Hi Etienne, welcome to the site.
I can't answer all of the questions, but I think if you search through the hockey discussion, you'll find a couple of goalies.
I'm not a medical person, so you should base your opinion on good medical people. There are several stories here of folks who had different types of arthroscopy and it didn't help their cause. That doesn't mean it won't help, so the thing is to find a medical person you trust who can answer your questions to your satisfaction.
There are several doctors listed here by Pat who will look at your XRays and give you their opinion. I believe Dr. Bose is one of these, so you can pose the question to them, and they can tell you what they think about that procedure vs. something more comprehensive, like an HR.
I was also told to go to THR for both of my hips. Both needed to be done - once I heard of the restrictions and did my own research, I decided to go with HR for the lower restrictions and improved quality of life afterwards. It also helped that the results were so positive in my view. It is a personal decision, but I believe a correct one for me.
As to the traveling, one thing that has become obvious to me is that traveling to get your hip resurfaced is lower risk than with other surgeries. The operation is done, any recuperation that can be done on site is taken care of, but once you get back home, the aftercare both medical and physical therapy can be done by local surgeons, doctors and therapists.
I had both of mine done by a local doctor, and have seen him two (soon to be three) times since - at 6 weeks, one year and soon at my two year anniversaries. I sometimes called his office if I was concerned about anything, but it could easily have been handled by text or email as well. So in my case, it was a very lightweight recovery in that no large medical presence was needed. I understand the concern, you don't want to be far away if any issues come up, but I think the local medicos can handle issues. I had an entire protocol for dealing with infections, and a visiting nurse who was well versed with THRs (had never done an HR), who kept a watchful eye for infections and such for the first three weeks. So that wasn't really handled by my surgeon, although he did schedule all of it for me.
As to the other hip, is there any arthritis in that? if not, there's no guarantee you will get it and need any work done. If so, there may be years left once you get the work done on the one in need. That's another question that those doctors who consult for free here can answer for you.
As to longevity, all of us are waiting for that answer, and we may be our own answer, in that we are in the first or second wave of people with HRs. There are some studies that point to longer survival, but none where enough people have reached 20 or 30 years so that we have good statistics about it. We do have anecdotal evidence from some really early hippies who reached 20+ years with no problem, but that's not enough to form a true opinion about its longevity.
We have several young HR hippies here, who hold the same hope that we all do, that the device will last for a long time. I am also hopeful, but if not, thankful that there is a transition to another device. Right now the device of choice is a THR, but in 20, 30, 40 years, who knows what will be available?
Anyways, good luck, welcome and use the information and the people here to make the best possible choice.
Topic: FutureHippy questions thread (Read 3197 times)
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