[originalbuckeye]

My mom lived out the rest of her life without her knee. She was in a nursing home after the removal of the implant, where she then contracted a Pseudomonas infection through her Hickman catheter. She was moved to a major university for a month, complaining about her shoulder. They then discovered that the Pseudomonas had slowly eaten through her clavicle, which they then removed. The possibility of infection is still there. Still a frightening prospect.

[palmer]

The possibility will always be there. The probability is low and dropping. We have to go with the probabilities not the possibilities, otherwise we won't leave the house in the morning since bad things are always possible.

That said, you will have to evaluate your hospital and surgeon choices and find The ones that takes infections seriously.