Knee Infection* Right TKR revision from staph infection<

[TimeBuster]

By the way, kudos to all the administrators and moderators at Bonesmart. I appreciate all the hard work you folks do on here watching out for us bonessmarties.

Sometimes I'm a little skeptical of the advice given on here, after all, this is the Internet and you can't believe everything you read on the Internet

When I made the appointment with my OS on Monday an hour later the PA who assisted my OS In both of my surgeries LeeAnn called me and was very concerned with the pain I been having with my new knee. I was on the phone with her or at least 25 minutes and every single question she asked me were identical to the questions the administrators and moderators would ask us here on Bonesmart.

I found a new respect and admiration for the people who put their time and experience helping us bonesmarties In our time of need.

For that I

 

[Izabel]

TimeBuster. I wholeheartedly agree with you. I think you will find that the Administrators, Moderators and Forum Advisors have all been through the issues that many encounter, unlike many Doctors, Surgeons ans Nurses etc who have the medical knowledge of but not experienced the actual surgery and subsequent recovery pains and complications. They are in the category of "been there, done that, have the tee shirt"! Nothing is better than first-hand knowledge.
And a big thank you Administrators, Moderators and Forum Advisors from me too.

 

[MzzzCat]

I also agree with you Timebuster! The more I learn about the mysteries and rites of TKR recovery, the more I learn to trust the advice of the Administrators and Moderators. And to always refer to those initial recovery articles.

In a somewhat similar situation to you my friend. Was doing wonderfully in terms of my recovery. Went to bed last Wednesday night after having a great day with my new knee being pain free and, best of all, doing what it is designed to do! Woke up feeling off on Thursday but went to PT. My therapist actually had me stop my initial warm up exercises and examined my knee. He commented that it was much more swollen than it had been and that it was very hot. By Saturday I was in the ER with my knee swollen up like a ballon and in incredible pain. Tentatively diagnosed at that time with cellulitis. My OS wasn’t happy and got me in as soon as he could and wasn’t happy. So I had a needle aspiration of my knee yesterday by my OS and am waiting to hear if it is an infection or something else. I HATE this phase of things—waiting without knowing.

But all that said it is oddly reassuring to know that I’m not the only one dealing with the waiting and not knowing. Not to mention having the support and input of the administrators and moderators. I will be following your thread and keeping you in my thoughts and heart. Hang in there Timebuster! You have proven yourself to be incredibly strong and resilient by recovering from that awful first TKR and I have faith that whatever is causing your sudden onset pain doesn’t stand a chance against such a well informed and proactive recovery warrior!

 

[TimeBuster]

@MzzzCat I've been following your thread too. I'm sorry to hear what you're currently going through. I can only imagine what was going through your mind as you were waiting to be diagnosed in the ER. I had to look up cellulitis, Ouch. Kudos to your therapist for recognizing something wasn't right with your knee. And the same goes to your OS for taking quick action in aspirating your knee. You're right, waiting for results of the aspiration is the hardest part as far as I'm concerned. I hope you received good news when you get your results so you can put your mind at ease and you can continue in your recovery with your new knee.

 

[TimeBuster]

Every morning I wake up praying and hoping the pain on my new knee has resolved itself. No such luck. As soon as I stand up and put bear weight on my knee reality sets in. This is so frustrating, nine days have passed since this pain started and I'm getting angrier by the day. Doctors appointments can come any sooner I need to know what's going on with my knee, I need answers.

 

[DLR]

Sorry to hear this. When are your appointments?

 

[MzzzCat]

Hey @TimeBuster! Still now answer on the culture of the knee aspiration. My doctor called and said the lab needed another 12 hours. He is great and cracks jokes with me. Today though he totally got the frustration of having to wait another day for results. ARGHHHHH! I can deal with whatever the news is but I am not good with the limbo of not knowing.

Why is it taking so long for you to get an appointment with your doctor? I would think the possibility of an infection (sudden onset of pain that does not resolve or improve within 24 to 48 hours is apparently a big red flag. From my crazy medical history I know you have to act fast and try to stay ahead of these things. Despite hating going to the ER that’s why I knew I had to suck it up and go.

