Thanks for replies - very re-assuring - I'm looking forward to it now!
Hi Jacob, I had mine done aged 55, I didn't realise it was my hip that needed fixing, despite friends saying I was limping for the previous 10 years, I thought it was my back.
I can talk you through the early stages from my experience (good) and that of my mother (no so good) , here are the first 4 or so:
1. GET ON THE LIST FOR THE OP ASAP: Get on a list to get it done asap, there is so much pressure on NHS etc that you may have to wait and every day waiting your leg muscles waste away. Typical waiting time is 1yr to 18months My bad leg was half the size of the good one and it tool about 18 months to get it to full strength again. I thought I was ok limping along, only bad thing was the lack of sleep. But with hind sight seeing the x-rays I should have had it done years before.
You have to constantly nag the NHS and highlight you are in great pain. There is a huge waiting list. I was too polite and the surgeon told me to wait as I was young (he did his best to put me off the op, by talking up the number of dislocations, reversions, and deaths on the operating theatre (ca 1% or less). COVID is making matters worse.
2. Do the exercises that Keith66 indicates - you will find your leg muscles waste away which makes everything take longer. Also lose some weight, if you can, as that has a big bearing pain and op successes etc. I was a lot lighter than my boss, so was in much less pain than him - downside was i had to wait a lot longer for the op. Try to do exercises that don't jolt the hip. So running is not good. Swimming is etc. I think cycling is, but I didn't have the strength to get on a bike. If found I had to walk with ski sticks with the family. The more you do that the longer you can wait.
3. Once you have a surgeon (who you trust) lined up - go with his/her recommendations - there is a lot out their on the type of hip, (ceramic, steel etc), type of anaesthetic. But statistics show that the most success is when a surgeon sticks to their way of doing things, if you persuade them to do it your way or differently, things can go wrong. If you really don't like the proposal from the surgeon, then find a different one. (that may mean going privately or waiting longer). They will ask for your preferences within their envelope, but they will be experienced in doing things a certain way. Try to find a surgeon who just does hips. The more they specialise in hips the better. Generalists who do hips, Knees, and other ops are ok but the specialist hip folk have an edge - you may not have that choice.
4. That's its for now, I'm sure you will have more questions. Worth saying it is one of the operations with the highest benefits, hips and cataracts give an immediate/ full recovery in most patients. Simply amazing. There is a lot about pre and post operative things to do, but that can wait.
Final cautionary comment. There is a down side you may have to reluctantly consider. If the waiting list is so long that you get chair of bed bound, you may have to bite the bullet and pay to go privately. From how you described things, you are still quite mobile so this is a long way off. But the waiting lists at the moment are a lottery as to the state of your local NHS system. I was ok, I waited about 18 months for my op from first diagnosis to operation I probably had another 12 months in me before the bone started to chip badly.
My mum on the other hand would have died is we did not pay to get her hip replaced last year. Aged 86, she had waited too long, she was fit rushing about person and coped with her arthritis in her feet, hands etc, but she endured the pain in her hip for too long until suddenly she could not walk or sleep - months of near zero sleep and had to move into a separate room as her screams woke my dad. With Covid, there were just no operations happening. She would have died if she waited any longer. As it was, we later found she had a blood clot that developed while awaiting for the operation. Its was not cheap, it cost my brother and I about £7k. We also had no idea how to go about it. But all the healthcare staff were wonderful, both GPs/NHS and the private ones (actaully the same people??) Politically - we told ourselves that this allowed someone to go up the waiting list? Not an easy choice but it may come to that eventually. It all depends if you can keep moving. Once you get chair or bed bound the risk of thrombosis rises. So best to get on the list right away to avoid complications later. As I and others have said, it is a wonder operation.
I give you this cautionary message now, as although it does not seem a life threatening condition, it can become so and you may have to start to think of desperate measures.
Good luck Tom
. It was stiff and sore for a while and for the last few years has been brilliant, The odd thing is my foot is now straight which always stuck out since being a child. Guess that's why it failed early. The regained mobility is just fantastic.
