Friday, March 11, 2011

Waiting Game

For those that might not be fully in the loop... I had a tibia rod put in my shin in the summer of 2005 right before I went to NC State for a really bad stress fracture. They went through my knee to put the rod in and it took me 3-4 months to really get back to normal.

Insert cute picture of Aidan when I have nothing else to show....
It has been giving me some trouble lately so in the past month I have had an x-ray and an MRI - both of which were unable to be read because the titanium in the rod messes with the picture. I have had a bone scan and galium bone scans (one tests for stress fractures and one tests for bone infections) and I have had blood work done. Hello out-of-pocket maximum, here I come!
Good news and bad news as of today:
Dr. Wilkes (best orthopedist EVER- my sister and I have frequented his office) is going to "look over everything more thoroughly this weekend" but as of right now, he thinks that there is no bone infection- but there is an unhealed stress fracture in the tibia. I was already prepared for him to tell me that the rod has to come out (he has been talking to me about that for a while- which means essentially knee surgery- not fun). He says that the rod cannot come out because my bone is not strong enough right now to go without the rod.
Instead, he tells me that they are going to (most likely) go in and shave down the bone where there is an unhealed fracture and do a bone graft that will replace the missing bone. So no surgery for the rod- but now have a different surgery.
At least this surgery will not go through the knee and I will not have to worry about rehabbing the knee. But, I will have new scars and new problems.
He said that he will call me on Monday and let me know for sure and we can schedule the surgery. Fabulous! Can't wait! Oh well, maybe I will be able to walk/run/jump without pain afterwards... we shall see.

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