Thanks for your well-wishes, it really meant a lot to me as I headed into this last surgery, and my anxiety was running high.

Things are going very well for me so far. I spent two nights in the hospital after my surgery on Feb 14. My surgeon said everything looked great while he was "in there" during the surgery and the rapid cultures they took during the operation showed no sign of infection. They still administered a few precautionary doses of IV antibiotic while I was in the hospital, and my ortho said they also sprinkled in some kind of slow-release/dissoving antibiotic into the joint area before closing things up.

The biggest change for me is that the joint pain of the 3 months with the spacer (the popping and grinding) is completely and immediately gone. Of course, I have some pain from the incision but that's secondary to the considerable weakness and loss of flexibility that's due to the past three months of very limited mobility. I started physical therapy this week, and will go out for that 3x a week for up to 7 weeks. I've already noticed improvement from the home exercises and the PT sessions.

I'm still using crutches or my walker, but I've also been trying to spend more time playing around with a cane over the last few days -- but, I have a bit more strength I need to regain in my right leg before I feel I can switch completely over to the cane (maybe one more week). I have no restriction on how much weight I can bear on my right leg, but it's definitely not back to "normal" yet. I can stand normally with weight ditributed evenly between left and right feet (without any pain), and can shift some more weight over to my right but I can't fully support my weight on my right leg alone as you would while trying to walk normally. It's really not an issue of pain so much as strength and not feeling stable/safe quite yet.

@janelaine and @froggy1, thank you (and others) for your support. Janelaine, I'm hoping your infection clears soon and you might be able to get your new hip. I'm so sorry that it seems to be taking so much longer for a fungal infection to clear out. Froggy1, its quite flattering to be called brave by you. After getting to know more about you and your long road to where you are today, you are truly the brave one here (but thank you). And, to be able to find humor among the challenges is a testament to your strong character and willpower. I can only begin to understand your frustration and possible disillusionment with what medicine has been able to offer you so far. But I want to sincerely say "hang in there", perhaps new technology or procedures might give you a shot at something closer to normal.

My next challenge is going to be getting off the narcotics. My pain levels are already way, way down--I could probably manage with ibuprofen now--and I've begun to significantly reduce the dose and frequency of my tramadol and oxycodone...but I've already noticed the beginning of withdrawal symptoms from just this. I've done some reading on the topic and asked my ortho for advice or possible medical help, and was very disappointed with his response. He did say I shoud talk with my normal doctor; perhaps that's the correct protocol. So, I do plan to speak with my normal doc this week and see what she may have to suggest and if we can develop a plan/schedule---but I don't think she has much experience with detox treatment (maybe I'm wrong). But again, since the orthos are the ones who prescribe so much of the pain meds, you'd think they'd devote the effort to help you get off of them. Since I'm alrerady back at work full-time, I probably need to find a 3 or 4 day weekend to carry out the initial cut-off to deal with the worst of it. I do have experience with opioid withdrawal after my first hip replacement, but that was only after 4-5 weeks of pain pills, while this time it's been about 4 months of the stuff. I remember sleeplessness was a huge problem last time so I was going to inquire about short-term sleeping medication, and I've also been reading a little about buprenorphine as something that might help lessen the withdrawal symptoms. Recreational marijuana is also legal up here in Alaska and I've had some experience with that, but that was mostly in college a few decades ago. Maybe there's no real medical way to make it meaningfully easier and I'll just need to tough it out -- which I'm fully prepared to do in the very near furure. But, any advice would be appreciated.

Moderators, is there a discussion thread on the topic here on connect.mayoclinic?