I went back and read your post to remind myself—if you talked to the ortho PA did she express concern about infection or give you any insight into what might be going on with your knee? With your history of infection it just seems like a no brainer to get you seen ASAP if not sooner. Is the pain you are experiencing similar to the pain in your original bout of infection? Is there swelling? Is it hot to the touch? I am not an administrator/moderator but if your appointment is not tomorrow I would go to the ER where your surgery was done and make sure they know you have already had a staph infection and that this is a revision.

Humorous sidebar—I think I am dealing with my stress over not knowing by being so angry and upset on your behalf that you having to wait for an appointment! I just ranted to my husband about your situation and he sort of laughed at me and said he was happy to see me not being stressy about not getting the results. It’s ridiculous, but he’s right. Anyway, hang in there and rest! If it is an infection rest is the best thing you can do. If it is some kind of injury rest is the best thing you can do. Along with icing and elevating.

Please keep us posted on how you are doing! My husband and I really get the situation you are in from past experience and you have every right to be angry. Just make sure you don’t let your angry prevent you from enjoying the things you can.

 

[Josephine]

every single question she asked me were identical to the questions the administrators and moderators would ask us here on Bonesmart.

That's because the staff have and excellent teacher - ME!

Regarding your pain, do you have recent xrays you can post? More recent than the one in Sunday's post?
Or rather, when was that xray taken and can you post it full sized so I can view it properly? (about 2,000p would be good!)

 

[TimeBuster]

Sorry to hear this. When are your appointments?

Hello, @DLR Thank you for your concern I hope all is well with you and in better spirits.

Why is it taking so long for you to get an appointment with you doctor? I would thing the possibility of an infection (sudden onset of pain that does not resolve or improve within 24 to 48 hours is apparently a big red flag.

@MzzzCat I might get angry at my situation like you I have to rant about it just to get it out of my system LOL

Since my surgery, I have to take a daily antibiotic, and how funny this sounds now, as a precaution to prevent any reoccurring knee infection When I started having pain on Wednesday, 5/15/19 I gave my knee several days to see if it would get better before I jumped the gun and started calling doctors. It didn't of course but I continue to take my daily dose of antibiotics during that time. I know from experience if you have bloodwork done or have a knee aspirations taken for a possible infection having antibiotic in your system can give you a false reading. Antibiotics should be out of your system at least 10 days before any bloodwork or knee aspiration is taken to get a true reading.

By Monday, 5/20/19 still having issues with my knee I knew I would have to come off the antibiotics for at least 10 days so I had no choice but to make the doctors appointment until next week. When my PA call me on Monday she agreed to stop the antibiotics before I had any procedures done. I have an appointment with my GP on Tuesday 5/28/19. I can have my bloodwork done at his office plus I need refills on other medications I'm taking so I can kill two birds with one stone. I'm hoping the bloodwork is ready when I see my OS on Thursday 5/30/19. I also made an appointment with infectious control Dr. for 6/11/19 If needed.

Like I said in my previous post, I have no swelling or redness on my knee, It is a little warm to the touch but that's normal considering I'm only eight weeks from surgery. I can sleep all night or sit all day, flex my knee back and forth and I have no discomfort or pain, but as soon as I put bear weight on my knee lol.

I was so looking forward to walking around the flea market this summer lol. This is just a minor setback I'll get through this one way or the other once I find out what's causing this pain. My motto is, when the going gets tough I get tougher LOL

Have a great day everyone. And as Josephine, our wonderful administrator would say, make sure your icing and elevating

 

[TimeBuster]

@Josephine This x-ray was taken two half weeks ago. I have an appointment with my OS next Thursday and I'll make sure I get a recent x-rays for you to look at

 

[Josephine]

Okay, excellent, thank you

 

[MzzzCat]

Thank you TimeBuster! You are one tough soul. Until the healers who treat us experience how difficult the waiting period is for us, I’m not sure they get that while two weeks flies when you are busy it is a bit more challenging when you can’t walk without pain. Can sure tell that you know the drill by this point and am making note of the 10 days to be off antibiotics before blood work or aspirations are accurate readings. Just curious—how does a doctor figure out how long you need to be on a PICC line or even an oral or a post surgical infection since blood work is not accurate while you are on it?

 

[KarriB]

Pain doesn’t always mean an infection. Although others here have had pain with infection I had no unexplained pain with my infection (staph) as a matter of fact I had begun to cut back my pain meds when a high fever began, followed by massive seeping from a closed incision.

I do understand how difficult the waiting it. Even after my infection washout surgery my knee continued to seep and we waited and waited for it to stop and for test results every week. I’m hoping you hear results soon.

