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Knee Infection Whew!! it's finally done: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

hi @BionicBob ~ good to see you posting again. i am so sorry for what you've been going through, especially having your medical team tell you what you should or shouldn't do when you're already feeling miserable and trying your best. can you give yourself permission to just take it easy, stay home, ice and elevate, pamper yourself for at least a week and get back on track? i, for one, only went out for my surgeon appointment at 10 days post op to get staples out and x-ray and at 3 weeks post op to family dr. appointment to talk about the nausea, constipation, diarrhea, not eating issues. i went out one day in the first couple weeks to sit in the sun but could only take it for 10 minutes. are you having any issues with constipation? many of us have, then i had the additional issue of diarrhea as i was treating the constipation. that really set me back.

please come back and vent if you want to. you never know, someone may be able to give you a good tip to help. take good care of yourself ~ whatever it takes to be comfortable and helps with the pain.:flwrysmile:
 
I am so sorry to read this. Take good care of you and return when you can.
 
@BionicBob My surgeon told my husband I'd hate him for the first six weeks. And I did. (That is, hate the surgeon, not my husband, who was and is wonderful.)
Try to give yourself a break, as in, permission to feel like hell. We all did, from zingers to swelling to muscle spasms to whatever-the-heck. I'm here to tell you it was so, so worth it! Anyway, take your frustrations out on the Yankees or Astros for right now!
 
:console2:
 
So much has happened I'm not sure how to begin. But since I'm usi g my phone from the hospital bed I'm going to limit what I want to say for now. It can be frustrating typing with large fingers and small keys. Once I'm home and back on my LT again I can elaborate more..

Once again...WHEW!! LOL not that it's a joki.g matter but you have to deal with it the best you can. I just experienced my worst fears of this TKR....its infected. Had emergency surgery last Sat AM and was just told by OS I made need another tomorrow. It has to do with excessive draining. And if that's the case why did they remove the drain from the incision on Monday...whatever. The emergency surgery involved open g it up completely cleaning it out and replacing the plastic disc. And now it appears they may have to cut it open again? Not sure I can handle it...seriously!!

I'll continue next post...easier for me that way
 
The u fortunate part is this could have been avoided. I contacted my home healthcare a week prior with a concern about a spot in the center of the incision. I also sent a photo of the incision. Well never heard back and since it wasn't painful no puss and no fever I assumed it was ok. NOT!!! Day before my appt to remove staples I had a full blown panic attack of pain. Meaning I about had a heart attack...seriously...the pain was so bad. Got through it and went in Friday for the staples to be removed. Well that didn't go down as expected. Got a thorough verbal thrashing in the 3rd degree out to g all the blame on me for the co edition of the incision....the one tion had a week to cook so you can imagine what it looked like.

Immediately admitted to hospital with emergency surgery 7AM next day. Then....post op...i wanted to literally die. Spent a good 10 hrs with the most gut wrenching excruciating pain that I ever felt in my entire life. Got so bad I told the nurse if something wasn't done that chair was going through the window and I'm following it...im on the 10th floor mind you!!

Got through that misery and the blood and cultures came back negative except for a 14 day test that's still pendi g. Was scheduled for an expected discharge today so yesterday I had to have a heart catheter installed....GULP!!! another panic moment...wasnt bad but still...

And that's were I am stuck in a prison bed with the possibility of another surgery tomorrow. I skipped so many relevant details but I'll have to leave it at that for now. I'm here awake and doing ok all things considered. Never expected this and funny part...for me anyway...my intention of the 3rd day being ugly was the hassles my insur carrier were causing for discharge after the T KR. Now it turns into this full blown infection deal that really fits the bill.

The staples rayed a role in the cause but being a public forum I'm going to have to limit any further.duscusdion about that part for now...i have my reasons.

Gonna take a break for now but I'll be around. Not that I can go anywhere
 
Some serious typo errors in my last 2 posts...sorry. did the best I could do and not about to try and fix them using my phone. Bad enough I had to go through a recover password deal bcuz my login info is at home
 
Oh Bob, what bad luck! We all dread infection and it saddens me that you have one. @KarriB can offer personal experience with an infected knee, and there are other members and staff who have dealt with this.

I just read your second post, and understand (I think) why you would rather not talk about causes of the infection. In terms of your friends helping you through this, the cause doesn't matter. What matters is that you are going through so much suffering and stress!

Your positive spirit will be a great help during this time. There's something to be said for being able to roll with the punches. Please continue your posts... we care, and others can learn from your experiences.

Oh, and we read typo. :) Happens all the time. One of the necessities of tiny keyboards and autocorrect.
 
Thanx sussie...i need all the positive encouragement I can get right now
 
Wow, Bob! Sounds like you've really been through it! It also sounds like you informed them about an impending problem and they didn't listen. That's probably why they yelled so loud. Most humans won't take responsibility if they can blame someone else.

Take care!
 
WOW I am just catching up on your posts. I am so sorry about the complications. I hope you get better, follow doc orders.


