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Revision TKR Lovetocookandsew’s long road to recovery

I did it once in North Carolina with a guide and got knocked into the river when we hit a hydro. It scare the pezeepees out of me. The guide reached in and pulled me into the raft. I immediately fell in love with him. I haven't been rafting since except for the Rio Grande which is very slow and smooth. Have a fun day tomorrow. Stay dry!
 
Have fun, Kim! That sounds great! The lower American is great for a gentle rafting trip. I used to live a couple blocks from the Rogue River—so beautiful!
 
Have a blast out there! Forget about that knee and enjoy your time! I looking forward to kayaking again. Getting in will be fine. It's the getting out that scares me!
 
It's actually easy to get out of a raft-especially with an extra pair of hands. You just sit on the side and then grab those helping hands or push off the side if you're alone. I think a kayak would be harder-and I'm not really into kayaking anyway. I prefer the balance of a raft-a kayak always seems too easily tipped to me.
 
This is one of those blow-up ones that seats 3 people. 3 wouldn't be comfortable, but 2 is good. Marilyn normally takes the front and I am the rudder. It doesn't tip. The main reason we wanted that one.
 
@sistersinhim Sounds like fun. We were looking at buying one the other day, and they had some out for display. I had no problem sitting down and standing back up from them. These are the ones that last forever-not the plastic blow-up ones, but the heavy-duty ones they use at raft places. They cost a small fortune new, but we are panning on buying one tomorrow if they still have some used ones. We decided $4,000 for a raft was more than we wanted to spend for occasional trips, but the used ones are priced right, and will last us for 10 years or more. When new, they last more than 20 years at the rental places, and that's with them going out all the time and likely being abused by rafters. We have a few of those blow-up plastic rafts we bought in Oregon on a trip with our granddaughter a few years ago, but you can only float around on them-they aren't for actual rafting. Great in lakes though. I hope you can get out on the water before it gets too cold.​
 
Oh good, you'll enjoy the blow-up one! They are lighter weight and easier to store. I can sit on the side and slide into the water to get out. And I agree, I hope I can get out there before it get too cool. Oh course, with all these 90+ days we're having, getting cool seems awfully far away! Ours isn't one of the professional ones, but it is rated to do #3 rapids, which I'd never do! Well, not until both knees are strong enough!
 
Well, I survived the rafting. Thankfully one of the young men helped my husband carry the raft to the river as that would have been more than I could do-I barely made it to the river just walking the distance. I wasn't able to sit on the side of the raft for long as my knee started to swell and hurt with it being bent and sitting. I tried to bring both legs into the raft while sitting on the side, but had the same problem, so ended up sitting in the raft with my leg basically extended and let my husband do most of the paddling. My knee is more swollen than usual, but I'll use the ice machine tonight. It was nice to get out on the river, but would have been nicer if I could have participated properly. We're going to go kayaking this weekend and see if that works better for me. I know I've complained before, but it really is so frustrating that this just never ends. It's been almost 2 1/2 years since my TKR, plus all the years before that I've had my life so limited and I'm really at the end of my ability to cope with the limitations. I see my OS on Tuesday and will have a long, thorough discussion with him then.
 
Wow, Kim, you are one adventurous woman. I'm impressed. I went rafting on the Rogue River when I was, oh, maybe in my 30s and it was a thrilling AND terrifying adventure...I took a 5 day trip with a group. I can't imagine doing it with a swollen knee...or any knees at this point. But kudos to you for rafting! It sure was fun and what a river that is! I realize you didn't do the rogue now but, any river is impressive.
 
I really hope your OS can help. Someone here saw an allergist to help because she was allergic to many antibiotics. I wonder if an allergist would be able to help.
 
I saw my OS on Tuesday for my 3 month post-op. It was a bit long, but we did talk. While he's not certain the metal allergy is causing my problems, he won't say it isn't the cause either. He did examine my knee and also said he thought the swelling has gotten a little worse. When he moved my leg and knee as a whole, it didn't really hurt, but when he moved and/or pressed specific individual areas, it hurt a lot. IMHO, some of the pain was likely caused by angry swollen tissue, but some was deeper inside my knee. He told me that he would do a revision, but I'd have to come to that decision myself. I'm not ready to go there as we aren't certain it would fix the problem, plus we have yet to figure out the pain med problem. I told him I'd go for a revision if first, we were sure it would help, or at least pretty sure, and secondly if he could get the pain meds figured out. He said I'll have to make the decision, but in the meantime he wants to start doing regular x-rays to see if there are any changes, even subtle ones, to point to anything. He also said he was going to read some medical journals and consult with some other docs about my PITA knee (my term-not his...lol) and pain med problem.

I asked him if he's heard of Dr. Maale, and he hasn't. I also asked him what he thought about a consult with him, and he said there are about 60 top notch doctors in this area he'd rather go to first as he thinks there is enough expertise around here. Of course, that's also my choice, but I'll wait and see what he comes up with. I am wondering though, if there's an expert anywhere on nickel allergies and implants who has a lot of experience with basically a medium result on the LTT test. My OS does tons of revisions, but he hasn't had a lot of experience with allergies specifically as far as I can tell.

So, basically I'm in the same place as usual. I have a swollen knee that wouldn't be a huge problem on it's own, other than the lack of a good enough ROM to do more than basic activities, but the pain that comes with it is concerning to him. And the pain is slowly getting worse. I'm still able to keep it bearable most of the time with OTC meds, but there are times, like last night, where the pain gets pretty intense and OTC pain meds don't help. Last night I was getting a sharp throbbing pain on the outside of my knee that radiated up my leg. It lasted for a couple of hours, then finally settled down and stopped. Today I keep getting an on and off throbbing pain deep inside the inner part of my knee; luckily this one isn't radiating to any other area. My sleep is still disturbed often during the night from knee pain that's caused by moving and by uncomfortable positions.

Part of me says a revision is the best idea, but another part of me says it is a bad idea at this point in time. If I knew it would help, and I knew that we had the pain part figured out, my decision would be easy. But it's a very difficult decision as it stands right now. It's still frustrating and I'm sure my OS is totally sick of me by now.
 
HAve you thought of seeing an allergist? @GNee went to one because she was allergic to all the antibiotics they gave her. I just wonder if one could tell without doubt that the nickel is causing the problem.
 
It is a hard decision to have a revision. I went through it myself. I finally made up my mind when I knew that I couldn't live with my knee the ways it was. It was only getting worse and even though no one could guarantee that it would fix my problems my revision specialist did feel like he would be able to help me. He is the OS in my area well known bE cause he fixes everyone'should problems. Until you can't get to that point you will always have doubt as nothing is 100 percent.
 
@KarriB I never thought about going to an allergist-I'll ask my OS if he thinks it would help. Thanks.
@newlybionic That's the problem-my OS isn't sure either. That's why I want to find out if the nickel allergy is really causing this. There's no reason to do a revision if it won't make a difference. I know there's not always a guarantee, but I need to know there's a good chance to make it better.
 
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