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TKR Right TKR is done

Today I saw the OS that did my knee on Dec 8. I was upet about how the other surgeon's nurse treated me on the phone, so I had emailed him before I got to my appt today so he knew what had happened. My wound dr wasn't happy with what happened to me either and had told me on Wednesday that there HAS to be someone from orthopedics to follow through with me.
Today he told me the email was forwarded to the business office and tings had been straightened out. I am NOT a new patient. The trick then was to come up with appt time since the nurse cancelled the appts I had set up 2 weeks ago.
My OS was pleased how good my wound is healing although it is slow and when we were finished, he gave me a hug!! Truthfully I nearly cried. After all the **** I have gone through thsee last 6 months, I got a real human touch.
My wound is being filled with endoform and they have decided that they don't need to remove them and reinsert new ones, so will do once a week now which is fine. My current photo is attached. [Bonesmart.org] Right TKR is done
 
I'm glad you've sorted out a surgeon again, and a sympathetic one, too. Thank goodness for that! :yes!: :flwrysmile:
 
@GingerP this is a first time in a very long time that I've been on the forum. Looking back you were just starting out your journey. I skimmed thru your postings you've been thru the wringer.......wow. You ended up being one of the lucky ones to need a wound vac also. I had trouble keeping my dressing secure, I think probably less active would work better than being active, I know I had mine last fall and I get warm easily and the more warm and sweaty I would get the more issues with keeping it secure I had. Then my skin became sensitive to having that dressing on my skin, I am fair skinned and it in the end felt like a bad rug burn. All in all they are amazing units, but I felt my issues were all caused from neglect of my incision, think a little extra time on the O.S. part would have insured a properly healed incision, also learned probably didn't or shouldn't have been doing all this p/t and adding that stress on the incision either, but my mind was foggy and I was easily influenced. I go in this next week for my 1 yr follow up, I've asked to see a different surgeon, hoping that he and I can see eye to eye and develope a good patience/ dr. relationship. I hope your able to get your other knee done. I am also over weight, it's not ideal I suppose to operate on us folks, but it's hard to even try to become healthy with body joints that are worn out. I know that is one of my goals for this summer to lose some weight. I'll continue to watch your posts updates. Take care.
 
@zzevi , congrats on the year after tkr! I can hardly believe it's 6 months for me, especially with the never ending roller coaster I seem to have. One thing for sure, I am ready to let the vac go! Mine seems to make loud noises that sound like a chain saw so it's annoying to have when in groups of folks that don't think it makes much noise.
I went through a tough time with the film not sticking in April and then of course the seal is gone. So far, the hole being smaller now takes less dressing and not putting it on my chubby spots that pull help too. We had been doing the dressing changes with my leg straight flat, well the first steps I took stretched it's capacity and ever since that caused me never ending problems, we changed our approach, I bend my knee to put the dressing on. Voila it stays stuck. They do spray a skin prep on my area to help and have even taken a washcloth to it and washed it before adding dressing. That would hurt terrible if you had it as bad as a rug burn. Darn.
We shall see what this OS locally is like and since I don't see the OS who is taking over for my surgeon for nearly a month, I'm hoping that I'm nearly done with the healing. Who would think that maybe a month would get me all healed?
Are you enjoying your replaced knee? I told my OS today that I was very happy with my knee. That worked out well. The rest of my healing has been the challenge. He agreed. My knee is good. Something good has come from this and he did say he hopes I can get the other one done to be rid of the pain. Yes, that is the hope.
I really don't think I would have kept at least a little of the sanity without all of you here. We are all family going through our own tkr adventures but need you all to lean on and learn from at the same time. Bless you all.
 
@GingerP , Yes I can say I am happy with my new tkr, it's sturdy,and stable sometimes my knee would give out for no reason at all, think I fell on it so many times it was part of the reason for needing a replacement. As for the wound vac, mine made plenty of noise also and I am sensitive to noise. I work at a school and always thought the kids would question it, but they never did. But when it made it's odd noises it made me self conscious and I sure enjoyed the day when I didn't need it any longer. But it was a god send along the way when I did need it. Hoping you will soon be free of the vac and any other issues that are holding you back.
 
Today has not been one my best days. At the wound clinic I was at first encouraged that my opening was getting less deep but when the dr came in, he said he recommended that it be opened up so that the vac sponge can be put in the undermining better, because the opening is too small to work with. He says to me, 'you ok with that?' Well of course I wasnt, but what do I know? My emotions were not prepared for that! So he numbed me up and cut away. So very discouraged now. Been way too long healing and now open it up more. I understand the reason, just too hard to wrap my brain around ever being done with this vac.
I'm noticing more and more that the cortisone shot is wearing off in my bad right knee too so it won't be long and I will be back dealing with all that pain again too. No new knee until the wound vac is done so every thing is working against relief for that knee.
If that wasn't enough had a measage to call the surgeon I'm seeing tomorrow to consult with the possibility of getting my right knee done here locally and the nurse tells me they got all the info on my records I had sent, but dr will NOT do my right knee. If I still wanted to consult with him, I could keep my appt. Wow. Now what do I do and where do I go? I'm keeping the appt only as a kind of brain picking for me to get his advise and insight and possibly a suggestion on where I can go. Yes, I'm crying but that doesn't do any good. I'm devastated that because of a bmi , Dr's won't take me. I got through 2 hip surgeries and this knee surgery but now im too overweight to operate on. I am dealing with pain and needing to heal, yet I need to lose 40-50 pounds before they will consider me. How exactly does that work? Very frustrated with things in my life right now. Not hopeful, that's for sure.
 
