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i broke my leg back in oct and had several fixtures on it,two weeks ago they pulled it off and my break still didnt hold,then they went to a cast,leaving the 4 holes bleeding under it.i was at work when my right lung shut down(what fun)a clot from my leg when thru my heart and got stuck in the lung,a really big one that blocked the lung sending me into the ICU.I KNOW WHAT A FISH FEELS LIKE OUT OF WATER.it sucks.as i layed there hearing them talk about me not making it like i was not there,thank god for dilaudid and morphine,i know most people pray and think of there wife and kids when they think they are dieing,all i could think of is shit i didnt get my B and i should have prayed to the Apex gods before jumping,(that was stuck in my head from a post i saw days before)now they have delayed my next operation because of the blood thinners,they started with metal plates then removed them because of a infection(because of a open fracture,the bone hanging out)then did a bone graft,it has failed now back with a rod,the little bone,i think its called a tib is now gone.i only have the big bone missing alittle.i was just wondering if anyone has had this happen and come out walking and jumping again.

Had a rod in my femor and some screws
in my knee but nothing like that... Wow
Bro, sounds like a real shitty time. Really
hope things turn around for soon you man.

I broke my fibula (the little lower leg bone) and dislocated my tibia (the big lower leg bone) from my ankle on a BASE jump last September. I'm still limping a bit and not running very well, but I'm back BASE jumping, skydiving, and flying my airplane. I recently got my B and completed BASE. My break was a "standard ankle injury" according to the doc though and wasn't too complicated, and it stayed in the skin. Just a surgery to get a plate and six screws put in and then another surgery to get it all taken out on 1/2/08. It's pretty much healed now and I'm left with a cool scar with a stich that just snuck it's way out.

Now my girlfriend busted her tib and fib last October skydiving and had the tib sticking out of her leg a little. She got a rod down the inside of her tibia and can limp around a little bit now but she should still be using crutches. It hasn't healed much and there going to do some more tests and maybe a bone graft or take out some of the screws. She's also got nerve damage and pain all the time. No more jumping or flying for her for a while.

Good luck with your healing and do what they tell you to do, take it easy, and don't do what they say you shouldn't.

 
E. Long broak every thing below his knees on both legs, his back and a few other things. When I first met him he was in a walker with two big moon boot cast. He wanted me to sew a tail pocket on his new canopy. He started doing water jumps as soon as they took the plaster cast off and he could get his legs wet. They would cary him to the air plane and he would just roll out the door of the 182. They would have to pick him up out of the water and then cary him to a wheel chair at the dock.
When they sewed/bolted/screwed his legs back on they got most of the peaces right. There were a few peaces left over when they were done but hay it's the same way with my car when ever I work on it.
Let's see if I can remember this. His right foot points right. His left foot also points right. His feet are cocked to the side and he walks on the inside of his right foot and the out side of his left. I frogit which leg is longer. He is still rather out of trim. I remember when he was learning to walk again he kept vearing to the right and would have to walk in an arc. He got some custom made shues and they have helped a lot. Eather they fixed the turn or he's learned to hold a little rudder becouse he can pass a feald sorbriaty test now.
They point of all this is that he is now our head instructor/ primary tandom master and makes 10 jumps a day. His canopy it a velocity 97.

Lee

its not that bad,good drugs,got more than a dope dealer,no pain.going to miss a few jumps this year,but it could be worst.take care

Compound tib/fib and fractured calcaneous. 10 screws and a plate, 3 months no weight. 2 months in a hyperbaric chamber for 2 hours per day. Broke it Oct 20th (what day is that???) Made my first jump back at TF in March. Did 20 jumps that week, hiked them all out (no climbing). Did 10 more over Memorial Day (climbed 1 out and realized why I was hiking) Did my first real BASE jump off a 600' cliff last Friday. This is just scary shit I tell ya!!!

The clot thing is really really scary. The next most scary thing is staff infection, the resistive kind. After that the jumping ranks right up there. Hope you get through this shit soon so you can get back to voluntarily scaring yourself...

10 weeks out from a open fracture dislocation, walking short distances now. Better everyday.

You WILL get better, bones heal. Eat heathy, do not smoke no matter what, rest, calcium pills, etc. Don;t get too down, you;ve had about every complication possible which sucks, but you will come out of this.

