Good News or Bad News...lol... You Choose...

  • June 23, 2012 11:51 AM PDT

    I had another operation on my leg recently and have had some pretty radical surgery done, thats why I aint been so active just recently, have had leg straightened a bit by shaving the inside working edges of both bones into the knee on one side, all metal taken out and a whole chunk of bone taken off the outside edge of my thigh bone... they resited the kneecap, roped a couple of tendons...but the chunks of dead bone they took out from the side of my thigh meant that I only had just over half the bone on the inside edge...the outside edge was stripped of dead stuff...

    This is what it was like with the metal in.....

    pretty savage metal eh?




    ...and then without the metal, this is after 5 and a half weeks...





    Just in case the writing on the x-ray aint that clear it shows on the left side as we are looking at it that the bolt holes have almost healed solid...on the right side between the 2 points indicated a whole slab of bone was taken off because it was dead, surgeon stripped back ALL the dead bone from all over the knee area...

    This below is how my lower leg looks now...
    and that is pretty much from direct on the front view...

    If I was a horse I would have been put down...lol...

    But anyhow, This is how it all went...
    They had planned to keep me in for a week as its what they class as radical surgery, no f chance!  I usually escape within a couple of hours from waking up...lol...but I do it in such a clever way I make it seem like its their idea...so the damn anaesthetists were discussing WITHOUT ME to me having an epidural and then waking to a PCA Machine when awake...NO F CHANCE!!!  So i told them that I would have a simple knockout with the "White" stuff, no idea what it is but I wake easily from it...so they said ok, then discussing giving me morphine for the pain after the op, I TOLD him that I wanted NO MORPHINE as I react badly to it...it makes me very aggressive and very angry...I also told him that I wanted NO PAIN RELIEF for after the op at all!!!  ...and when I woke up I was told that I had been given some very long lasting pain relief directly into my leg...My leg was hurting MORE than a fresh break, and MORE than a repair job done...I know what they both feel like as I refused any pain meds at roadside... The brain can do so much more pain control than drugs can, and so I rely on that and it works for me...I have real bad reactions to morphine, it makes the pain about 4 times as bad and makes it so the brain cant deal with it so it feels like around 8 times worse...I reckon the b******  shot me up with morphine...all symptoms were like morphine...uncontrollable pain and thats another typical symptom of morphine for me...when I checked with them I found out it was morphine and then I should have started proceedings against the person who authorised it without my consent...b******!!!

    They planned to keep me in a week or so, I had no intention of even staying overnight, and as they dont do discharges over a weekend I decided to push the limits and start to get ready to give them their bed back with me out the door...lol...

     I undid the clamp and fixed to closed position, unscrewed the pipe at the joint to venflon, hung it up and then took off surgical gown, then put t-shirt on, she then checks the venflon and walks away confused...

      Underpants back on, got denim jeans and leathers back on, nurse asks if doctor has been to see me yet...lol... hung up drip the way they do it so it looks like one of them has done it, sit looking innocent, then as doc comes to see me to see how I am, told him I feel fine (I was ready to go home, I felt fine), he agreed I can go home, nurse goes to get discharge papers ready, nurse notices that in past I have taken off full leg casts at appropriate time, have taken out stitches at appropriate time, have taken out metal staples at appropriate time, they bring me a few changes of dressing that I can do myself, with all the sterikits and sealed pre-sterilised caliper forceps to remove staples...lol...(they are getting to know me...lol...they must have read my notes!), Then discharge papers signed they get me a choice of wheelchair or crutches, I took the crutches...
     
    As aftercare they said I was to keep the foot off the floor for 8 weeks, then for a further 8 weeks minimal weight bearing, then a further 4+ weeks of partial weight bearing, then a further period of time to learn to walk again...lol...NO CHANCE!!!  ...lol...I started walking on it very carefully after just 4 days...

