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@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!
Replies to "@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your..."
My back pain has been reduced greatly although I still have about an inch difference in leg length (mainly due to the fact it had been 4 years that I had went without a joint in that space and they were unable to get my leg stretched back to the proper length) so I do still have some low back issues and SI joint issues in my good side. However all that being said it is a great improvement in comparison to what I had been dealing with.
Also if you have any other discussions that I could be of assistance in I would be more than willing to share my story!
@lynzze Thanks for that remarkable story! Teresa
Whi did your hip surgery at Mayo and which locstion
I have two surgeons at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Dr. Tad Mabry and Dr. Michael Taunton...both are remarkable.
How long did you say it took you to walk again without the hip joint? I just had my surgery in October 2017 to take out the femoral head and about an inch of the femur itself due to a bone infection and since i dont have insurance cant get the replacement surgery but i want to be able to walk so bad its killing me and you are the first person ive heard of that was actually able to walk without the hip joint. My leg just gives out when i try to bear weight but that could be because i just had surgery three months ago lol
Gosh what an ordeal so glad u are getting better and admire u greatly for going 4yrs without hip ! My husband is currently going through something similiar on his 2nd spacer after his last hip was taken out due to staph infection which returned @fter getting all cleAr ! He also has diabetes #o thT complicates healing and on IV antibiotics for 10 weeks plus taking oral antibiotics also it’s been original hip replaced in 20045 awful hard but he is strong and resilient in July they hope to place another hip in all going well his
@sarahdonegan95 Sorry to hear of you losing your hip ..... infections are a bad deal. Do they know what caused the infection?? to answer your question it took me 6 months to a year to walk on it. Eventually the muscle built up around my femur and acted as a cushion between the top of my femur and my pelvis allowing me to walk. But it does take time and not everyone can walk on it.
I hope you are one day able to get a new hip just watch for signs of infection. It happened to me 5 plus times. Unfortunately for me it led to me having my leg amputated in February and a 4+ month stay in the hospital (where I still am currently) but my case is rare.
I wish you the best of luck!!
@hipnohip I will be praying it all works out for him! Infection is a horrible thing. The longer he can go without it and without infection the better.
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@lynzze, your story is a testament to what patience and persistence can accomplish. Thank you for sharing your story. We have many discussions taking place on Connect covering many topics, I urge you to check out more or let me know if you have an area of interest and I can help find more discussions for you.
Regarding your hip, you said you finally decided to try the next hip replacement because you started to have back pain from your change in gait. How is your gait after having the hip replacement? How has your back pain been?