 

[TimeBuster]

Just curious—how does a doctor figure out how long you need to be on a PICC line or even an oral or a post surgical infection since blood work is not accurate while you are on it?

Standard protocol 6 weeks on antibiotic. I had a nurse visit me once a week to change the dressing on the PICC line and draw blood. They are checking for the white blood cells count. When your white blood cells count become normal you have accomplished the first stage of fighting an infection. Second stage and the most important one, after 10 days off the antibiotics the only way to confirm the staph infection in your knee is completely gone is by having a knee aspiration.

Two weeks before my surgery I had a knee aspirations and it came back negative, thank goodness, during surgery my OS took culture sent it to the lab and that also came back negative. She was making double sure my infection was completely gone before she proceeded with the surgery.

My OS God bless her soul, during surgery she accidentally pricked herself with one of the syringes she was using on me, but that's a story for another time LOL It involved the infectious control Dr. and panic throughout the hospital

For six weeks every day had to give myself this concoction of medication. First one was the saline to clear the line, the large syringe you see in the picture that is the antibiotic, then I had to flush the line again with saline, then the last one was the heparin to prevent blood clots in the line. I was so happy when I took my last dose of antibiotics and when they pull the PICC line out a week later.

 

[winemama]

Wow. I don’t know if I’m as strong as you all. Good luck

 

[TimeBuster]

I do understand how difficult the waiting it. Even after my infection washout surgery my knee continued to seep and we waited and waited for it to stop and for test results every week. I’m hoping you hear results soon.

@KarriB I'm a little confused, are you currently waiting for results to come back?

 

[TimeBuster]

I had a very bad experience with my first TKR in 2012. The OS completely botch my operation, during surgery, he fractured my tibia and damaged my knee. For four years I lived in excruciating pain, unable to walk which left me immobile and homebound. I lost my job, my house, two cars, gained 200 pounds from depression, and I was left in financial ruins. Once I lost my health insurance I wasn't able to have my knee redone.

My past experience with my botched TKR taught me a very valuable life lesson. One, listen to your body, and two, don't trust doctors or hospitals. If I knew then what I know now, I could have saved myself from so much pain and misery and fought back the system.

I had several disturbing episodes while I was in the hospital with the recent TKR revision that concern me. Now I have no clue if any of this has to do with my current situation with my knee, but my past experience with my botched TKR this time I took several precautions. I videotape, took tons of pictures and documented everything while I was in the hospital

As you can see from the images, when they pulled the drain line out of my knee I was bleeding profusely. The nurses had a very hard time trying to stop the bleeding. Blood and fluid were all over the pillow and bedsheets. It wasn't a very sterile environment, to say the least, and it took forever for the bleeding and fluid to stop. I had the same issue with bleeding when I had the PICC line put in. I was outraged and made it clear to everyone I was because I know how sensitive are knees are when it comes to infection.

For understandable reasons you can see why I'm concerned about infection. That is the reason why I need to find out what's going on with my knee now, so I can put my head to rest and take action accordingly.

Caution, graphic images.

 

[KarriB]

No I’m not currently waiting on results. I had a staph infection with my TKR 5 years ago. Even after surgery and 2 different antibiotics, one oral and one IV it was very stubborn.

The PA pulled my first drainage tube which was very painful. After the infection surgery I had 2 drainage tubes, but both fell out on their own.

 

[MzzzCat]

There needs to be a button for “I hear your pain,” on this forum, not just like or agree! KarriB and TimeBuster, just hit like on two of your posts for lack of a better choice but hopefully you both get that it is supportive not “Oh yeah, terrible things happening!”

Posted my news in my thread and it’s mostly good! Hurrah! Timebuster—I love your idea of documenting everything while in hospital. Especially when things are being done by a nurse or tech you may never see again. KarriB—hope somebody identifies the bacteria and figures out the right antibiotic cocktail that will work for your bugs.

 

[Celle]

There needs to be a button for “I hear your pain,” on this forum, not just like or agree! KarriB and TimeBuster, just hit like on two of your posts for lack of a better choice but hopefully you both get that it is supportive not “Oh yeah, terrible things happening!”

There's an appropriate Smiley for that -

When you're writing a post, click on the smiley face in the bar at the top of the message box and smiley images will appear at the bottom. The one I used is shown in the "Good" section.