So now it REALLY gets real. I'm getting to the last few items I need to complete at work so that I can feel like my hand-off to my co-workers is at least somewhat coherent.

For a while now I've had my right hip do a weird thing whenever I sit too low or put on my shoes or socks and have to bend my hip higher. My hip gets sort of 'stuck'. When I try to straighten it out, its like something is in the way or a tendon has 'caught' on something. I cannot straighten the leg without a painful 'pop' feeling (not sound) like whatever it is popping back into place and then everything's back to normal.

Yesterday I had that happen and it wouldn't go back! Yikes! Eventually it did. It requires hyperextending my leg backward and twisting my foot in a certain position and then it clicks into place. For a minute or so I thought it wasn't going to go back!

The point is that it's yet another sign that this NEEDS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF and I am able to, with this as further evidence, convince myself that this is indeed a good idea.

That's today's news.  And I wait. Constantly wondering how my friend-in-ADDBTHR @Freaky freak is doing because I sort of fell like she's the one who's doing exactly what I'm going to be doing. Here's to you, freaky! :)

So I had a 1.5-hour meeting with a nurse today who gave me the run-down on what to expect. No surprises because of all that I read on this forum. Nice. Thanks, Bonesmart!
I did leave there with a great deal more stress than I went in with just because of all the detailed medical history questions. 
A nice dinner our and a glass (OK, two. OK, they were big) of wine and im fine now. 
The DW is taking care of making sure I have an 'assistant' 24/7 fire the first week (sounds luxurious!).
Now... T-7 days.

T-1 week. 

I'm feeling some stress as today I have my pre-op consultation where I presume they'll tell me the details of how it'll go (anyone familiar with this one-week-prior-to-procedure meeting with the nursing staff?).
I've got my list of questions ready to go. The DW is going with me so that I don't forget anything afterward. 

Feeling a little bit like there must be more for me to do in this last week. I have not yet procured 'gear' that I may need or completely trip-proofed the house, but that's going down this week. Not too worried about that.

Also VERY excited for my online friend @Freaky freak as she goes in today for the same procedure that I'm having (a relatively uncommon Direct Anterior Approach Bilateral THR). Her last post (in her thread "I Have my Date!"), saying that she was feeling calm and optimistic, gives me hope that in a week I might be able to harness a little calm and optimism. ;)

I wonder if my THR-Date-Sharing online buddy @shrinkette is feeling the same way.

Update:
Yesterday my DW, a couple friends and I took our 8-month-old puppy Indiana to a sheep farm to have the experience of herding sheep. He LOVED it (he's got some Australian Shepherd and some Border Collie in him). 
It was ah hours- long road trip which we stayed overnight for and during which there were places we went where we had to walk a bit (a few hundred yards at most) and I got in an arena with our pup and a couple sheep. The sheep were bumping into me a bit and it hurt the hips pretty considerably, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from enjoying this experience! Once Indie got comfortable he was chasing ewes like a champion!
This morning, at the end of this 2-day whirlwind road trip with its compulsory walking and its herding session, I found that my hips were really sore. Walking, standing, whatever.
Today, my beloved Seahawks will play the 49ers for the NFC title and a trip to the Super Bowl. I'm going to take the day chillin' in my bigass recliner hopped up on Tylenol and relaxing (as much as I can "relax" when the 'Hawks are playing!).
I'm looking forward to the post-recovery SALE of this recliner and the opportunity to have a similar relaxing day withOUT tylenol.
Every day I'm reminded that the decision to have this BTHR now is a good and necessary one.
T-9.

Go 'Hawks!

I have got all my pre-op checks out of the way: blood is good, EKG is good, I presume MRSA is good because I have not heard back in 5 days and you'd think they'd tell me if it weren't.

Now: T-11 days.

Another day down. This was a bad one. Not enough Tylenol I think. Anyway it's funny: I keep (yes again, yes, still) second guessing myself and wondering if my regularly increasing pain is just some kind of psychosematic justification for the BTHR. Like: is this really happening or is my mind filling is gaps of logic by causing pain when it wouldn't be if I hadn't scheduled surgery.
Does that even make any sense? 
On top of that (or surrounding it, or under it. ..) is a childish excitement to have this OVER.

TODAY IS T-12 DAYS. 

I can't wait. I'm scared. I'm hopeful. 
I'd like to start a list of things I'll do BECAUSE I CAN later, post - surgery. Is that nuts? 
I'm also worried that my DW will resent me for having her take care of me during recovery. I'm afraid I'll be perceived as if I'm milking the scenario. OK... is THAT crazy? 
Enough BS (pun intended) for tonight. Tomorrow is another day.

Not a bad day so far. I do notice that STAIRS are becoming a bit more daunting and my regular regimen of TYLENOL is becoming essential.
Two weeks from today cannot come soon enough.

I find myself wishing that I had the same date as my online friend, @Freaky freak . (one week earlier).
I don't want to wait any longer!
Stairs have now become daunting.
On a good note: I stopped by my gym, where I have not been in MONTHS to let the owner know that I was COMING BACK. Now I've committed, right?  All I have to do is get back to a point where I feel like a little cardio (or at the very least a little REHAB).

We waver (or at least I do, and now I know you do) between "Am I doing the right thing" and "I'm doing the right thing".
It's exhausting!
Today, I'm giving instructions to my co-workers on how to fill in the necessary blanks while I'm away and I'm thinking: "Do I REALLY need to do this?" then I read just last night's post above in this forum and I remember how crappy I felt last night and yesterday during my (very short) walk. Yes. I need to do this.
T-15 days.

The good and bad day

I didn't have a bad day today. I would even say it was good except that when I went for a short walk (Really. Like 100 yards) my hips hurt considerably worse than they have during recent short walks.

As I lay down now I found a soreness  that's an ache rather than the sharp pain of a misstep or a quick movement. It seems like the whole thing is getting worse almost daily.

I just want this damned thing behind me.

Pre-OP Doctor appointment

Went in today to have a pre-op appointment with EKG/ MRSA swab, blood for coagulation test and see the results of my previously-drawn blood tests.
All is well. :)
Unless MRSA or Coagulation tests come back with problems, I'm good to go.
T-18 days.

Had a good sleep last night. That's two in a row.
Then in the morning a pretty good few hours.
Coming up the stairs at work (usually a mildly annoying but doable effort) made me stop about halfway up the 15 steps to ponder the pretty significant pain in the left hip. That's a first. I guess I'll take it as another reminder that I've mad the RIGHT decision to get me some new hips.

A Doctor appointment today happens in about an hour and a half. I'll get a MRSA test and an EKG and some bloodwork scrutiny. I just KNOW my dr is going to chastise me for being up near 30 lbs and having blood pressure that's higher than it should be (really BECAUSE of the weight gain). I just hope he'll let me continue staying off drugs.

A1C is also potentially messy...my exercise habits have not been what they should be the last few months and that's my sugar burn so I'm a bit worried about that.

Off to the doctor!

Hippie Hippie Shake

Well, here's post number one of my attempt to log my progression from NEEDING a Bilateral Total Hip Replacement surgery on through to 'The Other Side' as I recover from the procedure.

I'm motivated to do this by the therapeutic nature of the conversations I've had with other people in the same predicament as I'm in at Bonesmart.Org. Thanks to all the awesome people who run it and participate in it for making this journey a whole lot less lonely and a whole lot less scary.