pawesomeopossum
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This is the most recent CT scan. All the hardware is loose. Surgery next Thursday in hopes of making it all one piece again. Non-union fractures are ones that never heal together. Three surgeries so far.
The car, notice the blood on the seat where his femur broke through.
The other guy. Totaled this as well.
ILeftMyUsernameInMyOtherPants
Holy moly! That used to be a car? Very best of luck with the surgery! Lucky to be alive, I'd say.
Crashdlanding
Ow.
ObliqueRay
Thanks, I needed to know one more horrible thing that can happen to me one day.
MehtefaS
How do you fix stuff like that? O.o that can't be comfy
JackArnone
I'm not a doctor but I don't think that is suppose to do that.
petresun
Best wishes friend. That looks like a mighty pain in the ass. Hope all goes well.
CantPeelDemPotatos
Jesus fuck lucky that’s all that happened from the looks of the car
pawesomeopossum
Well, lots of broken bones. It's been a process to get to here.
CantPeelDemPotatos
Sorry to hear that, I have only minor issues right with my body right now. Couldn’t imagine the suffering you’ve gone through. Good luck bro
SoberAndBored
Non-union is a massive understatement in this case. How much use of the arm does he have?
pawesomeopossum
Sorry, you asked use. Right now he can't lift his arm at all really. Before the hardware failed it was painful but about 60%.
pawesomeopossum
It's about 1/2" shorter right now. The doc plans on a spacer and some donor bone to get it to almost normal.
ValhallaIAmComing
How tf is that dude still alive
pawesomeopossum
Too hard-headed to die.
TripUpStairs
Did you go through workers comp? This is why I encouraged my patients not to take the higher settlement amount insurance offer, instead take
nicelyvillainous
Not a workplace injury, he said non union in terms of the bone not uniting for healing. Medical not workplace term. Covered by car ins tho
TripUpStairs
Oh jeez. I feel a little dumb. Thank you though :)
TripUpStairs
>the lower offer, with continues medical coverage. Poor you, I'm so sorry. Looks painful.
thevortexmaster
Depends if they're American or not I'd say
TripUpStairs
Sorry for the typos
Scorch052
A miracle he walked away at all, honestly.
Bruce22
GOTTTTTDAMN BRO glad you’re alive
HeirElfSquire
Bruh. I have an impact gun and screws. Bring beer.
onecowboytoo
You are going to need some flex seal too.
pawesomeopossum
Add in some duct tape and we're good.
froggyfixit
What do you think the surgeon used to put those plates in there? Only half joking.
HeirElfSquire
Not red loctite
EveryBodyLovesMe
Terrible plan. I’m going to suggest something stronger, like vodka, or cocaine.
HeirElfSquire
Maybe molly, I'm not good at drugs, we need downers for sleepy guy. Also found some deck screws
SithElephant
But it's his arm.
UserguyMcMister
Wood screws woodwork
Jijinumerounodriver2
All decks on arm, gotcha.
EveryBodyLovesMe
Unless the beer was for you, you shouldn’t be doing hard drinking if you are in charge of the drill…
HeirElfSquire
I'm doing to need at least one
EveryBodyLovesMe
I’m the worst when it comes to drugs, I just made something up. But you right, downers are better
Atharaenea
Break out the benzos. They don't kill pain, but they'll make you not care about the pain
weidermeijer
They should have used Loctite the first time.
HeirElfSquire
The red stuff
DeltaOne246
This here is a person who uses locktite
HeirElfSquire
My professional opinion is the screws came loose from vibration (pushes glasses back up face)
420supercoolusername69
Holy shit. Front page needs to see this.
LeeeB
Whyyyyyyy
CreepyPhlox
I was enjoying my morning coffee…
ChristopherHallett
Holy shit they have done a BAD job of trying to put your arm back together...
pawesomeopossum
The bone has just never healed.
StabbyMcMurder
Oh man
lbdeuce
good luck brother. youre a tough dude
itsmejetzt
Op does it hurt? I hope you heal
BadAssAttitude
What a shitty osteosynthesis. Should have taken an intramedullary ‚Nail‘ fixed proximal and distal. Would sue the surgeon who did that shit.
pawesomeopossum
We tried, all original surgeries have had to be repeated at least once. The different lawyers we contacted basically said he was too intact.
umbrellacorped3
Your doctor sucks. They fucked up that one so bad.
Thatweirdpersonoverthere
How much was the medical bills? Did the company help pay for it?
thevortexmaster
Depends if they're American or not I'd say
MAN9000
Actually in America car is insurance is required so the medical bills associated with the accident should be covered.
pawesomeopossum
I don't even know. Ins paid a lot, but there was time in a nursing home, 10 surgeries, etc. At least $15k so far, another $5k+ this round.
pawesomeopossum
We're having to raise money to afford all the associated costs. The hospital is about 200 miles away and we'll be there just about weekly.
pawesomeopossum
He was the driver of the car, in the first pic of mangled wreckage.
petresun
That's a no. Damn crazy.
ladyjigglebutt
My actual face at the x-ray:
pawesomeopossum
I've lived with him for 8 years. I had the same reaction, and I know how bad it is.
Magus25
I'm an x-ray tech and seeing that all I could think is why isn't that a single rod style fixator? A single plate can't hold that together.
