Knee Surgery Update

[Dave Winters]

Just a quick note to let y'all know I'm doing much better. If you don't know; I had

knee replacement surgery, and four weeks into my rehab discovered I had contracted a staph infection.

I was a week in the hospital and 6 weeks on 24hr IV antibiotics.

So thankfully I'm off that and on oral meds now and can concentrate on rehabbing the knee.

I'll get there....

Dave

[inkaholic]

Dave,

Good to hear you are on the road to recovery. Keep us up to date on your return. Hope to see you healthy and on the hill again this winter.

Ink

[groovastic]

Good to hear your're getting better!

Keep on recovering

[davekempmeister]

All the best to you Dave. Gotta love hospitals. Don't suppose that they were willing to admit that you contracted the staph infection while in their care. Not surprisingly, in cases like this, epidemiology never seems to be of high priority. Bet they take great care to itemize meticulously when your records are sent to billing/accounts receivable. I'd be happy to be wrong on all the aforementioned. Somehow I doubt it though. Heal well - at home.

[Dave Winters]

Right on all counts, Dave.

Forgot to say thanks to all the BOL'ers who have send well wishes... much appreciated.

-Dave

[big mario]

Glad to hear you are back to rehabbing and not fighting infections Dave. The days are getting shorter, and despite the blistering heat right now, snow is not far away. I hope to ride with you again this year, I really enjoy watching you flow down the hill.

Sending best wishes and good vibes your way,

mario

[Jim]

Good to see you on the road to carving again!

Two hospitals I worked at had staph problems. Turns out that one hospital was spreading staph on the bottom of doctors shoes.

[Bobby Buggs]

Dave I have been watching your progress and I am glad to see your on the way. Will you be able to ride after this procedure?

[skatha]

All the best to you Dave. Gotta love hospitals. Don't suppose that they were willing to admit that you contracted the staph infection while in their care. Not surprisingly, in cases like this, epidemiology never seems to be of high priority. Bet they take great care to itemize meticulously when your records are sent to billing/accounts receivable. I'd be happy to be wrong on all the aforementioned. Somehow I doubt it though. Heal well - at home.

Community acquired MRSA is a whole different bug than the hospital variety-much more virulent and the source of those god-awful skin abscesses people on sports teams are acquiring now. Up to 70% of the population is now colonized with CA-MRSA and you can thank your local beef grower for that-amoxicillin's been routinely added to cattle feed for over 30 years now.

That and those parents who've routinely disregarded their pediatrician's advice and gone to the ER at 2 am for a prescription for antibiotics for their kid's viral infection.

As for docs carrying staph, it's more likely to be on their ties than on their shoes. Last I looked, a doc's tie was more apt to touch a patient than their shoes were. Plus, shoes are more apt to be colonized with soil or water pathogens like Serratia and Pseudomonas.

But what do I know?

Prosthetic infections haven't increased in incidence in the last 20 years, it's just the virulence of the infection that's worse.

And, as a reminder, I'd like to say AGAIN, if I really wanted to go to school for 12 years to screw with people, I would have gone to law school. That goes for 98% of my colleagues, as well. It's currently popular to portray docs as evil people and I'm sure that your particular doc managed not to perform the hospital by law-mandated surgical scrub or both his hands and your knee and managed to convince the scrub nurse and the anesthesiologist that he didn't have to before he started the procedure. And, I'm sure, the recommended prophylactic antibiotics used before and after the procedure weren't used in this particular case. And I'm sure the hospital hid the fact there was a surgical complication while they had a case management nurse beg the insurance company for extra coverage for inpatient care, home health, and outpatient IV therapy.

Don't think so...

In a nutshell, reality is that everyone involved tried to prevent the infection and, once there was an infection, everyone worked to make sure the best outcome possible occurred.

So, sorry you had an infection and I'm glad you're better

Everyone else who commented needs to educate themselves a bit better about how hospitals actually run.

[Jim]

As for docs carrying staph, it's more likely to be on their ties than on their shoes. Last I looked, a doc's tie was more apt to touch a patient than their shoes were. Plus, shoes are more apt to be colonized with soil or water pathogens like Serratia and Pseudomonas.

But what do I know?

Nah...couldn't have been the shoes. :rolleyes:

[davekempmeister]

Skatha, Dave responded that I was RIGHT (correct) on ALL counts. Also, if everyone involved had taken measures to ensure that the infection did not occur, it would not have occurred. Hospitals are supposed to be places of healing, no? No data, no statistics, no personal day to day empirical evidence here - so what do I know? I know that hospitals bill signifigantly more in an instance like Dave's than had he not acquired the infection. I know that multiple thousands of people in the U.S. die or are seriously made ill each year by infections that they acquire while in a hospital setting. I know that once a patient acquires an infection in a hospital setting, hospitals are loathe to admit fault and individuals involved in the patient's care typically go into CYA mode. There ARE problems that are systemic.

Sorry for my part in any negativity here but I felt put on the defensive. Most importantly, hope Dave is feeling better and better.

[boarderboy]

I've made a couple of digs on BOL about MD's - in jest - and I hope they were interpreted that way.

Sparing the details, over the past four years I've spent more time in emergency rooms, operating rooms, ICU's, (spiritually) sterile recuperation suites, etc. than I care to remember. My adventures have spanned two states, three hospitals, and more GP's, specialists, surgeons, and anesthesiologists than Blue Cross cares to remember.

I had one really bad experience, but I chalk that up to dumb luck, and I credit my fairly miraculous recovery to great nurses, surgeons, and G.P.'s who pulled me through. Even in the "worst" hospital I encountered, the staff observed a rigorous quarantine when I tested positive for one of the "nasties" that's causing problems. It was a time-consuming, pain in the gazinga for them, but they did it to protect my fellow patients.

I detest this country's health care system. It's saved my life, but it has, and will, cost me plenty in $$ and fatigue and frustration. But as far as I'm concerned, the medical professionals who've put up with my sorry tush (and who've saved it, too) are the best.

They/you have my gratitude and admiration. I'm sure that won't change.

p.s. Hope the knee keeps progressing. When you feel up to it, Dave, it'd be great to know what the Docs say about boarding after your procedure. Mahalo

[Jim]

As for docs carrying staph, it's more likely to be on their ties than on their shoes. Last I looked, a doc's tie was more apt to touch a patient than their shoes were. Plus, shoes are more apt to be colonized with soil or water pathogens like Serratia and Pseudomonas.

But what do I know?

Not when they wear their paper booties out surgery & ER.

Can you imagine a doctor wearing a tie in surgery? :rolleyes:

Is...It...Snow...Yet???

[Allee]

For all that the docs will tell you that knee surgery is routine and easy, I know four people who've had it, and four people who've had complications, which isn't a great track record. My good friends mother had a knee replacement in her early 80's, and it was literally the beginning of the end for her - she never really recovered from that surgery and died 18 months later. Another friends mother had one done in the 70's, got an infection and was laid up for about five months. My father got blood clots and was on blood thinners for quite a while, and now Dave. All I can say is that if I can avoid knee surgery, I will!

Heal well, Dave. Commiserations on the complications, but you still have a few months until the snow flies.:)