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Walking without a hip joint

Bones, Joints & Muscles | Last Active: Nov 16 8:18am | Replies (515)

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@geek_girl

I am so happy to see that you are making such great progress with physical therapy. I would be very interested to know what PT exercises you have been doing. I had cancer in 2006 and I received massive radiation to my left hip area. I did not realize that this damaged my bones. In 2012, I stepped backwards off the second rung of a ladder and fractured my hip socket and pelvic girdle. The bones would not have broken if they had not been weakened by the radiation. The fractures did not heal with traditional PT. We decided to avoid surgery because of possible complications; my bones were not healing, the tissues were also damaged from the radiation, and I had lymphedema due to lymph node removal. In 2016 I went to the hospital with a high fever and disorientation. Turns out I had developed an infection in my hip even with no surgery. At this point I was septic (MRSA) and they did a joint clean-out surgery. I had an antibiotic spacer for a few months, and after that was removed and the antibiotics were done, I developed another infection. I had another clean-out surgery. My specialist suspected that I had infection in my bones, so in 2017 I had another surgery where more of my femur and part of my pelvic girdle were removed. The femoral artery was also damaged and could not be repaired, so they put in an artificial vein. I came out of surgery with 3 large incisions instead of one. The doctor said no weight bearing for 3 months. It has now been 3 months since my last surgery. It has taken me this long to feel sort of OK. It's been hard coming back from this last surgery. Now I am having the same question; how do I learn to walk now? I've been primarily in a wheelchair since April, but have to use a walker to get through my bathroom door. My muscles have atrophied so much over the last year. And the floppy leg is something else! I have not been good about doing any PT lately because I've been so tired, drugged, and in pain.

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Replies to "I am so happy to see that you are making such great progress with physical therapy...."

How are things going for you?
Your entry caught my eye bc my friend is currently living without a hip after a fracture, 5 replacements which all became infected—likely from her lymphedema, which she has had for 40 years. Quite debilitating. She is bedridden but allegedly can learn to walk without a hip but I see no effort being made by the rehab/nursing home for this to happen.
I am hoping you have had good results since your post 5 years ago.