Yesterday, my "follow-up" appointment with Mr.Gerrand at the RNOH in Stanmore. Very limited parking on site and few roads nearby, so booked a "Just Park" spot a claimed 15 minutes walk from the hospital - but not specified which of several widely spaced entrances that meant...
Satnav found a big problem on the M11 so sent us on a very slow route through Epping to the M25 but even so we arrived on schedule - all credit to Google Maps for predicting the journey time accurately. Got to Outpatients Reception 20 mins ahead of the appointment time rather than the requested 30, but can't argue about that. Then sent off for X-rays, which meant a one hour forty-five minute wait...
Finally got in to see the big man. Images showed no significant change from last time. Talked through it all again, with me emphasising my concern over the high risk of a serious fracture of the left hip socket if I have another fall or etc.. He still wanted to push for a hip replacement, I repeated the Broomfield man's view that there's not enough good solid bone to attach one to. Something of a stalemate in the negotiations until he came up with the idea of "cementoplasty" - i.e. injecting a cement filler into the cyst to improve its strength. I'm familiar with the idea for repairing myeloma-induced vertebral compression fractures but apparently doing it on this larger scale is a new thing and there's a man at UCLH doing it. So I'm being referred on to him. The idea has its attractions - no need to replace a joint that is working well, and it's a keyhole process (done with a scanner and under anaesthesia) so quicker recovery.
We shall see...
This is quite technical, but interesting: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3036515/>
