THR Need a friend who has been on the other side of a late infection

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Yes I see a therapist to deal with past issues also. I am so much better after getting past the sexual molestation by a friend of the family when I was 16. It took til I was 32 to actually deal with it though and it nearly killed me by eating myself to death! I have a great counselor and we have peeled the layers back piece by piece, so I can get on with the business of living! I have gone from 435 and the last time I weighed I was 313. I am working out 6 days a week and I love it! I had become a couch potato, and I felt sorry for myself.
 
You know, everything you have mentioned in your chronology happens to a lot of other people too. Cracked teeth, for instance - I have had cracked teeth for years and never gave them a thought. Teeth can be cracked and not harbour infection. Fact is that an awful lot of people have these things yet don't go on to develop periprosthetic infection. It's a risk not an inevitability and the risk factor is extremely low. You need to read these articles Infection: peri-prosthetic infection - also known as late onset infection.
 
We help every one here. I'm so glad you got the connection. I know you are feellng really low and when you feel like that your mind goes everywhere. It forget what is possible and whats not. I find when my mind starts doing this I take a very deep breath. And then close my eyes and say all is well. Since you are having so much happening I would get a notebook I could write down some the following things to help make things start getting easier.
1. Write down every time you take medicane. I mean all even a asprin. At that time write down the pain level. 1-10
2. Write down what mood you are in and if you need to journal please do.
3. Write down what you say or talk to your doctor, nurse or anyone who you are working with over this
4. We are not doing this to sue but to put down everything so you know whats going on. I find when I am so upselt I forget some of important stuff.


Now you are going to do something for you. Keep a list getting well. The first one on the list is your kids.
Your sister and most important you. And anybody else who means something to you. (I hope you put BoneSmart somewhere. :heehee: even its on the bottom;) You are going to make it. You are just having a ruff time right now. You belong to a international family now and we are going to help you so know we are here all the time. So please write we want to hear from you. Take care. :friends: :console2: You just got hug! :loll: Please write. Tashia
 
How are you doing. I hope you are feeling better. Tashia :friends: :console2: :flwrysmile:
 
Time for an update, do hope the support you are receiving from the forum is helping to calm the fears.. :)
 
It is not Friday and haven't heard are you ok? Tashia
 
OK, everyone here is worrying about you! Please send an update so we will know how you are doing! We care!:friends:
 
Hi Ms.fixit
Thank you. I definitely had a horrific recovery period partly due to my anxiety and partly due to the pain that I was having everywhere. I I will seriously consider seeing someone if things don't improve. You are right.
I am over a year post op and I still have groin pain and femur pain. In the last two months I have had two teeth extracted and still have teeth that are not feeling quite right. Stupid me, I never dreamed I would have teeth extracted ever much less this soon after my surgery. Pain does a lot to a person. I want you to know how much it has meant to get such heartfelt support and comments.
 
I went to my internist for blood work on Wednesday and my ESR is only 6. Urine test came back negative also. Good news so far. I am sorry that I did not post anything. You are all my friends now.
 
I'm so glad you got tested. :dancy: I now know you are ok. :happydance: Please let us know how the other test came out. :puppysmooze: We are concerned. :friends: Tashia:yay:
 
I will not have any other results to give you until I return from Mayo. My appointment is in three days and I may not have results from those labs for a few days. Odd thing is that now I am having occasional pain in my right hip, the good one. I have never had any problems with that leg. My left leg, the replaced hip, has left me with too long of a leg and now I have nearly an inch of leg length discrepancy. I found that I can only wear two pairs of shoes. I wear my Asics most of the time. They have removeable insoles so I can slip a shoe lift inside and replace the insole. Much more comfortable that way. The deep sharp pain is only a handful of times each day and last only seconds but practically make me drop from the pain it is so sharp and deep. Yesterday I had none and very little problem walking. Just the agony of getting into my car or stairs or other similar leg movements.
My internist has set up an appointment with a colo rectal specialist to give me some answers there. I have never been right down there since my surgery which is why I had to have the colonoscopy. I read that HSS in New York is supposed to be the #1 ranked hospital for orthopedics. I see they have a website for per surgery with a diet similar to what you must do before a colonoscopy before surgery. My hospital never mentioned those concerns and only was told to eat lightly the day before surgery. I had a general anesthesia and it stopped my digestion and I had such nausea afterward. If I had it to do over again I would have asked for a spinal. It was never offered. I just wouldn't want to see or hear much, but don't think that was possible. It would have been worth the hour or two rather than a lifetime of complications. Thanks all for the support. My best friend has a Counseling MA and has been tremendously helpful. She also had cystitis problems for a time in her life so she knows what that pain is like. Honestly, I thought I was going to get through this surgery a year ago and get my life back and instead I have all these newly acquired chronic debilitating problems, the idea of going on a vacation is unthinkable. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts and I pray one day to have all this stuff under control.
 
