Hi all! Hope I'm posting in the right place (I've forgotten what to do!), but am now heading for a 2nd THR (right), following a successful LTHR and a very dodgy RTKR.
My right knee got an infection 5 weeks post-op, and I had 2 weeks in hospital as an emergency with a full debridement, & then I had a wound below the knee that wouldn't heal. I did document some this on here (thank you, lovely people, for sending love and support!), but lost the will to continue as depression set in. I was hooked up to a Wound-Vac 24/7 for nearly 2.5 months, got blisters under the sticky patch holding it on, and had a very hard time, plus I believe i was "Floxed", ie suffered ill-effects from 90 days' worth of the vile Ciprofloxacin antibiotic. Eventually, the awful hole in my leg just closed and healed (much, I think, to the tissue team's surprise!), and although my leg feels odd all the time, with the skin is sore & also numb and is very clunky, the overall pain is far less than pre-op.
And now I face a new hip, and after that, another new knee. My other knee keeps sort of "going out" when I go to sit, and the x-ray has shown the patella is sitting at a funny angle, with bone-on-bone below. It hurts, looks twisted, but isn't too awful, except I can't straighten my leg.
The hip, however, is mind-blowingly awful - far worse than the first hip, or anything else I've been through (& boy, have i been through the lot!).
My big problem is at night - I can't lie down in any position without awful pain. As a result, I'm often only getting 2-3 hours' sleep a night. Last night (?!) I gave up at 6am and crawled downstairs to a recliner, where I managed 3 hours broken snoozing. I have a date for the hip op - now about 6 weeks away.
But where I could really do with help is mentally. I have given up on life - my poor beloved husband of over 40 years has to come home from a 10 hour day to find me dissolved in tears at the slightest thing. I've become completely over-sensitised to pain (I do possibly have - as yet unconfirmed - fibromyalgia), and its almost as if I have mild PTSD from the whole knee experience. The hospital I was in as an emergency did work wonders, but my god, it was grim! No sleep, as I was on a ward of 8, most of whom were ladies with dementia who screamed all night, and one horrid nurse who ridiculed me (she shouted to everyone "Look at the little cry-baby in Bed 5!") in front of the whole ward the one time I did have a quiet little cry. I'm just terrified of history repeating itself, although I'd give anything to be free of the excruciating acute pain when the hip "clicks out" and then gets stuck. I've had counselling, was on anti-depressants (came off, as after a few years I think their effect had lessened), and have a lovely husband who will help, but I'm reduced to a pathetic wreck, especially when sleep-deprived. Anyone else been there, or can help make me braver? (I should add that all this comes on top of a big heart op, breast cancer, & a full hysterectomy, all in the past 3 years). My surgeon is absolutely brilliant, and I trust him totally, and the hospital I will be going in to is lovely. But I'm so very defeated by it. There doesn't seem to be an end to it all - it's one thing after another. (I'm so sorry for being so weak.)
Please, any suggestions? Anyone else been there??
Sending hugs to anyone else on here who needs one! x
My right knee got an infection 5 weeks post-op, and I had 2 weeks in hospital as an emergency with a full debridement, & then I had a wound below the knee that wouldn't heal. I did document some this on here (thank you, lovely people, for sending love and support!), but lost the will to continue as depression set in. I was hooked up to a Wound-Vac 24/7 for nearly 2.5 months, got blisters under the sticky patch holding it on, and had a very hard time, plus I believe i was "Floxed", ie suffered ill-effects from 90 days' worth of the vile Ciprofloxacin antibiotic. Eventually, the awful hole in my leg just closed and healed (much, I think, to the tissue team's surprise!), and although my leg feels odd all the time, with the skin is sore & also numb and is very clunky, the overall pain is far less than pre-op.
And now I face a new hip, and after that, another new knee. My other knee keeps sort of "going out" when I go to sit, and the x-ray has shown the patella is sitting at a funny angle, with bone-on-bone below. It hurts, looks twisted, but isn't too awful, except I can't straighten my leg.
The hip, however, is mind-blowingly awful - far worse than the first hip, or anything else I've been through (& boy, have i been through the lot!).
My big problem is at night - I can't lie down in any position without awful pain. As a result, I'm often only getting 2-3 hours' sleep a night. Last night (?!) I gave up at 6am and crawled downstairs to a recliner, where I managed 3 hours broken snoozing. I have a date for the hip op - now about 6 weeks away.
But where I could really do with help is mentally. I have given up on life - my poor beloved husband of over 40 years has to come home from a 10 hour day to find me dissolved in tears at the slightest thing. I've become completely over-sensitised to pain (I do possibly have - as yet unconfirmed - fibromyalgia), and its almost as if I have mild PTSD from the whole knee experience. The hospital I was in as an emergency did work wonders, but my god, it was grim! No sleep, as I was on a ward of 8, most of whom were ladies with dementia who screamed all night, and one horrid nurse who ridiculed me (she shouted to everyone "Look at the little cry-baby in Bed 5!") in front of the whole ward the one time I did have a quiet little cry. I'm just terrified of history repeating itself, although I'd give anything to be free of the excruciating acute pain when the hip "clicks out" and then gets stuck. I've had counselling, was on anti-depressants (came off, as after a few years I think their effect had lessened), and have a lovely husband who will help, but I'm reduced to a pathetic wreck, especially when sleep-deprived. Anyone else been there, or can help make me braver? (I should add that all this comes on top of a big heart op, breast cancer, & a full hysterectomy, all in the past 3 years). My surgeon is absolutely brilliant, and I trust him totally, and the hospital I will be going in to is lovely. But I'm so very defeated by it. There doesn't seem to be an end to it all - it's one thing after another. (I'm so sorry for being so weak.)
Please, any suggestions? Anyone else been there??
Sending hugs to anyone else on here who needs one! x
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