daddydaygo
new member
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2023
- Messages
- 18
- Age
- 25
- Country
United States
- Gender
- Male
Hey all,
I stumbled across this forum as I was doing research, and thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to document my recovery. Little background: I’m 25 years ago and was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma (bone cancer in my knee), which resulted in 6 months of intense chemotherapy and a surgery known as limb salvage surgery. It’s essentially a total knee/partial femur replacement. The fundamentals of recovery are very similar to TKA.
My first LSS was January of this year. Recovery was tough as I was going through chemo as well. Pain was really bad which resulted in me being on opioid’s basically around the clock. The first couple weeks, my PT stressed getting my range of motion. I ultimately ended around 120 degrees. It took several weeks to get my quad activation back . I was only 50% weight bearing for 6 weeks to allow the bone to adhere to the implant
In April, as I progressed with my weight bearing, I noticed pain mid thigh and eventually it became swollen. It started to squeak every step I took. This was just around my 6 week checkup with my OS, and scans ultimately showed the implant had failed.
The following week I had my first revision to fix the broken hardware. Due to the design of the prothesis, they removed more femur to put in a new “stem” (see pics). Antibiotic beads were placed during this surgery. Pain was definitely better this time around compared to the first. As I was still going through chemotherapy, I was put non-weight bearing for 12 weeks to allow my bone to heal around it. The first couple weeks we focused heavily on ROM, which I ended up peaking at around 115 degrees. After that I did PT 3x a week, working to strengthen all of my leg muscles to prepare to start walking.
When the 12 weeks passed, scans showed nice bone growth, so I got the go ahead to start progressively weight bearing! After a couple weeks of using crutches/ a walker, I upgraded to a cane. My gait was excellent given I haven’t walked in 6ish months. At PT we continued to work on my gait and strengthen everything.
Now fast forward to August. I ended up slipping at the pool and immediately knew something was wrong. My leg looked like it was put on sideways. I went to the ER and X-rays looked good (somehow, you’ll see why in a bit). So I tried to enjoy my vacation on crutches not putting any weight on it. When I got home, my OS ordered a CT. Unfortunately, my CT showed a suspected infection and broken hardware. I’ve had a lot of residual chemotherapy symptoms, so maybe the infection symptoms snuck through because everything seemed normal. My OS explained his plan, which involved a 2 step revision and some heavy hitter IV antibiotics.
The following week I had surgery to remove the hardware, take cultures, and put in the static antibiotic spacer (Vancomycin and something else). Cultures came back as Staph ep. Infectious disease put me on 6g of Cefazolin a day. I’ve been on them for around 3 weeks now with no noticeable side effects. In 3 weeks, assuming my bloods reflect the infection is gone, I’ll be having stage 2 of my revision! During the surgery, I’ll likely also be getting a quadplasty as my OS anticipates lots of stiffness/scar tissue. I’ll be updating if anything significant happens between now and then.
I will be documenting this next surgery recovery thoroughly! I have soooo many pictures through my journey, but bombing this post with them seems like a mess so if you’re curious about anything specific feel free to comment!
I stumbled across this forum as I was doing research, and thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to document my recovery. Little background: I’m 25 years ago and was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma (bone cancer in my knee), which resulted in 6 months of intense chemotherapy and a surgery known as limb salvage surgery. It’s essentially a total knee/partial femur replacement. The fundamentals of recovery are very similar to TKA.
My first LSS was January of this year. Recovery was tough as I was going through chemo as well. Pain was really bad which resulted in me being on opioid’s basically around the clock. The first couple weeks, my PT stressed getting my range of motion. I ultimately ended around 120 degrees. It took several weeks to get my quad activation back . I was only 50% weight bearing for 6 weeks to allow the bone to adhere to the implant
In April, as I progressed with my weight bearing, I noticed pain mid thigh and eventually it became swollen. It started to squeak every step I took. This was just around my 6 week checkup with my OS, and scans ultimately showed the implant had failed.
The following week I had my first revision to fix the broken hardware. Due to the design of the prothesis, they removed more femur to put in a new “stem” (see pics). Antibiotic beads were placed during this surgery. Pain was definitely better this time around compared to the first. As I was still going through chemotherapy, I was put non-weight bearing for 12 weeks to allow my bone to heal around it. The first couple weeks we focused heavily on ROM, which I ended up peaking at around 115 degrees. After that I did PT 3x a week, working to strengthen all of my leg muscles to prepare to start walking.
When the 12 weeks passed, scans showed nice bone growth, so I got the go ahead to start progressively weight bearing! After a couple weeks of using crutches/ a walker, I upgraded to a cane. My gait was excellent given I haven’t walked in 6ish months. At PT we continued to work on my gait and strengthen everything.
Now fast forward to August. I ended up slipping at the pool and immediately knew something was wrong. My leg looked like it was put on sideways. I went to the ER and X-rays looked good (somehow, you’ll see why in a bit). So I tried to enjoy my vacation on crutches not putting any weight on it. When I got home, my OS ordered a CT. Unfortunately, my CT showed a suspected infection and broken hardware. I’ve had a lot of residual chemotherapy symptoms, so maybe the infection symptoms snuck through because everything seemed normal. My OS explained his plan, which involved a 2 step revision and some heavy hitter IV antibiotics.
The following week I had surgery to remove the hardware, take cultures, and put in the static antibiotic spacer (Vancomycin and something else). Cultures came back as Staph ep. Infectious disease put me on 6g of Cefazolin a day. I’ve been on them for around 3 weeks now with no noticeable side effects. In 3 weeks, assuming my bloods reflect the infection is gone, I’ll be having stage 2 of my revision! During the surgery, I’ll likely also be getting a quadplasty as my OS anticipates lots of stiffness/scar tissue. I’ll be updating if anything significant happens between now and then.
I will be documenting this next surgery recovery thoroughly! I have soooo many pictures through my journey, but bombing this post with them seems like a mess so if you’re curious about anything specific feel free to comment!
