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From: Anne
Date: 21 Jan 2000
Time: 15:28:49
Remote Name: 199.206.254.66
Hello. I wanted to respond to everyone personally as I have been through much of what you all have, so I thought I'd just post...I'm 33 years old. 8 mos. ago I fell off a cliff and crushed my pelvis in 10 places. 15 screws and 6 plates held me together. I developed osteomyelitis and have since had 7 more surgeries, 12 weeks of intravenous antibiotic therapy, and pain like you wouldn't believe. I have never had trouble getting painkillers after the docs see my x-rays. They never say I'm too young for a THR. They want one for me as much as I do. That bone that juts out on a woman's hip has been removed on me because of the infection, so I have a big crater in my hip. I have been on crutches the entire 8 mos. I wake up at night every two hours and take another percoset. On metal on metal: I have heard that studies from europe reveal that in a small % of the cases, tumors develop. Some docs don't like the stem that comes with the m/m hip. The technology is too new for most docs to take it seriously. There were problems with plastic because people thought the plastic would wear out and create debris, but it turns out it wasn't the plastic at fault, it was the cement. Which is why they use the press fit now. On infection: Infection is hard to detect and even harder to cure. X-rays and MRIs help, bone scans help, but biopsies (open surgeries) are the best detection device. But with surgery there's always the chance you'll re-introduce infection. Also, infections come back and are especially fond of unknown bodies such as prostheses. Most conservative docs want to wait for all signs of infection to be completely gone for a good period of time before they will do the THR. I am going on and on. I will check this site for responses. Thanks for "listening". Great site!