Will private hip surgery be worth it? My second hip surgery

I’m now over a year out from my first hip surgery!

My story so far

If you haven’t checked it out yet, this is my story pre-surgery, what you need to know about hip replacement surgery – and nobody tells you: https://lynntowin.ca/what-you-need-to-know-about-hip-replacement-surgery-and-nobody-tells-you

this is my story leading up to surgery, what happens before hip replacement surgery: https://lynntowin.ca/what-happens-before-hip-replacement-surgery

this is my story about my hospital stay after hip replacement surgery: https://lynntowin.ca/my-hospital-stay-after-hip-replacement-surgery

this is my story a month after hip replacement surgery: https://lynntowin.ca/a-month-after-hip-replacement-surgery

and this is my story about wondering when I will get my other hip replaced: https://lynntowin.ca/when-can-i-get-my-other-hip-replaced

What’s been happening with my second hip surgery? Well it could be any day they said…

My new hip is great, but the other hip has been needing replacement for the same length of time, at least 3 years. I should have insisted on being put on the wait list for the second hip at the same time as the first, but.. if I knew then what I know now….!

Since December of last year, I made monthly phone calls to the wait list people, and each time was told they could be calling me any day for surgery! The last time I called, in April, it was – are you sure you haven’t been called yet? Well maybe May – but for sure June.

This seemed a little ridiculous so I asked that they make sure they had the same information as the scheduler, since something was obiously wrong. Was there something missing from the referral from my surgeon, was this surgery getting mixed up with my last surgery?

No, it’s going to be a while.

Yes, they were getting it mixed up with my last surgery. My wait was now estimated at 6 – 8 months, which I believe means a year. I already know of a friend who has jumped ahead of me in the wait line. Surgeons with longer waiting lists are sending their longest suffering to my surgeon, where they will all jump past me, as they should. (It took me 6 months to get in to see him).

What should I do?

After being really annoyed for a bit, I went back to check out the two private surgery options in Calgary that I had come up with last year.

I remembered that I had mentioned private surgery to both surgeons I saw here in Regina, and both said it was not a good option. They reasoned that if there are complications, the after care is not there for you.

With that in mind, I thought I would pick Clearpoint who pledged to find me a surgeon in Regina who I could follow up with if necessary. If I decided to go for private surgery,

They immediately asked me for my x-rays, which I could send to them with the Pocket Health app for only $5 (!) So, I sent them off. Why not?

I was called by a rock star surgeon

I then got an email saying Dr. Raj Sharma would be giving me a call sometime that day. What! This guy is a rock star! Highly regarded surgeon who makes videos for other surgeons! I had known about him since last year when I started looking into private surgery.

He called me, he sounds great, now I had to decide – but how could I say no?

It’s a lot of money, but it’s not going to make me homeless, and I’m pretty sure at the end of the day I won’t be saying “I wish I hadn’t spent that money, and waited at least another year on the wait list at home, got it done in Regina where the care and rehab after surgery would have just slowed me down because everyone works based on the old muscle cutting surgery”.

I’m going for private surgery.

So, here I go. I will report on my experience soon!