Walking without a hip joint

Thank you all for sharing. I have been running this dame Gauntlet that a lot of you have already run. THR at 27 years old, first revision at 30 and it was going great. I became an RN and after years of working in the hospitals I was colonized with MRSA. 3hospitals I worked at stabbed the nurses and other staff and found that something like 90% had MRSA living on our bodies.

I inevitably got a cut or something that let the MRSA in and it fou d my hip. Well I am 2 years into the process of spacers and repeated hospitalizations.

I had asked my head surgeon about girdlestone about a year ago and he shot it down immediately remaining ever hopeful. UT here I am elevated CRP and Sed rate and infection raging again.

Those of you that have had the girdle and are now ambulatory how was the process of gaining mobility again?

I am 40 years old and fairly active and healthy. About 4 months before the infection presented itself I did an 80 mile mountain bike race. I placed dead last and barely finished, but I am at least somewhat healthy and athletic lol.

Any advice or words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.

I am 48 and had the first arthroscopic surgery on my left hip in 2017. That was followed by four more different surgery attempts on same hip til it was decided I could only hope for pain relief via total hip replacement. Did that work n January 2018, and by April 2018 it was dislocating and I quickly learned how to reset it myself tho I had no clue what was happening because I complained to the surgeon for an entire year and he continuously x-rayed and showed me each time what each part was and that it was in place. Finally in April 2019 he replaced it. Dislocating by June 2019. I have had three more revisions sine then with different surgeons and currently have a temporary that is releasing antibiotics til the "final final" hip is measured and made. After all this crap, I am just now hearing of the less common option of having no hip and considering calling my surgeon to discuss it today.

Hi
I'm 59 and had my girdle stone resection in 2018 after two life threatening infections of my right hip. I had three hip replacements - the second and third causing the infections.
It's a life altering procedure I'm not going to kid you. I will always need assistance walking whether it be cuff crutches or walker - inside and outside of the house.
However, there are some people who are able to walk without assistance primarily due to less of a severe leg length deficiency. My deficiency is 4 inches.
My advice to you is do your research. Go on YouTube see the videos. You'll get a better idea if this surgery is for you.
I wish you much luck. Never give up 👍🙏

Thank you all for sharing. I have been running this dame Gauntlet that a lot of you have already run. THR at 27 years old, first revision at 30 and it was going great. I became an RN and after years of working in the hospitals I was colonized with MRSA. 3hospitals I worked at stabbed the nurses and other staff and found that something like 90% had MRSA living on our bodies.

I inevitably got a cut or something that let the MRSA in and it fou d my hip. Well I am 2 years into the process of spacers and repeated hospitalizations.

I had asked my head surgeon about girdlestone about a year ago and he shot it down immediately remaining ever hopeful. UT here I am elevated CRP and Sed rate and infection raging again.

Those of you that have had the girdle and are now ambulatory how was the process of gaining mobility again?

I am 40 years old and fairly active and healthy. About 4 months before the infection presented itself I did an 80 mile mountain bike race. I placed dead last and barely finished, but I am at least somewhat healthy and athletic lol.

Any advice or words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.

