Dressing removed & all revealed!😟

That looks different. I bet it's not as tight as the one down the center. 

LOL, pretty darn tight😳😡

Wow! That's an unusual shape! Very neat though😄

Hi!

Lovely to see that you're still on this forum as I remember reading your excellent advice back in 2014 with my first TKR! Do hope you're not too poorly at this moment in time?

Same as last TKR, you're handed half a dozen dressings when you are discharged from the hospital (UK) and told to change them every three days! My daughter changed them last time too as she's the only person in our home who can stomach doing it and for obvious reasons I can't! Hands were washed twice, gloves worn and great care was taken as my own Father ended up in a bone infection unit after the District nurse changed his dressing!

Best wishes,

Glenda

I'm still around.....as previously noted the staph came back early last year and they had to pull the prosthesis for 4 months to clean it up and make sure it didn't come back. This has been the worst recovery ive been through yet. The leg is functioning....117/0 but it is like having a piece of cooked spaghetti for a knee. Working very hard on strengthening but the pain that goes with it is unbelievable. 4 or actually 5 months of immobilization caused so much atrophy that the combination of multiple surgeries and to some degree, age, has really put this in slow motion. My surgeon recently told me I would probably have residual pain at a level inwould require pain meds The rest of my life. At least I have a legitimate excuse for slowing down.

I left the hospital with a waterproof dressing that was to remain in place for seven days. I removed it on day seven and replaced after daily showering with one of the seven they sent me home with.......on day 14 I returned for first check up and the bandage was removed for good. Worked like a charm.

Linda and I have both been thrugh a lot and risky behavior sets off a lots of bells for us. I have had 2 rounds of staph infection, the last one meant removal of the prosthesis, 4 months of immobilization and bouncing around on a walker, 8 weeks of twice a day antibiotic infusion and then the re installation of , in my case, the 3rd prosthesis. Briefly, I've had 11 surgeries on my knee/leg and 5 complete rehabs. I would hate to see anyone go through the infection cleanup just because they couldn't wait to see the scar. Mine was cleaned up and changed by hospital staff and then afterwards only by RNs wearing rubber gloves and the wound treated with betadine. Just be very careful . the 2 things I was always told that were the most dangerous with this surgery....infection and blood clots

I hear you and agree totally.  I was happy with my surgeons protocol and as an old RN know how to change a dressing.  

To further prove your point, my son had shoulder surgery that got infected.  They had to open him up, remove most of the hardware they put in and he was on IV (home care Fed EX delivered) antibiotics for six weeks.  Infections can be way worse than the surgery. 

Hi!

I'm in the UK and was sent off (after both operations now ) with a pack of dressings and told to change them every three days or so! If I don't do it then no one else will and then I will get an infection, so although I agree that in an ideal world a medical person would change the dressing it's just not going to happen in my case!😟

Hi!

I do agree, but please read my reply to Old Fat Guy and you'll see that it wasn't changed at home by choice! My own Father nearly lost his leg after he developed a very serious infection and that was after the District nurse changed it!!!

Well, I got the blood clot, and had to take shots in the stomach -do it yourself - for 90 days.  Was black and blue.  But not given One Word of instruction about cleaning the wound.  I feel very lucky to have got away without an infection.  Still have a piggy knee and seeing doc again this week.