your thoughts redness , swelling, pain,struggling in pt

[jbartz400]

I need some input please on 12\13 i had my 1st knee surgery consisting of aa retinacular repair, medial latetal release, chrodroplasty of femoral condyle,arthrotomy on my right knee 10 yrs late maybe.  It was a outpatient surgery they said evrything went fine and sent me back 2hrs home with care instructions some hydrocodones and brace.  They advised to bear weight with or w/out crutches as tolerated.  10 days. Later i met up with the clinic for removal of my staples they were a lil concerned bout the swelling and pain i had but said it was common and wanted me to start pt and how that would help. So i go home and a few days later while standing up my incision burst open oozing to my hearts beat.  So its12/25 and im in ambulance goin to er. They do xrays blood work and send me home with antibiotics calling it a hematoma telling me to let it drain and keep on watching it.  Now it hurts so bad is hot to touch so a few days pass i go.to see my doc where the surgery was and they hospitalize me schedule a arthoscopy to clean me out 1/2/14  goin home again alls good they say and it was a staph infection:-(:-(:-(;-):-(:-(finally less pain and swelling started me pt.  I now have been in pt for aound 4 weeks and am way behind my rom is at 50 and should b at or past 90 so they push me hard and my swelling isnt.dropping and pain redness and increased swelling goes.on aftr being pushed in pt..   infected again? Will the swelling go down ever? Why cant i get more rom without the pain and swelling?  What can i do to help gain this rom andget rid of swelling?  Will this nightmare stop?

[shincheck]

I'm not a doctor but I have had experience with pain and swelling in my knee and trying to regain rom. I understand it feels like it's never going to end, like you're always going to be stuck in the position you're in and you can feel like you're "behind."

It sounds like since they went in the second time and cleaned things out, that you're having less pain and swelling, so that's progress. Keep in mind that 50 flexion is much better than 0, so that's something to hold on to. Let yourself have time to improve, don't force or impose timelines on yourself that may or may not be realistic.

I can tell you that I believe you will eventually get better, just stick to your pt's instructions and be patient with yourself. Your body is trying to do what it knows to do, but it has some obstacles to overcome so be patient with it and help it the best you can.