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Knee Infection* Infection at 7 Months Post Op - Back to Crutches

I’m a middle school teacher, and my school has been face to face since August. My state started vaccinating teachers at the end of January. I hope everyone who wants to get vaccinated will have a chance soon.

I just had my first home PT visit. The point of PT during this transition phase is to keep my muscles strong and limber. I’ll be doing light range of motion exercises to give myself the best possible outcome for my final revision surgery. Right now (1 week post op from the infection clean out and antibiotic spacer placement) I am at 75 for flexion and -22 for extension. Extension has been very badly impacted over the last couple of months by the infection. I’m hoping to improve this before my final revision.
 
That's great you are now fully vaccinated. Glad you're getting the picc line extension caps sorted out and twice weekly visits from home health and in-home p.t. Good for you being so well-organized. You overdid it but now you know what your limits are.
Good luck with the range of motion exercises; remember to not overdo it with those. Stay healthy; things are looking good for you.:hugzz:
 
@Jaycey and @liam2015
I can’t take credit for being so organized. My hospital case manager and my health insurance case manager worked together to set everything up. All I had to do was answer my phone when the home health nurse and home PT (both work for the same home care company) and Bioscrip infusion company called to schedule their appointment/delivery times with me. They made it soooo easy for me!!!
 
That is so good that you have casesmanagers who work together. Great news about the vaccine I am still waiting on mine but my husband gets his second one on Tuesday...he is the high risk person in our family so I am happy he is getting it. Remember no to overdo it and relax a bit. :)
 
My picc line bandage started coming off today. Despite wrapping it in a paper towel, press and seal wrap and a bath towel, it got damp today when I washed my hair in the sink. From now on someone will have to wash my hair for me so the water doesn’t run down my arm to the picc line.

I called home health and this afternoon they sent a nurse over to change the dressing and clean the picc line insertion site. She also took my vitals while she was here. I have a low grade fever 99.7. I couldn’t get warm yesterday but my temp was normal every time I took it. Then this morning I woke up soaking wet. Fever must have spiked in the night and then broken because it was normal when I woke up.

So now I don’t know if the fever is from the 2nd covid shot I got on March 3rd, or from the surgery, or from the staph infection. She told me to take my temp every couple of hours and call in if it goes up past 100.7.

I’ve been on really strong antibiotics since Feb 25th, so I don’t think the infection is raging out of control.
 
A low grade temperature is very common after surgery as your body heals @Mrs. Ciz. It is smart to monitor it though.
 
Now that the Tylenol/Tramadol is close to wearing off (due for more at 10:00 pm), my fever is up to 102.4. I called the on call doctor. He told me to take Tylenol and make an appointment for Tuesday or Wednesday if the fever persists. So that’s my plan for now. He thinks it might be my body fighting off the knee infection. We’ll see. I feel like :censored:
 
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Ohhh nooooo. I'm so sorry. You've been through it all. Keep us in the loop - whenever you feel like it.
 
I really hope it's from the covid shot, I know many co-workers who struggled with feeling bad after the 2nd dose, fevers, feeling like the flu etc for a couple days. Keep us posted, and continue to rest up and heal!
 
My doctor wants me to wait a day or two longer. He thinks it’s probably a delayed response to the 2nd Covid vaccine I got on 3/3 OR a reaction to the vancomycin. One of the known side effects is drug fever.

The fever cycle repeated again yesterday: morning - in 99s; afternoon - chills but still in 99s, so I bundle in a sweater blankets to get warm; evening - fever spike (102.7 last night), so I unbundle and within an hour or two my temp is back to the 99s.

It seems to be continuing today. It’s 2:33 pm; my temp is 99, and the chills have started. We’ll see if I spike again today. I can deal with a temp in the 99s, but when it goes to 101-102, I feel awful!

In the middle of all of my health issues, my husband has been dealing with his father’s health crisis. His dad was diagnosed with low risk MDS cancer in January. He started chemo in February. He tolerated the first round of chemo very well, and during his off weeks, they put in a port to make his next round of chemo even easier. Unfortunately the port got infected. He was in and out of ICU for two weeks while they tried to save him, but sepsis had quickly set in. After getting all the test results back, his oncologist told the family that there was nothing more that could be done. Due to the MDS and his compromised blood cells, his body could not fight off the sepsis. My husband went to Delaware to be with his dad and family on Sunday. He started hospice care in the hospital on Monday and passed away early this morning at 2:12 am. It has been an emotional rollercoaster and incredibly hard, but my husband, his mom and siblings are so grateful for the time they got to spend with him in his last days. My daughter came home from college to stay with me, so my husband could be with his dad. She’s taking good care of me!

I think my family is due for some good luck soon!
 
I’m so sorry to hear about your father in law.

I do hope your fever settles down, yes, they can make us feel awful. I’m glad your daughter is with you.
 
I am so sorry about your father-in-law. It was good that the family could be with him. I hope your fever is starting to ease up and hopefully it is just the response from the COVID shot. I don't normally react to shots but while I was in the middle of all my procedures I got a flu shot. I was so sick for 3-4 days with fever, sweats all over miserable. Even though I was on the PICC I think my immune system was just shot.

How is your knee with all of this?
 
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Awesome of your daughter to step up and help when you needed it. Raised that one right!
 
@PegGar16
The knee is doing ok. The sutured area is finally settling down, flattening out, and is pretty much all scabbed over. I get the nylon stitches out on Tuesday. It is still sore but not as sore as the first knee replacement was. I was able to stop taking oxy during the day last week. Then I only took one or two pills at night, but I was able to stop that a few days ago as well, and I still have 6 pills left just in case I need them. I ran out of Tramadol on Tuesday morning and stupidly thought I could go without that as well. I could not!!! Even the gentle heel slides and leg lifts left me in pain (where the tourniquet was on my thigh and where they had to remove the infected bone on my tibia). Quad sets and ankle pumps were ok. I finally got more Tramadol tonight. I felt like things were progressing nicely and were very manageable until the fevers started. Now I feel shaky, exhausted and sick most of the time. If it is a reaction to the vancomycin, I’m afraid I will have 4 more weeks of fevers.
 
My fever spiked twice yesterday/early this morning - 102 at around 5:00 pm and 102.4 at 2:30 am. I was so miserable I could not sleep. Eventually it began to drop leaving me with damp sheets and PJs. I messaged my surgeon again at 4:00 am to keep him updated. He called me this morning to direct me to the ER. The fevers had gone on too many days and spiked too high. They needed to start looking for a reason. He brought my Infectious Disease specialist into the loop, and the ID doc met me at the ER. They took tons of blood and are growing cultures. I’ve been admitted and will probably stay 2-3 days. The most likely culprit is the picc line, but they’ve also changed my antibiotic to see if that makes any difference. It’s a process of elimination. There is definitely something going on with the picc line. It accepts fluids, but they are not able to draw blood from it. And of course, the whole time I’ve been here, my temp has been normal. Go figure!!!

Anyway, I’m where I need to be for now.
 
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I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Sending hugs and prayers that they will quickly figure out how to best help you. :console2::prayer:
 
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