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

[KarriB]

Some infections can be analyzed immediately while others can take a few days. It took 4 days for all the cultures to grow from my infection, but I was on an antibiotic until the cultures all grew and were analyzed. Then I had a PICC line put in and the correct antibiotics were prescribed for my particular staph infection. I hope this explanation helps.

 

[shelli22]

@ KarriB. That’s why he’s doing it. If it comes back positive for infection he will put a temporary replacement, culture while on antibiotics then if he finds he needs a different antibiotic will swap over.

 

[shelli22]

@Beckaroo this is my new puppy Ollie. A ruby cavalier King Charles.
@jboles I’m going with what the surgeon thinks. Even though every test so far has come back negative he is still convinced something is wrong. He has decided on the path we take. If that is unsuccessful, though I don’t think it will be, then I will have the blood test though I don’t think I will need to. I have total faith in his ability and trust his judgement to date. He has never doubted me. He has had joint surgery himself and has an excellent rapport with his patients.

 

[jboles]

What a cute puppy. I believe it’s very important to have faith and confidence in your surgeon. I hope it all goes well for you.

 

[Josephine]

I was watching a documentary on new technology last night. They demonstrated a new kind of torch that, when shone on a wound, can show if there are any micro-organisms present! Magic!

 

[shelli22]

Ooooohhhh that would make life so much easier @Josephine.

Thanks @jboles he is rather cute and very cheeky too.

It never ceases to amaze me how each of these surgeries strip you of energy. I had this arthroscopy weeks ago and I’m still exhausted. However, that could be a combination of a multitude of things I guess. Recovering from surgery, pain, lack of sleep, lack of appetite and silent stress over upcoming surgery.


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[shelli22]

shelli22,
I think this is the pathogen that @sistersinhim , is referring to:
Acne pathogen implicated in peri-prosthetic infections
It requires extended culturing to detect.

@pumpkin. Yes I read about that pathogen. He did mention cultures but just skimmed over it. I guess he is just going to play it by ear. (Silly saying that I’d call it playing it by sight ). He will wait and see what eventuates on the day. I think being a work injury he is crossing all ts and dotting all i’s. It’s odd having numerous variables, therefore having an unknown outcome, but anything has got to be better than how it is now.

 

[Pumpkin]

shelli22,
Glad to hear your OS is doing a thorough job finding an answer to your problems.

It never ceases to amaze me how each of these surgeries strip you of energy.

I agree with you 100%, seems everyone is surprised at how tired we are after any surgery.
I think joint replacement impacts us much more than we anticipated.
A person is a healing person after surgery. Though we feel like this a lot of the time, .

 

[KarriB]

Let us know what grows. Josephine’s Light that shows infection would be great!

 

[Beckaroo]

Your puppy is absolutely adorable! I’m such a sap for puppies. We’ve got five little dogs. One has bitten me three times, he’s fortunate he’s still in our home. He has a food aggression. One is very old, blind and almost 100% deaf. We’ve had him since he was a baby. Two from shelters, and one pure-bred Pomeranian that was given to my husband by a homeless man who couldn’t care for him any longer. We tried for months to find his owner, no luck. He’s highly trained and so cute!

I’m so excited for your upcoming surgery. Your doctor sounds like he knows what to do and you have confidence in him. Perfect! I’m sure your preparing but remember to get as much rest as possible.

In my prayers....

 

[eaglemom]

Your journey is similar to mine - sort of!!! At the 3 yr mark after my TKR I simply couldn't stand it anymore and had a revision done. I'd had the testing for infections, etc done also.

When I woke up in recovery my surgeon said "I've never seen a knee like that. No wonder you were miserable. I literally used my fingers and lifted the top component out of your leg. The bottom was still attached, but not by much." I wanted to scream I told you so!!!

That was the last of May and it's the end of Jan. Be prepared that recovery from a revision is TOTALLY different than the TKR recovery. Everything takes longer - much longer - much much longer to recover. I am still having stretching issues, but that is related to me, not the knee. Occasionally I need a nap, and if I fight it I'm a bear!! Occasionally need pain meds when I've done too much. If I know I'll be walking much my cane is with me - my security blanket of sorts.

Good luck.

 

[shelli22]

@Pumpkln I have felt like that for the majority of five years but just accepted it until I fell. Then it became horrid. The pain was unbelievable and the arthroscopy didn’t appear to make a difference. The pain is bone pain. That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s not muscular and it’s not tightness or swelling. It’s that sickly vomity bone type of pain. Anyway I regress, the tiredness is worse due to added pain from the fall and the arthroscopy pain. Now I’m worried that as I’ve been taking pain meds for the last six months I will have trouble getting on top of the pain post surgery. Hope he thinks about that when he orders meds. Sigh


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[shelli22]

@Beckaroo you obviously love dogs. I have two. Ollie you’ve seen the pic of and Karma also a cavalier King Charles. She’s Black and Tan, ten and has patella issues and arthritis in both hips. She has to be lifted up on couch etc and I bought her a stroller so I can take Ollie for walks and she rides in the stroller. She loves it lol

I’m trying to rest but the constant bone pain stops me from sleeping plus I remember the pain of the last ops. This will be three times lucky I hope. Well I’m going with that for now lol. I have to try it because I can’t work as a nurse/midwife like I am now. Thanks for your lovely message.


@eaglemom. Hi. Thanks for your post. I think I read your posts but I’m not sure I can remember. I’ll definitely go back and read it now.

