Gosh, things have been busy since I last visited!

@briank1958 I am sorry to hear of your journey through this. I had MRSA then E-Coli. I understand MRSA lives on the skin and my Infectious Doctor told me E-Coli lives in everyone's stomach and tends to be attracted by 'interlopers' in the body, ie, protheses. I son't know about other infections ... and it seems neither to the specialists ... it is one of those mysteries!

I have no personal knowledge of 1 Stage Revision but I have read they are not as successful as 2 Stage. I believe this is because the body needs time following a debridement/washout before new hardware is put back in being treated with antibiotics.

I had a THR in December 2014 and a TKR in March 2018. When my Surgeon went in to do a hip revision in October 2018 infection was discovered. He debrided, implanted a Spacer and I was on antibiotics for nearly 5 months. I was on no weight bearing as I have Osteoporosis, Through all my problems I lost over 50lbs and was down to 112lbs with muscle atrophy. I had a 5cm/2in shortness of the leg and it was difficult even with a walker. In March just past I had my 2nd Stage Revision, a larger ball and a 30cm stem installed reducing the LLD. I was house/bedbound for 18 months and am now learning to walk again, migrating from walker to elbow crutches. Yesterday I received news my blood levels are within;limits and I don't have to see my Surgeon for three months ... unless I feel I need to.

The whole thing about this journey is to keep positive.

@skidly, wow you cram in a lot in a short period of time, don't you? I am not a medical expert ... but 8 ops, 5 replacements and 4 spacers in 18 months is mind boggling and it would seem to me that not enough time was given in between for the infections to clear your system so they promptly attached themselves to the new hardware. Just my opinion. After my Spacer was placed I had blood tests every two weeks till I was clear (from October to February) then I had to have two clear readings before Stage 2 would be done. What country are you in? I am in Portugal.

@linjane "My infection has returned (yet) since I've had my spacer. So far I'm in the 85%. The infections were before the 2 stage." ?????

Izabel

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