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@crgentry

Hi! I’m new to this Mayo Clinic connect. I was searching for living with an antibiotic spacer and mobility expectations when I came across your original post back in November 2017. I’ve been looking at this thread and I see you’re quite far in your journey. I’m so sorry the infection appears to be back. I just had surgery in May at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. I’m from Texas. I lived with my staff infection for about 4 1/2 years on suppressive therapy (Bactrim 1 pill a day) when I saw a sought a second opinion from the infectious disease and orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo. I traveled with my mom and we took our two small dogs with us. We knew we would be there for at least the six weeks of IV antibiotic treatment after I got my spacer put in. I rented a small house through Home Away that worked out well. I did some research through the male clinic and they had housing recommendations but those I found didn’t take dogs or I would have used one of them. Of course I had time to do a lot of planning because it took me a long while to really commit and make the decision once they gave me their opinion. It differed from my doctors here in Texas and I was confused. I have a very good surgeon here in Texas as well as my infectious disease doctor but I was 42 at the time and they were worried about me losing my hip entirely because I’ve had so many surgeries on it in the past and I don’t have a whole lot of bone left. I’m happy to say that the infectious disease doctors and the surgeon at the Mayo are amazing. My level of care there was outstanding and I am hopeful this infection is gone. I am trying to make it a full year with my spacer to make sure before I try to do it all over again. I definitely feel that finding the right surgeon is the best. I’m not sure what type of infection you have or your timeframe on things but if I can help answer any questions on traveling for surgery I’m happy to help anyway I can. I was looking at the various Mayo Clinic locations and I went to Rochester because I had read an article of what they were working on for a non-surgical cure implant related infections and that was being done in Rochester. I had hoped that they were closer and perhaps I could wait a bit longer but it appears there a long way off. From what I am told of others who have been at the Mayo Clinic Rochester was an excellent choice for orthopedics and infectious disease.

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Replies to "Hi! I’m new to this Mayo Clinic connect. I was searching for living with an antibiotic..."

Sorry for the grammar errors. That’s me talking into my phone 🙂

Thank you Candace. Wow...a year w/ a spacer! I had mine for three months and was sooo glad to get it out...but my infection came back pretty quickly. Others on here who had experience with spacers recommened keeping it for as long as I could, so that's good advice. You've had the spacer for 4-5 months or so now...how well are you able to get around?

Fortunately my latest episode a few weeks ago turned out to be a false alarm (of sorts). I definitely had some kind of infection going on...swelling, redness and hot to the touch. It was on one side of my surical scar, but it was improving by the time I got in to see my infectious disease Doc. He thinks it might have been something superficial, and not originiating from the joint. He said "scars can do weird things sometimes". It scared the heck out of us, but he other times the joint infection presented, it also came with a loss of strength and flexibility. That didn't happen this time and I take a little comfort in that fact.