Revision TKR CUBBY217's has a new Oxinium knee implant!

[cubby217]

Borymms4--Sorry your surgery got postponed. That is annoying when your mindset is at Let's do it and it gets postponed. What kind of implant is that?

 

[borymms4]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...ap-Implant-Systems-LLC Debuts-VEGA-System®-PS

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[borymms4]

Cubby217 here is a link on my new knee. It is gold coated so no nickel will b touching or showing to my body. Yes it is a big let down to have my surgery postponed. Hopefully after April 25th,my cardiologist appt. I can have it rescheduled asap.

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[cubby217]

Borymms4-- that implant looks really interesting. I am having surgery this week on my neck so I am putting knee on hold. I will make an appt at New England Baptist Hospital for next month for a 2nd opinion but right now I need to deal with this neck issue. I have a "lipoma" under my left jaw that my primary care doc has been bugging me to have out. Praying that it is okay and only leaves me with another scar on my vain person. LOL Good luck on your cardiology appt. Oh and I had to come off of my blood thinner for A-Fib so the nice cardiology nurse told me I have a 2% chance of having a stroke. Just another thing to worry about!

 

[borymms4]

Oh my. I will b thinking of u . Please keep me posted on how ur doing with ur neck surgery. My husband has had multiple back surgeries so I completely understand. U will do just fine,and will just have another scar. I know I m a major worry wart too but in the end all that worrying was for nothing cause it ends up things turn out ok in the end. Please keep me posted.

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[Born2teach]

In May of 2015 I had a TKR of my right knee. At 55 years young, I had imagined my life to be improved immensely with the new knee. Visions of walks through the neighborhood, bike rides along the river, and outings with my children brought joyful anticipation of what the future would. Although, the recovery was going to be a lot of work, I just knew it would be worth it. Shortly thereafter, I soon realized that my recovery wasn't going as expected. My knee developed excessive swelling, inflammation, and fluid. After many visits to my OS to request him to help problem solve the issues, it became apparent that he believed that it was just swollen and time would heal it. My gut told me that something was wrong, and it I couldn't get the doctor to hear my concerns.

Prior to my surgery, I asked the doctor if the Du Puy Attune implant contained nickel. He said that it did. I shared with him that I am highly allergic to nickel and couldn't have it. He assured me that he knew of no one that had a problem with knee implants that contain nickel. When I reinforced that I had terrible reactions to wearing jewelry with nickel, he cut me off and said that there was nothing to worry about. He reassured me that it was not going to be touching my skin and would be inside my leg where there would be no problems.

After 8 months of numerous calls, office visits, and painfully limping, (and being told that my knee was "normal"), I finally got the doctor to take my concerns seriously. He said he believed I had scar tissue and decided to perform arthroscopic surgery in January. During the surgery he removed scar tissue that had wrapped around the post of the implant and along the right side of the patella. It was a wonder I could walk at all! At the next office visit, he told me the implant was fine. So, I once again believe that I was finally on the road to a full recovery. Twelve days after that surgery, my knee began to get worse again. More inflammation, swelling and excess fluids were causing extreme pain and difficulty sitting, walking, or moving the knee at all. I called the doctor's office to report that it was getting worse again and thought the scar tissue was coming back. I asked the nurse to ask the doctor if there was anything we could do.The nurse just told me that my doctor was booked and couldn't see me until May (the phone call took place in February).

I began to the process of trying to get in to see another OS in December prior to the first doctor deciding to perform my scar tissue removal. When the scar tissue surgery didn't provide relief or results and the knee continued to worsen, I followed thru and made the appointment for April with the PA at the second doctor's office. At that appt. blood was taken for several tests including the MELISA test. Funny thing, when I asked the first doctor if he thought I could be allergic to the nickel, he said "no". When I asked if he could perform a blood test for it, he said he wasn't aware of one. He said that he could draw some fluid from the knee and mix it with a chemical in his office and we would know if it reacted with the chemical if I was allergic to nickel. That seemed far fetched to me. I didn't consent to that procedure, since he had already told me he wouldn't do any aspiration because it was a high risk for introducing infection. Why would he risk infection for one reason, but not the other? I think he was just trying to get me to drop the idea of a nickel allergy possibility. LOL

This afternoon I received the results in the mail from my second doctor. My appointment with him is in May, and I had requested the results sent to my home to look over them. The results indicate that I am highly reactive to nickel! Has anyone else had a nickel allergy to the knee implant? What were your results?

 

[cubby217]

Born2teach--like that name. My daughter is also a teacher. Your post sounds just like me but I have dealing with this since 2010. My right TKA never felt right and my L partial was a longer recovery. Now I can barely walk, can't stand up from a sitting position and actually walk with horrendous pain and stiffness. I have been on the phone with the doctor because my implant has nickel as does the cement. My patch test over a month ago left a scar on my back. It was the size of a quarter. OS was not aware of recall of implant. That is pretty scary. There is no record of the Serial # of my implant neither at doctor or hospital. I have called the company that made the implant and they cannot find any record of me having their implant. I am so frustrated that I finally called a lawyer friend yesterday to have him guide me the rest of the way with this. It is horrible to be in pain for 16 years after being in pain with the osteoarthritis for 10 years before plus several incidences of torn meniscus.

