Second knee replacement

[harper]

I first posted about my second total knee replacement in this thread: The six dollar man. I forgot to include a crucial part of that story.

I went in early in the morning for surgery and wanted to write a message on my body for the surgeon. There is a big issue surrounding staph infections in hospitals right now and I knew that I couldn't just do this with a Sharpie pen. The pre-op nursing staff was unwilling to let me use one of their sanitized body markers saying, "the surgeon will come in and sign your leg, you don't need to write anything."

Then the anesthesiologist crew came in and started their prep work. I explained to the assistant what I wanted to do. He said, "that ****'s just funny. I'll see if one of those markers accidentally falls into your lap. I don't know what's wrong with the prep staff."

When the marker did accidentally drop into my lap, I wrote on my abdomen, "NOT THIS LEG," with an arrow pointing down to my ****. Few people realize that when you're unconscious, all of those "privacy" covers come right off.

The surgeon dropped by to see me the following morning. He said it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. What surprised me was that neither he nor any of his staff had seen that before. I was sure it must have been done.

 

[FJRay]

Maybe you would be better off if the surgeon did some replacement there. Then you might not need the blue pills so you don't piss in your slippers.

 

[dcarver]

That's some funny stuff right there!

 

[harper]

Don-

I heard a similar story from a friend of mine but found no reference to it on the world wide innerweb. That, and that none of the surgical staff had heard it, surprised me. That's why it was so funny to them. Be sure to remember this if you go in for yet another knee replacement. Or a **** replacement like Ray must have gotten. Maybe he just had a connecting rod permanently implanted.

 

[FJRay]

Spare parts from Carver projects.

 

[dcarver]

Saw my guy yesterday. The right knee he did still crackles and hurts transitioning from sitting to standing. The other Doc said how bad is it? I said nothing just stood up. Doc said 'Oh my God'.

Looks like I'll be going in for shim adjustment...

Waiting until Medicare kicks next Jan...

 

[harper]

Spare parts from Carver projects.

You probably have enough of those to give half the people in Oregon a permanent erection.

 

[harper]

I received a text from Archer about two weeks ago offering to join me on one of my boring short exercise walks since I can't ride right now. That is if we got a clearing in the recently oppressive weather. This would have been great because he's an interesting guy and, astoundingly, my wife likes him as well. Certainly a generous offer.

But it isn't going to happen anytime soon. I had a setback last week. Wednesday 11/3, I had a stinging pain at the bottom of the femur and the next day the top of my knee filled with fluid, soft and puffy, like bursitis. I described the swelling carefully and accurately on the hospital's patient portal and the response was to take it easy, ice, and elevate. Like that's going to reduce fluid on the knee? I stressed that this wasn't tight, joint swelling and was in an unusual spot but the response was that swelling after joint replacement was normal.

I went to PT the following Monday, 11/8, and the PT immediately knew it was not normal. She called the surgeon's office and by end of day the surgical team made an appointment for me for yesterday, Wednesday, 11/10. Suddenly, these guys were all over it with x-rays and ultrasound. I thought that one of my subcutaneous sutures popped and was irritating the knee above the patella. The PA thought that a suture popped but it opened a fluid path from the joint out to the surface. That's what the ultrasound ultimately showed.

That was at 10:45AM yesterday. I was scheduled for surgery to correct it at 4:30PM yesterday. I got home at 8:30PM. Man did that ever hurt. I have no nerve block for this and they were cutting deep. It was only a 10-minute surgery but I was there from 1:30PM check in for a rapid Covid test until 8:00PM when my blood pressure was low enough to be discharged.

Two weeks forward, one week back.

 

[lonerider]

Had a similar problem with my second knee replacement. Three months after the operation, severe pain and swelling. The surgeon got 45 cc of blood out of the joint, but the relief was only temporary. Vascular doc had to do an angiogram to find the leak and plug it with a coil. All was well until it happened again three months later. Another angiogram and another coil did the trick. No further problems (knock on wood). Hope they get your knee sorted with no further problems.

 

[harper]

I had my three-month post-op this morning. I can do anything I want, now. And it's misting and drizzly outside. I thought I would be riding on dry pavement today.