Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Russianblues]

Hey guys, going to make this short and sweet.

You can read up on my situation if you care as I made another post a few weeks ago about my screw falling out.

So I went to the ER, had an x-ray, had blood tests. Everything looked normal, inflammatory markers on the blood test were normal. Despite this I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon and told to make an appointment with him after having a CT.

So last week I had the CT and had my appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon following. Bear in mind at this point I would say I am pushing closer and closer to being fully recovered, obviously walking is normal, jogging causes knee pain in patella tendon but is normal when taking pain killers. I don't really have the explosive power due to my fked tendons so skateboarding/sprinting/squatting(40kg+) is not possible at this time. I can run up stairs 2 by 2 pretty close to what I used to be able too, which is also a good exercise I would recommend other LLers recovering as it hardly puts any stress on the screws.

So I went in and the doctor told me that he wasn't sure but he had to check with his boss. He took a picture of my tibia and sent it too his boss right there and left the room. When he came back he was very grave and told me I had osteomyelitis (spelling? bone infection), chronic for months given the changes the bacteria has caused in the bone. So he told me I would need to be admitted to the ward and surgical options would follow after he, his boss and also other peers had discussed my case.

So they do more blood tests which are negative again for inflammatory markers yet apparently this doesn't at all rule out an infection. Other doctors visit me such as the head of infectious disease and 3 orthopedic surgeons who seem to always move in a team together headed by the guy previously called boss.

After a few days of deliberation and spelling out a number of options too me which all involve removing the nail in my leg they finally come to the conclusion on the current surgery that I will have in 12 hours or so. They will remove the nail in my leg, they will scrape some of the bone from inside and culture it too see what bacteria has taken up habitation (I have previously had pathology results test positive for staph aureus although only on the wound site(Golden staph)). At this point the boss man will make a choice. If my tibia is oozing puss and heavily infected then he will replace the nail with an antibiotic coated cement nail. If there is no visible signs of infection then I will simply be left with no hardware in my leg. I am told even the antibiotic cement nail is hardly weight bearing and wouldn't be put in for such an effect only for its antiobiotic properties. After discussing my CT with other doctors they came to the conclusion that my bone growth is adequate to leave me with no hardware inside and just have a cast on my leg for two weeks and then slowly reintroduce weight bearing.

This scares the living   out of me, because whilst the back 180 degrees of my bone seem to be the same density as the rest of the tibia, there is literally no bone on the front. I mean the x-ray is literally empty for the front portion of the bone :s. It really hasn't been long at all since I had the nail locked and I was actually told by an ortho that they would prefer to just leave the nail in permanently, yet now they are removing at after such a short time. I will also have to wear a cast on my leg for two weeks and walk with crutches for an extended period of time.

I think I covered everything. Seems like the user base of this forum has moved on so not really sure if anyone cares. Just vowed to update on the forum after so many of the Sarin patients got maimed and stayed silent.

I actually spoke to Sringari the other day and he seemed generally worried. There is no way of knowing when the initial infection occured. But, I will say that I think it was from the second surgery. My reasoning is that after the second surgery the wound was wrapped and when it was taken off it was swabbed with benedine. There was no time in between the second surgery and when I got the bandages off for it to become infected. Signs of infection were obvious as soon as I took off the bandages from the second surgery, which were acknowledged by Sringari as he placed me on antiobiotics and also took me to hospital to inspect it prior to me leaving.

Cheers guys. Probably awful grammar/spelling.

[Russianblues]

Oh and there is a patient who had his done with Sringari before me who displayed the exact same symptoms at the guesthouse. Go and get a CT ASAP and get qualified people to look at it. I seriously worry about you bro especially because you perhaps don't have the best medical care immediately available too you in close proximity. I feel nothing, no pain etc. If left untreated the consequences for osteomyelitis are catastrophic.

[Disobedient]

Hi Russianblue,

This is sound so scary to me.. I think you done your operation at the same time as me, it's already 7months post surgery, so maybe as your doctor said the cast will be enough..

so, if they will put cement nail there will be no cast, and yet you said it's not weight bearing ..! then how you'll be able to walk ?

[Russianblues]

The bone growth is solid enough to walk. The cast is to stop rotational movement I believe as it will extend past the ankle and near to the pelvis. Quoting the boss ortho dude: "discharge on crutches 3-4 days after surgery whilst slowly reintroducing weightbearing on to the leg"

I had my surgery shortly before you and have been catching up on your story now. It's good your seeing solid progress.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Wow, that's a scary story.  It sounds like you're in good hands with the boss and his team, so that's fortunate at least.  Please keep us informed about that antibiotic coated cement nail; I've never heard about anything like it before.

