Guest viewing is limited

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

The thing with the unexpected PT visit was it wasn't scheduled. My OS set me up with a whole new service co and specifically said no PT for a few weeks min. But she had an order for the PT from the OS that did say no ROM so didn't argue. She has a script for 3 x a week but cut it to 1 visit for now as there is no need for anymore. She also was impressed at my ease of mobility...i don't know about the ease part, bcuz I have no intention of getting sent to some rehab place...so I put every bit of reasonsble effort to show I could manage on my own.

Ok time to get moving forward and get off my butt. Ate one of t he most enjoyable breakfasts that I ever can recall. Now I'm off to shave wash up wash my hair and clean clothes. No idea how long it'll take but it's long overdue. After I get thru that I'll get back on my LT and get this thread back on topic. Plenty to share and anxious to hear some feedback on a couple incidents that I went thru
 
I'm glad you're home, Bob. Hopefully, things will start looking up from now on.
 
Welcome home! Why let PT come if you aren't to do anything for a few weeks? You need to get all the rest you can now, and have PT come for nothing and disrupt that rest just doesn't make sense. You'll be having a nurse come and that's enough to break up you rest!
 
Bob, there was home PT and OT scheduled for me also. Once OT saw I was mobile and PT saw the immbolizer I cancelled it all until I was allowed to bend again. No sense in wasting your PT when you aren’t allowed to bend right now anyway.

As Paula said above, you’ll be very tired. Your body is fighting the infection and recovering from two surgeries done in short period of time. Rest as much as you need and don’t feel badly about it. The more rest your body has the better!
 
@sistersinhim I may have used too broad of a brush with the term PT. I'm fully aware and in agreement with BS' position on therapy. But remember my hands are somewhat tied since this is a work injury. My OS ordered it and I'm not about to refuse anything right now esp after what I just went thru. The PT today was simply an assement of my current living arrangements and how im able to move around to do simple basic needs. If i fail any of part of it they'll likely request I get transfered to a rehab centet which i adamantly refuse to do. Im home and intend on staying here.

@KarriB "you'll be very tired" is an understatement and something I didn't expect esp after only doing basic personal
hygiene. Earlier today after eating I felt great in fact ready to run a virtual marathon. So went about brushing my teeth, shaving...had to do it twice, and washing up head to toe. Wished I could have showered but I'll take what I can. Didn't make it long enough to complete the final washing as my insides started shaking. Not uncontrollably but close. No other signs like pain burning short of breath etc...just shaking. Made it back to the recliner hot my leg up and recovered. And soon after fell asleep. I know all about the sleep issues as it seems I can only sleep 2-3 hrs and then wide awake again. The last couple days including when I was cooped up in the prison bed my sleep episodes have increased to 3-4 hrs at a shot and I'm thanful.

I haven't transitioned to the LT yet bcuz I'm just not there yet. I get comfortable in the recliner and that's it. I can't move if I wanted to and I'm not going to fight it. Absolutely zero interest in anything but not complaing bcuz the pain is minimal.

I feel like I'm forever apologizing for something beyond my control. This is uncharted territory for me and I'm not one to give up so easily. I always have my second wind to rely on when needed...but I don't even have enough 1st wind to do what I though was effortless. And that's tough to do.

A little while ago my wife helped me complete the wash up and get clean clothes on. Feel as fresh as the 1st day of spring after a nasty New England winter. Believe me when I say that too. So I don't want to push it. I'll probably fall asleep again soon but need to stay awake til 10 for my final dose of AB for today. Tomorrow I'll be home alone...wife still works and she's taken a boatload of time off already so I'm fine with being alone. In fact just me and my GSD with no visitors will suit me fine tomorrow. I should be able to move a step forward or should I say hope to be able to. Haven't touched my LT in what seems like ages...in fact I'm starting to get the hang of using this pocket computer. But it has it's limitations and I'm ready to put it down.

@everyone else....ive read all your replies and don't think I'm ignoring any of you. I've just limited myself to posting what I could so I don't come across as bring rude. I do have a plan on how to get back on track with thus thread as that is my sole intention. I'm a man of my word and not about to break it.

Can't believe I just plinked away as much as I did and time to give it a rest lol. See you folks tomorrow...on my LT too!!! Unless something prevents me...
 
Great feeling even wash down and fresh clothes does heeps to make you feel better best thing for you is rest sleeping anytime you can and allowing time to do rest
I would say don’t be tempted to push yourself while home alone maybe your wife can leave you something prepared in fridge like sandwich that you can get if you feel hungry
Take care
 
I sympathize more than you’ll ever know! Yes, tired is an understatement. I spent a great deal of my month with legs up, tv on and iPad in my lap, often falling asleep mid whatever. But after 3 weeks or so I began to do a bit around the house, very slowly. I’d run the vacuum, then take an hour rest. The next day make an easy dinner, an hour rest. But for now, give in to the exhaustion. I also craved a shower in the worst way, but even when I was given the ok at 4 weeks I knew how tired and shaky it would make me on top of the dr visit the same day, so I waited until the following morning.
 
