CosmicCowboy
02-10-2015, 06:40 PM
Just thought I would share with my cyber acquaintances...
Hopefully the beginning of the end of my knee replacement saga...I have been bone on bone in both knees for several years now. Back in May I had a knee replacement on my right knee. Surgeon was awesome...I literally walked out of the hospital the next day. I did it on a Friday and was back at work Monday. After three weeks it felt better than it had in years...then it started to feel "funny" and the incision started to split back open. Turns out that I was allergic to the internal stitches they had used that were supposed to dissolve...instead of dissolving they started trying to climb back outside my knee...I kept doctoring it under the doctors direction and it wouldn't close because of the stitches trying to get out of my knee...I continued working and messed around and eventually got a staph infection in my knee...
It swelled and turned red purple overnight and I immediately went back to my doctor who did emergency surgery on it that evening...he went back in, cleaned and scrubbed the knee, took the knee apart, and changed all the plastic parts. He left a lot of time release antibiotic in there as he closed (using a different type of stitch) and I was back at work three days later. The problem with artificial knees is that they are made of metal and plastic. When you get an infection it makes a perfect home for it as there are no blood vessels there to carry antibiotics inside the knee. I went on IV antibiotics for six weeks and then on "maintenance" oral antibiotics. The plan was to stay on those for a year or so and if there were no complications we wold talk about getting off the oral antibiotics...no such luck...the knee blew back up a few weeks later...my daughter was getting married the first week of October and I wanted to walk her down the aisle so I put off the next surgery until after the wedding and just lived with trying to keep the infection at bay with antibiotics.
As soon as the wedding was over they went in and removed my right knee completely. I have had an antibiotic plaster spacer since then...part is on the end of the upper leg bone and part is on the lower leg bone. My doctor said it was going to be "pretty unpleasant" and he wasn't kidding LOL. Move wrong and it pinches the heck out of the meat between them and as the plaster gradually broke apart it turned into sand and gravel mixed in with the meat so as I move it cuts me and the inside of the knee is just a bloody mess.
I went back on IV antibiotics and then started getting skin reactions from the antibiotics and the PICC line...it was like a third degree burn and took my skin right off in big patches around the PICC line area...they moved it from my right arm to my left arm and then to my chest and the rashes followed...also broke out in itching sores all over my body...I was going nuts for awhile and couldn't sleep...owning my own company it wasn't like I could stay home till I got well...I was going three and 4 days at a time with just sleeping an hour or two a night. Finally finished the second six week IV treatment and went off antibiotics in December...then it was just a matter of waiting...
It hasn't blown up again and the weekly blood work finally looks good so we are going back in and opening it up again Friday...if the Doc doesn't find any infection I'll wake up with a new knee...If he finds any it will plaster basketball knee again and six more weeks of IV's and 3-4 more months of crutches.
After 4 months on crutches without a knee I am definitely ready for some resolution. I'm not complaining...it is what it is and could have been a lot worse...just needed to vent...had to go off the Celebrex (anti-inflammatory) for the surgery and the knee has been screaming all week so I'm ready to get this done...2 more days and a wakeup...
Hopefully the beginning of the end of my knee replacement saga...I have been bone on bone in both knees for several years now. Back in May I had a knee replacement on my right knee. Surgeon was awesome...I literally walked out of the hospital the next day. I did it on a Friday and was back at work Monday. After three weeks it felt better than it had in years...then it started to feel "funny" and the incision started to split back open. Turns out that I was allergic to the internal stitches they had used that were supposed to dissolve...instead of dissolving they started trying to climb back outside my knee...I kept doctoring it under the doctors direction and it wouldn't close because of the stitches trying to get out of my knee...I continued working and messed around and eventually got a staph infection in my knee...
It swelled and turned red purple overnight and I immediately went back to my doctor who did emergency surgery on it that evening...he went back in, cleaned and scrubbed the knee, took the knee apart, and changed all the plastic parts. He left a lot of time release antibiotic in there as he closed (using a different type of stitch) and I was back at work three days later. The problem with artificial knees is that they are made of metal and plastic. When you get an infection it makes a perfect home for it as there are no blood vessels there to carry antibiotics inside the knee. I went on IV antibiotics for six weeks and then on "maintenance" oral antibiotics. The plan was to stay on those for a year or so and if there were no complications we wold talk about getting off the oral antibiotics...no such luck...the knee blew back up a few weeks later...my daughter was getting married the first week of October and I wanted to walk her down the aisle so I put off the next surgery until after the wedding and just lived with trying to keep the infection at bay with antibiotics.
As soon as the wedding was over they went in and removed my right knee completely. I have had an antibiotic plaster spacer since then...part is on the end of the upper leg bone and part is on the lower leg bone. My doctor said it was going to be "pretty unpleasant" and he wasn't kidding LOL. Move wrong and it pinches the heck out of the meat between them and as the plaster gradually broke apart it turned into sand and gravel mixed in with the meat so as I move it cuts me and the inside of the knee is just a bloody mess.
I went back on IV antibiotics and then started getting skin reactions from the antibiotics and the PICC line...it was like a third degree burn and took my skin right off in big patches around the PICC line area...they moved it from my right arm to my left arm and then to my chest and the rashes followed...also broke out in itching sores all over my body...I was going nuts for awhile and couldn't sleep...owning my own company it wasn't like I could stay home till I got well...I was going three and 4 days at a time with just sleeping an hour or two a night. Finally finished the second six week IV treatment and went off antibiotics in December...then it was just a matter of waiting...
It hasn't blown up again and the weekly blood work finally looks good so we are going back in and opening it up again Friday...if the Doc doesn't find any infection I'll wake up with a new knee...If he finds any it will plaster basketball knee again and six more weeks of IV's and 3-4 more months of crutches.
After 4 months on crutches without a knee I am definitely ready for some resolution. I'm not complaining...it is what it is and could have been a lot worse...just needed to vent...had to go off the Celebrex (anti-inflammatory) for the surgery and the knee has been screaming all week so I'm ready to get this done...2 more days and a wakeup...