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Knee Infection* Stage Two Revision Completed

@peffler01 Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words.

Yes, infection was the main n reason why my OS really didn't like rehab facilities. And now that I've been in one I totally get why.

Please take it slow in PT and don't do anything that will hurt your knee and cause more pain. :-)
 
Yesterday was the last day of my IV antibiotic and today my picc line came out!! :loveshwr: On oral antibiotics now for 3 months but can deal with that .

I also saw my OS. He is happy with my progress and has put me on the surgery schedule for 10/24. He told me he wanted to wait at least a month for the tissues to calm down since he did alot of cleaning out of scar tissue etc. But the first available after that is not til the end of October. But there is a caveat. In addition to the blood work I will have in 2 weeks to see if the infection is still there, in the OR he will be sending tissue samples to the pathologist to make sure there are no bacteria since my cultures never grew anything because I had to take antibiotics the week of my surgery for a UTI. He and my ID doctor felt that masked finding the source of the infecion .

If my knee is still infected he will have to put a new antibiotic cement spacer in and then the 6 weeks of IV antibiotics will start all over again .:bawl: Unfortunately I won't know until the surgery is over .

And I'm going home tomorrow!!! All around good news and my fingers are crossed that my infection is gone. Thinking only positive thoughts .
 
Best wishes for no infection and home tomorrow!!:console2:
 
I am glad to hear you are making progress. At least your surgeon is being very cautious and making sure you are infection free before proceeding. That is worth a lot! Keep us posted!
 
@MathProf - Funny that you should ask. My husband and I were just talking about me driving...as I am going nuts just sitting inside my house. I have two pins in my knee so I can't bend it at all. I can only get in and out of the house in my wheelchair, which my son has to lower me down the stairs. And me and my wheelchair weigh quite a bit....LOL.... Well, anyway, I am only 5' 4"...so my legs aren't very long. Since I have to keep my left leg completely straight, I don't believe that my right leg would ever be able to reach the gas/brake pedals. Another point that @peffler01 made is about strength .... I know you don't have to be that strong to use your gas and brake...but I haven't really "used" my right leg for 7 weeks now, and would probably be afraid to try it right now.
I too am a firm believer in Bonesmarts "be your own therapist" attitude. I had some REALLY bad experiences with PT with my first two surgeries. I finished with the PT on my first surgery. Second surgery I found Bonesmart and virtually quit PT the next day. Third surgey I did it all on my own at home. Other than the fact that the stupid thing got infected....I had complete flexion and extension.
Does anyone know if it is common to get a re-infection? Kind of freaking me out thinking about it. It's like when I woke up after the last surgery I didn't know if he was going to have to do a one or two stage revision for my infection. When I woke up the nurse said, he had to do a two stage and I said that'l ok...do I still have my leg. Scary stuff.
God Bless you all....
 
Update:

I know it's been a really long time since I last posted. I'm almost embarrassed to do so now.

I basically have just withdrawn into myself as a way to deal with this awful process.

My last ESR and CRP levels were very elevated at the end of August after completion of IV antibiotics . And then the pain had gotten progressively worse. I called my OS finally 2 weeks ago and he wanted to see me even though I'm scheduled for my next surgery on 10/24. Since my knee was really swollen and my labs elevated he wanted me to have my knee aspirated ( my worst fear as the last time someone stuck a needle in my knee it didn't go well) so he would know if the infection was still present prior to surgery.

I had my 7 day pre op appointment on Friday and he said he is 99% sure the infection is gone! And I will be getting a new knee!! Provided of course that the pathologist doesn't find any bacteria in tissue in the OR .

But my pain MGMT Dr stopped all pain meds 2 weeks ago- except for a very light muscle relaxer because he said patients do better in recovery after surgery . Not sure how this would ever make a difference with me since I've been on pain MGMT for 2 years . So I had been off them until this past Friday .

Then this past Sunday I got really sick- sicker than I had ever been and was transported to the ER where I was subsequently admitted . Not sure if I caught something or if I was going through withdrawal because I was taken off pain meds cold turkey. And if so, shame on my Dr for not weening me off .

Anyway, since the aspiration last Friday the pain got worse until i couldn't take it anymore and called his office. He prescribed 9 hydrocodone pills-the last one which I took a couple of hours ago.

However, since yesterday morning it feels like something is rubbing on something in my knee. I have shooting pain going down my leg. And the lateral part of my knee is number than usual. In short I'm uncomfortable and miserable. Can't take Advil( not that it would help), Tylenol is useless and once this pain pill wears off it will be intolerable. And then I'm worried that I'll get sick again from no pain nedication if in fact I was going through withdrawal.
.

Fingers crossed the infection is really gone ( my ID Dr wanted new labs for ESR and CRP and both were still elevated. Not as much they were in as August but still.

I'm almost at the end of the road. Hopefully I can hang on til Wednesday in terms of pain. Anyone have any ideas what I should do? I'm quite sure my pain MGMT Dr won't prescribe any additional medication and my ortho will most likely refer me back to him.
 
Are you trying to ice and elevate?
 
Just want to let you know Josephine will be off all this week, but she’ll catch up with you when she gets back.
 
@Jockette Thank you for letting me know. I'm going to call my doctor today. I developed a thin, purple/blue horizontal line from the top of my knee down to the end with a couple of smaller vertical lines branching from it. Something is bruised in there.
 
Hopefully it’s a par for the course occurrence.
 
I am in so much pain. I don't know what to do. A day and a half from surgery and all I can take is Tylenol and 4 mg doses of a muscle relaxer. Both of which are absolutely useless. It's so painful it's making me nauseous. And to make matters worse when they inserted the IV in the ER this past Monday they did something to the inside of my wrist. It is killing me.

I really don't think I'm going to make it to Wednesday. And the thin bruised lines which had gone this morning are back. Not sure why.
 
I’ll tag @Celle for you. Hopefully she will have a suggestion.
 
Celle lives in New Zealand and she’s often on during our night time.

Do you have a night time phone number for your doctor?
 
I do but when I was there before my aspiration and tried to broach the subject of the pain the Dr stopped me cold turkey. He told me he can't get involved in that as he won't tell another Dr how to do his job. So I'll call him. He'll probably refer me to the pain Dr who won't prescribe anything since my surgery is Wednesday.
 
My first question is to ask how you're taking the Tylenol. You should be taking it in 4 1000mg (2 Extra Stregth 500mg Tylenol) doses every 6 hours around the clock. Is this what you're doing?
 
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