Oh Mr. Fish, I'm so sorry to hear that. I was wondering how it was going with you and I just got my answer. Now I'm freaking out again because if you read my last update you know that I'm seriously considering a 5th surgery. In 2 weeks they'll try to take fluid from my hip and then have some blood work done. My surgeon said it will take about 3 months to get a date for surgery on his calendar. This is my biggest fear. I truly don't think I could go through that whole Iv antibiotic schedule again. I can tell you that they are looking for inflammation numbers weekly in your blood. That's how the staph infection is detected. Normal inflammation rates are between 0-20. My first staph infection numbers stayed steady at 47 for 3 weeks so they pulled the PICC line out. My ID Dr. said some people just don't get down into the 20's and being on the meds for any longer would be pointless. But it wasn't gone and 5 days later I was septic and back in the hospital having the hip totally removed and leaving with another PICC line. My number was at 119 when I left the hospital. That time I did oral meds along with IV meds. FUN!!!! when they pulled the PICC line I was at 9 or something like that. I've heard the average time on IV meds is 6-7 weeks,depending on those numbers. There is no wait and see. They need to get rid of the infection first. Then 2 weeks after the PICC line comes out they take your blood and 2 weeks after that they take fluid from your hip and if after all that there's no signs of infection, then they can proceed if you want. There are no guarantees that it won't happen again. And since you and I have had more than 1 infection, we are more likely to get another one. I'm so sorry you're going through this again. Stay strong, Keep me posted on your progress. Robin

Oh my - you are having a tough time getting that infection under control. Going through more surger(ies) was definitely not in the plan. I can understand the frustration, anger and tears.

My THR is scheduled for April 10. The lab work shows the the fungus infection is gone but nothing is certain until the culture is done while I'm on the operating table. My ortho doc said if there was still an infection, he would go ahead with the THR and I would take the anti-fungal medicine for the rest of my life. It is really hard on my body so I'm praying it is totally gone.

I will have had the spacer in for five months and am so ready to get it out. I find myself on an emotional roller coaster with all the waiting and worries so try to do one day at a time. I do, however, have an excellent surgeon that I trust completely.

Congratulations on starting PT and getting back to work. I pray that your healing continues. Thanks for keeping us up to date and let us know how you are doing.

Thanks for your update. I can sure understand your worry and frustration. It takes a lot of courage to keep going through all this. Wishing the best for you.

Thanks Robin. My biggest fear when my Ortho and ID docs came to suggest the surgery for this last hardware swap-out was that they were going to suggest I go back to a spacer again. Thank goodness that wasn't the case. The IV medications are a bit of a hassle, but fortunately I haven't had any adverse effects from them. I met with my ID doc yesterday to better understand the plan: it will be 6 weeks of the IV cefazolin and rifampin pills...followed by 6 more weeks of oral rifampin and levaquin with weekly bloodwork during these treatments. My CRP numbers have gone down very quickly under this new course (it was 7 with the blood drawn this Tuesday)...hopefully these drugs are doing the trick. I asked if they plan to do bloodwork after ending all of the antibiotics and he said he said said there's no clear medical preference about that and that he doesn't prefer to do ongoing blood work after antibiotic treatments end...he said blood indicators like CRP can fluctuate quite a bit if I get a cold, stub my toe, etc and it isn't all that informative, by itself, especially if I'm feeling good. However, if I do begin to present hip-related symptoms again they would then definitely want to do some blood work and perhaps an aspiration...but otherwise if I am feeling good it will be "wait and pray", in his own words.

I still can't get the nagging fear out of the back of my mind...the "what if". I'm sorry you are faced with another hard choice. I don't know what I'd do if faced with the suggestion to under go more surgeries, I guess I'd have to go with it, but each of these surgeries takes away a bit of me (literally and figuratively).

Hang in there, my thoughts are with you.

@janelaine, my thoughts are with you and my fingers are crossed! Good luck with the re-implantation. I only had the spacer fr 3 months, compared to your 5, but it was such an immediate relief to not have the spacer-related pain that comes with every single movement. The PT after the spacer is a lot of work, my leg gradually roated inward during the spacer time of limited mobility and I'm still working to return that to its normal position. I think it's also put quite a bit of strain on my knee as I work to reposition things. Fortunately, each time it my knee begins to get aggravated, my PT tapes it and it settles down after a day of rest.

This is going to work for you, I just know it. Best wishes and let us know how it goes.

Ok so now I'm confused. I thought when they found the staph infection that they pulled out the new hip they had just put in. Are you saying you are on IV antibiotics but the new hip is still in there? Let me know. Also, I've just been told that there is more than 1 kind of staph. So now I'm wondering if the staph infection that I had the first time wasn't gone because the antibiotics they were using weren't the right ones. And I just read about the one woman on this forum who had 5 staph infections and they finally had to amputate her whole leg. I'm really not sure if I even want to try this again. The thought of another surgery is depressing and scary. A few weeks ago I thought I'd give it another go but now I'm thinking no I won't. Take good care of you. Robin

Totally understandable Robin, it's been a bit of blur for me too. When they found the staph (a few days after the wash-out surgery), they started me on the IV antibiotics immediately and scheduled a new THR a few days later. That last surgery replaced all the hardware with a new, fully functional, and clean THR (a single stage revision surgery, as opposed to a two-stage revision which involves the spacer).

I didn't know there were different kinds of staph (besides regular and MRSA). I'll have to remember to ask my ID doc about that, but I have a lot of faith in him so I'm sure he's on top of it. Our decision to have the last surgery was not an easy one, but the way they presented the odds of success made it pretty compelling. But you're right, I think the normal chances of success kind of go out the window for us with repeated infections.

My ID doc even ran a battery of other tests to see if some other thing might be affecting my immune system and allowing these repeated infections. I can't rermember everything he said he tested for but it was stuff like Hep C, HIV, and more. All came back negative.

Given that it's staph (for me) I think I'd have to keep going with more treatment and surgeries if this go around doesn't successfully beat it...but that would certainly be another blow to my mental well-being. It (staph) isn't the kind of thing you can really allow to stay in there. It was interesting to read that janelaine said that long-term meds were an option for her fungal infection (albeit with significant negative side effects). I don't think there's long-term medication that can be taken to suppress staph (still another question to ask my ID doc next time).

I had no idea these infections could be so difficult to treat. I'm trying to stay optimistic about my infection being gone. I do trust my doctors and will ultimately follow their advice. I will be happy to get rid of the spacer due to pain, especially at night. You are right, Mr. Fish, that the infection cannot go untreated. I did talk to a friend this week whose husband was successful in treating and getting rid of an infection, so there is reason to be hopeful. This whole process is exhausting. I'm glad to have this forum to share the journey.

Bear with me I'm a little slow these days. So what you're saying is despite the fact that you have a staph infection, days later they put in a new THR? How was he able to do that? I thought the staph had to be completely gone before new hardware could be used.