Wednesday, April 29, 2009

"We know more now, but we do not know everything"

That is a fitting quote from Cara yesterday.
We both went to Tulsa to talk to Dr. Stafford regarding the CT scan of my left hip. I think I mentioned before that there is still a non-union in the femur. Basically, the fracture between the ball of the hip and the femur never completely healed. The current suggestion involves a fairly significant surgery that must take place in Tulsa. He will visit with Dr. Norris this Monday to form an official plan but this is the idea: 1. remove the existing plate and all screws 2. bore into the core of the femur (saving the bone dust) 3. install a shaft into the femur and secure it to the ball of the hip 4. using the bone dust from the boring as a bone graft around the fracture to stimulate bone growth. Since the bone dust (like wet sand) has my scaffold, cells, and proteins it will pull new cells in naturally for the growth. Any scar tissue in the area of the surgery will be removed, but exploration and removal of other scar tissue will not be done. He did mention the possibility of loosening some tight tendons to help me flatten my left leg while laying on my back. Scheduling this surgery is the big mystery. How long will I be in the hospital? Walking on the fractured hip could increase the risk of breaking the screws, but he did not restrict my current load bearing. We have a lot of plans this summer that I do not want to interrupt, but the sooner I do this the sooner I can be closer to normal. No matter when I have the surgery, I will be starting over with the hip and will be non-weight bearing for (3) full months. I will certainly make a new post when we have more answers.
J

1 comment:

Sugar said...

Thanks for the update, J. It doesn't sound pretty either way. What are you and Cara leaning towards?