Glad you're home and no additional surgery was needed. Now for the antibiotics to do their thing!! You're in my BS prayers.
 
You are doing right by catching whatever sleep you can and when you can. That sleep is really good for your healing! Those 'spit baths' just can't feel as good as a nice shower. But, they sure do make you feel much better than before those baths! I'm so glad you finally got cleaned up. I bet you felt brand new!
 
I’m sorry to hear about your infection. Tiredness was overwhelming to me. I didn’t have an immobilizer but I didn’t want to bend my knee at all due to the pain. I think I would have been better off with the immobilizer as PT was coming right from the start trying to push me to do more than I could do. After 10 minutes I was totally worn out and unable to do anything else for hours. Sleep whenever and wherever you can. Your body needs it.
 
Well it's just about 2 AM and feeling pretty good. Pain is about a 2-3 with that occasional electrical spike which pegs the hurt meter at about a 7. That at least tells me my nerves are alive and working. I've noticed that when I'm in a upbeat mood, my knee doesn't feel anywhere as near as bad as what it does when i'm down in the dump so I'm sure attitude does have an impact on healing. Figure since I'm wide awake might as well open shop and get this thread going again. I did notice that when I was using my phone, not once did I have any glitches. So that tells me the problem I was having before may in fact be something with my LT. We'll see...however I did make a vow to myself not to get bent out of shape if it happens again.

After this post I want to go back and see where I left off so I can get back in the proper gear for this thread. Probably forgot half of what I posted already.

I was never one to be phased by needles..blood draw, IV's, shots, etc. But now that I'm a worn out human dart board, I've changed. Lost count of all the pokes I've gotten over the last month, but one thing for sure...I've had enough. The last IV change and blood draw, I was so tense I told the nurse she had to give me a few mins. Just the thought of a needle now makes my skin crawl. And then after all that, they expected me to self inject that Lovenox in my gut? Yeah right...good luck with that. But mind over matter, I over came the fear. First 2 days I let the nurse do it, just couldn't do it. But day 3 was my turn. Surprisingly it was nothing, just as I was told. What a baby I was getting all worked up over it lol However...short lived. Day 4 I used the 6 o clock position...was told just work my way around the navel with every shot. Dang that sucker burned, stung and howled something fierce back at me. Oh yeah, she forgot to tell me there are more nerves below the navel and some people are more sensitive in that area. Gee, thanks for warning me!! Ok, life goes on so now day 5 is here. So now I use the 3 o clock position. HOLY GUACAMOLE!!! That sucker bit so bad my heart stopped, my lungs collapsed and my brain ejected itself into orbit...seriously, that baby HURT! It happens is what I'm told. WHEW, after those 2 shots there is no way I'm going to overcome the fear again.

This past Sat AM while still in ER, I lucked out...they did day 6 for me. Nice...lucky me! Yeah right...still have 22 more days of this. How in the world am I going to get through this?. My wife won't do it and I have no intention of trying to convince her otherwise. So once again, I suck it up and convince myself to stab my gut some more. I'm mean after all its only pain, and I should be immune to it by now...note the heavy sarcasm! Yesterday day 7 goes off without a hitch. Today day 8, for what ever reason I was tensed to the hilt. But surprisingly it went well. So it appears if I stay above the 3 and 9 o clock positions, its painless. Not sure how some of you folks can do this without any hesitation, but for me its a very real fear and I still have 20 more injections in front of me. YOWZA!! If it don't kill me, I sure as heck hope it makes me stronger.
 
Last edited:
After that painless injection this AM, I laid back and let out a big ole sigh of relief. Fell asleep almost as fast as it took to lie back and since today was to be a day to chill, I didn't care. That however didn't go off as planned. The babysitter for my PICC line called and wanted to stop by and see how I was doing since I now had quite a few sessions of doing the AB solo. No problems whatsoever and he was impressed with how it was going, so the visit wasn't too long. Kicked back in my recliner again and decided to see if I had enough interest to watch the DVR full of recordings I'v been saving up. Not bad...held my interest for a couple one hr programs and then...Ding Dong! what the...wonder who that is. And naturally my GSD went bazerk (sp?) and started barking up a storm. Believe me, it was deafening but that's what GSD do...at least mine does anyway. No way was I going to be able to crate her and with my leg MIA, not even worth trying.

