Thursday Oct. 29, 2009: The appointment

I'm home. The answer is he doesn't think I'm ready for the surgery, which he thought was funny since it's his job to operate on people. He said in the stages of arthritis, between 0-10, at this point, I am only at a 1, despite pain. He said to keep moving, walking, gentle exercises. He also is worried that given my relatively young age for such a procedure, the odds are it will wear out sooner rather than later. BUt he also said I don't want to be too old either because you will often end up with other medical problems (which is what happened with my mother). He also is not completely sold on the hip resurfacing process itself---he compared it (or after what he said, I compared it to) not buying a new model car in the first year it is out. So for now, I will do what he says.
Oh--more cool thing. We were talking about the rheumatology office and he wanted me to take with me a couple of xrays of my new knee to show the rheumatologist. So I will next week. Meanwhile, I'm going to see if I can scan the xrays because they're really cool to look at!
Edited to say I got the xray scanned. Not perfect but you can see the implant!

Wednesday Oct. 28, 2009: First Supartz shot

Back from my knee shot that really wasn't too bad except for the first seconds of it. I think it wasn't so bad because the knee isn't quite in as bad condition as the other knee was when I last had them. I did discuss with her about the hip and she said that although the cartilage is half gone, it could be gone in the area which gets affected by doing things, and she thought it was a good idea to be seeing someone about it. And she said that the ortho I'm seeing (my knee replacement one) tomorrow morning is the hip guy (although she said the other doctor is good too, lol, covering herself) and this would be for hip resurfacing. I told her I'd tell her next week what was discussed. So now I'm on my bed with a bag of peas on my knee, but it really doesn't feel too bad. But I am supposed to take it easy so I will.

Monday Oct. 26, 2009: Made the appointment

Hmm, the font seems to have changed! Oh well. Anyway, early this afternoon, I called the ortho office and made an appointment to see Dr. S, my knee replacement ortho., for what is being called a "surgical consultation" for my left hip. I'm hoping he will agree that I am a candidate for hip resurfacing as the ortho I saw in the summer thought I was. I am supposed to bring the disk with my MRI scan pictures as apparently those don't get kept in my record, only the report does. So that does it!

Monday October 5, 2009: Supartz shots okayed!

Technically insurance wasn't required but the company did tell the nurse from the rheumy office that it would be covered 80% until I get to my out of pocket max (I am about $135 from there) and then they'll be covered 100%. So for now, I am set. I have appointments made already for the 1st, 2nd and 4th shots (the 4th one was an appointment I had made in August for a check in there) and will make the other appointments the next time I'm there, which will be on Oct. 28 for the first shot.
I also saw my primary care doctor today, having a BP recheck again to see if the new pills were working okay. I told her about the hip MRI results and she wanted to know if I was going to do anything about the problem yet (other than the hip cortisone shot I already had) and I told her at this point, I wasn't, but I was pretty sure something will be done in the future, mentioning the hip resurfacing possibility.

Wednesday August 5, 2009: Ortho visit for the hip

I had my follow up appointment with the ortho today for my hip shot. The hip is looking good. He was very happy the shot worked. No renewal of PT prescription=just finish one of the two more sessions scheduled as PT guy has to close out my case. He mentioned hip resurfacing if necessary, if it really starts bothering me but doesn't need a total hip replacement. It replaces part of the joint, not the full thing, He warned me the huge bruise could spread to my toes (it's almost there already). Now supposedly, I don't need to go back to the ortho office (except for the PT in the same building tomorrow) until January. I hope that actually happens!

As far as the hip resurfacing goes, it sounds good to me, although, obviously, I hope it doesn't become necessary. It can be done when your hip need something but it's not so bad that it needs a total replacement, and it leaves things in tact so that if you do need a hip replacement down the line, it can be done. Sort of like my partial knee replacement which can, when necessary, be made into a total knee replacement. It's also minimally invasive, like the PKR versus the TKR.