Hi Everyone. I’ve done a lot of reading here and have learned a lot. I’d like to share my situation and ask for your thoughts on my progress. Hopefully this isn’t too long.
I had a RTKR done in 2014. The surgery was uneventful but I ended up with pain in the knee and learned to accept that as my new norm. X-rays showed that all was well until I had a recheck done in November 2022. They found a bone ‘spur’ had grown onto the side of my patella. My surgeon referred me to a colleague who does arthroscopic surgery with the goal of fixing this as least invasive as possible.
I had the arthroscopic surgery done in December. The ossification and much scar tissue was removed. The arthroscopy resulted in an incision about 3” long. The wound drained significantly from day one and continued to do so for about a week. At 10 days when I had my post-op visit the drainage had stopped and I was cleared to resume normal activity. That evening I walked around the block and got home with my foot wet from drainage. I reported this to my doctor and he advised rest and bandage changes daily.
The draining continued and I was finally able to get in to be seen. My doctor said the incision was almost healed and applied steri-strips. The drainage continued requiring daily dressing changes. Meanwhile my pain was increasing and the knee felt warm to the touch. I was seen in another office visit and was told it looked good. The PA refused to do an aspiration,without a CBC. The CBC that evening showed highly elevated WBC’s. The next day they finally did an aspiration and found an active infection. This is at 5 weeks post op.
The arthroscopy surgeon consulted with my original orthopedic surgeon. That night my OS called and scheduled emergency surgery for the following morning. He felt my infection could still be classified as early onset and recommended a 1 step approach with debridement and liner replacement. Infectious disease concurred so we agreed and had the surgery the next morning.
He found an active infection and a hole in my joint capsule. The culture identified staph epi. I was hospitalized for 6 days receiving vancomycin and rifampin. The sensitivities confirmed this drug combination was effective and I was discharged. At home I did twice daily infusions of vancomycin and rifampin orally. This went on for 2 weeks and I was moved to ciprofloxacin and rifampin. Both are oral meds so my picc line was removed. My labs are now almost normal with an elevated CRP but coming down and WBC’s normal.
I am now at 4 1/2 weeks post op and will start outpatient PT tomorrow. I’ve been walking some with and without my walking stick. Pain is varied between 4-8 and is managed with Tylenol and Tramadol occasionally. My therapist is the same one I worked with 8 years ago and he is conservative and highly skilled.
Does this sound like I’m progressing well given the history. Any words of wisdom are appreciated and welcome.
I had a RTKR done in 2014. The surgery was uneventful but I ended up with pain in the knee and learned to accept that as my new norm. X-rays showed that all was well until I had a recheck done in November 2022. They found a bone ‘spur’ had grown onto the side of my patella. My surgeon referred me to a colleague who does arthroscopic surgery with the goal of fixing this as least invasive as possible.
I had the arthroscopic surgery done in December. The ossification and much scar tissue was removed. The arthroscopy resulted in an incision about 3” long. The wound drained significantly from day one and continued to do so for about a week. At 10 days when I had my post-op visit the drainage had stopped and I was cleared to resume normal activity. That evening I walked around the block and got home with my foot wet from drainage. I reported this to my doctor and he advised rest and bandage changes daily.
The draining continued and I was finally able to get in to be seen. My doctor said the incision was almost healed and applied steri-strips. The drainage continued requiring daily dressing changes. Meanwhile my pain was increasing and the knee felt warm to the touch. I was seen in another office visit and was told it looked good. The PA refused to do an aspiration,without a CBC. The CBC that evening showed highly elevated WBC’s. The next day they finally did an aspiration and found an active infection. This is at 5 weeks post op.
The arthroscopy surgeon consulted with my original orthopedic surgeon. That night my OS called and scheduled emergency surgery for the following morning. He felt my infection could still be classified as early onset and recommended a 1 step approach with debridement and liner replacement. Infectious disease concurred so we agreed and had the surgery the next morning.
He found an active infection and a hole in my joint capsule. The culture identified staph epi. I was hospitalized for 6 days receiving vancomycin and rifampin. The sensitivities confirmed this drug combination was effective and I was discharged. At home I did twice daily infusions of vancomycin and rifampin orally. This went on for 2 weeks and I was moved to ciprofloxacin and rifampin. Both are oral meds so my picc line was removed. My labs are now almost normal with an elevated CRP but coming down and WBC’s normal.
I am now at 4 1/2 weeks post op and will start outpatient PT tomorrow. I’ve been walking some with and without my walking stick. Pain is varied between 4-8 and is managed with Tylenol and Tramadol occasionally. My therapist is the same one I worked with 8 years ago and he is conservative and highly skilled.
Does this sound like I’m progressing well given the history. Any words of wisdom are appreciated and welcome.