Las Vegas, NVWalt, age 80, says his quality of life went downhill after getting a Zimmer NexGen knee replacement. "Eighty would be the new 60 if not for this Zimmer knee," he says. "I want to know how to get rid of this pain—I can understand how situations like this would make you depressed, and to end the pain, someone might even consider suicide..."
Walt, who used to teach positive thinking and stress management, needs all his resources to get through this pain, and possibly a knee replacement revision surgery.
Walt got a Zimmer knee replacement in April 2010 and on a scale of 1 to10, his pain is still registering seven. And his knee is still swollen. "I am having pain treatment and cortisone shots; my doctor pulled fluid out of my knee twice to check for infection but there isn't any," says Walt, who adds that there is no explanation why his knee still hurts, except that the Zimmer NexGen knee is a defective device. Although Walt knows his knee replacement is made by Zimmer, he isn't sure of the exact model, but it could be the Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex Porous Femoral component.
"This Zimmer knee has really messed up my life," Walt says. "I can't bowl anymore, I can't walk any distance, and it's even messed up my sex life. I used to be a very active person; I went to the gym three times a week and I've taught stress management for 30 years but this has really cut my quality of life way back—I'd say by 80 percent.
"I've had two previous knee replacements and the pain has never stayed this long. This is chronic pain, not acute. It is so hard to find a position where the pain subsides and it often wakes me at night. Every morning I wake up at 2 or 3 am and put a cold pack on my knee; throughout the day I switch it from hot to cold, trying to alleviate the pain.
"I have an appointment at the end of this month with my orthopedic surgeon but I don't have any positive information about what can be done. I saw one orthopedic guy but he doesn't do revision surgery and I'm pretty sure that's what I am facing. I will have to go through the healing process all over again—about 20 staples will have to heal and then I'll have to go through all the in-house and out-house therapy.
"My wife wants to take a trip overseas but I don't think I can get on a plane with this knee. She is worried that I'm going to get depressed over this, even though I teach positive thinking. Now I get pushed around in my transporter chair. If not for my wife, I would be house-bound. I try to move around as much as possible and work through the pain; I can't be a couch potato.
"I had x-rays and got the results a few weeks ago—everything looks fine. But I went online and found out that the best way to find out if the Zimmer NexGen device is defective is by having a bone scan. So I guess that's up next. Then maybe a lawsuit..."
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