It’s been Six months since right total knee replacement. I suppose it’s been a relatively typical recovery. Still have a lot of pain on stairs, and am relatively unstable when on uneven ground. But basically I get around fine. Last week on Sunday evening for reasons I don’t know, my knee swelled up huge and could hardly bare weight at all. My surgeon did X-ray and said all looked good. The next day ( two days after it originally swelled) she tried to draw fluid but all she got was a little blood. After two days it had grown one colony of bacteria. She saisythat wasn’t overly concerning, but sent me for ct scan and drew more fluid for retest. Ct was good.

Second time she drew fluid she had no trouble filling the tube with pink fluid. I think first time she had the needle in the wrong place, because this this thing has had lots of fluid on it since the surgery. Hopefully I’ll have results back from the lab tomorrow.

Question is, even if the test for infection comes back clear, is it normal to have all this fluid on my knee six months after surgery?