When I first decided to make an appointment with a somewhat local doctor, I had posted on Twitter about going to him. Several people who happened to be previous patients of his contacted me begging me not to go to him because their lives were ruined by what he did to their hip. I consider it an act of God that He was watching over me and protected me from something bad happening to my hip.
These women I still speak to and they help me with questions I have. I am also a part of a Facebook support group for Hip Impingement that assists me with making the right decision. After reading those Facebook boards and talking to the patients who have gone through it, I decided I needed to find the best surgeon for me. That means to look elsewhere (all over the country.)
I decided to send my diagnostics, X-Rays, MRA, and medical records to four different surgeons around the country who came highly recommended. It was a lengthy process:
If you would like information on what doctors I decided to send my stuff to, feel free to contact me and I will help you out any way I can.
I finally received a verdict from each doctor, some helpful and some not:
Doctor 1: Didn’t even open my stuff, just referred me to the guy everyone warned me against. I’m sure he blew me off because I was so far away.
Doctor 2: Office called and stated they needed this and that, but I sent them all of the things, so they just lost half my stuff. I didn’t bother resending it, this is exhausting.
Doctor 3: Stated that he sees a Hip Labral tear, not just thinning, and that I have Femoroacetabular Impingement (I’ll get to what that means later.) He also said that I’d be a good surgical candidate.
Doctor 4 (My preferred choice): Wants me to get a diagnostic injection in the hip and do Physical Therapy for 6 weeks before we move on to surgery.
I’m going to do what Doctor 4 said, since he is one of the pioneers of Hip Arthroscopy. We will see if those two things help remotely and maybe I can avoid surgery? I have to go see my Primary Care Doctor and see if I can talk him into prescribing these things to me, because I refuse to go back to my local Orthopedic Surgeon who just wanted to cut on my hip. I’ll be updating you on the progress.
Those that found this blog through google search, if you look at my BLOGROLL tab at the top, you will find a link to other blogs of people with the same kind of hip problems. This will help give you an idea what to expect, what you need to do, etc…