Having one leg shorter than he other will put strain on the other side of the body. Before I had my second knee done 8 1/2 weeks after the first, I had problems because I was walking on my tippy toes with the old knee! It is hard on an unbalanced body! :wink:
 
Time for an Update
I had my appointment at Mayo last week. They did not do the hip aspiration because there were no clinical findings to base it on. My ESR and CRP numbers were very low. I don't have the exact numbers. But I was told they were 2 and 3. Cobalt and chrome level was checked with a blood test and also low with chromium being 0.2 and Cobalt being 0.3. My OS at Mayo asked for the Stik Labels from surgery. I got those from my hospital and sent them. I have a titanium modular bone sparing stem, with the articulating part that the ball attaches to being Cobalt and Chromium. The cup is TI 6AL-4v titanium with a liner and the ball is Oxinium zirconium. All are Smith and Nephew
MRI was performed and there was no fluid on my prosthetic but there was fluid on my iliopsoas tendon with shortening of the tendon. He is recommending to inject my tendon diagnostically with an ultrasound and if that does not give good relief to treat nonsurgically with routine radiographic and appropriate serology follow up. Then to look into my back with a neurologist. My pain is getting worse every day.
Yesterday at work the pain was difficult and when I got home I went straight to bed. This morning I am having sharp pain on the front of my hip especially at the top of my anterior surgical scar. I looked at it after my shower and I see a small raised red dot on the scar. That was not there before. Oh no. Thank god I do not work today because I would be unable to go in.
I should be relieved but I feel that my pain level seems greater with every day. More pain with my knee also. I saw that jakhodge88 was posting recently. I have read most of his posts and I want him to know that he is an inspiration.
I still worry that this may be an infection issue and it just has decided to take its sweet time. No one would have hip replacements if they felt the way I do one year post op. I went to a funeral on Saturday and after sitting for the service and later at the fellowship meal I was in agony and just wanted to go home and lie down. I was walking worse than my mother in law who is 85 and has bone on bone on her knees.
Anyway tashia RestAssured, thank you for your support. All I can do now is pray and wait and hope that iliopsis tendon treatment is all that is necessary.
BTW. I loved Mayo. They were supportive and seemed to want to get to the bottom of this. I pray they do. I wish I had gone there for my surgery.
Ps my twin sister now has a new dachshund puppy. A long haired golden one. Adorable.
 
I am glad that you went to Mayo! Don't worry about an infection! Your numbers are DECREASING which is the best news possible! Sitting for prolonged periods, such as the funeral would be hard on you! Take care to get up and move every 15 minutes or so. My hubby, will say "Sonja, come see what the dogs are doing!" His code for get away from computer and get on your feet! :wink: :cheers:
 
Thanks for such a quick reply RestAssured! Whew! This is sooooo hard. I just want to feel well again one day. I only work two afternoons per week and that has proven to be too difficult. I have to stay home the following day recuperating and keeping my leg up.
I wish that Mayo was not so far away. I was very impressed with everyone there. All you had to do was look confused and someone was kindly asking you if you needed help. My OS at Mayo spent more time with me than I would have expected explaining to me what he saw on my X-rays and labs. I normally don't get that here. Also it was beautiful, and very clean. Wish all medical clinics in the US were this way. I have come to expect that I will live with pain. I just want to know how to manage it. It is so unpredictable. So bad today and seems to progressively be getting worse which adds to my anxiety. Also my skin burns on my left leg with no rash and itches off and on throughout my body, one of the reasons they tested me for cobalt and chromium levels.
My twin sister had a dachshund for 17 years. Her dog was going to be 18 one day after Valentines Day this year. She wasn't really ready for a puppy but her hubby could not bear the feeling of not having a doggie in the house to love. I told my surgeon who performed my surgery that I never expected to be "active" after my surgery. Just wanted to be able to walk my dog again. That is difficult for me one year after my surgery...and I am only talking about a 20 minute or less easy walk and it always makes me so happy.
 
Barbie,

As I was chatting with someone else the other day, and I said, sometime you have to focus on one minute after the other for awhile! After a little while, you will find, that you are noticing less pain, and more joy! My road hasn't been a picnic, but I refused it let it get me down for long! I have way too much living too do to let my knee be my BOSS for the rest of my life. Once in awhile it sneaks itself into the picture and reminds me that I am"still" recovering, after all this time, but I refuse to let it rule my life! :happydance: I love being active again, and I am going to make the best of the circumstances that I have been given! :yahoo:

God has been so wonderful to me through all of my story! I am so fortunate!

Laugh, and enjoy life! That is the best thing to get through the down days! :happydance:

By the way,your dog is beautiful! What is the name of him/her? Animals are so therapeutic. I love my Dachshunds!
 
Thank you RestAssured! I need to learn to think like that. I want to get to the point where I can travel and visit my kids and my family. My dog is a Sheltie. He is a rescue dog and he was about 7 months old when I adopted him. His name is Cubbie. He was my gift to myself for my 50th birthday. He is such a good dog. I still cannot believe I have been so blessed to have been at the right place and time to get him. He stayed with a neighbor when I went to Mayo and I was told he spent the entire time waiting by the front door for my return. He is a shaded sable Shetland sheepdog. Extremely well mannered and quiet. He is at my side all of the time. I do like cats, I had one for 21 years, but the devotion from my dog is so sweet.
 
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