One day to go till my hip resurfacing. I know, shocking at my tender young age. Sure will miss cycling up to Sam's in two weeks and schmoozing with the gang.
The story starts back in the 70s when I started jogging because it was the closest I could get to flying. Seriously, hanging an extra split second in the air with each big loping stride, and with the proper pre-medication, it really did feel like flying.
Now, for you budding radiologists out there, my right hip joint, way back at the start of this illustrious jogging career, was smooth as glass (Image #1).
No choice but surgery. Ouch.
In a conventional hip replacement, the head (the ball on top) and the neck of the femur are removed and replaced by metal. The top part of the piece of metal is cemented into the hip socket, and the bottom part is inserted into the hollow part of the shaft of the femur (right half of Image #3).
In hip "resurfacing", the head is also removed and replaced by metal. The difference is, that piece of metal is screwed into the neck, which I get to keep (left half of Image #3) .
That's it in a nutshell (which I get to keep too). See y'all in November.
Mike
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