This scares the living s**t out of me, because whilst the back 180 degrees of my bone seem to be the same density as the rest of the tibia, there is literally no bone on the front. I mean the x-ray is literally empty for the front portion of the bone :s. It really hasn't been long at all since I had the nail locked and I was actually told by an ortho that they would prefer to just leave the nail in permanently, yet now they are removing at after such a short time. I will also have to wear a cast on my leg for two weeks and walk with crutches for an extended period of time.

In Beijing they did some nail removals when the patient had 3 sides of the bone consolidated (such as left, right, and rear in your case) and the patients were fine.  Apparently you don't need the bones to be 100% consolidated to remove the nails safely.

[KiloKAHN]

Lots of luck, Russianblues. Sucks this had to happen to you but it seems like you're getting treated by a competent team of doctors. Hope you have a good recovery.

[Blackhawk]

Good luck RB!

Thanks for keeping us updated.  There are so many people who went to India that I wonder about.

[Taller]

Hang in there! At least you will still be paying less money than you would have had you gone with one of the internal-only doctors. I wish you the best of luck during this difficult time.

[Polycrates.]

I too am suffering from a bone infection and will have nonunion. Sorry for the absence anyone wondering, but I'm in a bleak situation right now... The ortho I have is pretty unforgiving. Blames me for what I've done and is referring me to someone else. Will update more when I am more settled. Anyone from Sringari's should get checked for infection like Russianblues states. Living in squalor and being operated on in an open room by a bunch of guys not even wearing gloves seem to make infection an absolute certainty. FML....

[HelloThere]

Hang in there! At least you will still be paying less money than you would have had you gone with one of the internal-only doctors. I wish you the best of luck during this difficult time.

And he probably wouldn't have suffered most of these problems either. People, you only have one pair of legs, would you really risk them in order to save some money?

I'll be praying for you guys, hoping everything goes well and the problems are resolved swiftly.

[ShortLegs]

Just want to add
Osteomyelitis is poorly controlled with oral antibiotics, thus during LL new nail is coated with antibiotics and inserted in the medullary cavity of the bone. BUT unlike oral antibiotics where you take it TDS for 5-7 days the medullary antibiotics cannot be changed often due to practical reasons and have short half-life.
If infection is not controlled it spread quickly and can have SERIOUS consequences.
BEST TREATMENT FOR OSTEOMYLITIS IS PREVENTION but I can understand people if their biggest worry about LL is money and opt for economical options (I was one of them until I decided not to play with my ONE life and work for few years more to save money)

Please note anyone considering LL in INDIA should be aware that it is HIGH RISK country for DRUG-RESISITANT micro-organisms and some strains are so resistant that NO ANTIBIOTIC IN THE WORLD can destroy e.g. NDM1 etc

There have even been some AUTHENTIC studies by RESPECTABLE scientist showing indian drinking water containing antibiotic resistant strains.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

And he probably wouldn't have suffered most of these problems either. People, you only have one pair of legs, would you really risk them in order to save some money?

I'll be praying for you guys, hoping everything goes well and the problems are resolved swiftly.

Unfortunately some people have to risk it.  The top doctors are and always will be out of their price range.

[ShortLegs]

Yes but even the BEST DOCTORS in UNHYGIENIC conditions are helpless.

Especially if even the drinking water contains resistant micro-organisms.

[hand_sanitizer]

Holy fking bat balls. I hope u're doing all right bro! Come on Skype man!

[Blackhawk]

Holy f**king bat balls. I hope u're doing all right bro! Come on Skype man!

Lol!!!  How are you doing hand_sanitizer?  Any infections?

What are the worst case scenarios for these infections?

[Ronaldo]

What are the worst case scenarios for these infections?

If not treated quickly, it leads to the chronic stage with severe bone destruction that may necessitate amputation.  As a last resort, amputation is sometimes used if the blood supply to the bone is severely reduced. 

[3inches]

RussianBlues, do u live in the UK?

[hand_sanitizer]

Heya Blackhawk, I'm doing fine with no infections
Anyway, Im glad Russianblues managed to get professional treatment, ull be all good bro!

[MAN-OF-STEEL]

This is terrible!!! I wish you the best recovery my friend