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Bob, this is something none of us expect or want to experience. My advice is to be sure you have a good revision specialist and an infectious disease dr. There is good news, it was caught early. While you’re in the hospital do some research on your surgeon to see what type of experience he has with infections and revisions.

About 3.5 weeks after surgery I had a very high fever, a day later the seeping began through a closed incision. Because of the date (Thanksgiving Eve) there was only a spine specialist at my ortho group, but he took one look at my knee and sent me to the hospital where a TKR/THR doc was having his surgery day. I was very fortunate because he was/is a great revision dr. and operated that night. I had the washout/spacer exchange and was told my dr did the washout 2x. He washed out, made everyone leave the OR, scrub again then another washout. My leg was very sore from the washout and the OS said my soft tissue was compromised from the infection and subsequent washouts. He said NO bending for 2 weeks and put me in an immbolizer brace. I was also under the care of an infectious disease group of doctors who analyzed the tissue cultures and prescribed the antibiotics. I was on both an oral and IV antibiotic for 6 weeks. After 2 weeks the seeping began again, so the immbolizer stayed on until the seeping stopped. Good news, after a month I began non-aggressive therapy and was back to work 12 weeks post op. I continued to gain ROM for over a year post op.

I now walk a few miles every day and ride 8 miles a day on my bike. It will get better, just be your own advocate, ask questions and take as much control as you can of your recovery. Ask any questions you need answered here and we’ll do our best to help.
 
God bless you, Bob. I will be praying that this infection is out of there really quickly! It's so disheartening when we tell those in charge that something is wrong, but they won't listen. Thank God it is still early in your recovery and can't be treated with the best meds! We are all here for you and you will be receiving a lot of prayers!
 
Oh NO!! I am so sorry for your pain. I am hoping your doctors will get it right this time and that you will now begin a healing process that will be straightforward without complication.
 
Thank you everyone I truly appreciate the thoughts and well wishes. No doubt this was unexpected and a tough pill to swallow. I got thru the TKR, the heart catheter...whew that one had me in a panic until after it was done and o realized I worried over nothing...and lastly the self injection on the stomach for blood clot prevention. That last one made me say "what?? You want me to stick a needle in my gut??!! Never happen!!! " lol but I did it and promised the nurse on the 3rd day I would do it myself. And I did it too. So I look at it that if I can get thru everything I have so far, I have it in me to get thru this infection deal. I have to laugh at my self in that most if not all you females have a strong attitude about this kind of stuff and handle yourselves fine and yet here I'm a male who never once considered myself a wimp, and yet want to run and hide after I've been told I need such & such procedure. The humor even if it's about my reactions are what help deal with the axneity.

@KarriB everythi g you said almost word for word is exactly what I've been told. My IS did say that th 3 week mark is usually the max. After that a total redo is usually necessary. Yours at 3.5 weeks sort of confirm that even though you went slightly longer. It is encouraging to hear you still had weeping after the cleanup and that it stopped on its own. In my case the OS said theyll reinspect tomorrow and make a decision. I do have confidence in this OS regardless of whats happened so far, but since he did the cleanup I may as well let him see it through. Besides, if I blow him off at this stage, I doubt another OS will want to tou h this. At leazt thats what ive neen told.

I'm all ears if anyone has any other thoughts. Meanwhile I'll remain optimistic that it's done and over and just let the anti biotics do their job for the next 6 weeks. Only downside is the immobilizer brace will give me a peg leg that I have to overcome when it's time to start moving it again. OS said 2-3 weeks with the brace minimum.
 
Once again...sorry for the spelling. I'm actually surprised I typed as much as I did. But time for a rest before I go cross eyed and my fingers get knotted up. I give those of you who can do this from an itty bitty phone all day a lot of ctedit.
 
Oh Bob! :console2:
I'm sorry to hear what has happened to you. That's really bad luck!
We have had several people on here whose knees became infected. It can take a while to sort everything out, but everything worked out all right for them in the end.

@newlybionic is another forum adviser who has been through this. She and KarriB will understand from personal experience what you are going through.

Are you having antibiotics through that line into your heart that they inserted? That's the usual treatment (and a very effective one), although it is a nuisance.
PICC Line

I'll be thinking of you and looking to see how you're getting on.
 
Welcome back BionicBob so sorry to hear what has happened and wishing you a speedy recovery of the infection so you can start moving forward my thoughts are with you
 
For each of my kneecap removals I was in an immobilizer for up to 8 weeks. I did fine afterwards. Your knee will know how to bend and being immobile will help your tissues to heal better!
 
The immbolizer did give me a pegleg walk, for that reason I only walked when necessary. No exercising. When the immbolizer came off my knee was stiff, but my OS ordering non-aggressive therapy was vital. My knee wasn’t swollen at all and after a few weeks of very easy heel slides and deliberately walking with a bend in my knee I started therapy. About 2-3 weeks after the immbolizer came off I was able to get a full revolution on the recumbent bike (after a week or two of rocking the pedals). My PTs were very careful to not aggravate my knee. So while your recovery may take a little longer, you should get a full ROM.

I still see my ID for blood work and take a maintenance dose of 100mg doxycycline a day. My infection was a staph.
 
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