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Knee Infection Wound infection

Old Texan said:
I am at home now, wound vac in tow, waiting on surgery for skin grafts to close the wound. ...unless, of course, there is infection. .... I had a concrete spacer placed when my hardware was removed, and was just unable to function. .....
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I am so sorry to hear about that, @Old Texan. I can't imagine bringing that wound vac home and waiting for surgery. I think you're having a heck of a worse time from your infection than I am :(

I hope your wound clears up quickly and everything settles and that your operation is 100% successful. Sending you many {{{Good Luck Vibes}}} from across the seas!

It is hard with the concrete spacers - I have been home for just 2 weeks but it seems like 2 months and I must say I have to grit my teeth as I walk in my brace thinking that this is not forever, no matter how long it seems to take!:tiredwheel:

I feel almost bad to share my good news with everyone now! I just got back from seeing my blood doctor and my CRP has dropped from 95 last week to 39 yesterday! I almost jumped out of my wheelchair with joy!! It's been 8 weeks almost to the day that I've had IV antibiotics so FINALLY I'm seeing results

They removed my PICC line, so no more IV antibiotics! Woot!! Just oral antibiotics until next week and then they see how I go. One step closer to getting the hardware, as you so brilliantly call it!
 
grannyweasel said:
I feel almost bad to share my good news with everyone now! I just got back from seeing my blood doctor and my CRP has dropped from 95 last week to 39 yesterday! I almost jumped out of my wheelchair with joy!! It's been 8 weeks almost to the day that I've had IV antibiotics so FINALLY I'm seeing results
They removed my PICC line, so no more IV antibiotics! Woot!! Just oral antibiotics until next week and then they see how I go. One step closer to getting the hardware, as you so brilliantly call it!
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Excellent! Outstanding! :happydance::yay::dancy::spin:
 
@grannyweasel I have just read through your thread. I am just so sorry you are going through this. I am glad there are people on here who have really been there and can help you through all of this.
Many thoughts,
~~hopefaith
 
@grannyweasel ,

I am so excited for you! 39 CRP!:happydance::egypdance::happydance::yes!:

You have got this under control! Mission control has given you the green light! Woo hoo! Go go go!:wowspring::wowspring::wowspring:
 
Thanks so much for all your support and encouraging words @Celle, @hopefaith, @RestAssured, @Jozilla and @Old Texan.

Have to get a blood test tomorrow before seeing my blood doctor on Wednesday morning ... have fingers and toes crossed that the score will be 10 or less but will let you know :)
 
[Bonesmart.org] Wound infection


@Shortie :D
 
Well my CRP is down to 31 now, which is great but I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic, like a score of 9! :rofsign:

I was told to finish my box of oral antibiotics and then I'm off the medication and get to see my blood man in 2 weeks time. Hopefully there won't be any signs that the infection has returns but if it does, I have to ring them up right away.

He told me to make an appointment with my OS in 3 weeks, which I've done, and with a bit of luck I go back into hospital soon after that to get my knee put back in :dancy:

I don't know if any of you guys had to wear a brace in between the two procedures (@Old Texan?) - I have one which I need to wear whenever I'm upright but I'm finding that my leg is beginning to slip into what I believe is called "valgus collapse" or "medial knee displacement".

In December 2011 my OS went into replace the (right knee) prosthesis which I had since 2003 -- I had that put in after my 1st replacement, put in in 2000, failed.

I could walk with the 2nd TKR but couldn't straighten my leg and always needed a pillow under my knee when lying down. Still, I didn't fall or trip or have any accidents with that knee.

My OS was very happy to tell me that all he had to do was put in a thinner spacer, which he said would allow me to straighten my leg. That was all good for the first month and then my knee went into valgus collapse and ended up looking like this (please forgive my ugly looking legs) ...

[Bonesmart.org] Wound infection

I had to go back in March 2012 and that's when I got my Zimmer rotating hinged knee. Again, I don't think it worked so well as a year later my leg was hyper extending!

My leg was fine when I was in hospital and I had no pain whatsoever but since being home, I can hardly put any weight on my leg as the pain is concentrated on the outside of my (right) knee when I do walk ... and now I'm finding that my knee is doing the same thing, although not as dramatic as previously :(

Am so fed up with this knee! :banghead:

[Bonesmart.org] Wound infection
 
Yep, I had to wear the immobilizer brace. My knee did bend about 30 degrees even with the brace, but not like that. I have no idea what would cause that. And yes, I think the braces are amajor pain!
 
