Depending on the surgeon, I think some don't go into the detail they could because they are used to older patients that the doctors think can't or don't want to follow the medical technical terms. My brother-in-law is like this, he is a smart man, but when it comes to medicine he just wants it done and over and is not interested in the details. I, on the other hand, feel like I need to know everything involved, all your questions are very good! Any reputable doctor should be pleased to have a patient that tries to understand and be involved with their own care. My surgeon sometimes throws out terminology that I am not familiar with, so I try to repeat back to him what I think he said, and he can correct me if I misunderstood. Nothing sillier than nodding your head and pretending to understand when you need a better explanation.

As far as determining the size of the replacement part, my PT guy said he sometimes gets to sit in and watch some of the surgeries. He said they have a selection of sizes ready in the operating room. He said sometimes they even have joint sales reps attending with new and improved models that may be needed in difficult cases.