Oh, right...like we've done such a great job of it THIS side of the grave!

I had total hip replacement in late October. It's been 3 months of very nonlinear recovery. Flat (as in what the hell have I DONE?) the first couple of weeks, then a period of rapid and vast improvement (from horizontal to vertical, then mobile). Now I can see positive change but only over a week or 2 time span.

I had a great surgeon who did a perfect job of the traditional style surgery, i.e. an incision as long as my forearm. I researched the newer mini-incision procedure, travelled some distance to talk to a surgeon who only did this type of surgery, and while it looked good (and I'm sure if successful it shortens recovery time as less muscle, tendon and tissue damage occurs), I just had a bad feeling about the guy himself, so decided to choose on basis of doc rather than procedure.

And I'm not at all sorry. The scar is impressive but fully healed, the pain is far more bearable than pre-op and I am able to walk again, a miracle in itself. I'm already up to 1 mi a day, including steep hills. That's the farthest I've been able to travel on my own 2 ft in years.

This is major surgery however. It is expensive (I had to wait until I turned 65, couldn't have afforded it otherwise), overall recovery takes about 6 months, and complete joint recovery, particularly if the non-cemented prosthesis is used, can take up to 2 years. And it will never be exactly like the hip Mom Nature gave you. There are certain postures you must avoid always to keep hip from dislocating. Gen'l advice is to put this off as long as is possible. That way, relief from constant extreme pain makes the trade off reasonable.

Like Bob, I'll be happy to answer questions. Given that this op. is no picnic, however, I hope we both get no takers and all Catters are hip enough w/o intervention.