Knee Infection* One Good Leg.

[RestAssured]

@KarriB ,

Yes, I am on Bactrim DS once a day. My labs have been great since the revision surgery, and my IS has dropped me from 2 to 1 Bactrim. At the next visit, it looks like it will be discontinued!

 

[KarriB]

@RestAssured after the IV & oral antibiotics campaign my ID put me on 200mg of doxycycline a day. After 6 months she took it down to 100 mg a day. I see her again in August and we'll see how it goes then. I'm pretty sure I'll be back on IVs before and after I get my left knee done, but that is still up in the air.

How great that they're discontinuing the Bactrim! God is good all the time!

 

[tigz]

responding from elsewhere..

Where do I see your scar picture? I want to see just how oogly it is. I never counted my staples. Does that make me a bad person? LOL

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[kneeper]

Thanks Celle, I know mine was cemented. Not sure why cement wasn't used for his implant, but I know there was a lot of damage from the partial, a cyst removal, a possible infection, as well as needing a rod along with the TKR. He's non-weight bearing for two weeks.

Well, I'm on year 3 for one and just over a year for my second uncemented knee and so far so good.
My doc thinks uncemented have good potential for younger patients.
Though as Josephine says, the cemented is tried and true.

 

[KarriB]

@kneeper the OS who did my friend with the holes in the implant is my OS. I don't think this is what he usually does because mine is cemented. That's why I'm wondering if there may have been some other reason. It was a revision-a full from a partial that was 4 years old.

 

[KarriB]

@tigz I probably wouldn't have counted my staples except I hated getting them out with the first surgery (32 the nurse counted as she took them out) and when they finally took off the bandage after the 2nd surgery I couldn't believe I was going to have to go through it again with 52! But they came out in stages because as soon as they started taking them out the incision began seeping again.
I've never posted a photo, it's that ugly. Plus I now have a large lump on the inside of my right leg. When my OS went in to do the antibiotic wash out I had a small lump that had been there since a car accident 10 years ago. He said it was a pocket of dead fat and removed it. Well, the whole time I was in the immobilizer my leg was sooooo skinny! But as soon as I started bending and using it the lump came back, bigger than before! Neither my OS or ID is concerned, but it does get stared at often, especially by kids. My OS says it's my leg tissue. Just today as I was getting into the pool a 5 year old asked what was wrong with my leg. I'll try to get a photo that doesn't make my leg look too bad. I try to just be happy I can walk and the infection is gone.

 

[tigz]

I'm assuming it's not straight down the middle as most are? Mine is very curvy much of it on the right side of my left knee thanks to my previous surgery.

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[KarriB]

Ok @tigz here it is, I'm swallowing my vanity. I do have very heavy legs, thanks to both of my grandmothers. When I visited my family in Scotland years ago my grandmother's sisters said I looked just like her, especially the legs! The scar puckers where I had the hardest time getting it to heal, right on the knee and at the bottom. Then when I stand it sags and puckers even more.

 

[tigz]

It doesn't look that bad! Looks pretty good. Wouldn't get the stares my crazy scar gets!

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[KarriB]

It's worse standing because it sags into my lump, but I can't get a photo standing. The skin from the scar is in good shape though. My PT started massaging with Palmer's Cocoa Butter after the wound was totally healed, probably 2 1/2 months after my second surgery. I kept that up after PT was over and now I put it in my feet, elbows and the scar.

 

[tigz]

I love that stuff! And the massage feels really good too!

sent from my Galaxy 4

 

[KarriB]

I bought a pair of Vionic sandals today as they are supposed to be good for plantar fasciitis. My heel doesn't hurt when I wear them, however it makes my knee feel wonky (weird). I know wearing new or different shoes can do this, they're a flat sandal with a true orthodic arch support. I'm going to try to break them in slowly and see if my knee gets comfortable with it. Should this bother my TKR, @Jamie or @Josephine ?

 

[RestAssured]

@RestAssured after the IV & oral antibiotics campaign my ID put me on 200mg of doxycycline a day. After 6 months she took it down to 100 mg a day. I see her again in August and we'll see how it goes then. I'm pretty sure I'll be back on IVs before and after I get my left knee done, but that is still up in the air.

How great that they're discontinuing the Bactrim! God is good all the time!

I was on doxycycline for an extended period of time. I developed C-Diff from it so be careful. Ask your ID about the risk.

 

[KarriB]

We've talked about C-diff. I'm taking a probiotic and so far my labs are good. Apparently doxy is the standard for my type of staph. Not sure how I'll feel if I go off in August, I'm still afraid of the infection coming back.

 

[Jamie]

The orthopedic shoes shouldn't hurt your knee. But, if the orthotics change the alignment of your foot as you walk dramatically from what shoes you wore before, you might feel some discomfort as your body adjusts. If this is the case, start of wearing them for short periods of time at first and gradually build up to more.

 

[KarriB]

Thanks Jaimie. I did read to begin wearing building up wearing time. The shoes do realign the leg as well as take pressure off my heal.

 

[kneeper]

@kneeper the OS who did my friend with the holes in the implant is my OS. I don't think this is what he usually does because mine is cemented. That's why I'm wondering if there may have been some other reason. It was a revision-a full from a partial that was 4 years old.

Maybe there was some bone grafting?

 

[KarriB]

@Jamie I thought I'd pose this in my thread instead of hijacking another TKR's. When I brought up the bad cut I got a few months before surgery, both my OS and ID barely made a comment. I'm not sure the infection was actually in the implant, it was in the soft tissue and my OS did scrub the implant as well as replace the spacer. I am just the 2nd infection from a TKR that my original surgeon has had and he's done thousands. I do have a lot of fatty tissue in my heavy legs and he warned me before surgery that infection was a possibility due to my tissue. So I know the infection could have come from almost anything, but the cut and seeping being on the same leg was just weird. Of course with another TKR coming at some point, I'd like to not experience another infection.
Thank you for putting my mind at ease concerning the cut and infection.

 

[Jamie]

Thanks for bringing this over to your thread.

Let me make sure I have your situation correct. You had an infection and washout surgery with spacer replacement in November 2013 and that knee so far has been doing fine. But you were worried now because you got a cut that appears to be infected and it's seeping on the same leg as your TKR. Any drainage is coming from the cut area and not from your TKR scar. Is this right?

But even if the infection is in a cut and it's not improving fairly quickly, you still should see someone to have it looked at. That would be the case even without a TKR!

 

[RestAssured]

We've talked about C-diff. I'm taking a probiotic and so far my labs are good. Apparently doxy is the standard for my type of staph. Not sure how I'll feel if I go off in August, I'm still afraid of the infection coming back.

There are several antibotics they can switch you to to avoid C-Diff if they plan on a long term antibiotic protocol.

Staph and MRSA are the same except MRSA is methicillin resistant staph aureus. the "Cillin" family of antiobitics are not going to work; giving fewer options. Still a staph infection though.