I agree with Kathy F, your rheumatologist should be willing to be a lot more aggressive. Yes, the drugs won't get rid of the damage you already have, but maybe they will save you getting arthritic damage from the PA in your knees or other hip and so forth. When I saw Dr George Liang at Northwestern Memorial, he told me that even though I had some damage in the right hip, and in the spine, he was still going to start me on Methotrexate at that point to prevent further damage. And it did work for awhile. Then when we moved to the suburbs and the Methotrexate wasn't working by itself anymore, Dr Dachman in Schaumburg placed me on the Enbrel. I need a right hip replacement myself, and one of the doctors I work with recommended the ortho who did her sister-in-law's hip, a Dr Wixman at Northwestern. I talked to her sister-in-law, and she is ecstatic with her new hip and with the doc. Says she doesn't know why she didn't do it years ago. She and I aren't THAT old, (I'm 48, and she's younger than me, maybe late 30's or early 40's). Turns out Dr Wixman is partners with a Dr Stern, who is the one who did my dad's hip replacement years ago, and that turned out just wonderful! He went from being in a wheelchair to walking without any assistive devices at all within 3 months after his hip replacement, and he was 89 years old at the time! I'm actually seeing the ortho on May 2 to see when I can schedule my OWN hip replacement. (Hopefully sometime this summer, in JUly when my oldest dd is home from college, so she and my ds can drive since I won't be able to for a month or so postop). The new hip materials are more durable than in the past, so some orthos (like Wixman and Stern) are more willing to be aggressive in the younger patients to improve their quality of life. You're just going to have to take copies of the CT or MRI of your hip showing the damage with you to Ortho so they can see just how bad things are! Blessings to you! Wanda Wanda |
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