Antibiotic Hip spacers

Hi Cindy. Thank you for sharing this with me. Apparently the insurance company does not want to lose money on the time paid for the nursing home. My husband and mom have been battling with the insurance company to no avail. I will only agree to home healthcare for any surgeries requiring special help in the future. My mom just freaked out about being in charge of the iv antibiotics and our neighbor went on and on about how a nursing home would make everything easier for everyone. I sure am tired of learning everything the hard way. The good news is the staff is being much better here with pain meds and checking in on me because I’m looking pretty rough and pitiful at the moment. When I’m bad off, I can hardly speak. I think I need to break down and ask to see a pain management doctor. I just dread it because my dad ended up on a morphine pain pump and it seems like giving up. Keep me in your prayers. Reading your message makes me feel like I’m not alone.

Perhaps what you need is an Integrated Pain Management Clinic, where the focus is not on drugs, but rather on a multi-pronged approach to dealing with chronic pain. This approach can include counseling, visualization, meditation, physical therapy, stretching and exercise and other strategies.
Mayo has such a program, and you can read about it here:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/pain-rehabilitation-center/sections/featured-programs/gnc-20481713
Has anyone ever suggested this approach for you?
Sue

Hi Sue. I’ve relied on my physical therapist for keeping pain under control for 22+ years. He told me I’m financing his retirement. One PT aide there said “welcome home” when I came back for post surgery PT for my neck last summer.

Here’s how I cope with pain without pain meds:

1. physical therapy routine I do every day when I’m physically able - includes stretching and a lot of core strengthening exercises

2. ice packs of various sizes and shapes from Core Products

3. put a wet wash rag over my eyes, lay on a heating pad, and go through my best memories of riding and hiking

4. breathing exercises and biofeedback

5. spend two hours a day in my mom’s pool when the water hits 80 - I LOVE hot weather

6. ask doctors to prescribe PT that includes a lot of dry needling

7. Eat a diet that’s primarily raw vegetables and fruit and watch my weight

8. prayer, church, and friends

9. stay busy with my online shops because focusing on work

Having to depend on pain meds on occasion is sometimes the only way to cope with extreme pain. I keep a journal to work my way off meds between surgeries. I just worry about ending up on a pain pump because I have all of the orthopedic issues and surgeries my father had to cope with.

Hi...I will keep you in my prayers. I'm glad the staff is being better with your pain management. The nurses should know it is better to keep on top of the pain med dosing and not get behind with that. That's why being at home you can be sure to take your pain med every 6 hours or however it is ordered. Your body needs proper sleep to heal also and so hard to get that in most nursing homes. I'm not trying to convince you one way or another, but please think what is best for you and I do pray you feel better soon. .....Cindy

I just had a hip rev., now I need a THR on the other side. I’ve never heard of “antibiotic spacers”. Just thinking about having it done again, makes me wanna cry!

Thank you, Cindy. 🙂 It’s been a long 10 days here in the nursing home partly because I see and hear how residents are neglected. One lady with Alzheimer’s repeats herself over and over like a parrot. I heard a nurse yelling at her to be quiet so I got my walker and went to talk to the poor lady. She’s rolled into a hallway and left alone for hours. I spoke to her and patted her shoulder which helped calm her down. Another lady down the hall screams on and off all night. The call button station down the hall sounds like a fire alarm that needs batteries. It only stops wailing around 2 am. Sometimes no one shows up for a hour when you push the call button. The new resident across the hall doesn’t understand the call button so I have to get a nurse when he starts yelling “Help!” The manager appears to be permanently attached to the chair in her office. Most frightening is reading that this is one of the best nursing facilities in the county. 🙁

I totally understand! Thinking of the next 3 surgeries makes me want to run away. Only problem is running isn’t an option with the hip spacer and my old school walker!

God bless you BabyPanda for your compassion to the other patients. The facility you're at sounds very similar to the one I was at for the short period. I'm glad you were able to have the spacer put in so someday you can have a new hip. My infection was too bad, dead muscle and bone that had to be removed and spacer was not an option after the surgeon got in there. All my hardware was removed and just left with a femur and part of a pelvis (Girdlestone). I'm learning to get around with walker and crutches, but I'll never have a hip joint again. I'm on life long oral antibiotics now from my Infectious Disease Dr for chronic osteomyelitis. Hopefully you can find a pattern for sleep during these next few weeks you are in this facility to help your body heal. You'll be in my prayers...God bless you.....Cindy

I had a debridement 3 months ago, and it was at that point that my surgeon decided he was uncomfortable removing the spacer, and that began the process of finding and approving another surgeon. That process is thankfully, but slowly, underway.

The initial removal of my prosthesis and replacement with the hip spacer was painful beyond belief. It took days for the anesthesia to wear off and once it did I was not ready for the pain. I was on Oxycodone and acetaminophen, and it seemed like even under the maximum prescribed dosage for both I only found relief about 50% of the time. Turning on my side to get my wound dressing replaced was the worst. It's a good thing the wound nurse is a veteran with combat experience so he didn't flinch while I was groaning.

Overall I had to balance pain management and narcotic side effects. I'm really uncomfortable with the woozy "out of it" feeling of the narcotics but for pain relief I just tried to focus only on the relief. After about I month I tapered off the pain relief and at about six weeks I was off them completely. There is still pain around my hip joint, especially when moving, but as my surgeon would say, I'm 'managing'.

Keeping myself engaged in something and background music helped. I'm finally learning how to use Photoshop and using Duolingo to learn language. The pain moves to the background when my mind is engaged. It's like I'll try anything!

Painful thigh, Pelvis and feels like something moving.I feel like my rod is moving and not only hitting my upper thigh but my pelvis also. Some days it is hard to even put any pressure on my leg. I now know I have MRSA on my hardware and don’t know if this could have been causing this for all these years. It is so painful and I just feel confused and lost.My infection markers are going up again and they want to take my hardware out and put an antibiotic spacer in then in 45 days put new hardware. I am 73 and with not being mobile for 45 days then recovery from putting the hardware back in, well I might not ever walk again and it shortens your life span.Has anyone faced this and if so I would love some input.Thank you