John's Femur: a bit of a.... situation

John's recovery from his femor rod removal surgery on Jan 5th was going well. He was spinning, swimming (all with the surgeon's approval), and feeling great. On Thursday, Jan 21st, he came home from a physical therapy appt in intense pain. As in worse than the day of surgery. He couldn't walk, his hip area was massively swollen, he was running a fever and felt sick. Our surgeon in Boulder referred us to a local orthopedic. Friday's ortho appt resulted in a hematoma (internal bleeding) diagnosis from the PT. John was told to ice & elevate his leg, and give the body time to reabsorb the blood naturally. Fast forward 2 days: on Sunday morning, the upper part of his incision re-opened from all the swelling. Fluid was oozing out. We rushed to the ER.

After spending the entire day in the ER, we got confirmation that his incision was infected (massive swelling was pus; not a hematoma). Into emergency surgery he went... they removed all infected tissue and irrigated the wound/femur. John was admitted to the hospital and put on a Vancomycin drip. New diagnosis: a staph infection -- they confirmed during surgery that it was deep; it had gotten inside his femur. Infected bone is more complicated to treat than infected tissue, so were were told to clear our schedule for the next 2 months. For two days we waited on tests to find out what strain of staph he had... hoping it wasn't MRSA, the staph that is resistant to all meds, is often fatal, and often reappears months or years later. Thankfully, we learned that John has MSSA, which is easier to eradicate. Also, MSSA can be treated with nafcillin, an antibiotic that is more body-friendly. The vancomycin that he was on in the hospital is some seriously nasty stuff. The surgeon told me that if John had MRSA, they'd leave him on vanco... but that it often causes lifelong kidney problems, hearing loss, and an inability to digest many foods. That was tough to hear... it's the only drug that kills MRSA, but it also attacks your body. Lots to be positive about: no MRSA and no Vanco!