Questions

I kind of hate this question from soon-to-be PAO patients because I feel like only you can know what questions to ask your surgeon regarding a major surgery. Read about the surgery. Read blogs and forums and if you don't understand something or get something in your head you think doesn't make sense, jot it down on a piece of paper and take it with you to your appointment. But everyone is always asking "I have a consultation with Dr. So and So, what kinds of questions should I ask?". So I've put together a list of a few questions I had going into my first consultation with my doctor.

Background info: I already knew I had dysplasia and was born with it so that was nothing I needed explained. I sent every X-Ray and MRI I've ever had of my hips to my doctor months before so he had an idea of what he was dealing with. Before my first PAO there were hardly any blogs or social media sites out there giving me the information like there is today - and this was almost (only) 4 years ago. There was no Facebook Group (which I have my own opinions on), two blogs I was able to find and a Yahoo Forum about all things hip related. I found one girl who was my age and was a couple months post PAO with my doctor so I clung to her like glue and asked a ton of questions.

Questions for a consult:

*What is a PAO?
*Are there any other options?
*Am I a good candidate (my age, health, physical fitness) for this surgery?
*How long will I be laid-up for?
*Will I ever be able to run?
*Can I bear weight? How much weight? When will I drop the crutches?
*How long is the surgery?
*Do you use an epidural, nerve block or local anesthesia to numb the hip?
*How long until I am up out of bed?
*How long will I be in the hospital for?
*Will I need to donate blood for myself?
*Do I have arthritis?
*Will my arthritis heal/go away?
*Will I need more surgery or a THR in my future? (most doctor's will not answer this as it is an unknown)
*What's the hospital food like? (haha ok kidding, had to lighten the mood here a bit)
*Will I have a roommate? (some people care about this)
*Will I need a PAO on my other hip?
*How long between after the first can I have the other side done?
*Do you remove the hardware? Am I awake for that surgery?
*What kind of pain management do you prescribe?
*When will my follow-up appointment be?
*When can I run?
*When can I get pregnant?
*When can I be intimate?
*When can I sleep on my stomach? Non-op side? Op side?
*Will my pain go away?
*Will my pain ever return?
*What are the chances I may need another PAO? The PAO doesn't work?
*Are there any chances you'll get in there and realize you can't perform the surgery?
*What if I have my period for surgery? Can you see a tampon in an XRay? (no big deal. and yes, you can, but that should be the least of your worries!)
*Will my legs be different lengths?

I'm sure there are TONS more to add to this and I can add things that would only make sense to someone after surgery, but it'll help some people who tend to freak out a little before seeing a doctor about something so major.


As always, every patient is different, everyone deals with pain differently but your doctor or their PA will be able to answer these based on the majority of people and a best case scenario. To be honest, my doctor asked most of the questions and he asked them mostly to my Mom. He wanted to know her hip history and the history of women on her side of the family. He wanted to know about my siblings and if they had problems. He wanted to know how her pregnancy was, if I was breech. All kinds of things to get a full understanding of me and my body.

I walked into the appointment with one question (which I gathered from reading blogs), "will it really take me a year to full recovery before I can have the other hip done?" I was having nightmares thinking the next three years of my life were going to be consumed with surgery and recovery. Boy was I wrong! But go in there honestly and ask whatever you feel! As I said before, there wasn't a lot of information for me to freak out over before going into surgery - I almost think that made things better. Not knowing what to expect or knowing what other people have dealt with made me be more excited to get it over with rather than freaking out knowing what was going to happen next.


7 comments:

  1. Thanks! I will be asking a few of these today at my pre-op! :0)

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    1. Good luck! I want to hear all about it. :-)

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  2. May I ask the cost for the PAO surgery? I am an international student studying in the US, the insurance does not cover the surgery, I have to pay for it myself, so I am worried about the cost of whole surgery.

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  3. Hi! I would try to have your doctor fight for coverage on the surgery as it could be upwards of $50,000+ no including if you need the other side done or the screws removed. If you weren't in the US would you have this covered, as in back to your home country? I would suggest having this fought for, or waiting until the first of the year (or when open enrollment is) and changing insurance companies. How old are you?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Thanks for your reply. I am 23, and I have DDH on both sides and Perthes on left side, it might cost more because I think the surgery might be more complicated as that only have DDH. I am not sure if I am an international student I can change the student insurance, and I am not sure I can wait for one more year, because I am afraid that I cannot take PAO any more and have to do hip replacement. And it is not expensive in China, but I think Dr. Millis might be more expertise in the surgery. However, the cost is really high.

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  4. Hello! I am just interested in how all of you girls managed your periods during your PAOs. It seems like a thing I really don't want to be worried about dealing with during recovery.. but as it stands, I'm only attempting to schedule around it so I have a few weeks to heal before it happens again. Any advice??

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