A 24-year-old presented in labour requesting an epidural. She had been
diagnosed as having ''pelvic arthropathy'' at 37 weeks. After an unev
entful epidural and instrumental delivery, she discharged herself home
. She re-presented 19 days later with left hip pain and abnormal neuro
logical signs in the lower limbs. On MRI, there was a large paraspinal
abscess with an epidural granulation mass compressing her spinal cord
. She had an urgent surgical decompression. In hindsight, it is likely
that the paraspinal mass was present at the time of epidural insertio
n. The discussion highlights that complications are sometimes not what
they seem.