Did they say why the new OS wouldn't do your knee? Perhaps they thought you wanted it done now while the wound was still open. It might still be worth seeing the new OS anyway. A friend of mine needs a hip revision. She had a partial after a car accident and when she called to make an appointment the 'keeper of the gate' told her he wouldn't do a revision. When I spoke to him he was very annoyed with the office and gave me his voicemail number for her to call if she wanted to see him. So it could turn out to be something similar. Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
Ginger, I am so sorry your knee hasn't healed yet. Enough is enough. And he had to open it up further. I will be praying for you.
 
Ginger, I'm so sorry you're having such a rough time right now.

I agree with Marian (newlybionic) - do go and see this surgeon and explain that you have had the previous surgeries with no complications, apart from the current wound, and that you are not asking for a knee replacement until the first knee is healed.
At the very least, he may be able to recommend another surgeon who would consider doing your second knee.
 
Oh, Ginger. If one blow wasn't enough... having that wound opened wider... you had to hear bad news from the surgeon. I agree with the others and your own good instincts: keep that appointment. The OS needs to hear your side of this. Whether or not he decides differently after, he can perhaps point you toward options that will work for you. If you have to travel to Milwaukee or Minneapolis, so be it. There are surgeons who will accept you as a patient.
 
Dr. B is very nice. He wanted today's visit to learn about me and to meet me in person since he only had paper records to Learn about my case. He was super kind, understanding and not at all the kind that says 'well, you know you are too heavy to have this surgery ' which was a huge relief to me. Finally, a Dr who looks at the patient as a real person. We reviewed where I was and now currently am with my wound care. He would like the wound dr to keep him in The loop of my care and then meet him again in 2 months. At that time he will need me to get xrays and then discuss how I am progressing toward getting my knee replacement. He did say that if I liked the other surgeon and he changed his opinion from what his nurse said, I was free to do that too. I am in a little better place. He did say that restrictions have come about lately with the bmi issue and he has stretched it out to 45 bmi where others strictly adhere to 40 bmi and don't look back. It has to do with infection control and extended health care. I didn't have any of those issues with my surgery - it was getting the closures done with my skin layers where the difficulty came about. He is aware of using a wound vac after surgery called prevena and said I may be a risky patient it may be worth a try. He didnt harp at me to lose weight and then he would see me, he said "heal" that is my most important and biggest job! Gotta love somebody with a little 'heart' for people. He did look at my legs and said he can see where it's wierd how I carry a bit of weight right at the top of my knee but my lower legs are pretty much true to everyone else's. Thus the problem with skin tissue and fat layers.
So, for today, I'm ok. Only problem is where the opening was cut again it hurts at the end. I think some of the dressing is sticking to the incision and is pulling. Since I couldn't even think of looking at what the dr did to open it up, I don't know for sure. My emotions were so distraught there is no way I could deal with the sight of it. Tomorrow I will look and take a pic for reference sake. Thanks to my dear friends here to hold me up when I'm feeling down. My tkr is amazing - it's just this side effect of the skin tissue healing that has me in a puddle of troubles. Happy healing to all.
 
Thank God you have found someone to do your next surgery! You sound so much better today than yesterday.
 
This surgeon sounds wonderful. Looking at the whole patient, and caring for the whole patient, lies at the heart of good medicine. What a burden off your spirit to know this surgeon listened to you. Prayers that your wound heals and you can get your other knee taken care of!
 
that is good and so it should be that this new dr. B has listened to your story and given you hope.:flwrysmile:
 
Thank God that you found Dr B! A surgeon who thinks of you as a whole person, not just a technical problem. I'm so pleased for you.

Now I have fingers crossed :fingersx: that opening your wound will help the bottom of it to heal faster. Are you taking something for pain relief?
 
@Celle yes, I'm still taking tramadol and Tylenol because my right knee isn't good at waiting. The cortisone shot has helped for the past month but I can tell it is wearing off.
Thanks @SusieShoes @liam2015 &@ sistersinhim for your kind words and thoughts. I am more hopeful.....just need that magic potion to get this darn opening healed soon. Hugs to all.
 
I was able to look at the opening the dr cut on Wednesday today during my dressing change. It looks,dreadfully horrible. For one thing he used a scissors and cut what appears to be an x shape. I will post pictures so please if you are not wanting to look at something nasty.....bypass it.
The good news I have is starting next Fri the wound clinic I'm going to that is 45 minutes from where I live is going to have me do my dressing changes on Monday and Friday here in the town where I live!! I'm ready for it. I've about driven more miles in 6 months than I have in 3 years. I will still see the wound dr on Wednesdays so that is great. Now to HEAL.
[Bonesmart.org] Right TKR is done this is the opening before I was cut open further on Wednesday.
[Bonesmart.org] Right TKR is done So sorry that this is pretty gorey /graphic, but that is what I have to heal now. It's the underneath part that made this all necessary.
 
Oh my goodness, you poor thing. How could he do that right there in his office. What about the germs?! I'm glad you're going to a closer wound clinic.
 
Freaking out a little. Had my left TKR May 31, 2017. Today at PT they asked me about a small scab at the bottom of my incision that was new. When they were manipulating my knee some fluid came out. Reading about revisions and infections is terrifying!
 
@sistersinhim it was kind of sureal, but they did clean all the skin & prep and numbed it up and away he cut. The sound was the worst. The original incision site has been opened up now a total of 4 times since then so scar tissue is pretty well established. The nurse was trying to distract me and talk about where my 'happy ' place is....well there was no happy about any of that ! I'm looking forward to working with the clinic locally. Maybe there are things they have seen to try to help move this on faster too. Thanks for your comments.
 
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