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Flu or infection in TKR???

Posted , 8 users are following.

cheryl90571
cheryl90571

Hi All!

Today I felt tired, achy, had a headache, and this evening checked my temp. It was 99.7 which is no biggie for me.

It is now four hours later, and I am up to 101.7 which also is no biggie for me because I generally run higher than that.

I AM concerned, though, that it MAY not be flu or a cold and MIGHT BE an infection in one of my TKRs done last June and October.

I have no pain in either knee, but my left knee IS a bit stiffer than my right.

What symptoms indicate a knee replacement INFECTION?

How could they tell the difference between the flu/ a cold and an infection in one of my knees if I went to my doctor's or to the ER?

I rarely am sick, so this fever thing has me on alert!

Thanks in advance to all of you great friends!🐣🐇

0 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • anne07663
    anne07663 cheryl90571

    Posted

    Your knee would be inflamed, warm and red. Take some iburophenand drink lots of water. 
    • cheryl90571
      cheryl90571 anne07663

      Posted

      Thanks, Anne!

      All my skin is HOT, but my knees aren't any hotter than everything else. No redness.

      Just had three glasses of ice water! Boy, did they taste good! (I am in the hot stage and done with chills for the moment!)

      Thanks for responding so quickly!😊

  • Oldfatguy1
    Oldfatguy1 cheryl90571

    Posted

    Anything over 101 is reason for concern. Can't recall exactly where you are located ( I think you are in the upper midwest)but in my part of the country there has been a rather late occuring flu outbreak. I understand with spring break and lots of people on the move it is continuing to expand. Doesn't seem to make much difference if you have had the flu shots or not. My grandson is a med tech at a urgent health (walk-in) clinic and he was terribly sick the early part of last week with one of the strains. This is the 2nd go round for him and he had both types after getting 2grounds of flu shots. I would call the Dr. 1st thing in the morning. If it us you cad get tamiflu that helps ease the symptoms and shortens the duration. If you wait too long it won't do any good. I've been dreading having to go to physical therapy because of this stuff. My wife (parkinsons) goes to PT in a facility in a srs building adjoining a hospital and I go to PT in another building, both are part of the medical center. They put up big signs 3 weeks ago telling people not to come in if They are sneezing, wheezing or running a fever. They also installed a few more hand sanitizer with instructions for people to use them coming in and going out as well as moving from one piece of equipment to another.

    You know ive had staph twice in the same knee. One time the knee blew up with a horrible drainage, then I really got sick........nausea, pain, fever. The 2nd time none of the symptoms.......they found the staph by doing a needle drainage. 1st time they had to go in and clean, flush and replace the plastic disc.....then on to 2 months, twice a day antibiotics ...then 8 months of antibiotics orally 3x's a day. 2nd time the had do remove the entire prosthesis and our in a ssh pacer, immobilize the leg and do the same antibiotic protocol.....4 months later the new prosthesis was installed. I'm just guessing but don't think you have a staph or mesa as it moving pretty slow for that but the last thing you want is any kind of infection. If you hit 102 I'd get to an emergency room immediately and not wait for the Dr to get in tomorrow. In the meantime increase the water intake. You sure don't wantbtobget dehydrated to add to your misery.

    • cheryl90571
      cheryl90571 Oldfatguy1

      Posted

      Thanks SO MUCH for the info and great suggestions!

      My husband and I are visiting his mom in a nursing home every day. Also he teaches at a Community College, our oldest son teaches at a high school, AND I have been in three doctor's waiting rooms in one week (dental, eyes, and with my mother-in-law just today). LOTS of GERM potential!

      We live in NE Ohio by Lake Erie.

      I don't get flu shots. Got one free one once at school and had the worst flu EVER!

      My temp is down to 100.5°, and chills are over for now. Have my thermometer on the nightstand, so will monitor throughout the night.

      I won't be visiting ANYWHERE for awhile! Will keep everyone posted on my FEVER ADVENTURE!

      Have a good sleep! Tell your wife we are praying for both of you!

