Most of you know that I have been suffering from pain in my leg for quite some time. It is the consequence of my motorcycle accident in 2010 and the after-effects of numerous stainless steel implants that were inserted to aid the healing of my numerous fractures and breaks.
In the course of time the doctors gave me a clean bill of health and told me that the broken bones had all healed and were strong again. The issue then became one of whether I wanted to have the metal implants removed and have a subsequent reduction in pain. I voted to leave them in as the prospect of another set of major operations, plus the risk of infections, plus the amount of time for recovery, physio, etc, etc, just didn’t seem to be worth the trouble. “If you can live with the pain, you’re better off not going back into hospital,” my ortho man told me.
And so I have done so. It hasn’t been easy, the cold weather exacerbates the pain and it’s never far from the surface regardless of the weather.
But, lately, it is been becoming even worse. Allowing that it’s nearly 13 years since the accident, you’d have to wonder why it is still causing me a problem. So, the other day when I was at my doctor’s for an unrelated appointment, I spoke to him about it and he said that I should have some x-rays in the hope that they would shed some light on the problem.
Man, was he right.
The photo above shows the Dynamic Hip Plate implant that was inserted to stabilise the head of the femur that had broken completely off it in the accident. It is secured by two bolts across to the pelvis and screwed to the femur. It has certainly done its job as the X-ray shows that the bone has completely knitted.
It is clear, however, that the bottom screw that is supposed to attach the DHP to the femur, is snapped off. This is allowing the bottom end of the plate to press against the muscle and cause the increased level of pain.
On examining the x-ray my doctor sent me on to my ortho man for his opinion. Not to confirm what was wrong, that was clear even to my unpratcised eye. What was needed was his perceptions about what should be DONE. So yesterday I showed the plates to him and he concurred. He also noted that, while the broken screw had once been horizontal, it was now at an angle and he noted that, though the hardware is stainless steel, no metal is strong enough to endure the constant stress of walking and exercise without finally giving way.
So, what was the suggestion of what to DO about it? Given that I am now pretty much over the constant pain, the answer is that I have to have an operation and have the DHP and associated hardware removed. Given that I am a public patient, this is not going to happen any time soon, however.
While I was there the doctor also examined the rest of the x-rays and noted the screw at the bottom of the femur, securing the nail that runs right through the femur and I pointed out to him that the screw, which also had been straight and horizontal, was bent. “Oh, that’s not just bent,” he said, “That screw is also broken, inside the nail.”
Now, he hastened to tell me, this one is a horse of an entirely different horror. The other x-ray that shows the top of the patella, shows that there is a considerable invasion of arthritis. “At some stage, probably soon, you will need to have a knee replacement,” he said, “When you do you will need to have the femoral nail removed otherwise a knee replacement can’t be done.” And, it seems, that this will be a much more complex operation since removing the head end of the screw won’t be too difficult, removing the other end of the screw will be and will have to involve drilling into the bone to dig the screw out.
Thankfully this is still some time into the future as I know that knee replacement is a painful procedure. The problem is, should I get all the hardware removed at once since it is no longer needed? If I do that, then I will have only one trip to hospital and one operation, but then I will ultimately have to come back and get the knee replacement done.
Getting old is complicated.