TKR Effusion & neuropathy

I would like to hear people's experiences and wisdom regarding insuring a good outcome for a revision. My state of Maine has an excellent ortho/revisionist, Dr. Becker, who friends have used, a three hour drive. But when I sought a second opinion a few years ago, I went to Dr. Andrew Freiburg at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and apparently he's top drawer. It's 6 hours away. As much as I loathe going to Boston for surgery, I'm thinking that my decision should be based on the best possible surgeon rather than convenience. Your thoughts?

I also learned that I am highly sensitive to nickel. I have cobalt-chromium components and am told the nickel allergy isn't an issue. Anyone have experience one way or another?

The bottom line is I'm scared because my TKA was a nightmare due to arthrofibrosis. You get the 3rd degree from physical therapists, whose best efforts make you worse.
@Jamie - I wonder if you could advise maryo52, please?
 
@Josephine hello again, and a question. You said on another person's thread that revision has a 50/50 chance of success. Is that for all causes? I wish I had my X-ray to show you but there was a triangle black space to one side of the tibial peg. It was wider at the top.
 
Both. To my way of thinking, there's no point in counting degrees. You can eyeball the bend. The OS can, the PT can, and we can.
I didn’t want to get off topic in the thread where I asked who you refused to let measure your ROM so I figured I’d come here to continue.

It was bad enough that my PT pushed too far to measure, but my surgeon was also a fan of doing that. It took until my 7 month check up to not let my surgeon do that to me.

I have a weird sensation that in my knee also that I call nerve damage, no specific diagnosis. Obviously, early in recovery our incision is very sensitive and anything, pants, blanket, etc. bothers it, because it hasn’t healed yet.

My partial (Patellofemoral) was done in March of 2017, so I was 7+ months post op by autumn last year.

Any time I put pants on, or longer capris, anything touching the knee, it feels like something big and hard swells up immediately inside the knee. I’m ok if I wear shorts.

This is very different from the early incision sensitivity. It’s extremely uncomfortable. I dread the cold weather coming.

I also have nerve issues on the foot of my non operated leg that I’ve had for over 5 years. My foot gets upset just having a sock on it, and a shoe is worse. I’ve been to several doctors about my foot and nothing has helped.

Just wanted to let you know I’m another one with nerve issues and no help.
 
@Jockette I had a hint of numbness in my operative leg after surgery. Almost certainly unrelated, in retrospect, as now, 8 years later, I've been diagnosed with Small Fiber Neuropathy. This is where the tiny nerves at the ends of our nervous system (for me, in feet) have died back. The result is partial numbness and lots of pain. Your description sounds like that, and if you wish to investigate, the diagnostic test is a "punch biopsy." PM me if you wish more info.

I never had the sensitivities you mention. But a doctor can have a compounding pharmacy make up a cream to address nerve issues in the skin if that's what you have.

Thanks for being in touch. It's just nice to connect with people right now.
 
One of the things we tried on my foot was a compound cream that was ridiculously expensive. It didn’t help at all. I had shots on my toe joints twice, nothing. I just do my best to keep my foot happy. I found good supportive sandals that my foot likes, so that’s good. As long as the weather is warm, it’s manageable. But it’s October now, cold weather is coming. I’ll just have to deal with the discomfort when I’m not home.

My knee seems to be doing the same thing with pants that my foot does with shoes. It would make more sense, sort of, if it was the same leg.
 
@maryo52....I'm not sure what advice I can give you that will help you make a decision about what surgeon to see. I would hope you have discussed your complete history with any doctors you are considering. In particular, you might want to search out a revision specialist who also has worked with metal allergies. Am I correct in assuming that you had the blood test and not a skin patch test that determined your sensitivity to nickel? If not, you really do need to get the blood test as it appears to be more accurate in predicting potential problems.

The bottom line with a revision surgeon is that you want someone who does a lot of revisions and who has dealt with problems like yours. Since you have ligament issues, that should be part of your conversation and you need to know what he plans to do to resolve this issue for you. If you find you need additional recommendations for a doctor, I possibly can help with that.
 

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