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TKR Right TKR is done

I hope you hear good things from your OS. All improvement is good. I only used the honey at the very end and it never stung at all. My skin was only mildly irritated, though.
 
You have my prayers that the pump can go back on really quickly and that the infection disappears!
 
Saw the OS today. The nurse didn't take the dressing off so I left it on for the dr. He had me take it off for him. He was surprised at the goo in the incision and wants me to change the dressing twice a day now. I found it interesting that he wanted me to put the silver sulfadene on the gauze and put it in myself to redress it. .......He did say the culture for the first 24 hrs came back negative that the wound dr took in Wednesday but was waiting on the next results. The redness where the cellulitis is, is much improved and less warm which I'm very thankful for. The OS was very happy with the progress in healing and said the tissue looks very good. I can also get a cortisone shot in my bad knee whenever I want to help me until I'm healed. I will go back to see the OS in 2 weeks. Have a great holiday weekend everyone.
 
It sounds like you're coming along well! Glad that there was no infection in the 24 hour test. Now, let's pray that there's none in the next one!
 
I'm glad you're making progress.
[Bonesmart.org] Right TKR is done
Hang in there!
 
@Celle - sometimes I do feel like I have been hanging like that dear kitty bUT on a skinnier string!! Thanks for a smile that gave me. :)
 
You're welcome!
Seriously, although you probably feel very fragile right now, I'm sure everything is going to work out all right.
 
All the news sounds good so far. Slow and steady. Hope you can put it behind you soon!
 
I did get the wound vac back on today. Although it's nice not having it to carry around the past week, I'm happy it's back on now and back to getting tissue to grow and heal. They did increase the pressure to see if that will help take the fluid away since that was part of my problem a week ago.
I had a tough day though with my right knee. It got in a bad spot this morn after showering and had to take the major pain meds. I think I need to get a brace to help hold it better when I'm walking since surgery is a long while off yet.
I did try to go out in the yard. Not a very good idea with no stamina and agility.
 
Did you try a shot in the right knee?
 
I'm trying to hold off on the shot until late May . I start a part time job in June and with the shots barely working 6 weeks i need to have that working while I'm working more.
I'm also thinking more about a different surgeon. Guess those thoughts that I wasn't served well and I should have had both knees done and working by now keep creeping into my mind when I'm hurting.
This too is a practice in patience.
 
Totally hear you on the timing of the shot. I timed my last cortisone/synovial injections for a conference in Kansas City. They helped just enough to make the conference merely brutal -- airports, walking from hotel room to meetings/signings, and to go out on the town a couple times -- instead of impossible. You need at least one leg to get around on! Hope they help you for your job in June.

You've mentioned being unhappy with your OS. Infection aside, how is your left knee behaving?
 
I completely understand your wanting to research a different OS. Knowledge is power!
 
Actually my knee is good. I have lost strength in my leg simply with all the things going on with the incision. It was getting stronger when I was going oN my own to exercise prior to what I was hoping would be my right knee surgery. I have lost a lot in both knees regarding strength - but the knee that has been replaced is good.
I would go to my OS again for my right knee but he has to go in knowing that I carry fat tissue on my thigh area and stitch me up right.
I spent the first part of my morning oN the run to the wound clinic because I was having pooling of fluid around my incision and I didn't think the vac was working right. Of course I was supposed to go in to work today to get ready for summer. They decided to change out The vac for a different one. I wondered before if that was what happened when I was feeling terrible on Palm Sunday when I was getting blockage alerts. So far, its working great.
I worked the rest of the day getting files ready. It felt good to be working and the day went fast.
Thanks everyone. I don't know how my post has knee infection on it, but what I had was cellulitis in my leg not my knee and that is gone now. I have NOT had infection in my knee through everything I have been through and am very thankful for that. That can be removed from my post.
 
Thank God you didn't have an infection. Many of us thought you did. Don't you worry about losing strength. That will come when everything is healed and you can get back to normal! It sounds like going back to work is a really good thing for you!
 
I thought you had an infection, too. So glad to hear you don't! And also glad to hear you are doing so well with your TKR. I have my surgery in a couple more weeks and find reports of people doing well very reassuring. Getting back to work must feel so good!
 
GingerP said:
but he has to go in knowing that I carry fat tissue on my thigh area and stitch me up right.
Click to expand...
I really wouldn't worry about that - knee surgeons get a LOT of practice stitching up big knees! I nursed a lady who had her knee done and had a BMI of 63 (400lbs) and she did terribly well. When her knee was opened it looked like an open abdomen!
 
@Josephine it is frustrating about surgeons around here. Apparently no one wants to operate on any one with a BMI over 40. My OS told me that I had to be under 50 and I got there along with working very hard on getting my edema under control. I met his requirements and now that I think back -2 months ago I was to have my right knee surgery. What a better place I would be in if both knees were fixed. That part makes me so sad because of the pain I have in that right knee. Today I did about an hour of walking at Walmart doing some shopping. Before I could check out I had to take pain meds just to be able to push the cart out of the store.

The vac is giving me trouble too. When I get too warm, I get clammy wet skin on my knees. The plastic drape over the foam is bubbling up and I'm not sure it's doing a good job of doing its job. I've added more drape. It's just in a tough place to keep working right.

If the surgeon would have done his job sewing up my incision correctly, I wouldn't be where I am. The knee replacement is fine. Someone in the surgery room must have thought that this incision may need some extra tlc to grow back together. That is where my frustration falls. It happened again after he was supposed to be fixing it and here I am now with a wound vac that may be even more months of healing. That makes confidence pretty hard to maintain in the OS.

Yes, many of you have said that work is a good thing - and it is. Having cheerful wonderful people in your life help make those things in your life that are troubling be less present for at least a few hours of the day. I am so lucky that upon my retirement, this business called me and felt confident in me to work for them. They are my blessing!

Thanks to all of you for being there for us in our time of need. Just having a little feeling bad time tonight. Pain does that to me sometimes. Tomorrow can be better.
 
GingerP said:
but he has to go in knowing that I carry fat tissue on my thigh area and stitch me up right.
Click to expand...
This isn't quite how it goes. Fat or thin, there is no 'wrong' way to stitch up a wound.
GingerP said:
If the surgeon would have done his job sewing up my incision correctly, I wouldn't be where I am.
Click to expand...
How do you know or what leads you to suppose that he didn't close it properly?
 
@Josephine

I guess that I had an opening from the initial incision for my TKR and the surgeon went in to repair that hole that actually is along the bottom of my subcutaneous skin layer. But he didn't go far enough along that line and a second hole appeared afterwards in the opening along the incision line again.

When the OS opened up the area he told me he looked the tissue over, but I'm wondering why all that area has an open area tunnel under it if it hadn't been properly stitched up in surgery.

I'm no expert on how to stitch up a wound, but I would think that if a surgeon knows there is an open area and serum fluid is coming out, there would be a sense of being certain that everything "under" is going to heal together and stitched accordingly. That's what is disturbing to me and makes me believe he didn't do his due diligence to check the length of the incision to be certain I was going to be healed up.

Perhaps he did but I'm not certain as I sit here with a 3 inch opening in the top of my knee that should have been healed up 4 months ago. The longer this goes on open, the more depressed I get because it has put off my right knee surgery which is getting more painful day by day.

Today I had to take the wound vac off again and pack it with the silver goop and gauze. Pooling of fluid from the incision was happening again because the drape on the vac came lose and even with me adding more, suction wasn't being maintained. I'm tired of things not working or having issues. I need healing, but with the weekend there is no help until Monday. Today hasn't been my best day.
 
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