B is for bilateral

So most of you know that I have bilateral FAI (for those of you who don't know, bilateral FAI means that both my left and right hips are affected) From the hippies that I've talked to I've discovered that most hippies feel symptoms in only one hip and if they do become bilateral it is a very gradual process and one hip tends to be slightly worse. I've heard of cases where symptoms in the second hip develop after the first hip has been treated surgically. I'm unusual (but we all knew that, right?) and both my hips started symptoms at the same time and were equally bad (this may have caused some of the complications in my diagnosis, because my case presented itself so oddly) Bilateral hippies have a special set of challenges when it comes to recovery. If you have one "good" and one "bad" hip the good hip can pretty well compensate for the "bad" hip when weight bearing is limited post-op. But if you have two "bad" hips the increased stress form compensating and being on crutches can cause pain that can cause pain that just isn't what you need when you're rehab-ing your other hip! Another question is whether you can have both hips done at once. I believe it has been done, but I have never personally spoken to anyone who has gone through this. My surgeon told me that I needed a good 3 months between open surgeries or I would be "married to a wheelchair". I believe that if you feel your hip is ready for the stress of having the opposite hip operated on then you should go for it. But only you, not your surgeon alone can make this decision!