Thanks Sue and sorry for the late reply. We were on a cruise last week.

I agree with your points re: choncy. Edema in the hip is new to me. Edema usually hits in the ankles and is a sign of a compromised lymph system. It could just be local swelling in response to inflammation. So I don't know what causes the edema. I know firsthand that knees and shoulders swell from inflammation.

Inner thigh pain, in my case it was the groin, is definitely the sign of an arthritic hip. I mistook the groin pain for months as anything but a problem with my hip. The hip joint, I learned, lies directly beneath the groin. When it was diagnosed, the Dr gave me a cortisone shot. That didn't help much. There was no cartilage left in the joint. The replacement solved the problem and the recovery was fast.

I completely agree that once a joint is bone-on-bone, the best solution is a replacement. The only other advice I have - after having both knees replaced, my right hip, and left shoulder - don't wait for the pain to be a daily occurrence as I did.

With my hip, the pain got so bad I could barely lift my foot in the shower to wash my foot. I felt discomfort/pain with every step. And with my knees and shoulder, the pain was an everyday thing, even though I knew the joints had been bone-on-bone for some time.

Maybe it's human nature to wait until the pain becomes so bad it convinces a person to get a replacement. I don't know. But bone-on-bone means a replacement is inevitable IMO. Consult with a surgeon of course.

Finally, great surgeons will almost never recommend replacement surgery as the only course. They will include replacement surgery as an option, the best option most times, but they won't push surgery on a patient. (If a surgeon does insist on surgery, and has availability the next day, run away.)

Hope that helps!

Joe