My Wife Had Revision Surgery Today...

[JRogers]

I wanted to post an update as some of you had expressed a desire to know how things were going...

So far so good...She's still out of it but has been moved from recovery to her regular room. Her Doctor told us three things of note - (1) that the surgery had been very "involved" insofar as these things generally go...that every single bit of work from the original TKR had to be removed and the entire job had to be redone from the ground up, (2) That there was "significant" nerve damage from the first TKR and that the next few hours/days would be critical insofar as being able to gauge the extent of her ultimate level of recovery from this, and (3) There was a statistical higher risk of infection due to the fact that the surgery took approximately twice as long as is usually the case for this type of procedure.

One thing I didn't have the presence of mind to ask the Dr. that perhaps someone here could give me a better idea of...Roughly speaking, how many days after this type of procedure have to pass before one can "start to stop" worrying about surgery related blood clot and/or infection dangers?

Thanks.

 

[Josephine]

Oh gosh! Them's tough questions, JP. Mostly because the answers are tough!

blood clots: the first 3 weeks are the highest risk and from then on it's a kind of diminishing factor, going on until about 6-8 weeks post op. Might possibly be higher because of your wife's difficult and protracted surgery. But they'll have her on blood thinners to reduce that, also the lovely TED stockings!

infection: well, that's the really tough one because basically the answer to your question is "forever". We joint replacement patients are never truly free of the risk and sometimes intra-operative based infections might show up months after the event. Happily they are also extremely rare.

I'm glad your wife is out of surgery and hope she will do well in her recovery. Please keep us posted.

 

[Texas]

Hi JR I wish I could give you an answer but I cant. Im sure she will be one some kind of medicine that we all were to help with blood clots and infection. Just do as the Dr tells her. Wear the stockings if he gave her any and take the blood clot medicine.Try not to let it bother you so much. I did and I regret it because it worked out fine. My prayers are with you and your wife. Take care and keep us posted...

 

[Motherofmany]

Hi JRoger,

Goodness, you two have been through so much. Thankful that it sounds like thus far she is doing well, all things considered. Although it's hard to hear such blunt truth, I'm glad you have a surgeon that lets you know exactly how things are. I have found they also tell us the worst possible scenario to cover themselves. This doesn't mean these things will happen, only that they are a possibility.

Please know we are praying for you and your wife. Could you please post her name, so we can pray specifically. So many have had surgery recently, it's easy to get confused.

Please also keep us posted on her progress and recovery.

Blessings,

 

[tooyoungforthis]

Hello JRogers, It sounds like you had a long day,I will pray for wife that there will be no blood clots or infection.I am getting ready for a revision on Thursday my biggest fear is that nerve damage I ended up with that and still cant feel my left foot and dont need more damage.Please give your wife our support and hope we can talk to her when shes up to it.

 

[Judles]

You're a wonderful hubby, JR! We all recup differently! Between the nurses and the Bonesmarties, your questions will be addressed! Just tell your wife that it gets better and easier every day! Keep posting to update us on her progress......and yours!!!

 

[Jamie]

JRogers, so glad you posted to let us know how your wife is doing. You two have certainly been through a LOT in the past year or so. My heart and prayers are with you that this surgery did the trick and put things back on the right track. I'm so happy you found an excellent surgeon to perform this tricky operation. It sounds as though things went well and my prayer will be that your dear wife begins a real recovery (with LOTS of forward progress) very soon. ((((HUGS)))) to you both!

 

[calling_all_angels]

So happy to hear from you. It sounds like so far everything is going ok. I hope that your wife is feeling good she had quite the surgery to fix this knee. I will keep her in my prayers. Please keep updating as she starts to recover. Tell her we are all excited that the surgery is over.

 

[JRogers]

Update:

A week and a day past surgery and things seem to be going well. After the experiences of a year ago, I will probably never be more than "cautiously optimistic" but I think it's fair to say that we've both got lots of cautious optimism today! The difference between Maria's post op experiences with the original TKR last year and the revision surgery this time around have been like night and day and definitely for the better thus far. Last year she was pretty much effectively paralyzed below knee level on the surgery knee for a frighteningly long amount of time. This time around, she's able to do the prescribed exercises very well. There is some weakness insofar as pulling her heel up in the direction of the back of her thigh but it seems to be mainly pain rather than "no connection" that's hampering that motion for her. Kicking her leg forward from a sitting position was an impossibility for many weeks after her original TKR. She has very little problem with that motion this time. The alignment of her thigh and lower leg looks correct as far as I can tell so far......this was a big issue with the first TKR and her lower leg had wound up at a weird angle to the outside of the way it should have aligned with the thigh due to failure of ligaments. I'm hoping we'll both be breathing a sigh of relief when a month or two passes. So far things look very good. Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts and prayers!

 

[loggon]

Great Jrogers glad she is doing well.

 

[Texas]

I am really glad she seems to be doing well. I know its hard taking care to a TKR patient my poor hubby was tired. Seems like things are going well now. I pray they will continue...I'm sure they will. At Least you are having a better experience now then before...She surely deserves it...Good Luck to you both....