My Story – Any advice, direction welcomed.

I posted this on the ‘new user’ page but now that I have been given access as a user, I wanted to post it inside the forum as well.  I am a 46 year old male. I’m not built like a runner (stocky 5’10” and 205 pounds)…I like to lift weights and downhill ski. But my 5’11” wife got me hooked on running with her about five years ago. We both increased our cardio ‘shape’ and my wife went on to run a couple of half marathons. Although I could run a marathon, the damage to my hip and the pain I would suffer would not be worth that shining moment. I keep my runs to 10 or less. I was born with Perthes and Hip Displacea. I never really noticed anything was wrong until track in high school. After my growth spurt, my right leg ended up about an inch and a half shorter than my left leg. There is almost no neck at the end of my femur and the ball is anything but smooth and round. Miraculously, there is still a good amount of cartilage so there is no bone on bone. But because of the small space between my pelvis and femur, muscle and nerves get pinched and if there is any swelling I get pain and numbness down my leg and a throbbing deep ache in my hip that can drive me crazy after several hours without medication. This increasing pain started a yo yo of on and off pain medication about 10 years ago. I used to count the bad days and now I thank God every time I have a good day. One of the reasons I love to run is because I sit at a desk all day. And even though I get up as often as I can, the sitting causes me as much or more pain than long walks. Running is actually the lesser of the three evils (standing, walking, running). Standing in one spot for over three minutes is like torture. After 20 minutes of any standing (like at amusement parks with my kids) is agony; almost unbearable. I have been told for years that I will have to have my hip replaced. The question is when. Most doctors say that I should wait as long as I can stand it. Some specify at least 55. One surgeon told me I should have had it done 10 years ago; another said that I should be aware that if I get it done I may have a fake hip and that I still might have as much or ‘more pain.’ After I heard that, I was even more fearful to get surgery done. Over the past month, the pain has increased again. I am exhausted from living with pain, pain medication, and what it does to my body to constantly be going off and back on pain medication. Just looking for advice, support, and direction.