Hi Anna!

I also have a bad knee, have had 4 microfracture surgeries since 1988. I had stem cell and PRP two years ago which helped a little, but definitely not a lot.

I currently get Euflexxa injections every 6 months and also ultrasound guided Hydrodissection injections (basically a prolotherapy sugar/dextrose solution) every 2 months. All of these injections are covered by my Medicare insurance.
These injections help quite a bit but they can only do so much. I definitely am inching my way towards a total knee replacement.

Scares me too having a replacement of this sort with CRPS but there are some things that can be done to help prevent spread after surgery. Vitamin C supplementation is often mentioned (I take extra "C" right now). Also there are some pre-operative anesthesia techniques that can be done to calm the nervous systems down to allow you to handle the trauma of a surgery with less risk. Snoop around, I'm sure you will find these listed somewhere within this forum and or others. You definitely will want to have a pre-operative consultation with your anesthesiologist prior to your surgery so they completely understand the situation and are willing to work with you.

All the best and keep us posted on your plans!