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Revised PKR to TKR 12 months later but can’t find my thread

I think you should see an infection specialist just to be on the safe side.
 
I’m trying to determine if we even have one of those. However the surgeon seems to think the first two bugs are gone after removing the old knee replacement. I’m not sure about that though. I’ll wait and see what the bloods say. Although it’s possible they could be negative regardless. And I’ve had two lots of antibiotics.
 
I am not sure where Oz is!! and since you said fortnight, I assume you are in the UK. jo will be the one to help you find someone there. But, it seems that you might need another set of eyes on that knee/
 
Oh sorry, of course you would also use fortnight!! I have been rather depressed lately--my husband died in June and my brain is just not working properly. Of course I could always plead North American geography ignorance!!

It is always frustrating to have a problem and not be able to find the "expert". Most practices that i have seen have one person who handles most of the revisions---the advantage to seeing that person is that he/she has seen more problems and has a better sense of where to look for the answers.
 
shelli22 said:
The surgeon said that because they are different bugs he can’t say I have an infection he said it’s more likely the first two were a contaminant, he said if it were the same bug in the first two sites and the third site, then there would be no doubt it’s an infection.
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I really don't know Shelli. That explanation sounds like no explanation at all and very weird to me.
 
@Josephine. Yep. Me too. I was just answering your question about who told me that lol. It’s all very weird to me too. He’s a great surgeon but that one confuses me. I’ll just wait and see what happens with bloods, sweating, heart rate, swelling and pain. Endocrinologist appointment is in June. So that’s going to help me a lot, not. I can’t deal with this sweating until then and I certainly can’t work like this. I’m going to request earlier, they triage their appointments. Anyway, I have a few more answers than I did, the surgeon has been very approachable and I’m pleased he’s doing more test so I’ll just wait and see. Thanks again for your help I do appreciate it.

@skigirl yes it is difficult. I’m trying to find a name of one of your infection specialists so I can see their description on their web page and then try and match that to someone here who might be called something else. I am so sorry about your husband. Hugs.
 
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Shelli, a little tip if you don't mind. You can reply to many people in one post. If you want to quote their post (preferably not all of it!) have a look at this 'how to' article How to use the quote feature. Doing that you can reply to many people in one post!
 
Just updating. I’m still having a lot of pain and the swelling remains the same if not slightly bigger, but I must say the tramadol rather than the slow release tramadol does work better. My only issue is the break through pain. I will just have to live with it as there’s nothing else to take. The Oxycodone is slow release and the tramadol is the max allowable over 24 hours. Other than that I’m still only doing ADLs and no formal exercise so there is no difference in flexion or extension.

The sciatica is a little better having increased the dose of lyrica, but I have the weirdest spasms anywhere not just my knee. My stomach will tighten then spasm, either leg will do it, my back, even each arm. It’s odd and difficult to describe. Have no idea why this is happening.
 
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:console2: I hope you see improvement soon.
 
Attempted to drop a tramadol and Oxycodone dose as I thought I should be able to decrease them by now. That was one of my leas intelligent moments. Omg the pain. I thought by five weeks I should be able to decrease the amount of strong pain relief. I can’t. Without just one dose the pain jumps to a 9. Perhaps that was not such a good idea.

I went to the shops today. In and out but could barely walk on the way back. It wasn’t a long walk. The car was parked close to the entrance. Walking just that short distance exacerbated my sciatica and my knee swelled to huge.

I am now icing and elevating. I’m exhausted but it was good to get out of this house despite it all. Now I have the fun task of getting on top of the pain and attempting to reduce the swelling. I now know that I’m not ready to reduce the pain meds.
 
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Give yourself an A for effort! Trying to cut down on meds is admirable. However, I wouldn't try it and then go out. Try it for a day or so at home so you know if you can still do your ADLs on the lower dose.

Hope you feel better soon!
 
