Infection after a total knee replacement
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hi all, I'm back for advice . I had a TKR last February, the knee never felt good but I didn't know what to expect and was reassured by the surgeon that pain can last for 18 months.
September 7 months after surgery one night I got really sick , went to emergency and was septic, the knee was aspirated and I had a creamy fluid, my bloods were very high especially the infection markers, I was taken to OT for an arthroscopic knee washout and 2 days later back again for an open knee washout with poly replacement, it's now 8 weeks since last surgery , I did 6 weeks of intravenous antibiotics and now have to do 6 months of orals this is making me sick 😷 they never found out what caused the infection so I'm being treated for staph . My surgeon doesn't show interest didn't even look at my knee when I saw him . The infectious disease specialist and Physio think the knee is very warm my bloods are coming down but still abnormal. I'm doing the exercises the elevation and icing. I'll go back to work next week .
Has anyone had a similar experience that can give me some tips .
Much appreciated
0 likes, 6 replies
Oldfatguy1 maria1957
Posted
Yes........I finally ( over a year later) had to do the in depth job of taking out the entire prosthesis, going through the antibiotic regimen, having a spacer inserted and the leg immobilized without bend or being able to weight bear more than 25% for 4 months and then a new prosthesis inserted. Then it was back through the rehab routine. In my case for the 5th time. My diagnosis was epitaph or caused by an infection from the skin. Our nephew is an infectious disease Dr and says that we all caregiver enough staph to kill us but our immune systems can fight most of these. If it doesnt, this is what we can wind up with under the worst of conditions. I can tell you from experience, this isn't pleasant and rough on the body BUT you will live through it.
maria1957 Oldfatguy1
Posted
Thank you for your reply. Sorry for what you had to go through it's awful .i regret so much having the surgery .
Angie65 maria1957
Posted
maria1957 Angie65
Posted
Hi Angie65
I just woke up one night with fever , unable to breathe properly and couldn't walk properly or without pain . I was very lucky to go straight to emergency .
Thanks
Mkhp maria1957
Posted
Hi Maria, what a ordeal u have been thru. I don't know how you can get back to work so soon. I had my Tkr in March, 8 months later, still have problems, bend not good, pain still there. Going to see gp and surgeon in next few weeks. This time I'm goin in like its war. My head is a lot clearer now and I'm going to demand all the test necessary to get to the root of the problem. I'm sick of hearing my surgeon say "everything looks fine" from the X-rays. Something is just not right. He did say to me at last visit, 4 months ago, only because I asked, I fell into the 20% group of folks who don't do so well. I was determined to stick to my exercises and see if my bend would get better. We'll see? Need to speak up to these docs and demand the appropriate tests. Research your situation, so u have some ammo when going into that appt.. Some of these docs can be so insensitive . I started wondering if my doc got paid 20% less (or more). Sure he wouldn't have liked that 😏😏😂😂. Hang in there and stay strong, best of healing to you, 🌬🌬 🍀🍀 👼👼 🚴🚴 🏊🏊
ihavenonickname maria1957
Posted