use the top surgeons, they will look at you as a person and judge your problem as an individual.  Dr. Schmalzried is one of the best, but is very conservative in doing some women.  If he prefers a THR, you can also get another opinion if you really want a resurfacing, which I would.  Dr. Ure in CA is very expeirnced.  You could travel a bit and go to Dr. Rogerson in WI.  Many of us have traveled far to get what we want.  Even the top 3 or 4 surgeons in the world don't always agree on who is a candidate.  Some will do very diffiuclt cases while others won't.

Don't worry about the device.  Most the top surgeons use the BHR, Wright C+ or Biomet in Dr. Gross's case.  Don't try to distinguish between them since you just don't have the expeirnce the surgeons do.  They use the device which they are most comfortable with and will be the best fit for the patient.  Choose the surgeon and listen to their suggestions.

Pat