    I started to build up the leg during the first week, and YES, I was warned that the leg should be treated WORSE than a break as all the bone that was left would be so brittle that even a slight tap on the side could break it again too easily, but I chose to ignore that trusting instead to taking care to not get into any kind of situation where the leg COULD get knocked...it felt great, so i continued as fast as possible to strengthen it, about 2 weeks later I was sat in my truck and actually had NO PAIN - 1st time in 12 years...

    Anyhow, I went for a 5 week check and had the above x-rays done and as they show, I have had around 5 months of bone growth and development in just over 5 weeks!!!!!

    Good News huh?  .....or is it bad news as I am now able to come back on here a lot more often...lol... You choose.....

    • 658 posts
    June 23, 2012 8:05 PM PDT
    To me that's good news brother! Glad you're doing good. I wish my patient's were as hard headed as you... lol
  • June 23, 2012 8:51 PM PDT
    Thats good news and hope your leg continues to get better. Their is nothing worse in life than a chronic pain in your body somewhere. Some other good news is the recent birth of our first grandkid. Kaylee Marie was born in May and were all thrilled to have her join our family.
    • Moderator
    • 19067 posts
    June 24, 2012 12:07 AM PDT
    Glad yer on the mend.
  • June 24, 2012 2:47 AM PDT
    Thanks everyone, I thought some of you would jump in on this, I added it as a guide to anyone who has had, or thinks they may have problems with morphine, all that stuff does for me is blocks the ability to block the pain myself, and it just makes me very angry, short tempered and very VERY aggressive, if you have had this happen, or know someone it has happened to then advise them to try without any morphine or subsidiary products and to try just plain paracetamol, its a basic anti-inflammatory with a mild pain relief...but its the anti-inflamatory part that REALLY works, it takes down swelling-that reduces pressure on affected part - then the brain can deal with whats left...

    Thanks guys.....

    and hey Wheels, Good Job dude...and welcome to CF and the world for Kaylee Marie...
    • 9 posts
    June 24, 2012 7:42 AM PDT
    Glad they got all that metal out. I'm not so sure I "trust" that it won't cause further problems. Those bones, while "cage free" for your recuperation, are still fragile, Jet. I know you know your own body and such, but just don't push yourself too hard, eh? It really don't look like they could "stand" a whole lotta stress right now...give 'em a sec.
    Just my two, bro...

    Ride Free
    Tweek
  • June 24, 2012 8:09 AM PDT
    Ya got that right Tweek...lol...Surgeon did say I should not use leg at all for 8 weeks...I been using it 7 weeks and 2 days so far...lol...and yeah, its a known fact that when metal is added to bones they lose all their own tensile strength and become very brittle, but please dont worry honey, I am actually taking it carefully - even though I am pushing it to the limits EVERY day, I come in at this time of night here 9pm, and my leg is in agony, but it is so worth it...tomorrow morning I will wake up with no pain at all, and that is over 12 years since I could feel like that at ANY time of day...

    Surgeon has done an extensive write up about what I been doing to it and has agreed that what I have been doing is right for me, I have been putting the toes down first to take all shock out of using the leg, foot acts as a shock absorber...so I am being as careful as I can...lol...sort of...lol...
    • Moderator
    • 1364 posts
    June 24, 2012 12:37 PM PDT
    Wow that is great news
    • 0 posts
    June 24, 2012 2:57 PM PDT
    It's all good, the brain is so powerful. I give you a lot of credit. I don't like all the man-made crap they try to put in our bodies either, a bunch of mind-altering chemicals. Nature can do wonders. Just take it slow and easy.
  • June 25, 2012 1:17 AM PDT
    Well, the first 8 weeks is done now as of friday..lol...and now I have the next weeks of minimal weight bearing...lol...

    I am so glad I took it my way...lol...lots of use of the leg but carefully at first, I still aint putting the leg where it can be knocked or bumped, but hey, I have been riding all my different rides again...lol...it can stand up to that-it can stand up to anything I reckon...lol...

    going flying again soon too...lol...
  • June 25, 2012 1:19 AM PDT


    ..... and hey, no-one said that its bad news that I am back on the boards blasting away at messages...lol...How cool is that...lol...