@lynzze I expect to have the spacer in there for 2-3 months...and hopefully only once! I'm sorry you've had to go through it so many times. Do they know why you had so many recurring infections? When was the last time you went through it all?

I received some of my pre-surgery paperwork today and was very disappointed to see that my Doc is planning to do the posterior approach to remove the current implant and to place the spacer. Perhaps that's the only way the explant can be done?? I understand that poses a more difficult recovery compared to the anterior approach, which is what I had done for the original hip job last year.

@mrfish A'll of my operations have been done via the posterior incision so I can't really say if anterior is easier or not. I haven't really had issues with that approach, although, because I have had sooo many surgeries the muscle in the side of my leg/butt is virtually gone which causes me to limp more. But I didn't really have an option lol
They never pinpointed the exact reasoning behind my reacurrant staph infections other than possibly not all the infection was completely gone out of my body when the replanted. Luckily when #4 got infected I went to Mayo clinic and they advised everything being removed and leaving nothing implanted for at least 1 year. That was a hard pill to swallow. A hanging hip is no fun and the recovery process is crazy. My surgeon also advised I try to go more than a year ...he said the longer you go without staph the better chances of a successful #5. Knowing that #5 would be the last one (I'm running out of good femur) (did I mention I'm only 35 lol this has been going on for 12 years ...all a result of an automobile accident) I wanted to do everything possible to make it a success. I made it 4.5 years without a hip or spacer !! It wasn't easy however I'm happy to say I recieved my hail Mary #5 hip June of 2016 and have had no infection (so far)!!!! I'm beyond happy although now the darn thing won't stay in place lol
I have dislocated #5 3 times now 🙁 so that's no fun...2 of the dislocations required surgery. Funny enough it just dislocated last weekend so I just got home from mayo where I had surgery to repair and change a few components ... Thankfully the recovery process isn't bad so I'm doing well.
My case is definitely rare and I draw a lot of attention from amazed orthopedists when I'm at Mayo lol I'm kind of a guinea pig and up to try anything new they have available to make this darn thing work lol
I really hope your surgery goes smooth... Do your pt exercises (even though I was resistant , I know they work lol)
If you have any more questions I am here!!
Lindsay with 5 hips lol

@lynzze, Hi my name is Neka and I'm currently dealing with an antibiotic spacers and it has been very painful the whole time. Today is my last day of antibiotic treatment I'm just nervous because the doctors were never able to figure out what type of staph infection I was dealing with. Since you've dealt with it what would you suggest about me going forward with getting the hip replacement surgery done after antibiotic treatment