@mamie, by chance I saw a report on the national news a few days ago about anterior approach to hip replacement. Your posting prompted me to track down some Internet reports on the technique. You may have seen some (or all) of them, but just in case, I thought you'd find them instructive. What was most interesting to me is that -- unlike the old-fashioned operation that cuts across muscles to access the hip joint -- the anterior approach avoids cutting across muscles whenever possible, and this reduces healing time and complications. I have three Internet links you might find helpful. The first is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NqJa_J2dfw. The second is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWccnIGKnRU. The third is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJQDWkwWzTY. Perhaps you'd find it helpful to watch one or more of these with a surgeon who has a record of successful anterior-approach hip replacements. Let me know how else I may help. Martin