Timeline from initial contact to surgery appt

[a sensation]

Hello,

I am interested in those who had bilateral done at the same time with US based doctors.  How long after you had them look at your X-rays, until you were able to get an appointment for surgery? 

I would be traveling from overseas to the US for the surgery.

Thanks.

A S

[Woodstock Hippy]

I had bilateral surgery with Dr Scott Marwin at NYU Joint Disease Hospital in NYC on 11/15/11.  I had had my first x-ray and diagnosis about three years earlier at Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC.  Sometime in summer of 2011, things on both sides got bad enough for me to want it fixed and I first made an appointment with Dr Su at HSS.  I wouldn't have even been able to talk to him until the end of November. Then I called Dr Marwin and I saw him in a couple of weeks.  He came in and explained everything to me so well that I felt like I could do the surgery!  After connecting with another Marwin bilateral hippy here, I decided to go for it same day bilateral with Dr Marwin.  He uses a direct lateral approach and doesn't have to disconnect the glute muscles.  I think that this gives his patients better results than those that use posterior and disconnect the glutes.  He told me that he first learned posterior and when he learned direct lateral it solved all the problems of the surgery.  Also at NYU they have Rusk Rehab hospital and they are able to keep you for rehab.  I stayed and had three physical therapy sessions a day.  They had equipment to show me how to get up stairs, get into the car, get into the shower and all the other stuff I would need in the coming weeks.  On the 9th day, I was able to walk out of there using just a cane.  I walked from my room and my wife was surprised to see me walk up to the car, open the door and get in.


It has been all great ever since.  I ran my first 5k running race about 1 year later and got 3rd in my age group.  Three years later, I got 1st!  I have absolultely been killing it at short course triathlon.


My left side has always been behind my right. At about 1.5 years I crashed hard on my mountain bike, tearing a glute tendon on the left and at about 2.5 years, I was back at PT because I just had no strength on the left.  Right now I'm dealing with something similar after running a way too tough 1/2 marathon trail race and then probably getting back to running to soon.  Right now on my running days, I am doing my Stretch and Strength exercises instead to build it back up.


This is getting too long.  My next race is a sprint tri in Naples FL in December.  I'll be ready.


Good luck with your choice and with your surgery,  Jim

[blinky]

I went to Dr Gross for bilat resurfacings. . I sent my X-rays to him in late June, before a trip abroad. He called about them about two-three weeks later. I was abroad and missed his call and emailed that I would have to call back/wait for a new call when I returned (too complicated with time zones and traveling)


From the time we finally connected until surgery was three months.

[Quig]

Like Blinky, I went to Dr. Gross for my bilateral resurfacings. My first contact with Dr. Gross' office was in mid December of 2015. I spoke with him in very early January and shortly thereafter my surgeries were scheduled for April 11 and 13. It was explained to me that bilateral surgeries take a little longer to schedule than single hip surgeries.


I was REEEEEEEALY anxious to get it done by the time I made the decision and those 4 months were an awful long wait. Looking back, it was absolutely worth it. I'm very, very pleased with my results and the fact that I traveled from California to Columbia, SC.

[Joe_CA]

Hi a-sensation,

Like Quig and Blinky, I will be having bilateral surgery with Dr. Gross this mid December. I think I had my initial contact with him (via phone) around the end of last June, so approximately 5 1/2 months. Quig is correct, bilateral surgeries take a bit longer to schedule. I recall that if I wanted to due one hip at a time, they could have got me in in August for outpatient surgery, and I was seriously thinking about it (but I felt there wasn't enough time to get everything done in time).

Let us know how it goes for you.

Joe

[a sensation]

Thanks for the replies.  Dr Marwin's office doesn't seem to grasp the fact that flying 17 hours for an appointment and then coming back a few months later is not a reasonable option.

Dr Su's office was less than helpful when I was asking the protocol for overseas patients.  I emailed the general email on his website. Any idea of the likelihood of getting a reply to that? 

Next up will be Dr. Gross.  It sounds like his office is more accommodating. 

[Quig]

Dr. Gross' staff is great. You'll want to fill out all the online forms and mail them in, he'll evaluate them and then call you. He'll need your X-rays and/or MRI also. It took me a couple weeks to hear from him and that phone consultation was when we said "Go". From there you communicate with his staff, I believe it was Nancy that I emailed with the majority of the time. They are very, very good with their email communication. At first I was calling and leaving messages and missing calls back, once I figured out email was the way to go it was really, really easy. They're exceptionally nice people.


Good luck!

[blinky]

Drs Su and Marwin have great results, but are in big hospitals and so patients have to work their way through the system. I have heard the wait for Dr Su is five months. He is much in demand! Dr Gross is in a smaller hospital and has more control. He has his own, very specific way of doing things, including calling candidates for resurfacing himself and briefing them on their situations. The office is used to handling people from out of town. I found the idea of going to Columbia, a small city, and being treated in a small, boutique hospital to be attractive. But I am originally a southerner. If my husband had been the patient, we would have gone to NYC. (I wanted to have the surgery and then get home. My husband would have been happy to stay in NYC for a week PO and hold court, inviting his NY friends to come visit him!)


You aren't contacting any of the doctors on your side of the Atlantic?

[blinky]

While running (!) this morning I thought of this:why not go beyond the East Coast? The Cleveland Clinic is used to out of town patients and has at least two great resurfacing doctors, Brooks and Mont. My FIL went there for a heart issue twenty years ago, came from abroad, and was treated like a king. I looked at Dr Brooks for my hip surgery, but it was during the time when the smaller sized BHRs were withdrawn so he wasn't an option. He and his staff did answer my questions quickly and thoroughly during that time.

[Ljpviper]

I agree with Blinky, the hospital that Dr.Gross uses was exceptional. They are so use to seeing his patients day in and day out. I also tried to contact Dr.Su for a consultation it would take 4 months they told me.

I guess the big difference is Dr. Su does the bilateral at the same time and Dr.Gross does staged. Also, I think Dr. Su uses BHR components while Dr. Gross uses his own(comet).

There has to be a reason why Dr. Gross does not do them at the same time, as I believe Dr.Gross trained Dr.Su. Good question to ask Dr.Gross if you speak to him, he will tell you.

Good luck.

Larry

[Quig]

I contacted Dr. Su also as I had two friends who went to him. I chose Dr. Gross because I liked him a lot and I liked the idea of the uncemented Biomet device. I also found Dr. Su's office very accommodating too but just did not want to go to NY for surgery.


Following my second surgery while talking with Dr. Gross I mentioned that I was really, really surprised how much my first hip had recovered in just 2 days and that it allowed me to get around pretty well even though I'd just had the two hips done. He smiled and said that's why he prefers doing bilats a day apart.

[Ljpviper]

Quig, yeah I guess its either double anesthesia in a week(Dr.Gross) or more trauma in one day(Dr.Su).

I see this topic discussed a lot when I was researching hip resurfacing among different surgeons.

[a sensation]

Thanks guys for the information.  I just reached out to Dr Brooks and Pritchett as well.  I will call a few others after the weekend.