Bionic Leg

I've received my disk of x-rays from the surgeon. So, I'm putting up some pictures to give you all an idea of the bionic leg. This would be my right leg. Who knows what happened; whether I was madly pushing my passenger side brake pad, or exploded in the air bag, and/or most definitely trapped by the entire contents of the engine block settling in the passenger side leg space.

Eventually, I'll get the x-ray images from the second hospital, the before images if you will, with the hip to ankle external fixator. Or, you can peek at the picture of my knee on the trauma table a few hours post injury.

As a side note, one of these days, I really want to take a trip to a trauma center and see one of these super duper imaging tables. I have absolutely no recollection of the whole experience. After surgery, while I was doing something about having a PICC line installed, I recall somebody telling me about this wonderful machine that scanned and imaged my whole body. Fortunately, excluding all the damage to my extremities; this rest of my body is in pretty good shape.

My right leg is the worst injury; in the beginning we didn't know if I would keep the leg, or if I would ever walk. I'm hobbling around now with a walker, and I'm gradually improving in strength in PT; however, it's unknown how much function I'll regain.

The picture above left is a full body standing x-ray. This was taken on my first surgeon visit following cast/brace removal. I was a few steps ambulatory, and could step up on a 3" step, but not a full height step. It took me several weeks to be able to "stand", hanging on for dear life to the walker, without putting too much weight on my hands (which had just themselves been removed from casts). Finally, it dawned on me that I wasn't balanced; and if I wore a sandal with a heel on my right foot I could balance. The standing body x-ray is used to measure the amount of leg length discrepancy. The x-ray technician puts blocks under my right (short) leg until my hips are even; then snaps the x-ray. The surgeon uses this x-ray to determine the prescription for the shoe lift. I have a 3 cm discrepancy.

At any rate, the standing x-ray also has the benefit of illustrating my bionic leg! I have a IM nail in the femur, as well as a plate from the knee upwards about 1/2 of the femur, and another IM nail in the tibia. A screw in my ankle, a screw in my hip, and a whole bunch of screws in my knee.

Above, is the x-ray of the knee, and below is the x-ray of the tib/fib.

These x-rays were taken 6 weeks after the second surgery. The third surgery removed the femur plate and many of the screws.

PS - click the pictures to view a larger image!