[rohrmann]

Becky had her right knee replaced in 2015, and some months later an infection erupted. The surgery after that replaced the plastic spacer, cleaned out the infection and she was on a picc line infusion of antibiotics for six weeks. Things were looking good, picc line was removed, but a day and a half later the knee was fully swelled up again. A while later, surgery #3, the hardware was removed, replaced with an antibiotic spacer and six more weeks of antibiotic via a picc line infusion. Finally, surgery #4, she had new hardware installed and is doing well, except that leg is about a 1/2" longer than the other. All this was due to a staph infection, likely from the hospital. All this to say, I don't think replacing the plastic spacer is too dramatic a surgery and it's great that it's not the hardware that has to be replaced. Removal of hardware requires the use of a slide hammer device. Good luck. I had my right hip replaced the end of 2015 and the left one replaced October 2021, and both were easy, same surgeon that did Becky's initial knee replacement. Knees and hips are both considered outpatient surgeries now by Medicare.