Knee Infection* JSA's OA and RA Journey

[Sisterpat]

jsa, how did you sleep last night? I can relate to the shoulder and hip pain! I have Lyme disease which wreaks havoc on your joints (thus, 2 knee replacements ). Usually an Excedrin in the morning helps. I also take the herb milk thistle for liver protection. You might ask your doctor about that.

 

[jsa]

@PegGar16 ... All I know is that the quadriceps muscle was severely shredded with a big depression in it and both the quad and patella tendon were both torn. Beforehand, the doc said he might have to do a graft, but said he would see when he was in there. The 2nd stage TKR billing did say there was also a Quadricepsplasty done, however, because he said there was "extensive work done all over my knee", I didn't really ask much. It was done during the big op when I had a bleed so I tended to listen not talk. For the first 2 months I thought it was fixed but now I feel its right back to how it was pre-op. I will tell him when I go to see him on Thursday.
Sorry I wasnt finished so had to edit...
I'm hoping the pain is just because I am on my hips when in bed a lot and my shoulders are probably sore from the walker but ??? It should be just a little flare because my fingers and elbows are ok and I dont have any bursitis anywhere but sometimes that can change overnight
Yeah another Freddy and Queen fan.... its amazing just how many people love them!!!

 

[jsa]

jsa, how did you sleep last night? I can relate to the shoulder and hip pain! I have Lyme disease which wreaks havoc on your joints (thus, 2 knee replacements ). Usually an Excedrin in the morning helps. I also take the herb milk thistle for liver protection. You might ask your doctor about that.

I didnt sleep till early hours of the morning then slept in but my granddaughter who was staying over soon woke me ...haha...
Sorry to hear about the Lyme, Ive heard it's not the nicest of things to get. It sounds like you get long term pain from it. I will ask the doc if thats ok to try, thankyou, with all the meds I'm on, my liver does need help.

 

[jsa]

Like we thought, the specialist said the implant is loose and there is a large collection of fluid anterior to the implant. Firstly he wants to check whether the fluid is infected so I am to have an ultrasound guided needle aspirate done on Monday to determine one way or the other. However, the cultures I had before came back culture negative. He did do the 2 stage revision as if it were a positive so I'm not sure that the result will change this time around.
He is such a good Dr... He rang the people who made the implant and showed them the xrays before I went to my appointment. He said they are of the same opinion as he is... loose implant and check for infection. He didnt want to go into what we might do next as he wants the results first and I'm to see him 2 weeks after I have the cultures done.
I knew I wasn't just being a woose but recently my back has also been spasming badly so I think I will just continue to rest up and watch videos....

 

[Jockette]

Sending lots of hugs and prayers.

 

[PegGar16]

No you are not a woos. I hope you can get your back to mellow out. I am glad he is checking up on everything for you, I hope you are seeing some good videos

 

[jsa]

Thanks @Jockette and hi @PegGar16 ... My son is in Indonesia and just getting over catching covid so I'm grateful we don't have that here. He is almost ok now, just has a few things lingering but thankfully he should be fine however he sends me all these links to youtube and movies so I am sure I have enough to watch.

 

[Celle]

@jsa , I've moved CherApril's posts and your response to her thread, here:
https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/revision-w-antibiotic-spacer.66288/

 

[jsa]

@jsa , I've moved CherApril's posts and your response to her thread, here:
https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/revision-w-antibiotic-spacer.66288/

Thanks @Celle

 

[jsa]

Hi
Just a quick update.
Due to having asthma with a chest infection, I couldn't have my leg aspirated until today. It was very hard not taking what I needed... (antibiotics)... but worth it so we could go ahead once my coughing stopped and I didn't sound as if I was a covid patient.

On ultrasound they found quite a few fluid collections from the knee up to the thigh, so the radiologist took a full 10ml syringe worth of fluid from beside the femoral prosthesis then sent it off to be tested. I am to return to the doc after they culture it for at least 14 days.
The bad news is that even though they did a lot of work on the quadriceps during the last operation, it didn't work. I was told it wasn't surprising I cant lift my leg or walk because it was so yukky that they couldn't define any of the 4 quadriceps muscles or tendons, the whole quad just looks like 'mush'.

Has anyone heard if RA has anything to do with soft tissue breakdown after a TKR?

 

[sistersinhim]

I am so sorry you are going through all this. My prayers are with you.

 

[kneeper]

I know tendons can also get inflamed with RA but I don't know about what you're describing.

 

[jsa]

Thanks @sistersinhim, I just have to wait to see the doc now.

@kneeper Yes it's frustrating. The ultrasonographer said it was even worse now than in my previous scans, now he can't determine the individual muscles at all. It may not be related to my RA, who knows. I do know the surgeon that operated on me last also used the word 'mushy' when he told me about how hard the surgery was to repair the quad because of all the soft tissue damage.

 

[Jamie]

I did a little research and it does seem that muscle wasting can be part of the side effects of RA. Are you working with a Rheumatologist?

 

[jsa]

Thats interesting @Jamie - thanks I will have to research it more too.

Yes I do see a rheumatologist but I haven't seen her since before my lengthy stay in hospital. I went off the biologics and Leflunomide before the first stage operation and just continued with Mobic (meloxicam). But I do need to get to get another appointment and maybe resume them both since my other joints arent great either. Because of my asthma I had steroids a few times so that would have helped the RA too. Also I became anaemic twice and had to have iron infusions which they said was the RA.

But yes I will get a current referral to see her again, it will be interesting to see what she says.

 

[Jamie]

Good decision. I'll be interested in what she says as well. RA is something that we don't get into very much here on BoneSmart, but as you well know, it is a complex disease that impacts a lot of people. I'm sure your story will be eagerly read by anyone else who suffers from it.

You might consider a modification to your thread title to add something about RA in there. That makes it easier for others with it to find you.

 

[jsa]

To be honest @Jamie, it has never mattered to me as I have both OA and RA and I dont know which one does what to me because there is a lot of overlapping of symptoms and they are both very painful but I'm happy to rename the thread 'JSA's OA and RA Journey' if that would help people in their searches.

 

[jsa]

Thanks @Jamie

 

[kneeper]

To be honest @Jamie, it has never mattered to me as I have both OA and RA and I dont know which one does what to me because there is a lot of overlapping of symptoms and they are both very painful but I'm happy to rename the thread 'JSA's OA and RA Journey' if that would help people in their searches.

I hear you on that. Once the RA starts causing damage you have mechanical issues (secondary OA). Add in referred pain and it can be hard to tell what is causing what. Your rheumatologist should be able to help--they can't always pin stuff down but I always think they are a bit like detectives.

 

[jsa]

Hi @kneeper, yes they are pretty good at sourcing. Usually these days I don't even try to work it out because, as you know, it's usually one thing after another. But with the quad deterioration, it's obviously something that they don't come across very often.

How is your RA, I came across the RA thread when I put RA in the search engine. Sorry you have it too....