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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
@tooyoung, right after I got my spacer the pain was excruciating, like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Unfortunately, it took my ortho a few days to realize just how bad it was for me, but fortunately he brought in an anesthesiologist who put in a pain block (sorry, I'm not sure if that's the correct term). It was a small tube that gradually released a local anesthetic at/near a my spine which gave me immediate relief (so I was also tethered to the IV bag and its pump). I think I had that for about three weeks. I still had moderate pain from the spacer after that was removed, but it was nothing like what I experienced at first. I don't know if maybe a nerve was damaged in the surgery to put in the spacer, or what, but it helped get me "over the hump". Good luck, I hope you can address your pain and eventually get the spacer out and a new THR.
Replies to "@tooyoung, right after I got my spacer the pain was excruciating, like nothing I'd ever experienced..."
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thank you for sharing your experience and your support!
I'm not sure if my ortho was a butcher or what but my femural head crumbled when he took it out of socket. Maybe his roughness is what's causing so much residual pain for me? Either that or the septic arthritis/the fact they allowed the mrsa to damage that area for 9 mos before spacer placement...? I died on the table and wasn't woken up for six days afterwards but it sounds like a nerve (I thinthat's the right terminology for it)/pain block wldve been a godsend! For me the pain has only lessened for an off the charts to a ten usually only upon movement, moments of little or no support, when sitting on a hard surface or when my leg is held too high after a few months! They say long term opiate use can change the way your body feels pain too, so it's a catch 22! It really is! I don't feel like I deserve to suffer anymore... Its to the point where my chest hurts bad every day before pt bc I'm jst so certain that TODAY is going to be the day where I feel just one more iota of pain than usual and I'm going to go totally irreparably insane! Again, not normal, but what I'm learning about experience w spacers is that no two are the same, and just like w my endometriosis, the lvl of pain is impossible to measure, which sucks! I was recently denied for disability and its like "who's kept in the hospital for 22mos if they're not disabled?!" All bc they can't just put a stamp on me and say "ok, she has a antibiotic spacer, stress disabled," but in the meantime, I'm in this damn nursing home rotting away, losing more and more of myself everyday... What's a girl to do?!