  • tana4life
    tana4life cheryl90571

    Posted

    Hi Cheryl

    I am no doctor but it seems to me if your knees were going to get infected it would happen before they had completely healed I am 8 weeks out of TKR I had no th knees done on Jan 25th but I know that not knees have been healed for 2 weeks at least that's what Dr

    says. So if I were you I would call some friends around you ask if the glu bug is around you, call some schools ask them. I don't think it's an infection. Hope you get well soon

    • cheryl90571
      cheryl90571 tana4life

      Posted

      Hi Tana!

      My temp is back to normal this morning after all the chills, fever, headache, body aches throughout the night.

      It was a long night of drinking ice water, heading to the bathroom, taking my temperature and trying to get comfortable. I took Ibuprofen and also some antacid for my stomach which felt a bit achy, too.

      I'm guessing it was some bug, too. I'm visiting a nursing home every day, around my husband who teaches at a Community College, our son who teaches high school and our youngest son who had fever, etc. a couple weeks ago.

      After having these knees replaced and KNOWING infection can set in, I thought that COULD BE a possibility. I'm thinking that it was NOT that now, thank goodness!

      We put SO MUCH effort into recovery when we have knee replacements! For me, they became like my BABIES that I needed to watch carefully and monitor every aspect to keep them safe! Strange, but very true!

      Thank you for your support on this. You make a lot of sense. Today I will keep resting and checking my temp and drinking my ice water.

      Have a great day, and thanks again.

    • tana4life
      tana4life cheryl90571

      Posted

      I am so glad your feeling better I know all about taking care of those knees. I am 8 weeks out still have a lot of pain in my bad knee (that's My left knee had both done same day ) look forward to getting back to my norm but with all I read in these forums I think it might take a long while. I was a waitress in a small restaurant but I'm not sure if I could still do that right now.good luck to you.
    • cheryl90571
      cheryl90571 tana4life

      Posted

      You will do fine. Having both done at the same time is a HUGE undertaking, and remember that you are doing DOUBLE DUTY HEALING!

      Eight weeks out still puts you near the beginning of your recovery. It is a slow process, but it DOES come! I'm about nine months out from knee #1 and five months with knee#2. My right knee (surgery #2) went MUCH EASIER than my first last June. Both experiences were quite different.

      I can now stand and walk for a long time. Before surgery that was impossible. I had about six months total of physical therapy, also, which really helped my progress.

      Be patient. It will come.

      Thanks for all the encouragement with my FEVER experience! I am feeling much better and ready to go have some toast and tea. Going to take it easy, though, today.

    • tana4life
      tana4life cheryl90571

      Posted

      That's a good plan I love these forums because I was so lost for a while I thought I was so far from doing well at my recovery but now know better.Even having both done at one time my doc says one knee will always be worse than the other mine is my left. Now I will stop being so hard on myself accept that this takes time I will ice, and do my PT.hope to talk again some time be well my friend.
  • cheryl90571
    cheryl90571

    Posted

    Hi Everyone!

    Feeling much better today! Temp down to mostly 99-100 but still lacking energy. Been sleeping a lot, drinking lots of ICE water, and taking Ibuprofen.

    Headache is gone, aches are mostly gone, too.

    Thanks to all for supporting me when I was concerned this MIGHT be some issue with one of my knee replacements!

    Just LOVE having such wonderful help from so many who KNOW what I'm going through!

    Thank you!

    ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

    💗.💗.💗.💗.💗.💗.💗.💗.💗

    • daisymay2
      daisymay2 cheryl90571

      Posted

      So pleased you are feeling better Cheryl and that it was just a bug and nothing to do with the TKR biggrin

      Carry in drinking loads!

    • daisymay2
      daisymay2

      Posted

      Oops - sorry! of course meant carry on drinking loads!redface
    • cheryl90571
      cheryl90571 daisymay2

      Posted

      Hi Daisy May!

      I HAVE BEEN carrying in loads of drinks of ice water! 🙌

      My big exercise has been all the trips to the bathroom!😁

      I'm usually pretty chill when it comes to being sick, fever, etc., but since my surgeries and hearing how infection can set in, I was really concerned about the fever!

      I'm glad that it was just a bug, too! This version of the flu has been unusual, though. Low-grade fever, no nausea, no intestinal issues. Fatigue and fever that goes up and down. Dry cough. Annoying, but not nearly the awful hit-by-a-Mac-truck version I had about ten years ago. For that I am very grateful!

      Hope you are doing well!

      Thank you for thinking of me!💗

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