After politely declining the the offer from the Thai surgeon to blindly hack into me, I found myself teetering on the brink of despair and hopelessness. It would be here that my Buddhist father would tell me not to panic about things that are outside my control. And he was right. After months of a wild goose chase around Asia and disappointments from numerous surgeons, everything suddenly fell into place. At the end of September I found and got in contact with Mr Witt, a specialist in hip dysplasia. Following a consultation in London, he told me that he was very happy to take on my case. At the same time, our family friend, Andrew Brown, reached out to us to let us know that we could use his flat in London for as long as was needed to recover post-op.
And everything was set for a Left Peri-Acetabular Osteotomy on the 30th of November.
Mum and I arrived in London on 22nd of November, suitcases brimming with chillies, sauces and marinates (because apparently England doesn’t have any spices), in total disbelief at the luxury of the apartment that we would call home for the next two months. We had a week to acclimatise ourselves, which we spent going to balls, the theatre and shopping. All too soon the 30th of November was upon us.
Mum, Lucas and I arrived at the hospital at the crack of dawn, installed ourselves into my room and then proceeded to binge watch Gilmore Girls to try and take my mind off the imminent operation. After years of living with the dull ache, niggles and shooting pain in the hip it felt so surreal that I was soon to be one big step closer to (hopefully) living pain-free. Time seemed to crawl by before finally reaching 3pm. Almost to the second a nurse came in to escort me downstairs. I went down to the prep room, stomach in knots and heart racing. I got injected with pre-anaesthetic in my hand, and when that had a chance to kick in, got another injection in my spine…and then nothing.
5 hours later I came to, I was back in my room hooked up to a morphine drip, foot pumps, covered in blankets, totally out of it and grinning sheepishly at Mum and Lucas. The operation had all gone smoothly. Now it was time for the hard part…!
Musings and Wanderlust 
I have been living with same for about a decade and reaggravated my right hip by doing nothing more than sitting cross legged for about thirty minutes. Now I can’t walk. Given the time after your surgery and recovery, would it still be something you feel strongly about doing? In succession or maybe some time between?
Hi Mark, I’m so sorry to hear that – especially your recent developments. I know exactly what you’re going through and my heart goes out to you. I’m now approaching (hopefully) the end of my hip journey (for now) and I would 100% do the operations again in a heartbeat. It has definitely changed my quality of life and allowed me to do so many things that I was not able to before the operations. If you need both hips done, I would recommend waiting between the two operations – probably about a year or so – because post-op you rely so much on the non-operated leg that you need it to be strong, stable and able to support you. Otherwise, you risk relapsing into a lot of pain and pressure if the “good” hip struggles to cope. I hope that this is helpful. Please feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions or worries – I’d love to help if I can! Wishing you all the best x