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I am 17 months post TKR and I have learned a lot. First there is a huge amount or us out her that didn't get the results we anticipated. Our surgeon's either don't care about our pain or don't want to take the time to figure it out. I have seen 4 ortho surgeons since my surgery about my pain all just took xrays and said it looks good. Thankfully my primary care dr does care. She order nerve study, CT, pain management blood work trying to find something, nothing showed up. Recently I researched local surgeons looking for experience and reviews. Found one, a young dr with great reviews so made appointment. He was first one that actually listened and ordered 3 level bone scan which showed a lot of inflammation around the femur at the implant. He is suggesting a revision. My primary care dr agrees with me to illuminate everything else before considering a revision. She has ordered a MRI to check for soft tissue or ligament problems.
I know this is long and rambling but keep the pressure on the Dr's. We are only ones that can feel the pain and remember surgeons cut on people so most of their diagnosis requires surgery.
Replies to "I am 17 months post TKR and I have learned a lot. First there is a..."
Your story mimics mine except I'm 7 years post TKR including a revision. I agree with your Primary that you should hold off on a revision. My revision was 15 months ago with the usual painful recovery period and nothing has changed. Prior to my revision I had read that this surgery success rate was lower than original TKR. My Ortho was reluctant to do the surgery and expressed the complications, but I insisted realizing another 12 months of additional recovery pain is coming because I didn't want to endur the constant pain any longer. I believe the surgeons are so busy with surgery they have no follow-up time, and leave it to a PA and/or PT. Like I've said before, after surgery you're on your own.
Best of luck!
I am now one year into tkr on my left knee. I continue to experience extreme discomfort and tightness on the left side of the tkr. Gladly, I do not experience excessive pain, only this extreme alien like discomfort that affects my state of mind. This forum is a great place for us to share our post operative problems and I am very grateful for it. I understand the need to recognize and give credit to the surgeons and supporting medical professionals whose care have resulted in successful outcomes for their patients. However, for those of us who are having these extremely negative outcomes, I believe that our surgeon's bedside manner, expertise, (probably they should fine tune the operation process since scar tissue is generated by excessive trauma) and ability to emphasize have a major impact on our outcomes. They should also consider preoperative screening for allergic response to the prosthetics. Mine readily defaulted to the "scar tissue monster" and said that I will have to live with the situation for the rest of my life. I can concur with your feelings of discomfort mixed with a lot of sadness and disappointment. I continue to ice and elevate. I also wear compression aids and have therapy twice per week.
We are living in a technologically advanced period. I do not feel that enough attention is being paid to people who are having these negative outcomes. I believe that there is a need for the industry and medical community to be more "caring?" about our outcomes and invest more money into research and time into creating better outcomes.
For individuals who plan to do knee replacements, I believe that it still worth doing. However, I would recommend that you thoroughly research your surgeon, do intensive exercising before the surgery and lose some weight if possible. May God continue to help us as we continue on our journey of healing and recovery.
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I am having the same issues with bloody fluid in the knee cavity. I have had all the tests you mentioned with no explanation of why this is happening. My surgeon said this happens to 3% of all tkr patients. Lucky me. They are having me doing more exercises with no change.