And two steps forward!

Okay, so last night at 9:30 pm guess who calls me? Dr. Z! He got my message from his nurse and realized that he also dropped the ball on going over the imaging results for the left hip and gladly answered all my questions that I had come up with. What an awesome guy! So, now I feel much more informed and I feel better about the surgical plan. I asked Dr. Z what he thought was appropriate as far as his opinion on my hip imaging results and he said we need to take care of the right hip first since it's hurting me the most.

Basically the left hip has a hypertrophied labrum (typical for a dysplastic hip) and degenerative changes in the joint.
The right hip also has damage to the undersurface of the joint and the dent in the femoral head.

He also explained to me what microfracture is: "poking small holes in the cartilage to stimulate it to regrow" It's obviously not as ideal as your own cartilage, but it's better than nothing.

As far as surgery time, he said it can take anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours depending what he finds inside. He also said 6 weeks on crutches with weight bearing unless I have the microfracture, then it's 6 weeks non-weight bearing and weaning from there. I will be off work for 3 months regardless per his recommendation/order. So it sounds nearly as involved as a PAO, although not nearly as painful! I have the option of doing the LPAO 4 months after the right hip dislocation, but because of FMLA, I can't do it until the following December.

Dr. Z also told me he is going out of town on the 29th of December, which is the day I scheduled for surgery, but he said he would be available to do the surgery for me that day and then leave right after. So, his residents will be checking in on me during me 2-3 days in the hospital and discharging me, as long as I'm comfortable with that. I decided that was fine. I trust the residents if Dr. Z does! I'm just glad he's willing to stay long enough to do my surgery.

So now I feel much better, much more informed, and much more relaxed about everything. He said that I definately need the surgery...so I feel better about that too. Now I have a plan and I can finally start getting things in order. Phew!