Knee Surgery Hospital Horrors and Highlights
Posted , 15 users are following.
This TKR recovery is a long haul! We WILL get there in the end. I am still looking back from time to time to my time in hospital. I was fortunate to have a very positive experience, which was a relief because I have had some bad experiences in hospital in the past. What I would like to suggest for this thread, as a bit of entertainment more than anything else, is for people to post ONE (just one!) hospital highlight and ONE (just one!) hospital horror. Probably keeping fairly brief would be best if possible. It could be entertaining! My start is:
highlight...the first time I stood up. I could feel my operated leg was wonderfully straight and it hasn't been that way for years!
horror...the time I realised that my nightdress was just that little bit too short. I hadn't factored in the fact that when using a walker you have to lean forward. I also hadn't registered that my fellow patient had visitors as I trundled off to the toilet...leaning forward!!! 
1 like, 106 replies
Oldfatguy1 jenny80029
Posted
When i had my original tkr in Oct 2004 everything was going smooth for the 1st 24 hrs. Then the pain started screaming. The staff kept telling me I was being medicated with a spinal and I was just not use to that much pain. After raising hell for several hours and they found the thing had been shut off for some strange reason. I had a litlle, short Filipino nurse who went into a free or flight mode. She started hitting me with morphine, meanwhile my wife is in fill panic mode as the morphine isn't doing the job and I'm almost screaming with pain as its been over 8 hrs without anything. My wife is begging the nurse to stop giving me so much morphine as they were hitting me every 15 mins. I a reaming at my wife to leave them alone as they were professionals and she didn't know s**t about pain relief. Took about 2 hours of this circus before the calm was restored and they pulled the epidural and put me on a pump. Then PT came bouncing I with all the usual cheerfulness. Pulled me out of bed, unaware of the previous 2hrs. They threw thebelt around my waist and I promptly wilted like a piece of cooked spaghetti. Again the second act of The comedy began with them pulling my 200+ frame to my feet and watch me start sinking into the morphine puddle. Finally my Filipino friend came back into the room waving her hands like a windmill and my wife in her frustrated friendly trying to explain what was going on while I'm hanging like a flag on a still day yelling " give Mr some more of that f'ing stuff I'm the syringe.
They finally poured me back in bed and said they would see me tomorrow.
The actually scary part, that night my temp went over 104 and I had picked up a global staph. My 4 day hospital stay turned to 12.
Duckfan Oldfatguy1
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Oh my gosh. My sides hurt from laughing. You painted a pretty grim picture there but I've always loved dark humor.
Glad you healed from the infection and can look back and laugh. Well maybe you're not laughing. 🙀🤣
jenny80029 Oldfatguy1
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You are good with words! Love the "poured me back in bed!"
Very horrid about the infection though. Sounds likec a nightmare for sure!
chris00938 Oldfatguy1
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Heck that sounds horrendous! Did your hospital do swabs before the op Oldfatguy? Did they give you hibiscrub to shower in for the last two showers before the op? I know mine wasn't the only hospital to get hibiscrub but do most hospitals do that? Does it make any difference to infections? I really am so sorry you had such an awful time. There was an older lady in the next bed to me who was on her fourth TKR in one knee - she'd started 20 years ago and her first had only last for 4 years. This last one that was being replaced was because the bone had somehow broken through the BACK of the leg. I guess the bone was weak and had broken away from the implant, but she was still being kept in when I left because she had a lot of bleeding. I often think of her and wonder how she's doing.
Oldfatguy1 chris00938
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Not sure what kind of scrub but had to to it more than a couples of times. My first staph was a global or system wide and once they found the cause a few days of antibiotics and all was well. The last 2 times were completely different...they were epistaph created from the outside of the skin. Our nephew is an infectious disease Dr. He says we all have enough staph to kill us but our systems are strong enough to fight most of them. My system on the other hand isn't and I need to be aware of this and discuss it with Dr's when I have surgery or should I get a bad cut. You can't take it lightly or blame it on the hospital conditions. Its too deadly to be downplayed. I was told going into this when the tumor 1st blew up, 2 things can kill you with knee problems ...blood clots and infections. Avoid this and you are generally in very good shape
chris00938 Oldfatguy1
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jenny80029
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Who needs a laugh? 😀
CHICO_MARX jenny80029
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https://patient.info/forums/discuss/two-guys-with-canes-limp-into-a-bar--534980
Lywn jenny80029
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jenny80029 Lywn
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There are some lovely nurses around! Real stars! I was doing a crossword puzzle which had "heron" as an answer and I had a lovely laugh with one of the nurses when I explained that I kept seeing the word "heroin" every time I looked at it! I think the morphine was affecting my perceptions somewhat! 😊😀😃
Lywn jenny80029
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jenny80029
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