Welcome New Friends

[Guest guest]

Welcome new friends to one of the best boards anywhere on the net. We have

very educated, compassionate and just real nice moderators. We are glad that

you have found us, but sorry for the reason that lead to look for us. These

diseases apparently are on the rise or are now being acknowledged and that

means that more people are getting treatment early on in their disease

process, so I guess that is a good benefit.

Please remember that " WE SERVE WHINE AND CHEESE HERE EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK,

WITH NO LIMIT ON THE WHINE. "

This is your new safe place where you can come to vent, seek information,

share recipes, bring us a cute joke, just feel at home. Most of us have

either been where you are now, are going thru what you are now or have a ton

of questions about being newly diagnosed. All of this is normal and that is

why we have moderators who have tons of links at their fingertips to lead you

in the right direction. Don't forget that our board is always

stock

full of interesting articles and if you have any questions, please feel free

to contact one of our moderators for further clarification. hNONE of us our

doctors, just average citizens who have been stricken out of nowhere with

these symptoms that it takes the medical field what seems like a lifetime to

figure out. We are all in different stages of our disease, some have been

newly diagnosed, some have not been diagnosed yet and still others have been

living with this disease for many, many years, so keep that in mind when

reading our posts and articles and remember, NO TWO PEOPLE ARE THE SAME.

Me, my name is Debs and I live in South Florida right outside Ft Lauderdale.

I have been diagnosed for a little over 8 years and am now facing my

umpteenth knee surgery this time due to sepsis. My original total knee

replacement was done 11/99 and no problems until I my patella (knee cap) in

2/02 and then thru a series of other operations developed sepsis and am now

scheduled

to have my original total knee replacement prosthesis removed and have the

space filled with antibiotic treated cement for approximately 6-8 weeks and

then and only if then with the infection TOTALLY gone, will they put in a

new total knee replacement. So I have quite a journey ahead of me. But just

keep in mind that this is my story and not the plight of everyone who has

this kind of surgery.

Once again, welcome to our little family here on the net and know that you

will never be alone again in your feelings. We are all only an e-mail away.

We look forward to getting to know you as much as we hope you will enjoy

getting to know us.

Gentle, tender, angel hugs to all our new friends,

Debs in FL