Cut back on the amount of oxycodone per dose rather than dropping a dose. Best to ease your body off that drug gently should there be withdrawal symptoms to deal with. :nah: At your stage of recovery, most people still need meds for pain. I’m sorry your outing left you in pain. At five weeks, outings are sometimes still a little too much. It depends on the person. Your knee just let you know it needs a little longer before it’s ready for shopping trips.

Here is a suggested schedule for cutting back on prescription pain medications. Stay at each level for 3-4 days or even longer if you notice the pain symptoms increasing. This schedule assumes you are starting with one pill every 4 hours before beginning the reduction process.

1 pill every 6 hours and 2 at bedtime
1 pill every 6 hours and 1½ at bedtime
½ pill every 4 hours and 1½ at bedtime
½ pill every 6 hours and 1½ at bedtime
½ pill every 8 hours and 1½ at bedtime
½ pill every 8 hours and 1 at bedtime
1 pill if you are really doing something active during the day and 1 at bedtime

It is usually better to wean off these meds over several weeks, not several days.
 
Thanks @celynda yes I wasn’t going out and then I was. Unexpected opportunity so I took it. You’re right though. I shouldn’t have tried to cut down on the same day. Thanks for your thoughts.

@SusieShoes the Oxycodone is a slow release 20mg. I take one pill 3 x per day. The tramadol I take one 50 mg pill 6 hourly. As the Oxycodone is slow release and I ’m taking more than the expected dose ie three times a day instead of two, I thought I could drop the middle dose by now. But I should have just tried dropping that one dose but kept the tramadol going. Your schedule would be great but the Oxycodone is slow release so it doesn’t work. In a couple of days I will try skipping the middle dose and changing the times to one in the morning and one in the evening, which is the usual schedule for Oxycodone but keep taking the tramadol 1 pill 6 hourly. That’s hanks for your advice though.

The pain of this revision, 8 weeks after my previous op to remove adhesion was excruciating and needed more than the usual meds. Even the surgeon had trouble finding an appropriate schedule. At the last appointment we discussed the pain and came to the conclusion that it was too early to do the TKR after the previous op however return to work drives the schedule. As I noted above I shouldn’t have tried to go out after dropping two pain meds. Live and learn. I won’t do that again lol. Thanks again for your advice.
 
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shelli22 said:
he sciatica is a little better having increased the dose of lyrica, but I have the weirdest spasms anywhere not just my knee. My stomach will tighten then spasm, either leg will do it, my back, even each arm. It’s odd and difficult to describe. Have no idea why this is happening.
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@shelli22 I had an odd/bad reaction to Lyrica when prescribed it a while back for fibromyalgia pain. I got heart palpitations - go figure. Sorry you are having so much difficulty. I hope you get some relief. I did get tremendous relief from Tramadol and had a terrible reaction to percocet. Once off the percocet and on the tramadol with the addition of Tylenol, I did very well.
 
I truly am not doing anything other than ADLs and walking about the house. I went to the shop once which I think at six weeks is fine especially as, like I said the car was parked right near the entrance. I went in got what I wanted and left. If I did any less I’d be going in reverse!! I sit, ice and elevate most of the day.


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
Six weeks was about when I went grocery shopping for the first time since surgery. Like you, I went in and put a few things in the cart, then sat on a bench at the front of the store while Mr. Shoes finished the shopping. It wasn’t much, but it sure wiped me out. I went every weekend after that (weekly shopping trip) and gradually did more each time.

Sometimes it feels like slow going, but slow going gets you there. Pushing your knee too much is a recipe for pain and setbacks, but you can push it a little —just to where it starts saying, “Okay. Enough.” I also found while in early recovery that sometimes my knees would feel much better, only for the next week to feel like I made no progress at all. Part of that might be that I didn’t, but it was also that sometimes I was just feeling tired and impatient. We’re only human, after all!
 
shelli22 said:
I went to the shop once which I think at six weeks is fine
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You may think it's fine but does the knee? :heehee: Seriously, I did very brief trips by 6 weeks, but it did wipe me out.
 
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