Ouch (possible NSFW pictures of my rear to follow)
Discussion
Dibble said:
Stone Cold said:
Good update Dibble and glad to hear it’s going in the right direction.
I have been using you to help keep a mates pecker up who is in a similar position (nowhere near as bad) but a break that won’t heal and keeps getting infected, he’s on a permanent drainage pump. So your story is having a small positive impact on him, so thanks for sharing.
Something tha5 was suggested to me was treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, which may be worth him looking into.I have been using you to help keep a mates pecker up who is in a similar position (nowhere near as bad) but a break that won’t heal and keeps getting infected, he’s on a permanent drainage pump. So your story is having a small positive impact on him, so thanks for sharing.
Another option is an ultrasound machine called “Exogen”, available on the NHS. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me, but it usually has about an 85% success rate and is approved by NIHCE.
Reconstruction surgery is hard work as a patient, but there is a lot they can do now, that they couldn’t, even a few years ago. You have to keep pushing for referrals/second opinions though. Basically, you need to be just enough of a pain in the arse that they want to get rid of you by referring you “up the chain”, but not so much of a pain you become “that patient”...
Dibble said:
I’ve even been given the go ahead by my consultant to start working from home, which will get me off half pay and start my brain turning over again. I finally feel like there is some actual sustained progress on a few fronts. The Idiot is back out of kennels and at home with me, which again, is a huge boost for my mood.
You forgot the best picture - the one of the idiot! I wouldn't know what to do without mine:
Here you go, The Idiot (Jussi, as he’s actually named. Or J-Dog, Mr a Jussi, Prunes, The Prunester, Prunesticle, Jussle-Pussle and probably a few others I’ve forgotten!):
And he blummin loves his Piggly! The “oink” in this one has died, but we have a few of them in residence, which he will cart round with him. It can be slightly disconcerting when he starts chomping on one in the middle of the night though...
And he blummin loves his Piggly! The “oink” in this one has died, but we have a few of them in residence, which he will cart round with him. It can be slightly disconcerting when he starts chomping on one in the middle of the night though...
SteelerSE said:
How lovely to have him back! Thanks for sharing.
It’s great to have him here, but I don’t think it’s been that good for him. He’s become over protective of me, as he is in my company constantly (apart from when my girlfriend takes him out for a walk). He thinks he has to “guard”/“protect” me. We are slowly teaching him he doesn’t need to worry about that stuff. It’s an uphill struggle, but we are slowly making progress with him.It doesn’t help that he’s always been a little bit anxious, in part we think to being abandoned as a puppy, spending time in Battersea, then a place in Cumbria, then being assessed by the Police as a search dog (he failed, which was good news for me!), time in kennels when I was in hospital last year and now a house move. He just needs a bit of long term stability and a better routine.
It’s weird when he’s not “in residence” though - sometimes getting him from the kennels doesn’t coincide with me getting out of hospital. He’s free to come and go through the whole flat and garden, but there’s a different “feel” to the place when he’s here, but on his bed in the lounge, to when he’s elsewhere. It feels somehow “empty”.
Another couple of shots, just because (the last one is from a couple of years ago, when we had a picnic on the beach; he’s fixated on some cheese my GF was eating, it’s like crack cocaine to him)!
Just read the whole thread, glad you are on the road to recovery now and keeping positive.
I think having your 'idiot' as company when your home will help massively, 5 years since ours passed but the house still doesn't feel the same.
Hopefully you don't have anymore infections / setbacks and its a bit smoother sailing now. Keep up with the positivity.
I think having your 'idiot' as company when your home will help massively, 5 years since ours passed but the house still doesn't feel the same.
Hopefully you don't have anymore infections / setbacks and its a bit smoother sailing now. Keep up with the positivity.
Cheese is dog cracking cocaine!
I know what you mean about routine. Mine is so over-routined mainly due to Mrs Steeler, it's very difficult to go and do other things. I took him camping last night but it was so far out of his comfort zone that he was anxious and I gave up and came home early. Similarly protective but thoughout the night. Frustrating. He loved the big walks on the South Downs way though.
I know what you mean about routine. Mine is so over-routined mainly due to Mrs Steeler, it's very difficult to go and do other things. I took him camping last night but it was so far out of his comfort zone that he was anxious and I gave up and came home early. Similarly protective but thoughout the night. Frustrating. He loved the big walks on the South Downs way though.
Hello BBers
It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thread, but that’s because not much has been happening - nothing at all really that shouldn’t have, at any rate. I can live with that.
That there is my leg. The two neatly drawn draughstman standard red lines are how much my leg has “grown” since the first operation (the first for this season, anyway) back in April. I’ve still got about a centimetre and a half to go.
