Guest guest Posted January 1, 2003 Report Share Posted January 1, 2003 Early this year(!) I caught up to the present with the archives. I did skip a significant bunch in the middle, but felt reading the most modern ones would probably be the best investment of time. As I got to the end, I discovered many responses to posts I'd made shortly after I discovered the SurfaceHippy phenomenon. I never saw most of them, and apologize for not following through--my bad. Please forgive me and accept my wishes for a splendid new year. I still have many questions to ask, but many have been answered by all the contributions to this forum. It appears that prospects for BC/BS coverage of resurfacing is a little more likely now. It seems that some Conserve and Conserve + components are available 'sort of outside of' the study track, rather than being cut off until FDA gets done doing it's slow best to decide on the efficacy of the procedure. There are more and more people's names mentioned as suppliers of resurfacing services. On this forum, at least, and I spend no time on others as of now, it seems that the BHR is very well respected--perhaps because of it's accepted status and availability--and that Dr. De Smet, in Belgium, is the most favored installer of same. It seems that resurfacing does, indeed, impose fewer restrictions upon the patient. That it more nearly gives a 'transparent' result. It seems to have less impact on the patient, heals more quickly, and more nearly approximates the natural structure of the bone/joint area. It also seems to still carry the baggage of being for younger more active patients--Why, in Heaven's name? Please let me know if you disagree with any of my conclusions above. I still have a very fuzzy idea of what might be disqualifying conditions for resurfacing. I've seen mention of cysts, collapsing (ball and stem parts of femur) structures, soft bone, etc. as reasons, but how are these quantified and determined to be disqualifying? I asked about diabetes as a risk/disqualifying factor. I don't think anyone replied. I don't remember seeing any other mention of diabetes by other surfers, though my memory is very bad. I've seen a few comments that suggest overweight, though less than ideal, does not significantly interfere with resurfacing. Is that so? Is resurfacing better at responding to dysplasia difficulties than THR? Having let the hip problem continue too long, as I have, how often does a hippy find other problems that interfere with normal functioning, after even the most successful resurfacing? I've seen accounts of the 'blessed relief from pain'. But if there is a lot of pain elsewhere such as in a generalized arthritic person, can hip pain relief make so much difference that life is renewed or is one setting oneself up for continued disappointment? I've asked for a lot of response with this message, and I apologize for it's length. I hope to learn a lot from all the hippies out there who've had pertinent experiences, because my decision making process has begun, and being informed is the best way to avoid surprises. I look forward to your contributions. Happy new year... danz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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