You will not see deterioration in the hip itself - the deterioration comes in the surrounding tissue. If you wait until it becomes necrotic (dying) you risk far more severe consequences including permanent muscle, nerve and tendon damage.

My cobalt levels are lost in the mists of time - my revision was done almost 14 years ago. I had little loss of muscle strength during healing from my revision surgery - in fact I was social dancing after 4 weeks, and had resumed all of my activities by 6 weeks. I can tell you that revision on the second hip was 3 months later, and by that time the tissue damage was much more pronounced. If I were you, I would be more concerned about loss of function from waiting too long, but only you can decide.