I’ve been continuing with weekly physio, which has mainly been concentrating on bending my knee. I’m up to a bit over 80° of bend now. I also saw the consultant last Friday and I’m booked in for episode six of surgery at the beginning of November, once my bone is grown to length. I had a “standing up” X-Ray of both legs and my pelvis as well, and the consultant was able to measure and compare the lengths of both femurs, to a hundredth of a millimetre. The technology is pretty cool, all the X-Rays are digital, so by the time I get back from the X-Ray department, the images are already up on screen in the limb reconstruction unit. They use a particular notch at each end of the femur as reference points, so they can accurately measure the length of each bone by placing the cursor on these notches.
The next surgery will be to remove the “temporary” cement from the gap in the “knee end” of my femur and “shave” both ends of the femur back to healthy bone/blood vessels, which should be a millimetre or two at most. Once they are happy with the bone ends, they make a “quick incision” and “whip out a chunk of pelvis” from my hip (those are the consultant’s words, not mine). This chunk of bone is then slotted between the freshened up femur ends, they chuck a splodge of bone cement on each “join” and the external fixator is then adjusted to squash the bits together. I’m told this can make my pelvis “a bit sore for a few days”.
Then I just have to wait six weeks or so for the “knee end” of my femur to fuse together (fingers crossed). I could do this with internal metalwork, which means the external fixator, blocks, pins and rails would all come off at the same time, but after all the previous faff and infections, I’m going to stick with the slightly more awkward but much less infectiony external fixator. Once the bone is fused at the knee end, the rail, blocks and clamps are all removed, but the pins will stay in place for another six weeks or so, just in case the bone isn’t strong enough and they need to “rebrace” my leg with the fixator again.
While all this is going on, the new bone that has been growing at the top of my femur will also be able to mature and harden up, so it becomes viable bone. For every day of bone growth, you need another two days or so for the bone to fully form, so I’ve got a way to go with that still.
My current issue (you surely didn’t think it was all plain sailing, did you?!) is that my right leg is now longer than it’s been for a while. One of the consequences of this is that my sciatic nerve is a bit “stretched”. If you could pluck it, you could probably play a tune on it. This has irritated and inflamed the nerve, so I’ve had pain from my right shoulder blade, down my lower back, through my right arse cheek and down the back of my right thigh. The only way to reduce the pain is to lie as flat as possible. That doesn’t help with knee mobility or leg function, so it’s not really an option.
I’ve got some more exercises from the physio to “gently lengthen and mobilise” the sciatic nerve. Physio yesterday consisted of the physio hurting me. A lot. I never realised how much one finger tip could really, REALLY, sting. I had work done on my upper back (ouch), lower back (ouch), arse cheek (ouch) and thigh (double OUCH). It is not fun. It is almost impossible to find a comfortable position to lie or sit in.
I also now have more drugs - gapapentin and amytryptiline - both of which are to help with the neural pain. I’m assured this is only temporary, but by a god, it really f
king stings! I’m waiting for the drugs to start working.
I did have another slight breakthrough/high point a couple of weeks back, when I managed to lie on my left hand side for a bit. I can also just about get onto my front, but with the nerve thing, that stretches my leg the “wrong” way and it’s really not comfortable!
If everything goes to plan with the “docking” of the femur and removal of the rail, after a further six weeks, the pins will come out. Best case scenario is this will be towards the end of January next year. Again, there’s a potential pitfall... because the pin ends are cemented into my femur, when they remove them (under general anaesthetic, fortunately), there’s a risk they will fracture the femur at the pin site. If this happens, it’s six weeks in a full leg cast...
Anyway, that’s where I’m at at the moment. My girlfriend continues to be an absolute superstar and The Idiot is still good company. I’m still working from home and getting paid again, so there’s less worries financially too. Have a picture of a The Idiot as well.
It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thread, but that’s because not much has been happening - nothing at all really that shouldn’t have, at any rate. I can live with that.
That there is my leg. The two neatly drawn draughstman standard red lines are how much my leg has “grown” since the first operation (the first for this season, anyway) back in April. I’ve still got about a centimetre and a half to go.
I’ve been continuing with weekly physio, which has mainly been concentrating on bending my knee. I’m up to a bit over 80° of bend now. I also saw the consultant last Friday and I’m booked in for episode six of surgery at the beginning of November, once my bone is grown to length. I had a “standing up” X-Ray of both legs and my pelvis as well, and the consultant was able to measure and compare the lengths of both femurs, to a hundredth of a millimetre. The technology is pretty cool, all the X-Rays are digital, so by the time I get back from the X-Ray department, the images are already up on screen in the limb reconstruction unit. They use a particular notch at each end of the femur as reference points, so they can accurately measure the length of each bone by placing the cursor on these notches.
The next surgery will be to remove the “temporary” cement from the gap in the “knee end” of my femur and “shave” both ends of the femur back to healthy bone/blood vessels, which should be a millimetre or two at most. Once they are happy with the bone ends, they make a “quick incision” and “whip out a chunk of pelvis” from my hip (those are the consultant’s words, not mine). This chunk of bone is then slotted between the freshened up femur ends, they chuck a splodge of bone cement on each “join” and the external fixator is then adjusted to squash the bits together. I’m told this can make my pelvis “a bit sore for a few days”.
