Dr. John Evans in TX?

[rlm869]

i am 38, have osteorarthrits and congenital dysplasia and i am scheduled for march 24 with dr. john evans in san antonio. to be honest, i do not know how many resurfacings he has done but i do know i felt very comfortable with him and his confidence in himself. he goes in prepared to do a THR if your bone is not strong enough for resurfacing. but, instead of the plastic cup used in regular THR he places the titanium cup in the joint. to some folks here this may sound an alarm. in houston, i saw dr. gregory stocks and felt very confident in him as well but moved to san antonio before i could have surgery.

[Pat Walter]

Hi

Welcome to Hip Talk.  I split your post so you had your own heading.  People can read your questions better that way.

You are very young and I hope you are able to have a hip resurfacing.  You hsould not be shy about asking your doctor questions.  Here is the list many people use  http://www.surfacehippy.info/questionsfordoctor.php   A doctor should be patient and polite to address all of your concerns.  I would call the office and ask how many hip resurfacings the doctor has done to date and any other quesitons that linger in your mind.

You will feel better with all your questions answered. You are lucky that Texas is starting to have quite a few experienced hip resurfacing surgeons  http://www.surfacehippy.info/listofdoctors.php#Texas

I assume your doctor is talking about a MOM  metal on metal THR. You should make sure you are going to get the large ball metal on metal or ceramic on ceramic hip. You would not want the old fashioned plastic/metal small ball thr.  They dislocate very easily. Here is information about the newer types of THRs on my sister website  http://www.hipsforyou.com/hipdevicearticles.php   You do want to make sure of the game plan before you go into surgery.  You have to make your needs known to the doctor - don't be shy.

Having a MOM is not a crime or a bad solution if you can't have a hip resurfacing.  Please understand that you are very young and if the current doctor can't give you a resuf, then you might want to look further. If really experienced surgeons  tell you resurfacing is not an option - then the MOM is fine.  There are surgeons that will give you free consultations via email like Dr. Gross in SC, Dr. Bose in India and Dr. De SMet of Belgium.  Gross and Bose have done over 1000 hip resurfacings and De Smet over 3000 hip resurfacings.  They are really experienced surgeons.

Good Luck and stay in touch.

Pat

[rlm869]

thank you pat for all of your information! i really felt that i had asked him all i need to know, but after looking at your list of questions, i see i did not. i will make it clear that no one has ever told me i am not a candidate, aside from the first doc i saw in houston that does not agree with resurfacing. i will not go into that story here. suffice it to say...no one should EVER see dr. brian parsley of baylor orthopedic.

i have never had any type of surgery before and feel so naive about all of this. i really just want to feel better and i have been waiting so long (insurance reasons) to finally get this taken care of.

i will make an appointment to see him and go through the entire list of questions. thank you again and i am very happy you all are here to provide support.

rebecca

[Pat Walter]

Rebecca
You are welcome for all the info.  We all started in the same place at one time - knowing almost nothing but what the local doctors would tell us.

Fortunately, some of us felt there must be more to learn and went searching.  I do feel bad for many people that don't think they should question their doctors or don't know how to search the internet.

I did not know any more than you did about 3 years ago.  That is one of the reasons I work so hard on the website - it is a way to help people learn more about hip surgery and their options.  It is always good to know as much as possible before visiting your doctor.  Then you know the questions to ask and understand what they are talking about.  Many doctors just don't have time to explain things or just don't want to.

Don't feel naive - feel smart - you have taken your health into your own hands to learn and find the solution that is right for you.

Good luck and stay in touch.

Pat