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Nightmare Knee Infection

Posted by sks008 @sks008, Jul 20, 2022

Our story is long, it's been going on 10 months now, but my husband had knee infection in his artificial knee out of nowhere in 10/21. Had no UTI, skin infection or teeth work done, but he went into Sepsis shock 3 days after knee infection, waiting on surgery. When Dr. did knee surgery, he did not put in new stuff in the revision, he cleaned the old parts and put back in. My husband is still in rehab after almost 10 months, due to having the infection go to his spinal cord/abscess and he has had to go on disability and sell our company. If a person is already septic, should the Dr. put NEW parts in his revision and not just clean the old ones. He is scheduled for another knee replacement on 8/15, hopefully the last one. Please advise.

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Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jul 20, 2022

@sks008 Hello and welcome to Connect. I am so sorry that your husband has been going through all of this, and I have to say that I agree with you. I'm not qualified to give medical advice, and you really need a second opinion from a specialist in the field to answer questions about what safeguards should be followed in your situation. On Connect we learn from each other with shared experiences, and no one can give medical advice here.

Is the next surgery for knee replacement scheduled with the same surgeon? Have you sought opinions from other surgeons or at other medical centers? How is the infection being treated? How has that affected his spine?

I don't have experience with knee replacements, but I have had major surgery with a spinal fusion, and the surgeon had me use an antibiotic ointment in my nose as a preventative for staff infections right before the surgery. I had no issues with infections. I've also had surgery for a broken ankle and no issues with infections. When I've had oral surgery, there is always an antibiotic prescription with it.

Sepsis is a serious issue. Are you asking questions of your surgeon in how to prevent that? You may want to ask LOTS of questions before you consent to any surgical procedure, and make sure to ask what can go wrong and how often that happens. I do know an older woman who had lots of infections after surgery for a broken foot with hardware, and she was in a rehab home and went through multiple surgical procedures to keep clearing the infection and had a wound vac attached for many weeks. She came close to loosing her foot, and I think there were about 8 surgical procedures. They did eventually take out the hardware probably after the bones were set well enough.

I do hope it all goes smoothly the next time and that your husband can regain his mobility.

Jennifer

REPLY
1 reply
sks008 | @sks008 | Jul 20, 2022
In reply to @jenniferhunter "@sks008 Hello and welcome to Connect. I am so sorry that your husband has been going..." + (show)
@jenniferhunter

@sks008 Hello and welcome to Connect. I am so sorry that your husband has been going through all of this, and I have to say that I agree with you. I'm not qualified to give medical advice, and you really need a second opinion from a specialist in the field to answer questions about what safeguards should be followed in your situation. On Connect we learn from each other with shared experiences, and no one can give medical advice here.

Is the next surgery for knee replacement scheduled with the same surgeon? Have you sought opinions from other surgeons or at other medical centers? How is the infection being treated? How has that affected his spine?

I don't have experience with knee replacements, but I have had major surgery with a spinal fusion, and the surgeon had me use an antibiotic ointment in my nose as a preventative for staff infections right before the surgery. I had no issues with infections. I've also had surgery for a broken ankle and no issues with infections. When I've had oral surgery, there is always an antibiotic prescription with it.

Sepsis is a serious issue. Are you asking questions of your surgeon in how to prevent that? You may want to ask LOTS of questions before you consent to any surgical procedure, and make sure to ask what can go wrong and how often that happens. I do know an older woman who had lots of infections after surgery for a broken foot with hardware, and she was in a rehab home and went through multiple surgical procedures to keep clearing the infection and had a wound vac attached for many weeks. She came close to loosing her foot, and I think there were about 8 surgical procedures. They did eventually take out the hardware probably after the bones were set well enough.

I do hope it all goes smoothly the next time and that your husband can regain his mobility.

Jennifer

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No, the doctor that did his left leg ( also part of 10/21) is doing this surgery. Left leg had all new parts and has done fine. He originally had both knees replaced 8 yrs ago, no problems at all then one day, starting hurting and then went septic, in a matter of 3 days.

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