Sorry to read that Berta!

Don't know anything about a protocol, there are bound to be people here who do though from their own experience!

Just wanted to wish you well and I suppose as far as the knee goes, keep doing anything that keeps it mobile but don't overload it I suppose. So heel slides, wall slides, ankle pumps to reduce any swelling. As for anything else, just wait to see what the OS says on Wednesday. I suppose ice will also help keep the knee cool, but whether it is a good idea to ice the infected wounds or not, I have no idea. I hope the antibiotics kill whatever it is really fast.

I'm now laid up with lower back pain which is also a result of my many years of knee problems - too long on crutches and limping have put my spine out of alignment as well as weakened the muscles. Two injections this morning from my GP - one to reduce the pain and one to relax the muscles.

Sue 

Have you had the results of the investigations as to what is causing the infectio? When you do it might help to include it in the thread title?

Back is getting worse Tylenol Extra Strength isn't cutting it so I'm going back tomorrow. Maybe when they know what is causing your infection they will be able to nuke the bugs with a focussed treatment plan.

Infections take it out of you so make sure you rest up and keep hydrated. Let someone else take the strain on the ranch!

Sue

Berta,

I am amazed.....the prescribing of antibiotics for infections is rampant in this world.  I have been diagnosed for infection by three separate OS's and three attending infectious disease doctors.  Every single test, culture, three phase indium bone scan, tissue sample, and fluid sample they have gotten by shoving with brute force an 18 gauge needle into my knee from the side, top, and back.  Yes, they did get the pleasure of watching a 275 pound man scream multiple times, but NOT one of my cultures came back positive.

I had a TKR in October of 2010 and it was hot, painful, and had a restricted ROM from day one.  All three of them denied that it was scar tissue, but excised scar tissue.  I was put on vancomycin (very potent antibiotic thru a pic line into my heart).  OS #2 left it in me for 13 wks because he was freaking out because he took out a perfectly healthy total knee joint stating that it was infected.....now if I come off of antibiotics I end up in the emergency room with pneumonia.  Three times (3 times) so far....the last time I spent five (5) days in the ICU and four more in the regular  hospital.

Antibiotics are very much a dangerous treatment.  Much more than pain medication.  My opinion, for what it is worth...is he is a total goof for prescribing antibiotics without taking a fluid sample from the knee, doing a blood test for a rising SED Rate or inflated C-Reactive Protein level.  All it takes is a blood sample....

Please protect your immune system....is your wound oozing pus or anything that looks like it would come from an infection?

My knee was red, very hot, very painful, and very stiff.  It is called stiff knee syndrome, or it is called Arthrofibrosis, or it is called scar tissue......but unless your cultures are positive...unless you get proof of an infection...it is simply inflammation posing as infection.

See another doctor....ask them to do a culture. 

Russ

I too hoped Berta improved but it does seem likely she did given that we're in December! Russ I know you have had problems but often retelling the same issues with a particular slant doesn't do anything for newer members searching the board for answers. Pushing the concept of "intractable pain" on to every scenario is also pretty dangerous IMO. As someone with an "intractable" complication after foot surgery I can speak on this with some knowledge but such things are extremely rare!

KK, glad to hear that the knee resolved well for Berta and is back with the horses!

UGH!  I think I have to reply to this as well.  Just for general information!  If you have warm/hot incision lines that have turned red, and have inflammation that is causing decrease in ROM, then 9 chances out of 10 is IS an infection.  Yes, you would need antibiotics.  They could swab the wound, and wait the 48 hours for it to grow to identify the bug before starting antibiotics, but that gives the infection a two day jump on you.  Most docs would start a broad spectrum antibiotic immediately to stop a major joint infection. 

If it is staring you in the face, why would they stick needles in her joint?  Maybe to introduce more bacterial??

She would have to have been a whole lot worse to warrant blood cultures.  If the infection did not respond to the first round of antibiotics, then you would proceed with more drastic measures.

Captainruss, I agree with the previous posts.  You really need to look at when the posts were written!  You have had horrible, horrible luck with your knees, but as you have pointed out many times yourself, you are a VERY small percentage.  Please be careful with the fear factor posts.  You may just stop someone from seeking a treatment that WILL help them. 

Also, any of us can read up on other procedures that we have not had ourselves.  I think it is wise NOT to post on something that you really have no first hand knowledge of.  We all have had our knee issues, and we have done a lot of reading up on our personal problems.  I don't post on TKR boards, or LR posts, as I do not have any personal experience with these procedures.  I try to stick to giving practical information on procedures that I have had, and recovered from.

To the original poster.  Glad everything worked out for you!  We love a happy ending on here!

W