Tips from Vicky
When is the Right Time to Have Surgery?
You need to consider many factors in whether this is the right time for you to have surgery. Such factors include: your present quality of life and level of pain; the extent of damage to your hip joint and the rest of your body; finding a qualified surgeon; and what you can afford financially.
Vickys #2 Hip Journal
Well, I have always known that eventually my right hip would also need to be resurfaced, I just did not know when. At the time I had my left one done, Dr. Bose guessed maybe a couple more years. Well, over 4 years later, I was still in pretty good shape. Right hip did start acting up on occassion and I had noticed my ROM decreasing. In February I had some x-rays taken and showed them to several docs, that all said I still had time. When I attended the conference in Belgium in June, Koen De Smet offered to give me an exam and take some new x-rays and evaluate me. I saw a big difference just from February to June in the amount of cartilage space which really suprised me.
How Fast Will I Recover
I honestly do believe most of us have selective memory and only choose to remember the superstar recoveries. I think the reality is that the majority of patients do recover on the slower side. Many that believe their recoveries are slower choose not to post, thinking they will discourage others from having the surgery. This is MAJOR surgery; we all seem to forget that. If you ever watched one of the videos of a live surgery, you would realize that a lot of trauma goes on during the procedure. With all that happens, our bodies need time to heal.
Scientific Studies vs. Real Life Experiences: Why I Recommend The Doctors I Do
Doctors have a vast array of scientific studies that they can reference to their advantage even though they may not match their own personal outcomes. When I heard Mr. Treacy speak at a conference I attended, his opening statement was a joke about how the one thing he has learned from studies is that you can really make them turn out pretty much any way you want them to. The response was a thunderous laugh from the huge audience of orthopedic surgeons.