Robert M posted:The first time I met with the orthopedic surgeon he suggested both Visco-supplemental injections and/or stem cell injections and workman’s comp denied both treatment options. Everyone I know that has opted for those treatments has had a decrease in pain. I was willing to try them but WC said no. That left me with surgery as my final option. The surgeon said he’d like me to be older before surgery because of the expected life span of the prosthesis. I told him I was tired of the pain and just wanted a normal life. If that meant I was in a hover round when I’m in my 80’s so be it.
Dad got a new hip when he was about your age, Robert. At the time (mid 90s) the expected life of a replica hip joint was about 10 years, and he was told that 2 was the limit. He waited about 3 extra years until a better, next gen joint came out, then jumped on it.
It was (by far) the best thing that could've happened to him. He was like a new man afterward. Pre-op he was inactive, overweight, and on a gentle coast to old age. Post-op, he was the old man that could work kids into the ground. He built 2 houses and 2 giant barns, pretty much by himself, and remodeled countless bathrooms, kitchens, and did room additions on a bunch of places. He rode his bike 500+ mi/summer with my kids and me, and was as tough as anybody I know until cancer took him at 77.
He still had the original hip. You made the right call.