Hello Boomanchu,
Yes, I had endocarditis, which was the cause of my valve replacement.
In my case, the bacteria also got into my leg, causing a mycotic aneurism that blocked blood flow to my lower leg and foot. During recovery my heart felt fine, but my foot was hurting badly and I couldn't walk. The condition persisted for months during recovery and I had a permanent limp as a result. I finally had a vein specialist look at the leg and the blockage was found. I had to have a second surgery on my leg to bypass the blocked artery in the leg and restore blood flow to my foot. I no longer have the limp or any problems walking.
Although they did do an ultrasound test on my leg while I was in the hospital recovering from the heart surgery and complained about the foot, they did not find anything at that time. It was only months later, after the vein specialist did an Ankle-Brachial Index Test, where it pointed to the blockage in my leg, that subsequent ultrasound and Angiogram testing with radioactive dye showed the mycotic aneurism causing the blockage.
Frankly, I consider myself lucky that the bacteria that broke off lodged itself in my leg, rather than traveling to my brain, where it probably would have caused a stroke.
I assume you had the standard 6 week course of intravenous antiboitics, which should have killed off the bacteria. Any pain in your knee as a result of the endocarditis would more likely be due to restricted blood flow in that area rather than damage to the joint itself. I would ask them to do the Ankle-Brachial Index Test to see if it indicates any blood flow restrictions. It could be some other issue totally unrelated to the endocarditis.
The vision, dizziness and passing-out issues do sound like symptoms of a mini-stroke, which the doctors should be able to determine. This is fairly common if the bacteria vegetation from the endocarditis breaks off and travels to the brain. I would think that if these symptoms are not permanent now, that they would disappear with time, but your doctors would be the ones to best advise you on that.
Best of luck.