Even after the revision you must be careful. "Silly" Sonja decided that she was on top of the world a few days post op and the knee buckled. Ended up in a knee immobilizer brace
 
Old Texan said:
Yep, I had to wear the immobilizer brace. My knee did bend about 30 degrees even with the brace, but not like that. I have no idea what would cause that. And yes, I think the braces are amajor pain!
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@Old Texan - the reason I have this problem is because of the 1st operation on my knee done in 1967. The huge scar was because I dislocated my kneecap and that was the cut they did back then :gaah:

The surgeon was a GP who learned about surgery, not an ortho surgeon, so I'm not sure if he was even qualified to do the operation! I guess back in the 50s/60s GPs from England could learn a little bit about specialised procedures then come out to the Colonies and practice :P I know a girlfriend told me that "surgeon" gave her mother a hysterectomy and then they found out she didn't need one! :no-fin:

My first OS in 2000 tried everything to get the replacement to work and after a lot of researching, it would seem that in those days the surgeon removed something from the inner knee when repairing the dislocation. Not sure if it was a tendon, muscle, ligament or what but that's why my knee won't stay straight :bored:

RestAssured said:
"Silly" Sonja decided that she was on top of the world a few days post op and the knee buckled. Ended up in a knee immobilizer brace
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@RestAssured -- Oh dear God - that's awful! Thanks for the tip :/
 
You are welcome! Anything I can do to help others avoid prolonged recoveries, is worth it to me!:console2:
 
I just had a thought which was started by my blood doctor. He asked me if I was taking vitamins, etc, and I said yes. I will share with you guys what I take as it might help some of you to get better quicker ...

Probiotics
I'm sure you've all heard that probiotics are good to have after surgery as it seems to speed up recovery, especially if one has had a lot of antibiotics. I asked my OS and he was happy for me to start almost immediately after they took my metal out. I can't honestly say if it speeded up my recovery but all the doctors thought I looked pretty good, all things considered!

Vitamins
I have multivitamins, vitamin B and vitamin D on a daily basis and included them in hospital.

Astaxanthin
I was told by a ferret friend that this supplement was excellent for keeping our little babies healthy so I bought a bottle to give them a few drops in their daily smoothie (hence my name, granny weasel :D).

When I got home from the hospital, I looked at the bottle with different eyes and saw it was an antioxidant, so decided to take one a day for myself. I read the blurb and, to my absolute surprise, I saw that this supplement had great results with C-Reactive Protein so I was stoked! I took it for a week before I had my blood test and that's when my CRP score went from 95 to 39! I know it was probably too soon to get the CRP down but I honestly think it worked :egypdance:

Chlorophyll
I read up about how chlorophyll cleanses the blood so I got a bottle of pills and have been taking it since being home. Again, I have no idea if it's working, but I do feel stronger and am doing more around the house so I hope it does help!

Anyway, thought I'd share the above with anyone who's presently feeling under-the-weather after their operation and hope that the information might help whoever might want to try them out :D
 
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I'm going to tag @Poppet, who also is from Australia. She is our expert on nutrition and she can comment on the things you are taking that seem to have helped. I'm also going to tag our forum nurse, @Josephine, who can address the problems you are having with your knee at this point.

I do hope things continue to go well and you can get the new joint placed. The part that you were mentioning that may have been removed from the inner area of the knee joint may have been the criciate ligaments. Way back when it was somewhat common to remove them and they sometimes still are removed if they are really damaged. But....joint replacements have accommodations for their loss, so that should not be a problem for you. If this is the case, your surgeon will use a special prosthesis that has a pin to stabilize your joint. Here is an excerpt from an article in our BoneSmart Library that will explain what I'm talking about.

There are two types of implants: cruciate sparing and the cruciate sacrificing. This is to do with the two strong ligaments that cross over inside the joint and prevent the femur from sliding off the top of the tibia when the knee is flexed. They also control the bones when some rotational movements are made such as in sports like skiing and football.
[Bonesmart.org] Wound infection


Cruciate sparing
This preserves the cruciate ligaments if they are in good condition. The implants have a notch to accommodate them. If the cruciate ligaments have previously been removed, this type of implant is not used.
[Bonesmart.org] Wound infection


Cruciate sacrificing
When the cruciates are in poor condition, ruptured or have been removed, a prosthesis is used which has a peg on the plastic insert and a notch on the femoral component to take over their functions of keeping the joint stable.
[Bonesmart.org] Wound infection
 
Jamie said:
I'm going to tag @Poppet, who also is from Australia. She is our expert on nutrition and she can comment on the things you are taking that seem to have helped. I'm also going to tag our forum nurse, @Josephine, who can address the problems you are having with your knee at this point.
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That's extremely kind of you, @Jamie, thank you :D

Jamie said:
If this is the case, your surgeon will use a special prosthesis that has a pin to stabilize your joint.
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Actually my Zimmer prosthesis had a pin - my OS said when he went in on June 18 he just replaced the spacer and tightened the pin! I had no idea that it was a known fact re the crucial ligaments - I don't know if could it have been as widely known back in 2000, I wonder, as it took my OS at the time a while to find out about that :umm:
 
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