Matt, great news about your mom!
I saw the orthopedist today for my hip, for literally 2 minutes. He pointed to my x-ray (not my MRI), said "See that? That's bone-on-bone arthritis. That's going to mean a hip replacement. I don't do those. Dr. So-and-so does those." I asked, "What about the labral tear?" He said "Arthritis." I asked, "What about the cyst with synovial fluid?" He said, "Arthritis." I started to ask about pain management, and he said "I'm sending in Alex, my PA. She'll give you a steroid shot." And he left. Fucking rude, condescending, and completely unhelpful.
His PA (Alex) was super nice and spent a lot more time talking with me about treatment options they do before they resort to surgery. She said that the hip will eventually need to be replaced, but before they jump to replacement, they try a steroid shot directly into the intra-articular space in the hip, and it should help a lot with the pain. She also prescribed me a stronger NSAID, and wants me to go for more PT.
I'm a little disheartened, mostly because of how the orthopedist treated me. His PA was great and much more helpful, and I guess I wait and see if the steroid shot and the stronger NSAID help my hip pain. I don't really want to do more PT, but I suppose it can't hurt.
I kind of want to contact the orthopedic practice and complain about how shitty and condescending the doctor was in the whole 2 minutes he spent with me.