Then I just have to wait six weeks or so for the “knee end” of my femur to fuse together (fingers crossed). I could do this with internal metalwork, which means the external fixator, blocks, pins and rails would all come off at the same time, but after all the previous faff and infections, I’m going to stick with the slightly more awkward but much less infectiony external fixator. Once the bone is fused at the knee end, the rail, blocks and clamps are all removed, but the pins will stay in place for another six weeks or so, just in case the bone isn’t strong enough and they need to “rebrace” my leg with the fixator again.
While all this is going on, the new bone that has been growing at the top of my femur will also be able to mature and harden up, so it becomes viable bone. For every day of bone growth, you need another two days or so for the bone to fully form, so I’ve got a way to go with that still.
My current issue (you surely didn’t think it was all plain sailing, did you?!) is that my right leg is now longer than it’s been for a while. One of the consequences of this is that my sciatic nerve is a bit “stretched”. If you could pluck it, you could probably play a tune on it. This has irritated and inflamed the nerve, so I’ve had pain from my right shoulder blade, down my lower back, through my right arse cheek and down the back of my right thigh. The only way to reduce the pain is to lie as flat as possible. That doesn’t help with knee mobility or leg function, so it’s not really an option.
I’ve got some more exercises from the physio to “gently lengthen and mobilise” the sciatic nerve. Physio yesterday consisted of the physio hurting me. A lot. I never realised how much one finger tip could really, REALLY, sting. I had work done on my upper back (ouch), lower back (ouch), arse cheek (ouch) and thigh (double OUCH). It is not fun. It is almost impossible to find a comfortable position to lie or sit in.
I also now have more drugs - gapapentin and amytryptiline - both of which are to help with the neural pain. I’m assured this is only temporary, but by a god, it really f
king stings! I’m waiting for the drugs to start working.I did have another slight breakthrough/high point a couple of weeks back, when I managed to lie on my left hand side for a bit. I can also just about get onto my front, but with the nerve thing, that stretches my leg the “wrong” way and it’s really not comfortable!
If everything goes to plan with the “docking” of the femur and removal of the rail, after a further six weeks, the pins will come out. Best case scenario is this will be towards the end of January next year. Again, there’s a potential pitfall... because the pin ends are cemented into my femur, when they remove them (under general anaesthetic, fortunately), there’s a risk they will fracture the femur at the pin site. If this happens, it’s six weeks in a full leg cast...
Anyway, that’s where I’m at at the moment. My girlfriend continues to be an absolute superstar and The Idiot is still good company. I’m still working from home and getting paid again, so there’s less worries financially too. Have a picture of a The Idiot as well.
Been lurking on this post since the beginning (I may have posted once), and you continue to amaze me with your optimism and positive mindset Dibble, a true inspiration.
As I sit here off work feeling sorry for myself with a sore case of the arse grapes (be careful with those rolling pin sts!) I noticed that I hadn't checked this thread in a couple of months – just caught up and its done a good job of bringing me right back down to earth. Sorry to hear about the recent complications, I guess they're inevitable, and glad to hear overall your recovery is on an upward trend.
All the best mate, I'll continue to lurk until I see you on your feet/bike again, you can be assured of that.
As I sit here off work feeling sorry for myself with a sore case of the arse grapes (be careful with those rolling pin s
ts!) I noticed that I hadn't checked this thread in a couple of months – just caught up and its done a good job of bringing me right back down to earth. Sorry to hear about the recent complications, I guess they're inevitable, and glad to hear overall your recovery is on an upward trend.All the best mate, I'll continue to lurk until I see you on your feet/bike again, you can be assured of that.
Cheers for the replies chaps
I’ve just had a quick skim through the “2018 biking goals thread”. I think min for 2019 will be:
I’ve just had a quick skim through the “2018 biking goals thread”. I think min for 2019 will be:
- Get the leg finally sorted and get to a position where I can walk properly, unaided, maybe even up to a light jog for 100 metres or so.
- Try and keep the weight off that I’ve lost. If not all of it, most of it.
- Try and convince my Lovely Girlfriend to let me treat us to a decent trip away as a bit of a thank you to her.
- Get another bike (I’m thinking of another 1200 Triumph Explorer)
- Try to ride more defensively
- A Scandi trip, but this will probably be August/September, rather than my usual June/July.
Dibble said:
* Try to ride more defensively
Once you're driving again (I presume this will come before you're back on a bike), give me a shout, we'll have a few hours out & I'll give you a refresher on observations & planning.Not a sarky offer by the way - I think a lot of the bike observation stuff can be taught in the more civilized environment of a car. Be good to have a catch up too.
Reg Local said:
Dibble said:
* Try to ride more defensively
Once you're driving again (I presume this will come before you're back on a bike), give me a shout, we'll have a few hours out & I'll give you a refresher on observations & planning.Not a sarky offer by the way - I think a lot of the bike observation stuff can be taught in the more civilized environment of a car. Be good to have a catch up too.
How are you finding the bike?
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