TR: The OR-Femoral Osteotomy

little_ey

little_ey

Member
So December 12, 2007 I was doing this:

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When this happened:

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While things seemed to heal well, there was a minor problem. My leg

could twist itself to face behind me. There was 50 degrees of internal

malrotation. Oops.

I still managed to ski. Get some shots like this:

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But the hip and knee pain was really getting annoying.

So, in March 2011, after getting the run-around from my old orthopedic

(note: not the one who did the surgery. that was emergency surgery

performed at the nearest hospital), I saw Dr. Janes at Vail Summit

Ortho. He agreed that this pain was no good and the long term

consequences were even worse. I was too young to have those issues.

But, it is not a common procedure anymore to do a midshaft femoral

osteotomy. Most of the time, the femur comes in pre-broken for the

surgeon. It is not common for the surgeons to break it themselves.

Dr. Janes and I decided for a fall surgery. This would allow me to have

an optimal summer (about 100 miles hiked in the Gore Range and Rocky

Mtn. National Park) and still make it back for most of the winter. He

had to order special equipment for the surgery, then spent much of the

summer practicing on fake bones.

September 6 rolled around and I went in for a 6:00am surgery.

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While I didn't handle the anesthesia well, the break was clean and

physical therapy wanted me at 50% weight bearing right away. The pain

was very manageable, except when a nurse came to change a dressing (that

apparently didn't need to be changed) and literally pealed my skin off

in spots.

I has now been four weeks and I have full range of motion in my knee and

almost full in my hip. I can almost full weight bear (I'm walking with

a cane) and strength is coming back quickly... I can already leg press

my weight again.

Wolf Creek opens tomorrow and while I know I still won't be skiing until

at least December, I am excited to know that this season will probably

be my best season since 2006/2007.

Thanks for listening. And if you have a malrotated femur of more than

30 degrees... don't just "suck it up, live with it, and pop out three

kids" (as my old ortho recommended), find a good surgeon and get it

fixed.
 
hey i had a compound femur fracture 7 years ago, it happened in a rugged car accident. luckily i had the cleanest compounded femur the doctor had ever seen so it was easy to get back together in the scheme of things. to this day it feels great even with the rod and bolts.

im not sure what you mean by your leg could twist backwards? looks like you had a fantastic recovery the first time, and hoping you can recover again in the same fashion.

hoping you will post up a tr of your first adventure back on snow. and stay away from skiing on stairs.
 
Those pics are sick. Looks like you totally rip by any standard. Hope it all works out for ya. I had a major facial reconstructive surgery on sept 13 so I feel ya for sure. Two years ago I faceplanted(no helmet) and broke my brow, nose, occular, and pallette. This most recent surgery they pretty much detached my upper jaw from my skull and realigned it. Just now getting to the point of talking without doubling my Bs, Ds, and Ws. Still can't eat anything but mashed potatoes and Mac and cheese. Fortunately though they unwired my jaw a few days ago and they think I'll be cleared for normal activity by mid November. So far now I've got 4 plates and 32 screws holding my face together. Still have to get an upper jaw bone grapht and dental implant for the tooth o knocked out. So I'm right there with ya killer and hope you have a full recovery so you can start rippin again. Good luck!
 
^^ the bone healed great the first time. But the first surgeon didn't set it straight. So where the break was... it was a complex spiral fracture, so it was a tricky puzzle to piece together, when the surgeon put it back together, the lower half of my femur was rotated 50 degrees inward. For a visual, but two marks on a pencil on the same side. Break the pencil between the two marks. Then glue the pencil back together but with the marks not lining up. That is how my femur was set. So the lower part of my leg was really pigeon toed. The knee bent all funny and the hip joint was stressed trying to walk/ski and make the leg go straight not in. It was causing arthritis and a risk of a hip or knee replacement.

So the first time healed great, it just wasn't in the right place.
 
ok now i understand. that stinks! heal up! maybe you can send the first surgeon the bill to fix his mistake?
 
My surgeon managed to get my femur within 1-2 degrees of correct orientation. 50 degrees... must have been a really bad break.
 
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