Hello out there if anyone is still active here...... I have a problem. I have some evil arthritis that is destroying my joints, and my endocrine glands apparently. 8.5 years ago I had to have my right knee replaced. This year it started to hurt, a lot, and I find out that the tibial plateau, beneath the prosthesis, is dead. Osteonecrosis they say. Probably because I take steroids they say. I have to take steroids because I have no adrenal function. Stop they say. But I can't stop. If I don't take them, I don't function. Period. I barely function with them. So, my question is, how fast does this bone death progress? Will it lead to collapse of the bone? Doc says he needs to take the dead bone out and revise the knee replacement. But he's worried I won't heal. This thing hurts, a lot. I don't think I can keep walking around on it with this pain for very long, especially if it is going to get worse. He gave me. I timelines. I don't know how fast it progresses, how far it progresses, what the risk is of not doing surgery now, how much more damage there might be if it colllapses? Can anyone help with any of these questions?

As for healing, I have healed when they replaced the other knee 3 years ago. I healed an ankle fusion 2 years ago, though last we looked it was a non Union. I have tried to taper down the steroids, but I'm not kidding when I say I can't function without them. I want this thing fixed so I can keep working. My boss wants me to wait until fall, but I don't think I can deal with this pain for that long. Is this going to spread to other joints? My other replaced knee? My fused ankle? My horrendous spine? Should I just pack it in now? Call it good and call it quits? I'm lost and confused here..... Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you