 

[cubby217]

Also I am flying to see my granddaughters graduate in three weeks. Have to change planes both going down and coming back. Dreading the fly and getting stiff in the already cramped seats. Trying to walk between terminals is so difficult that I have had to ask for a wheelchair. I HATE looking and feeling like an invalid. I was always so independent.

 

[newlybionic]

@Born2teach I'm so sorry to hear about your problems with your knee. I didn't have an allergy to nickel but my original OS messed up my surgery so that I kept getting worse and worse until it was impossible to stand from a sitting position and I limped and was in pain all the time. He also told me everything was ok. Fortunately I found an excellent revision OS who had to take everything out and replace it. He even found free floating pieces of cement floating in the joint. It is so difficult to try to fight to get everything fixed so you can at least walk comfortably. There are implants that don't contain nickel. I hope you can finally get this fixed so you can have the life you imagined before your TKR.

@cubby217 I hope you can get your knees fixed and you start in the road to recovery. You definitely have been waiting long enough.

 

[borymms4]

@cubby217 I completely know where u coming from. I m allergic to nickel and knew something was wrong with my replacement. I have a rash on my replacement knee area,referred as a nickel rash, and it keeps growing. I had my knee replacement done in 2009 when I was 35 and after 6 months I knew something was wrong went back and told os and he told me that everything was fine,that I would just get used to the pain. Went to other os visits and no one cared. Finally started just calling offices and was told it was all normal,I even fall alot,sometimes 5xs a day and was told it was quite normal to fall after a knee replacement. So I just kept getting worse and stopped looking for help cause no one cared. Now it's been 7 yrs and I can no longer get a shower by myself,can't go shopping can't even walk off of my deck into the yard,rash is spreading even bigger and hubby and I finally found someone to help me. I had to go out of my area,it's an hr. Away for someone to help me. (I even had the patch test done for previous os and after results were positive they still said I was fine) so with the new os I find out that it's not just the nickel allergy the original os misaligned my replacement and never filed the back of my kneecap and neglected to put the plastic button on the back of the knee cap. So now I will b having a full revision knee replacement on may 23rd and will b getting a gold coated knee replacement. I m happy but nervous to go through all this again but at this point I can't function and can barely walk,some days not at all. Hopefully u can find the help u need too

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[cubby217]

Oh my. I will b thinking of u . Please keep me posted on how ur doing with ur neck surgery. My husband has had multiple back surgeries so I completely understand. U will do just fine,and will just have another scar. I know I m a major worry wart too but in the end all that worrying was for nothing cause it ends up things turn out ok in the end. Please keep me posted.

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I had the surgery and the tumor is out. I have 3 levels of stitches and now have an infection in the rear part of the incision which is almost under my ear. Am on a sulfur antibiotic and hoping it gets better quick. Until I am done with this, I cannot deal with my knee but I did consult a lawyer friends as to what to do next since I can't seem to find out if my implant was one of the recalls. It is a real mess.

 

[cubby217]

Well I finally have an appt to have my knees checked out. Unfortunately I have to see the P-AC instead of the doctor since he will be away on my originally scheduled appointment. My right Mako partial knee will not straighten. The left knee just burns. I can't sleep at night. I am still trying to find out if my implants were recalled but the tickets with the serial numbers have disappeared. Actually, you won't believe this, but the hospital has no record in the billing department where I was told that the tickets go, that I was even a patient in the hospital on the day of my first surgery. I am starting to get scared and wondering if Medicare is going to pay for this second surgery. So many questions and no answers. I have thought of hiring a lawyer but have no money for that.

 

[cubby217]

The previous reply is an old one. I do have the appt with the PA-C tomorrow to discuss the revision and the nickel allergy. Also have read a lot about Exactech Optetrak problems in other TKAs (my left knee) and also with the Mako in my right knee. I am so disgusted BUT I did finally get copies of the tickets off the implant boxes BUT there is not way that I know that they are absolutely mine as my name is nowhere on the copies. I have too Assume that they are mine. Now I have to investigate whether they were, in fact, recalled.

BUT I do have a question. If it turns out that this doctor will do the revisions, will Medicare and BC still pay for it or will they be wondering if it was a recall or a nickel allergy. My biggest fear is who this bill will go to. Also interested if anyone has had experience with a Dr. Daniel Ward at New England Baptist in Boston.

Borysmom--how did you make out?

 

[cubby217]

I went to to an NEBH ortho doc yesterday but had to see his wonderful PA. She suspects an infection so I am having synovial draws on both knees next week at NEBH. She also looked at my bone scan and said my right knee which is swollen and giving out constantly has loosened. That is my partial and will be replaced with a total with no nickel as will my left TKA. I was impressed and although this will be a long process, I am relieved. It appears I may be having 4 revisions in the process. But surprisingly I am not afraid.