Talk about a surprise...opened the door slightly and see its my boss. Haven't spoken with anyone from my job in a few months and the last person I expected was it to be my boss. Since he has a couple GSD's himself, he was fine with her being free. They both got along just fine. We ended up sitting out on the front porch for a couple hrs just shooting the breeze while my dog had a blast running around chasing the leaves blowing around. I was actually surprised I could tolerate that amount of time out there. I did rotate positions with my leg propped up on a chair to on the floor extended out...if that makes sense. I was ready to head back inside and he had to return to the shop, so that was it. Went in, cleaned up with a quick 'spit bath'... @sistersinhim I loved that term and stole it hoping you didn't mind LOL. Got some more shut eye and that pretty much consumed my day. Ended up being a great day so no complaints. Knew I needed to get back on here ASAP, so here we are even if its 3:30 AM. I mean who cares...its not like I have to get up and go to work :^)

Today I have to head out for a blood draw this AM as the ID Dr wants one once a week. Then supposed to get another visit from the homecare nurse around noon. She oversees my overall general health and knee condition along with tending the wound vac. Have to admit, this homecare services is very professional compared to the previous. I have someone for the PICC line, and then the general nurse and then the PT one. Not sure about what the PT is going to do at this stage other than watch me do a couple exercises? Whatever, I'm no footing the bill. First rate company for sure so far...fingers crossed! And then tomorrow I go see the OS for my follow up.

So now that I'm finally able to start posting again driving my LT instead of my phone, and feeling pretty upbeat...life is good. Hope it lasts, but also realize I'll have my ups and downs. I'm going to quit here for now. Next up: after I review what I already posted so I can expand on a few details I left out. Ok...make that a lot of details lol. But I want to...it might benefit those of you who are still at the pre op stage as well as I want to hear the comments and feedback. Some interesting and juicy stuff to come for sure. I also want to address a few posts from you folks that I never replied back to. BTW...I'm not psychic or anything even close, but it sure is odd that I chose the title of good bad and ugly not expecting the ugly part to become what it eventually did. Definitely something strange was in the air when I created the topic title. I also still have quite a few questions to ask and I'll end this episode with one that is fresh on my mind:

How bad is it going to be when I lose this immobilizer from my leg and have to start bending it again? Meaning how painful? I assume its going to be ugly, any chance they'll give me a shot or something like a nerve block? Because if I have to bite a bullet in order to get through it, there's going to be some serious ugly involved!! Today when I was outside on the porch, I changed leg positions. I had the brace on thank god, but my knee flexed enough to get a taste of whats to come. The flex was minimal, but it was enough to tell me it went too far. Blurted out some colorful language for sure, and my boss knew I did something wrong, but he's used to the vocabulary, so no harm no foul

That's it for now folks...so good night...err good morning or better yet: good day! :)
 
Another question:

If my knee/leg feels as good as it does right now...knowing it was just over a week ago that everything exploded, is that a positive indication that I'll recover from the infection without any ill effects? Or to soon to tell? My OS initially said there is an 85% chance I'll get through it fine and 15% chance I'll need a couple more surgeries which would include TKR again.

The ID DR said I have/had a staph infection no MRSA. But there is still a culture waiting for the 14 day mark.
 
Bob, maybe the term should be 'barkzerk' where a big ol' dog is concerned :heehee:

Sounds like the visit with the boss was a nice distraction. Distractions are good.

Is your gut shot a blood thinner? I was told to take aspirin twice a day for that. If it is for something else...I am cringing in sympathy. Just...ouch!
 
rubyyarn said:
Is your gut shot a blood thinner? I was told to take aspirin twice a day for that. If it is for something else...I am cringing in sympathy. Just...ouch!
Click to expand...
Yes a blood thinner. I was on aspirin but they stopped it until I complete the 28 day injection. I tried to get out of the shots but they said no. After the 28 days I return to aspirin.

Wasn't it you who early said 'eww' about the injections? No matter because the ouch and eww don't even come close to how I felt. lol But what choice did I have other than suck it up and deal with it. I still remember the nurse laughing at me when she said a big guy like you afraid of this itty bitty needle? That sucker was about a half inch long...a half inch TOO long for me. After I did the first one and realized it was nothing, no big deal... but those last 2 zingers hit home and I honestly started to tremble thinking/knowing how many more I have to do. Best way I found...after a few mins of deep soul searching-for what I don't know...was once you open the alcohol pack just do it and get it over with, don't think about it.
 
Still sounds like a do-it-yourself rabies shot...not fun. I get faint when they draw blood, can't imagine sticking myself on purpose!

You are a brave soul.
 
@BionicBob I had to give myself those injections post RTHR. I HATE needles so it was a major ask for me. Josephine created a great guide to this procedure. Two things that I wasn't doing that made all the difference is the tapping to make sure there is no medication on the end of the needle and pitching a bit of prepared skin. Can't say it made the whole thing more enjoyable - but it did help ease some of the pain.
 
@Jaycey most excellent and thanks for the link!!! I didn't know that there was something that covered these injections here so I'll read it in a few mins...just got home from blood test. Anything that'll make it easier I'm all ears. Thanks again
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Corganics CBD
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Staff online

Members online

Total: 804 (members: 4, guests: 800)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom