Bill of Health - I spent years with excruciating hip pain, languishing in Canada's health-care queue. I finally paid for private surgery-in Lithuania.

My hip pain started around 2015, when I was in my mid-30s. It began as stiffness, then the odd pinch or tweak. I live with my wife, Barbara, and our three kids on an acreage in Sturgeon County, Alberta, where we raise a handful of cows and some chickens. Our lives are very active. I'm also a maintenance supervisor at a nearby provincial park. That's a physical job, too-overseeing buildings, outhouses and campsites. I'm not exactly used to sitting still, so when my hip started to hurt, I pushed through it. I figured it was something minor and did some extra stretches. Instead, it got worse.

- By Mark Chuiko - Photograph by Amber Bracken

My hip pain started around 2015, when I was in my mid-30s. It began as stiffness, then the odd pinch or tweak. I live with my wife, Barbara, and our three kids on an acreage in Sturgeon County, Alberta, where we raise a handful of cows and some chickens. Our lives are very active. I'm also a maintenance supervisor at a nearby provincial park. That's a physical job, too-overseeing buildings, outhouses and campsites. I'm not exactly used to sitting still, so when my hip started to hurt, I pushed through it. I figured it was something minor and did some extra stretches. Instead, it got worse.

I tried acupuncture, physiotherapy and even turmeric tea, which is supposed to help with inflammation. None of it worked. After a few years, even rolling around with my kids became too painful, and I had to stop playing sports, which had been a huge part of my life. By March of 2021, I was seeing a chiropractor. We didn't make much headway, so he sent me for an X-ray. For me, that was when things got real. My GP concluded that I had advanced osteoarthritis and referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon. Armed with a diagnosis, I thought care would come faster, but the process slowed down. I waited two months just for the surgeon's secretary to call me back. When she did, she booked an appointment three months out.