Hi Marty...I tried to check out the facebook account but nothing came up. Sounds like you and your wife lead a very interesting life. I'm in Michigan, USA. My husband and I were wintering in Florida last year when I ended up with an infection in my implant I'd had for 17 years. I didn't even know I had the infection until 5 days prior. Two emergency room visits, then shipped to University of Florida Shands Hospital where my surgery was done on an emergency basis. The plan was to put an antibiotic spacer in for a few months, then another hip, but when surgeon got in there the infection was so bad in my muscle and bone he couldn't do that. He said it was either amputate at the hip or remove as much infection as possible as well as implant and keep me on oral antibiotics after the IV antibotics for 8 weeks. I lost my vastus lateralis muscle, iliotibial band, and part of my gluteal muscle. All of it was dead and necrotic. The surgeon said it was too risky to ever put in another hip for me. I am so surprised at how well I am doing. I use a rollator walker in my home most of the time, but when I go out to dinner, shopping, etc, I use crutches. I'm transitioning from underarm crutches to forearm crutches and I can even get around quite well with just one crutch. I also practice in the house with just a cane and works pretty well for me. I can take 5-10 steps with nothing at all but it's a pretty gimpy walk. When it gets warmer out, I hope to spend more time practicing outside. I ride an upright exercise bike 10 miles a day and bought a tricycle too. My husband and I went out once to ride on a warm, but windy day and did 2.5 miles! I can cook, clean up, clean bathrooms and dust ok. I can't sweep the floors, but I'm working on that a little bit too. My husband and I love to fish and camp witch we did last year. We used our son's pontoon boat for fishing last year and I could get on that with my crutches just fine at the dock. This summer I will try to get in our bass boat! I think I can do it now. I spend a lot of time exercising to build up my Quadriceps and Gluteal muscles and do chair yoga also. I don't really have any constant pain, just occassional pain if I overdo it. I use tylenol and ice for pain when needed. I know I'll never be a walker and hiker like I used to be, but at least I can get around ok and I hope to do some trail riding with my tricycle. My leg is about 2.5-3 inches shorter than the other. I use an "Even Up" lift I bought on Amazon for my tennis shoes and My husband has been glueing soles of other shoes onto existing ones to build up the difference. He's done several pairs for me and he's become quite the cobbler. That makes a big difference to get my legs evened out pretty good. I have 3 other people I've connected with that also have a Girdlestone and we offer support to each other. It seems like in your case maybe finding a good physical therapist would help you. I'm a retired nurse and a firm believer in physical therapy....but it's a life long committment to do exercises at home. Wishing you wellness......Cindy

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