TKR Turtle still hoping to cross the finish line

[maryo52]

They say everything is a gift, including the bad/negative. I must be getting old because I'm senile enough to entertain believing that. Well, it beats railing against fate and what we have no control over (which of course is just about everything). So either my knee turns out to be fine, or it's loosened and I'll end up with a do-over.

A good friend had her do-over with the revisionist I would go to, and she says that experience was a picnic compared to the first. And, gee, I'd end up with a knee that isn't effused all the time and requiring a brace. So that's how I'm going to look at this.

Appointment this coming Tuesday with my original ortho to see what the problem is.

 

[maryo52]

Symptoms subsided. Confused. @Josephine do the pains of implant loosening come and go?

 

[Josephine]

Not as a rule, my dear! That's a bit like asking of the pain of a fracture would come and go!
Looks like that's a positive turn of events then!

 

[maryo52]

I'm not having the painful twinges, but I am having more effusion, stiffness and aching. Well we'll see tomorrow.

 

[Pumpkin]

Interested in what your OS says tomorrow. Glad you are not having those painful twinges, swelling, stiffness, and aching are enough.
Enjoy the day,

 

[maryo52]

Saw the ortho today. The only symptom left is the extra-effusion (I always have an effusion). He said use Voltaren or arnica or aspercreme and see if I can calm the knee down, and if in 3 weeks it's no different, he'd want to do an xray to see if there is any bone loss around the implants. So we'll see. He did physically check my knee quite carefully. The flexion instability (laxity) was very apparent. Just a fact of life for this knee. Fingers crossed I don't have loosening although there's a part of me that's ready for bad news because in that case I'd be signing up for a revision with a great Boston surgeon and ready to ditch this poor knee, but on the other hand it's serving me OK. The thing is, if you have a knee go bad, you have to re-think your entire life for the next half year, and I'm not wild about that idea. So all's OK for now.

 

[Pumpkin]

Thanks for the update, hope it all calms down and everything is OK.

 

[Celle]

@maryo52

I hope your knee does settle down!

 

[maryo52]

Thanks. I'm relieved. It's like my life flashed before my eyes thinking I'd need a revision right away.

 

[WaterBaby]

Oh, I am so happy and relieved for you, Mary! Hopefully one of his suggestions will do the trick for you.

I saw my revisionist the other day and xrays show that the implant is perfect - no loosening or malfunction. He noted the effusion and where I am having the bad pain. He said the scar tissue pulling on internal structures could be the cause, as well as my RA flaring. He had done a synovectomy with the revision but he said it can grow back and is often not "normal" synovial tissue when it does. He had no other suggestions to help that knee, other than what I am already doing (300 mg Celebrex daily and using a cane). Since my other (good) knee was inflamed & painful, he gave me a cortisone injection. He also injected the TKR knee in the area where the pain is the worst. He found the right landmarks but was unable to advance the needle very much at all and then couldn't inject even half the dose! He was really surprised, saying the joint space felt like "wood". Well, so much for that shot! The really great news is that he is willing to do the TKR on my R knee when the time comes. Of course, with no guarantees re the arthrifibrosis. This time he freely admitted that my L knee had been incredibly traumatized by the first, botched, TKR which probably was a huge factor in the degree of arthrofibrosis I experienced in that knee, even with the revision. Anyway, I told him I will be waiting to do the RTKR until I simply cannot walk at all - and not a minute before! Like you, the thought of another big surgery is very daunting...but I just feel better/more hopeful knowing that I have the option of the TKR down the road.

Fingers crossed that we will both soon feel a bit better - and that any potential surgery is way, way down the road.

 

[Pumpkin]

@WaterBaby , and @maryo52 ,
Wishing you both the best with your knees, and any potential surgery is way way down the road.

 

[maryo52]

Hi @WaterBaby. I think 90% of recovery is sorting out what's happening to us! These arthrofibrotic knees ARE like wood. When mine was aspirated, the MD said it was hard getting the needle in. My knee looks a little like a burl on a tree. So it is slowly settling down.

I had had a brief episode of panic thinking I'd need a revision ASAP (all of life turned upside down for six months), followed by a good feeling that I'd have a chance at a decent TKR, and now I'm back to being grateful for a decent knee that is imperfect but serving me fine. I'm lucky in that while you and I have similar knees, I have little pain, and never had much pain except during recovery.

Yes the synovium grows back and the knee keeps growing fibrotic tissue in there, and this can be cleaned out arthroscopically. I've had two since my TKR and know it's available in the fugure, but, again, I have to be grateful for what I have.