Also as a note to everyone, shots of blood thinners after major lower extremity surgery to prevent blood clots are becoming standard and important yet many orthopedists neglect this. Its worth asking about since the blood clots can kill you.

any updates?

i will know more thursday,my bone doctor saids it sucks to be me,my blood doctor saids i am really luckey,who knows,i will miss most of the year if not all.i am walking on a broke leg in a cast trying to get a bone graft to fuse,when i say walking i mean really slow,the plan is to go back in and put a rod in,but now the thinners will miss things up a little,i have to come off the pills and go back to the shots and hope for a little luck during the operation then go back to the shots and the pills,the problem is the thinners slow all healing,sooner or later they will get it fixed,i have my leg and i can move my toes,i will walk again.might be a little slower.on a better note Now i will have a reason for climbing so slow.stay safe

i am ok,just want them to do what they are going to do,i think most the bone doctors dont treat for blood clots it the cost,mine is 4000 a month,that 100mg injections,i still have the 30mg,thats what the WV doctors put me for prevention before the infection,but because of all the operations they took me off and never put me back on.the 30mg shots are not as bad but still cost a lot.some people have a hard time giving them self shots,my blood doctor saids there is a new study saids 50% will die from the clots,it was 30%.after you have a clot the odds really suck if you dont take the pills and the shots.what sucks is when you spring a leak and bleed.bottom line everyone needs insurance,my bills are at 250000 and i am not done yet.i am really lucky,still have my house,3 cars, 4 rigs and my leg,havent walked since oct but it will come.just like the bills,thanks for the post, take care.

Wow!

Sounds like youve had some shitty luck mate.
but look at it this way, things can hopefuklly only get better
and as Rigger Lee says, if you've got the heart and determination you can come back from anything (within reason!) and Im sure you will make good progress once they can get the darn thing to start healing.

As another poster said above as well, dont smoke no matter what as it really messes up the healing process.(sorry if you dont smoke anyway!)

re the insurance...HOLY SH1T

Thast unbelievable.... at least the Uk does have some benefits...and my very competent local NHS hospitals are totally free even for some of the best equipment and doctors.

I wonder what they would do if you didnt have insurance? would they refuse to treat you and just say.... 'tough shit?' or what?

man, that would be really badddd.....

If its nerve pain and not fracture pain she should see a specialist. They can send electrical signals through your nerves, figure out exactly where the problems are, and prescribe nerve blocks for the pain.

After harassing my bone doctor enough I finally got a prescription for Neurontin which helped more than the opiates but knocked me out more; I didn't find out I could have had a nerve block to make walking tolerable months sooner.

Nerves take a couple months to start healing and then recover at about an inch a month.

As of the last week in November I had "no radiological evidence" of healing in my Tibia which broke September 1st; it's doing better now that I'm walking on it but CT scans show a hole and they're threatening to change my hardware (the fixing screws in my rod are all in the static holes) or do a bone graft if it doesn't do better with a bone stimulator.

Good luck!


Get multiple opinions - doctors training varies. See specialists where appropriate since doctors don't know enough about problems outside their areas of specialty.

My gf has been going to a nerve specialist will get treatment for that once they figure out how to get her tibia to heal.

Thanks for the advice, I'll pass it along to her.

did they go thru the knee with a rod,just wondering how painful its going to be,i am waiting for my blood doctor to get me right for a operation in two weeks,i dont have much of a fibla any more,i am missing about a inch of the tibia,the plate didnt work and the bone graph failed.i have a air cast on now trying to get the skin healthy enough for them to cut again,when i take it off the lower part of my leg swings and bends backwards,he tells me they are going to cut me at the knee and side of my leg then hammer a rod into the bone to connect it and i should be in rehab the same week.do you think this is true,i can see my knee swelling and hurting worst than the leg.

My doctor said they move your knee cap off to the side, put a slice in the ligament to work through, and drill a hole in the end of your tibia to put the rod in (With a 12mm rod, that's a 1/2" hole).


I needed lots of morphine after the nerve blocks wore off (and even then it sucked) and really hurt for 2-weeks when it got bent too far.


Probably. Except when it got bent too far my knee was the least painful part of the whole mess.