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The way this Dr. Has been so thorough it has crossed my mind that your probably right. It funny how you can define the word " if " in my case if the 1st replacement was checked like this one maybe ??? I know I will get thru it but I am human and sure I like to joke around be sarcastic at times but when I was told I had an infection it really got to me. I can take a lot I have been thru a lot maybe not to the extent of surgeries you have had in different areas ( mine have pretty much been all on the same L knee )  but this was one thing I was terrified of and as much as I was hoping it did not turn out the way I wanted as a result the stress level has gone thru the roof to the point it caused some tears. Sorry for being truthful about all of this but by writing thoughts and feelings and getting feedback it does help. So Yes I will be following the mafia method of recovery and copy a picture of the roller coaster ride.

Yes they did but the Dr. told me 30%  of all knee infections are not detected by tests.After the surgery the Dr. sent out 5 cultures to be tested 4 out of 5 came back negative however one came back positive. I was worried that I would have to have another surgery to have the implant taken out and a spacer put in.The biggest question was the type of infection whether its considered lucky or not the infection I have is not as bad as they thought, The Dr. also told me if you have never had an infection the odds of getting one are 1% the odds of getting an infection after you have already had one are approx. 50%. So yes I am in the same boat as everyone else pain discomfort etc following surgery and unfortunate for me I am well aware of that what has really got me bummed to the point of tears is the one thing I was afraid of the absolute most happened.

nwf477, I am 20 months post a cementless L. TKR and just learned that it has failed! Yes, I definitely think I would have been better off without the TKR. I plan to live with the failed implant. The bone did not grow into the implant like it was suppose to.....I have no infection or swelling, just soreness and pain down my tibia when I bend over.

If you can deal with a failed implant great but I could not take the pain on a daily basis plus in my case it was getting worse not from one day to the next but over time.You need to find out if there will be any long term problems by not getting the failed replacement taken care of. Yes the constant pain swelling you name it, it really stinks ( this is the 6th time trust me I know exactly how it feels and what to expect!!! ) but if you develop an infection well that can make things that much worse. I really hate how it feels there is nothing nice about it but I can also tell in spite of the pain the implant feels much more solid which is great. The infection is what has really gotten to me and add the fact there are no guarantees that this will take care of it even more so.

Staph infections are ON THE BODY. Our nephew is an infectious disease Dr. In the opinion of those in that field, the body carries enough staph to kill most people. However 97% of the population has enough of an ability to fight it off. The rest, me included, are screwed. The type of staph I have is called epitaph or an infection of the outer skin and can't be detected t through blood work. We all have to keep in mind its called the practice of medicine and not an infallible science

My orthopedic dr. is located in the medical center in Houston, Texas. (He does all the doctors who need TKRs). I really felt he was the best to do my surgery (TKR) after one of our friends had a double TKR and did great!!! Looking back, even though he has done over 5,000 TKR, I am ONLY the 2nd cementless TKR. I found out a couple of weeks prior to my TKR that I was allergic to the bone cement (thru an orthopedic blood analysis). Cementless implants work by having ones own bone grow into the implant over time. After about a year, my tibial bone started to hurt when I bend over to touch the ground (pressure on it). It feels sore and like it is swollen inside but not on the outside. No redness or heat, outward appearance looks normal. I have a good bend 125-130, no limp. It is painful if you tap on the side of my knee on the outside. He ordered a CBC with differential, Sed Rate, and CRP to look for infection....all came back normal. I had an EMG of the L. leg to see if I had a nerve entrapment. This was negative but found I had a S1/lumbar radiculopathy. Then on June 13th, I had a nuclear bone scan and it showed loosening of the medial and lateral tibial plateaus of the left knee. My femur implant is intact. At 6 weeks there were gaps between my tibial implant and bone. At that time he was not worried because they usually fill in....mine did NOT and it became wider. He did refer me to his partner if I wanted to proceed with a revision....limited options because it needs to be cementless. I ask him if I could live like this and not do anything. He said yes. I ask if there was a worry my tibial bone would fracture and he said no. We are both disappointed. He kept saying he did not have that much experience with cementless knee implants. I was so ready at the time to get it over with and I really liked him. Wished I had known to do more research with an ortho that does cementless implants. I am a young 70yr. old female and hope I can live with this because he said it would be 50/50 whether a revision would work. No guarantees. They have to use a longer implant and take more of the tibial bone. I am going to try and live with this for now. I ask him if there was anything I did that hurt the implant and he said no. The bone just has not grown into the implant to stabilize it.

Forgot to mention I have osteopenia!!! That may be the reason the implant has not grown in....but it did fill in the femur implant! Hmmm…...

Well now what you have written makes sense. Not everyone it tough and everyone reacts differently to pain. Since my 5th implant May 9 2016 I have been in constant pain if things were normal after the one year mark where you you are at pain wise is what you can expect from that point on , in my case it progressively got worse. Yes I can tolerate my share but when you hitting on the 1-10 pain scale solid 6 to 7's on a frequent basis something is wrong. I know you mentioned but why did you have to go cement less is it due to an allergic reaction? It stinks you have a really good surgeon but he is not well versed in cement less revisions. I hope he is right in that you cannot damage it or that it would get worse. Everytime I was told the implant had failed due to loosening etc. if I did not get it taken care of it would only get worse. I knew what to expect following the surgery and the time pretty much all of the recovery process. The one thing that has really thrown me for a loop is the infection and the fact there is no guarantee that this will fix things or it might get worse its really a lot for me to take it all in and yes it has been overwhelming.

I do not think I was given worst case this Dr. from day one has been very straight forward. He told me prior to the surgery just because there was no indication of infection going into surgery does not mean there will not be one after, so as much as I was hoping I did develop an infection. I asked him and his assistant at different times if maybe this time after the treatment will my knee be okay with no more infections? They both replied we cannot answer that there are no guarantees due to me having an infection prior even with aggressively treating this infection there is a real possibility it might get worst where I may have to have another surgery to have a spacer put in or if by the end of 6 weeks depending on the labs I may have to be on oral antibiotics for the rest of my life. At least in my opinion it was not worst case just how things are I hope this it for surgeries but there is still a lot of unknowns. This is was scares me this is what causes tears this is what makes me feel like I did something wrong. Yeah I am very miserable the surgery I can deal with the infection not so much.

I am praying that infection will not be the case. You have been through to much already. Try to envision tiny little white blood cells attacking any infection. The mind is very powerful, if you believe it can come true. I guess I'm trying to say is stay positive, positive thinking - positive outcome

I know this seems pessimistic but yes I have an infection not as bad as they thought and they are doing their best to treat it however I was being positive about the surgery well did not quite work out like I wanted. The Dr. has been very straight forward with me and so far he has been dead on concerning everything that has happened. From what I was told in a best case oral antibiotics forever or well this one stinks I have another surgery and get a spacer and all that follows. Lately I feel my name instead of Norman Fenske should be called Murphy Law. I am sorry it really stinks.