hi cindylou,
glad you set a date for your new hip... you are running out of parts to replace in your lower half so this has to be your last surgery for a while!
you are catching up to the infamous 5-level Fred... do you know about him? He had a
5-level lumbar Prodisc op w/Dr. Bertagnoli. He recovered well, went SKIING, fell and broke his hip, and now he also has an artificial hip. crazy.
glad you got to go snowshoeing! sounds heavenly. and yes, i get it. i also think it's important to push yourself and go snowshoeing (or whatever sport feeds your soul) to remind you why you keep fighting and enduring the daily pain and operations. you'll be snowshoeing all the time next winter.
hang in there,
Liz