Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Hello!  Throughout the past week, I have been amazed at how my wound appears to be getting smaller.  Sure enough, when Dr. Carbonell saw my wound, he was thrilled.  He said (if he was a betting man), it would probably be closed in about 6 weeks.  Even though the metal bar is still running through the middle of the wound, there is some tissue that seems to be acting like it wants to start to go over the metal.  If this works out, it would mean that I don't have to have another surgery in the next month.  That would be great.

I also asked Dr. Carbonell for his best guess at my future.  As a result, I feel like I got a realistic picture of what is to come.

Basically, assuming the wound heals, we will now be dealing with the bone.  There are a number of hurdles that will face us that will just be a "time will tell" situation.

Hurdle #1:  Death of the bone.  Even though the bone is alive right now, it could easily start to die over the next few months because of all the capillaries and blood vessels that were severed during the fall.  If the bone can not get enough blood, it will die.

Hurdle #2: Infection of the bone.  If they take me off the antibiotics too early, they are afraid that the bacteria that may have been trapped inside the bone fragments (that have now healed into a solid mass) will take hold of the bone and kill it.  There will come a point soon when they need to take me off of the antibiotics because of all of the negative side effects associated with their use.  Then it will just be a "wait and see" situation.

Hurdle #3: Collapse of the bone.  Once I go through physical therapy and start putting my full body weight on the bone, there is about a 50-50 chance that the bone will shatter and collapse.  Dr. Carbonell said that if it is going to happen, it will usually take place within the 6 months after being weight-bearing.  

If any of these hurdles occur, I will most likely have to have an ankle fusion.  This is where they permanently put the ankle in a fixed position so that it is not using the compromised bone in any way.  There are a host of yucky things that go along with ankle fusions--one being the four months of recovery required after surgery.  

So . . . my prayer is that we will take each of these hurdles one at a time and beat each one.  I know I have no power over any of it so I fully release it to my OH-So-much-smarter-than-me God.  

Love to you all!

Anne