It’s the most frustrating thing. Prior to falling I could live with it. It was just tired and heavy at the end of each day. Like I was carrying a leg made of lead. After the fall it was unbearable. Like you the tests were iffy.

Thankfully the surgeon asked whether I could live with this knee. I said no. I can’t work with this level of pain. It makes me feel nauseous. I had a PKR, that was revised to a TKR yet I found the recovery of the TKR much easier than that of the PKR.

But you're saying this may be worse. Oh well better to know beforehand so I can psyche myself up for it lol. Thanks for the heads up lol


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[Pumpkin]

Hope he thinks about that when he orders meds.

Shelli, you need to discuss this with your surgeon and know what the pain plan is going into surgery.
If you click on the Pain Management tab in the banner at the top, you can read about the latest approaches to pain management. Going in informed will help you discuss pain management with your surgeon.

 

[shelli22]

@Pumpkin I will check the pain management on the computer later, thank you. Obviously can’t be done on the phone app I’m assuming?? By the way these are my babies, karma in the stroller and Ollie almost nine months old. These two have kept me sane during this knee saga.


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[lovetocookandsew]

Hi, @shelli22 . First off, I have to say, I'm not a "dog person" but your puppies really are cute-especially the second one!

Anyway, I've been reading the last part of your thread from about 2016-ish and on. Your recovery is so similar to mine it's almost scary....or at least eerie.

I too, have had nothing but problems in the almost 4 years since my TKR. I did have the metal allergy testing at the Chicago lab and I am reactive to nickel as we suspected. I have had non-stop pain of varying levels since about 6 months or so after the TKR (some of the pain and swelling before that may have been partly due to whatever has been going on in there, but it does take a year to heal so some of the pain and swelling was due to healing) that had been getting better at the very beginning but then did a 180 and started going downhill. My knee has been badly swollen the entire 4 years also. It matches the "huge" picture from Josephine.

I swallowed my pride and have been using a cane again lately but my life is basically restricted, at best. I do try to go and do some things regardless, but some things, like riding my bike, taking stairs like an adult, long walks, swimming, etc. are just not possible. And when I do do things I pay for them later.

I would have already had a revision except for the really, really bad reactions I have to pain meds. I scared the wits out of my OS one time-he saw one of the reactions I was having and told me later he thought I was going to die.

But I am having the revision this April because, as my OS says, at some point we just have to bite the bullet and do it (he would do it sooner but we are in the middle of a bad flu season and he wants me nowhere near the hospital until it's over). We have worked out a complicated pain management plan that will hopefully do the trick (although it includes a longer than usual hospital stay....grrrrrrrrrrrr), and with my crazy body there are no guarantees; plus he is using a gold knee so the allergy problem is taken care of.

I've also had a couple of smaller surgeries since the TKR like you, plus all the same tests for infection, which were negative. All this to say, we are very similar, and I really understand what you are going through and I am so sorry you have to go through it all.

I'm glad you are getting things taken care of and I wish you all the best. I plan to follow you as you go through it all to see how you do.

 

[shelli22]

@lovetocookandsew hi how are you.

What is really odd is that I remember reading your threads, I remember you sorting your sewing room and I followed you right up until I returned to work.

It’s interesting how some of us have struggled with constant swelling. Mind you I learnt to live with it in the end and worked 8-10 hour days regardless but then I fell down the stairs in the dark leaving work and that’s been the trigger for the rest of this nightmare. Still thankfully the surgeon agrees and is willing to search for answers.

I will also follow your thread when you have your surgery in April. It will be interesting how each of us go this time. I have no choice as there is no way I can work with this pain and I still have 16 years of working to go. Living alone means I have to have functioning legs so I can work both at work and at home. Great to hear from you after all this time.

 

[lovetocookandsew]

I may have read your original threads back then, but don't remember. I'll have to go back to the beginning and read them to see if I remember reading them back then. I took a pretty bad fall recently too-flew over a table head first into a sliding glass door and ended up with my bad knee bent under me. Thankfully, x-rays showed the implant was okay, other than maybe some loosening, but if there is loosening it may or may not have been caused by the fall.

I can't imagine working long days on my feet like you do-I don't know how you bear it. I hope you have help lined up for after-at least part of the time.

I don't have a date yet, but I did receive a call the other day from his scheduler saying he wants it done in April, so she'll call me when that schedule is available.

 

[shelli22]

@lovetocookandsew I haven’t been at work since I fell. I can’t. After 30 minutes on my feet the pain is excruciating and I feel like vomiting lol. Wow you really went for a sixer. I hope your head is ok. That would have really hurt. I smacked my head on the way down the stairs on a concrete wall that was in front of the stairs. Luckily I was at work in a hospital so went to emergency. They just did neuro observations but didn’t check the rest of me. Their only concern was my head. I hope you get a date soon. I think it’s time we got these knees fixed!!

@Josephine just a quick question which I probably should know the answer to. This time due to possible allergy the surgeon will be cementing the implant. Is there a difference? Is one way better than the other? I’ve probably read the answer somewhere but I don’t recall. Just curious.


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[shelli22]

I have been searching for hours for a lounge dr pillow in Australia. They are not available here. The closest I can find is 3 inches lower. It is so difficult to find anything comparable to the things you can purchase there. To have it sent over from USA the shipping is double the cost of the lounge dr. That’s not going to happen so I’m going to risk it and purchase the one available here.