EccentricNut
I thought "non-union" was about employment/healthcare, but this is about a bone not healing properly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonunion
skylark28
Exactly what *I* thought.
pawesomeopossum
I am adding this here. The total out of pocket for this is gonna be unreal: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/john-lewis-medical-expenses
pawesomeopossum
Yes, thank you. Non-union fracture. Three surgeries so far, another next Thursday w/ a top ortho trauma surgeon who specializes in non-union
experiencemike
I barely avoided a nonunionof my Scaphoid after I fractured it and didn't notice for 5 months. It's a miracle the bone graft worked
experiencemike
Also it's very easy to assume a broken wrist is a sprain for a couple months lol
MadamPuddifoot
@op who is the surgeon? I work in ortho and always live to hear about great ortho surgeons! Good luck to you!
pawesomeopossum
Dr. Johnson at UAB
MadamPuddifoot
Nice! I've had an athlete get sx from him, he does great work.
pawesomeopossum
That's great to hear. He has some specialization in non-union fractures so we're hopeful. He seems pretty confident.
standingalone
So you're going to the Theatre, break a leg.?
Morgan96
Keep us posted and good luck!!
thevortexmaster
I was quite confuses
stickmanprime
Thanks. I hate it.
FreshNews247
Yeah so did I. I thought because Op wasn't in a union they didn't help them.
Wolfmor
That's what I thought
WenTheEternallySurprised
Just to clarify, since the implication is this is you. Is this you, or just some found photos?
zvae
i'd say the implication is that it's NOT @OP - they (OP) explicitly say "look at the blood where HIS femur broke through", not "my femur".
pawesomeopossum
It's my partner.
zvae
thanks for confirming! happy to upvote personal anecdotes. hope it works out for him!
WenTheEternallySurprised
Thanks, I see that now. SO many of such posts lately are snagged from google images for points, not real stories from the OP.
zvae
yeah, definitely. hate to upvote those. OP replied above and said it's their partner though so it seems like a legit story!
pawesomeopossum
This is my partner. He was in an accident in December 2012 that broke his left femur and radius/ulna and his right humerus and calcaneous.
WenTheEternallySurprised
Thanks. Insane injuries, thank goodness that modern cars can make something like that survivable.
Atharaenea
What car was he driving? It's incredible that he survived at all
pawesomeopossum
Some Oldsmobile he bought for little of nothing. I don't remember the model right off.
Rebullo
Gay partner?
ADDGirl
Does it matter?
Rebullo
Does anything else?
Flowerlady0
Do you want to watch?
lxk199
As an orthopedic trauma rep, it looks like your doc didn’t use appropriately balanced fixation with the plate and it led to implant failure
hiyo365
Any input on if the patient would be liable for the full cost of the 1st round of everything and the 2nd when it's an apparent failure?
lxk199
It’s always a race between bone healing and implant failure. Your implant lost the race.
amismenow
Oh please elucidate, I feel like you have more info you could share.
lxk199
In addition, the plate should have gone down to the end of the distal humerus in order to have enough fixation on both sides of the fracture
lxk199
The hardware is only there to let the bone heal. If the bone doesn’t heal, the hardware is placed under too much stress and can fatigue.
amismenow
Is that why the bones pieces separated? I’ve seen some nasty breaks and I don’t understand why a doctor would just give up and not repair it
lxk199
Clearly the doc tried to fix it, but something didn’t work, possibly@due to some biological issue like infection, smoking etc.
pawesomeopossum
The first plate failed within about six weeks, the second at about 6 months, the implant and all was try 3, and it finally failed.
Stoptheidiocy
How’s your bench press coming along?
Greymizz
That is a bad Tinea versicolor breakout.
pawesomeopossum
That's an ongoing battle.
maelennfromterokkareu
Dandruff shampoos may be the easiest to find at hand treatment. But yeah, ask a doctor for antifungals.
hipdysplasia
Diflucan 300mg q d x 3 d
ObviousPidgeon
Thank you. I have this and previously had no idea what it was.
iguanodont
I'm sure the doctors did their best but damn
pawesomeopossum
There is another surgery next Thursday. One of the top orthopedic trauma specialists in the country. There's hope it might stick.
iguanodont
Good luck. May the collagen be with you.
Watchtheadventuresofpeteandpete
Yeah, go with someone new who specializes in trauma. I hope you don’t smoke and if you have diabetes it’s well controlled.
pawesomeopossum
Not smoking was a condition of surgery, and he's been nicotine free for over a month now. He is also diabetic, but it's well controlled.
Mdgmm9
That’s one of the worst X-rays I’ve ever seen and I’ve done ortho for 20+ yrs. You have a good doc now? Major suckage.
pawesomeopossum
An orthopedic trauma doc who specializes in non-unions at a teaching hospital. The doc is hopeful.
pawesomeopossum
Next Thurs he's getting an antibiotic spacer, removing old hardware, plating and culturing it. We'll know next plans after that.
lxk199
Sounds like there’s some suspected biological reason for the nonunion. Are you a smoker? Diabetic? Some other clotting issue?
pawesomeopossum
He was a smoker, quitting was necessary for doc to schedule another surgery
pawesomeopossum
He was not diabetic when the previous surgeries were done
Mdgmm9
So they suspect or know he has infection? Osteomyelitis is no joke, compliance to whatever the doc says. Sending good mojo.
pawesomeopossum
Suspect, not MRSA (which he had in his femur) but I can't recall. Said it was common in the upper arm?
Mdgmm9
Osteo is general infection in bone, can be caused by strep, staph, entero,etc. cultures will tell which. The spacer and oral meds will help
pawesomeopossum
He already had to do a PICC line and rifampin with the MRSA infection in his femur. Hopefully that isn't needed again.