 

[Celle]

@cubby217
I'm sorry to hear there is some suspicion you may have an infection. I do hope the tests prove that you don't.

As long as there is no infection, your right PKR can be replaced in one operation, with TKR hardware that is suitable for someone with a nickel allergy. Unfortunately PKRs often have to be replaced - many of them don't last very long.
I had my right PKR replaced with a TKR after 11 years. I was one of the lucky ones whose PKR lasted a bit longer. My recovery from the revision was no worse than my recovery from the original PKR.

If there is no infection, your left TKR can be also be replaced in one go. It's the presence of infection that would complicate things.

 

[cubby217]

Advise needed.

Are you ready for this? NO infection. That's the good news. Now the confusing news. My ortho doc had back surgery and is taking an extended medical leave. I totally understand that. So they put me with another surgeon and I was supposed to see him last week. The day before the appt, my doctor's PA called me to say that the new doctor had decided he would not operate on me. He was not going to do revisions, only straight TKAs. So now my appt is with the original doctor on October 16th with surgery probably late December. I am in horrible knee pain and right knee is supposedly loose. It was also suggested that I might want to go to Brigham and women's hospital or see a brand new doctor at NEBH. By new I mean he has only been on staff since June. Too new for me to feel confident in him.

So yesterday I called and asked why the second doctor would not do at least my right knee because it is so bad. This is what I was told. I am a high risk patient and NEBH only does Ortho work. They recommended Brigham because of my health conditions. I had A-fib 4 years ago and to my knowledge, have not had a problem since then. Also, I have a nickel allergy. So their thought is that since NEBH is ONLY a ortho hospital so should I have an emergency, they do not have staff to treat me and I would have to be sent to Brigham anyway!n AND I don't even know if the original doctor, after finally seeing me, will even do my surgery!!

So--has anyone on Bonesmart had a knee revision or TKA at Brigham or even Mass General, the later being my favorite hospital.Also, if you have, can you recommend a surgeon? I am so disappointed because I wanted to be in an Ortho hospital where I know thing won't get botched up (hopefully) and the care would be good because that is all they do.

Thanks for any suggestion and help you can give me.

 

[newlybionic]

I'm sorry about your delay in your plans for surgery. The larger hospitals usually have a floor or wing dedicated to ortho patients so you will still be taken care of by a trained staff. I would call the hospital and get the names of ortho docs practicing there and contact their offices to check whether they have someone who does revisions and try to see 2 different OS so you can find the right one for you.

 

[cubby217]

@Born2teach and @borymms4 What was the outcome of your Revision surgery due to Nickel? I have been to B&W and the fellow who saw me told me that "you can read about nickel allergies on the internet but there is no merit to it". I then saw the OS who looked at my x-rays and bone scans and says my R Mako is not right. It should have been a TKA because of the osteoarthritis in my knee which is severe. He says I have spurs on the back of my knee which is giving me all the pain. Also my left knee has too much play in it and he wasn't sure he could fix that!. He remarked that he didn't know whether he wanted to get in the middle of the whole thing. I found that strange because I am willing to let him do it. He sent me for a bone scan because he wanted to know if "anything else was going on my body." Also said that I might need to have another aspiration because the original one was not grown for 14 days which it needed to be. The total body bone scan seemed to create a situation between the techs. When it was done, they waited for a call back from the radiologist. THEN came in and asked if I had ever had cancer. Went out and came back and asked if I had ever had a trauma. Then proceeded to ask what other surgeries I had had and if I had anything problems with my Bladder! So I told him that I had just had a uteroscopy and laser treatment on my kidney in July for a 7 mm stone which was not successful and now I have two 3 mm stones. It just goes on and on...

So now I sit here waiting for results but am thinking of asking this doctor to please do the Melisa test that I read about here and on the net. I don't want to go through a revision with an implant with nickel in it and since my patch test was so bad...

 

[borymms4]

Hi Cubby217, it has been 4 months now since my revision. I am doing better in the fact that I am no longer falling and my rash/burn is no longer spreading. I am glad I got it done. I have some permanent damage because of it being so bad and not being able to find anyone to fix it or admit to the allergy for 7 yrs. I am still in a decent amount of pain but still better then before. As for doctors ,most don't believe that u can be allergic and the patch test is a positive way to prove that you are . If the surgeons,doctors don't really want to get into the middle of all this most likely they won't be willing to admit that you are allergic,mine didn't. My revision surgery was 4 hours mayb a little longer,you just have to keep trying to find the right surgeon. Feel free to ask me anything else u would like to know

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[mamazipp]

I just can't understand the resistance of the medical establishment to the fact of metal allergy. I have had a lifetime reaction to nickel earrings and told my OS and he said he'd put in a titanium implant. No argument, no need for testing. He took me at my word and did the right thing. It's that simple. If they'd had their ears pierced as youngsters and were forced to wear earrings ( and so-called silver is mostly nickel in earrings) then they'd believe it.
I hope you can find someone who takes this seriously.