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What kind of mobility can I expect with an antibiotic spacer in my hip
Joint Replacements | Last Active: Jun 23, 2023 | Replies (279)Comment receiving replies
I am scheduled for this surgery on Tuesday of this week. I have a fungal infection but won't know about a bacterial infectiion until they do the culture following implant of the spacer. I am told there is to be no weight-bearing on my right leg which means I will be confined to a wheelchair or walker or crutches. I've tried hopping around on a walker with one foot and find it very challenging. I am 78 yo. If you are fortunate enough to get rid of the infection in the first go round, I'd be doing the happy dance for you (yes, on one foot!) I would like to see that outcome for myself but don't want to get my hopes up.
I learned on Friday that I will not be doing PT following the surgery. Maybe down the road but don't know yet. I will be in a rehab center for what I hope is a short amount of time. Also been practicing pivoting on my good leg to chairs, the toilet, etc. and then lifting myself up on one leg. I like to think my body is developing a cell memory that will help make the transition easier. I have a regular wheelchair and a friend gave me a motorized wheelchair. I've used a cabulance to take me to appointments but will try getting into the car unless the pain is too much.
I have a supportive family and have done all the work to prepare myself physically, emotionally and spiritually at the recommendation of my surgeon who incidentally took some of his training at the Mayo Clinic. I will check in asap after the surgery.
Good luck to you.
Jan in Washington State
Replies to "I am scheduled for this surgery on Tuesday of this week. I have a fungal infection..."
Hello. I'm one of those people who always forgets to take my pain meds on time. First I set the timer on my cell phone to go off every 4 hours. Easy. Then I started having trouble remembering what I took and how much. So I made a "journal page " on my computer. I call it Pain and medication journal. Then I typed Time- with a few spaces and below it typed Meds taken with a few spaces and typed Notes. I lined it all up. I did that 6 different times on the same page and printed it out twice. I cut it in half and taped them side by side and copied it 15 times. I cut those copies in half so I had 30 of them which I paper clipped together. At the top I write the DAY and DATE ie. Tuesday December 5th and so on for the month. I found this a lot easier than writing in a bound journal because each page is a new day. And I take notes as I'm taking my meds. For example if I wake up at 4am in horrible pain I write just that "up at 4am, terrible pain in upper hip radiating down to my foot." Took 2 diluded, 1 Robaxin, 2 Tylenol etc. I keep the pages so I can see if a pattern is developing. Like am I waking up everyday at 4am? Was I able to sleep until 8am before the pain got too bad? This works for me because I feel like when they removed my hip joint, they took half my brain too. I just can't remember all the meds, exercises etc. Maybe this could work for someone else having a hard time remembering meds and such. I hope so. Robin:)
This is a great tip @froggy1. I get the catheter for my pain block taken out this week and that's really the last thing keeping me from showering, especially with with a trick for the PICC like you suggest here. I was thinking a washcloth under a bunch of wraps of saran wrap and then a little tape at each end would probably do the trick, too. The home-visit nurses who bring my antibiotics and clean/maintain the PICC said to keep it as dry as possible when washing up, but that keeping it totally, 100% dry isn't really critical; just avoid significant direct water (especially submersion if you're bathing).
I've done plenty of complaining about all the accessories I have had to drag along after this first of two surgeries. I was able to ditch the Active Care leg compression cuffs last week (yay!), and as I just mentioned my pain catheter/pump comes out this week. The last one I'll still need to pack around for a while is a wound vac. When my joint infection finally presented itself in an obvious fashion, it was as a series of growing abscesses that pushed out via a fistula (channel) from the joint and directly through the scar from my first (anterior) THR surgery. When they did this last surgery to remove the THR and place the spacer, they also did considerable debridement of that wound which resulted in quite a large "crater" on the front of my leg. This wound gets its' dressing changed twice a week. It's packed with porous sponge, then covered with a tegaderm-like film and then a tube over the top that goes to a smallish (maybe 10"x6"x2") vacuum pump. It has been fascinating watching how quickly this has helped this large & deep wound close itself up. I've clearly got some more time to stay attached to this one...but at least I can see a significant value to having to pack it along with me everywhere I go.
Has anyone else had to use one of these for wound care?
I guess some doctors like to continue their use through some of the epidermal (skin) formation, while others just remove it once the wound has closed enough and let the scar tissue/skin form on its own? I'm not soo sure about that one, though. It's on my list of things to talk to my ortho about during our next follow-up.
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Hey to those of you who need a better way to shower without getting your PICC line wet. Go to the nearest feed store that sells horse and cow feed. There are long plastic see through gloves that vets use when they have to stick their whole arm up a horses rear. They cost around 11cents each and they work great. I would tape a wash rag around the PICC line and pull the glove about 6 inches above it and tape it to your arm. Just to be safe and sure I would fold the rest of the glove over the taped area and tape it again. You will have full use of your arm without getting water on your PICC line.I was still careful not to let water run directly on it but it solves that problem really well. Let me know how it goes......