In February 2021 I took my husband to ER in extreme right hip pain (THR in 2008 with no complications). It was found to be a very rare bacterial infection and they removed the original prosthetic hip and put in a spacer with 8 weeks of antibiotics IV. In May after negative tests and new hip was put in. All tests for infection negative; but put on oral antibiotic. In late June excessive drainage at incision. Hip was debrided and washed and wound vac then 2 days later washed again and some parts of new hip replaced. Enterococous infection, 6 more weeks with PICC line antibiotics, another debridement in August. then oral antibiotics,. All cultures from August negative. Infection symptoms after 2 weeks on oral antibiotics. Girdlestone procedure on September 1. 8 weeks of PICC antibiotics then oral antibiotics. All cultures from Sep. 1 were negative. The incision healed well but fluid collects between the layers of tissue in his thigh. Aspirated fluids are negative cultures.
Fluid removed in Dec., Jan. Feb. and March all negative but he is still on antibiotics until Mar. 8. Ortho at Mayo says no surgery until 1 year and no antibiotics for several months. He is poor surgery candidate at present due to poor bone quality in right femur and previous infections and 6 hip surgeries in 7 months. What will if be like if he cannot have a new hip put in? He has spent over a year with very little exercise and even now 7 months post surgery he can put no weight on leg without extreme pain. He gets around house with 2 wheeled walker and crutches for short distances, otherwise a wheelchair. He has been told no Physical therapy is available for someone without a hip. It has been difficult to control pain if he is very active. Will he ever be able to walk, get around in his shop to work on vehicles, drive (since it is his right leg), work in garden? Our bedroom is 8 steps above the main floor of house, will he ever be able to manage those steps without a hip? It is difficult to keep your spirit up when your daily activity is: watch TV , peruse the internet, read, and walk to bathroom. We just do not know what to expect?

I am 70 and had left Girdlestone Resection in Feb of 2022 due to severe infection in bone and muscles. My THR was in 2007 and served me well up until then. This was done on emergency basis and surgeon said it was Girdlestone or amputation once he got in there and saw all the damage. Also had to remove part of my Quadricep muscle, IT band, and part of gluteal muscle on the left. Surgeon told me he would not recommend ever trying to put in another hip. The risk was too great for infection, fractures, etc. I'm on life long antibiotics to keep infection down. Going through surgery once was pretty traumatic for me, I can't imagine what you have endured going through 6 surgeries! I can't imagine why anyone would say Physical Therapy is not necessary as it absolutely is. Physical Therapy taught me how to go up and down steps before I even left the hospital after my surgery last year! I've learned all types of exercises to strengthen my remaining thigh muscles, glutes, etc to help support me and continue to do exercises daily. In the beginning, I did use a wheel chair a lot to get around in, but I am happy to say that I get around very well with crutches or rollator and can walk at a regular pace now. I can even use one crutch quite well and hoping to get to just a cane one day. I can go up and down steps fine with one crutch and using handrail. I'm riding an upright exercise bike for 10 miles a day (two 30 minute sessions). I can cook, clean bathrooms and even sweep the floors now. We went camping and fishing last summer and plan more trips this year. I can easily step on a pontoon boat and I think this year, I will be able to get on our bass boat to fish! I'll never hike trails again or really walk, but I do have a quality of life, so please tell your husband not to give up. He has been through so much and it will take time for body to heal, and determination to get stronger, so if he has that...he can do it. Also, since my one leg is about 2-3 inches shorter than the other now, my husband has been glueing extra soles on the bottoms of my shoe and it really helps to walk and not get issues with back pain. We've even bought those cheap plastic flip flops and used the soles to add to shoes for height. We live in Michigan. I'll be thinking and praying for him to get through all this.....Cindy

Thank you Cindy. It is so good to hear of someone with a positive attitude. We will not know until September if my husband can have one last new hip . But we are working now to find a place for PT since he has had none since the Girdlestone. Currently all he does is sit in his recliner and walk to the bathroom. He sleeps in a hospital bed in the living room. He will only leave the house to go to doctor appointments. He does labs weekly now that he is off antibiotics to see if there is any infection left in his body. I am hoping this summer he will walk out to his shop and tinker on some of his projects. Maybe even help in the garden. Thanks again. Let's keep in touch!! .... Lori

Thank you Cindy. It is so good to hear of someone with a positive attitude. We will not know until September if my husband can have one last new hip . But we are working now to find a place for PT since he has had none since the Girdlestone. Currently all he does is sit in his recliner and walk to the bathroom. He sleeps in a hospital bed in the living room. He will only leave the house to go to doctor appointments. He does labs weekly now that he is off antibiotics to see if there is any infection left in his body. I am hoping this summer he will walk out to his shop and tinker on some of his projects. Maybe even help in the garden. Thanks again. Let's keep in touch!! .... Lori

@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!