I had my 8 month review appointment with my Orthopaedic Surgeon today to see how well, or otherwise, my broken femur was healing. I’ve been having increasing pain above my knee so my husband & I were expecting a mixed report.
Well we were right in expecting that. When my femur broke 8 months ago the Surgeon inserted a titanium rod with a screw at my hip & a screw above my knee, which is designed to compress & support as the break in the femur healed. My problem is that the screw above the knee has compressed too quickly & my bone is healing too slowly (called non-union). This means that all my leg weight is at the screw site & one issue is the screw could snap but the main issue is that my femur simply can’t heal if left like that.
So we arrived at my Surgeons office with him standing at his door ready to greet us ( never had that happen before…didn’t know whether to be honoured or scared). He ushered us in & before we could say hello he said, “I’ve got your xrays, the screw has to come out, you have to use crutches at all times leading up to surgery & for quite a while after surgery, your knee will feel loose but we have no choice” 😯
I think he took a breath at that point thank goodness. Thankfully we had a feeling this was going to happen so we were slightly prepared but still had to adjust our thinking a little. Recovery should be ok but because of my Rheumatoid Arthritis medication he explained that impressive bruising will be the main difficulty. I remember so well the bruising I had following the femur repair surgery. It’s the debilitating kind but with time it improves & I can thankfully take whatever time I need.At least I’ve got 3 weeks to get ready for this next round of surgery booked for 22nd June.
The only other piece of news to digest is that healing will be delayed & we are looking at another 12 to 18 months from here. Good job I’ve become great friends with my crutches & am getting around well all things considered.😄
My Medical Musings 