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Reconstruction for THR - Any Advice or Experiences to Share?
Joint Replacements | Last Active: Jun 12, 2023 | Replies (11)Comment receiving replies
@lahipster Hello, I've been looking through the hip replacement discussions here, to see if anyone else has gone forward with a new replacement after infection.
From reading your posts, it looks like you have participated in most of those related threads.
I am glad to see you are being referred to a specialist in reconstruction. My cousin has been through the process twice like you, but due to other medical issues will spend the rest of her life without a hip or a spacer.
Also, have you consulted with an infectious disease specialist who deals specifically with implant infections? It seems fact that you have been infected twice in the same joint would make most doctors reluctant to try again.
Have you considered a consult with Mayo, or another large ortho facility that uses a team approach to treating difficult and unusual situations?
Sue
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I had a consultation with a surgical team at Cedars-Sinai hospital here in Los Angeles, thanks to the hard work of my team at Kaiser Los Angeles who approved the procedure. The surgeon and the team I met at my visit are confident they can restore my femur and move forward with one of three procedures described to me, all of which seemed like great news. The surgeon's last words to me were "we're going to get you out of that wheelchair". At this point nothing encourages me more than to hear I'll be able to stand up and take some steps on my own.
Tomorrow I am going in for blood tests and a hip aspiration to to check for infection. Based on my prior experiences with infection, I haven't had any of the symptoms I had before and am hoping that my infection has been eradicated. If that's the case - surgery will move forward.
Just a heads up to anyone else with an HMO or insurance - stay active in the outside approval process. It seems like I made phone calls and sent emails daily between my HMO and the outside agency. The approval process takes time and my medical team wasn't always familiar with the process. I downloaded my medical record and had my diagnostic imaging sent to the new surgeon as soon as I could - that was a time saver. We've heard it before - be your own advocate. Everyone has been helpful along the way - the process just needs some pushing along. Stay tuned.