I am a 28yo male who just had Left Hip Resurfacing at the Cleveland Clinic in Vero Beach, FL on January 31, 2024. I wanted to tell everyone my story as it definitely helped me with making my decision, so hopefully it will help others too!

In 2017 I started having a pinching in my left hip during my college lectures. I thought it was nothing, but eventually it got to the point where I decide to go see a doctor. They said it was torn labrum and I could go ahead and get an arthroscopic surgery to get it repaired and everything would be dandy. Being a naive 22yo, I trusted them and went ahead with it. Turns out when they went in I also had bone spurs and grade 3 arthritis in that hip. The doc said that the right hip was likely the same way. This was disappointing because it didn’t really help my hip pain and that diagnosis prevented me from becoming an Air Force pilot after I spent 4.5 years training for it. In fact I couldn’t go into the Air Force at all.

I needed a quick back up plan, so, using my Computer Engineering degree I landed a job working on planes at Northrop Grumman in Melbourne, FL. I moved down there from MI and started my job. Unfortunately my hips were still causing me issues. I ended up trying a couple more scopes (one on right and one more on the left). The doctor again said there was arthritis in both sides. Because of this the scopes did virtually nothing for me. Nearing on the edge of hope, this is when I discovered surfacehippy.info. Little did I know this website would change my life. I learned all about Hip Resurfacing and how it was a great operation for young active males with hip arthritis. I was a bit hesitant at first because it seemed like such a big leap of faith, but the data seemed very promising. So I visited a doctor in Jacksonville named Brett Frykberg. I really liked him, but everyone kept saying that you want a surgeon who has done a lot of them to perform your surgery and he had only done a little over 100 at that point (that I am aware of). So I decided to wait a little longer and think about it more. I posted on surface hippy some questions and a man reached out to me asking if I had heard about the FAI fix. It seemed like a decent program so I tried it. I think it definitely helped strengthen my hip, but it didn’t solve my arthritis problems. Meanwhile, I heard that the very experienced hip resurfacing surgeon Dr. Peter Brooks moved his practice to the Cleveland Clinic in Vero Beach, FL only 45 minutes from my house. To me, this seemed like a sign from God that I was to have him do my surgery. I had an appointment with him to talk it over, but because of a work project I wasn’t able to do the surgery that year. One year later though I was ready and scheduled my left hip, the worse one, for January 31st, 2024.

On January 30th, my wife, daughter and I stayed the night at the Hampton about 10 minutes from the hospital the night before surgery. Had Zaxby’s “zalad” for dinner the night before because I wanted something high in fiber to help fight the post op constipation. Slept around 3 hrs due to having a cough and nerves.
Entered hospital at 5am on surgery day. Got prepped then Dr. Brooks came in to mark my left hip. He made a note after looking at my xray that both hips look “pretty bad”. Thanks doc. Then anesthesia came in and told me that they were going to do a spinal anesthetic similar to an epidural. After that we were just waiting until 0700 which was my surgery time. 0700 came around and I kissed my wife, went in the operating room and received my anesthesia and next thing I knew I woke up in the PACU and overheard the nurses talking about what hip resurfacing is and that Andy Murray received it and is back to playing tennis. I also had no pain…but that was because of the anesthesia.

I was stuck in the PACU for 4-5 hours because there were no beds available, which was disappointing because my wife couldn’t visit me there. I also had to get a catheter because I couldn’t pee. Little did I know this would be the worst part of the entire experience. The nurses got me a little behind on my pain meds, so that wasn’t fun either. After a night in the hospital my dad drove me home as my mom and wife were taking care of my 2 daughters. The drive was 45 minutes but felt a lot longer because I was behind on the pain meds. I eventually got back to my house and had to start figuring out how things were going to go at home. Dr. Brooks’ protocol for first 6 weeks is 2 crutches with 75% wait bearing. You also aren’t suppose to do abduction or hip flexion while laying down, so he gives you a fixed strap contraption that helps you move your operated leg. I slept in the recliner for a few nights before moving back to my bed because it was much easier to get in and out of it. I was off pain meds by day 3/4 and was pretty confident with getting around the house at this point. Now I have just been trying to keep up with my PT exercises, take it easy, and get some fresh air every once in a while. There is definitely still pain, but it is very manageable and expected since I was just cut open.

More updates to come as I progress and eventually get my second side done.