more surgery?

I drove to Houston last Wed to see my doc. I was scheduled for an MR arthrogram, ultrasound and follow-up discussion all in the same day. His building is a one stop shop for sports medicine-- last Nov I visited the the surgery facility, pharmacy, and starbucks without leaving the building. And last Wed was similarly convenient, except the driving to Houston part. Sports hernia was very unlikely he said, so we skipped the ultrasound-- but I got the MR arthrogram. This is where they inject a magnetic dye into the joint to provide some contrast during the MRI scan. While the needle was inside they also injected kenalog (a steroid to reduce the swelling) and an anesethic called marcaine. The marcaine is a diagnostic tool-- if the pain symptoms go away immediately after the injection, the source of the pain is in the joint, instead of the surrounding muscles, tendons, bones, etc. The days before the appointment I had run some relatively hard miles so my hip would be sore when I arrived, and indeed, the marcaine seemed to get rid of the soreness-- ie the pain was coming from within the hip joint, which left me wondering-- had I torn the labrum again?

My doc showed me the MRI images-- I can never see what the heck he's talking about, even when he points to specific things. The labrum was intact, but he pointed to a bit of bone on the femoral head (I think) that could be causing some impingement in the joint and possibly some damage to the cartilage, and possibly some pain. It's on the posterior side of the femur, which is consistent with my symptoms-- notably, the consistent pain I get when I bend over and stand on one leg-- this has always been my best measure for how sore my hip is. The pain elicited by this has been there since my injury started, roughly 2 years ago, and has continued after surgery and during recovery. So does that mean that this could have been the problem all along? And addressing this, ie, grinding down that spot on my femur, might actually "fix" my hip? Possibly. I'm pretty sure I heard him say that.

That leaves me with the decision-- is another round of hip surgery worth it? If it can possibly get me back to running, I guess the answer is "duh" it most certainly is. My reasoning is simple-- the hip is in poor shape right now, and it feels like it did about 4 months after surgery......so I'm probably only looking at a 4 month setback if I go for another round of surgery. Also-- the added challenges of Bubba have made it difficult for me to exercise, etc.....so it's not like I would be able to do much in the coming months anyway.

I have lots of questions for my doc, but I'm feeling like I should do this.