Eat your greens, Mike! We don't need anyone pityin' fools around here. Seriously, though, I'm sure you'll come out of the roundhouse with a fresh forged siderod and a nice coat of enamel. We'll be looking forward to your return!
I had my total left hip replacement six years ago and had to "X" and sign the correct side with a marker before surgery. I was awake when I entered the operating room and it looked like a hi-tech hardware store with a bench full of electric drills, mallets and sawzall looking devices all covered in heavy clear plastic. Much of the surgery (the sawing off of the head of the femur, reaming out a channel in the femur and pounding an 8-10 inch long spike with a new femur head into that channel) occurs with the bone popped out side of the body kind of like when you carve a chicken. I was walking full flights of steps with a walker on day three. Just amazing and all done with a four inch incision. The hobby impediment, though, is that during recovery you may not bend at the waist more than 90 degrees which means sitting straight up or reclining but not sitting and leaning forward like you would do sitting at the workbench. That was a bummer and still causes occasional small problems even now. It was a good time to sit in the recliner and catch up on all those RR videos we never have enough time to watch. All in all, however, one of the best medical decisions I've ever made. The pain of the bone on bone hip is instantly gone and the only pain is a short-term mending of the incision. All best wishes to Mike. Just follow the doc's do's and dont's during recovery and you'll be back at it before you know it!
Good luck and I hope you have an easy speedy recovery. My buddy is still in Loma Linda recovering from being shot by Dorner last week. I pray for you all to get well.
