Round & round we go...!

So, today was meant to be the fitting of my orthotics.
So i thought.
It was another long day, but at the end of it, i hope, a faint light at the end of this tunnel?
It all started with collecting my file and heading up to see the orthopaedic section.
Wednesdays are crazy days at the hospital! About double the number of people i have been used to on a thursday.
Eventually my name was called and i headed in to see the guys for my fitment.
The first thing the doc said to me was to ask me why i was wearing a knee brace?
I replied that it was for lateral support for a torn LCL ligament. He asked when the accident was, and i told him, 14 months ago. He shook his head. Then he asked me how long i have been walking for. I told him i haven't been able to put any weight on my left foot for the entire 14 months because of the pain.
He was astonished.
He said that this was impossible. I should have been walking after 6 months!
He asked me to get up on the bed and take off the knee brace.
He preceded to push and pull and twist my knee in all directions, causing a helluva lot of pain! I am pretty sure the other side of town could hear my screams!
He tested the knee for lateral laxity in the MCL and LCL ligaments, and told me that they were normal. The LCL was a little lax, but this was still acceptable.
So, what this basically meant was that the LCL ligament was ok. It had repaired itself over time. The problem lay elsewhere...!
He told me that often he would get people come see him complaining of knee pain, and the result of the pain was the hip or somewhere else.
He said pain transferal to the knee was a common thing.
He asked his colleague to come in and make sure of his findings, and he went thru the same procedure of twisting and pushing and pulling!
More screams of pain!
He was amazed at how much pain i was in from even the slightest touch.
He immediately booked me in downstairs for a full set of xrays from head to toe.
So off i hobbled down to radiology.
2h later i was sat back with the othro guy and we were looking over the xrays...
Neck - perfect.
Spine - pristine.
Hip - brilliant. Very happy with the fracture healing. Perfectly mended.
Femur - erm....not great...possibly a non-union...!
Knee - looks fine.
Tibia - wow...what an ugly job! Possibly a bone infection as well!!
Lovely news!!
So, what it all boils down to is that my femur may not be grown back together where it was repaired, which could be resulting in pain when the leg is limp and the muscles arent supporting it, which seems about right.
Also, the tibia bone didn't look very healthy. It wasn't nice and white and solid. It was looking a bit like a piece of cheese! A bit mottled! Not good at all!
And the repair job on the tibia apparently was not good either!
I was sent for blood tests to ascertain whether or not i had an infection to the tibia, and was told that he wants to operate on the tibia again. He would need to open up the knee again and move it over, bang the nail out, clean out the infection (if there is one), ream the inside of the tibia, and then insert a new nail down the shaft of the bone.
The femur would need to be done in the same way if a non-union was found! They would need to cut my hip area open again, bang the old nail out, ream the bone, and insert a new nail.
I am booked in for wednesday next week for a bone isotope scan, where they inject a mildly radioactive substance into you intravenously, and a couple of hours later, once the substance has distributed itself throughout your body, you are gamma scanned for abnormalities.
Basically though, it will tell if there are any problems with the bones, including non-union and infection.
Based on this scan and on my blood test, i may have to undergo surgery to both the femur and tibia fractures all over again!
I will know for sure on wednesday what the prognosis is, so will update again then...
I cant believe that the specialist i have been seeing until now could have missed this?!
Thank God the guy i saw today knows what the hell he is doing!
So, after 10 months of wondering why i am not walking yet, i now may find myself under the knife again for a complete do over of the original op 14 months ago!
Not exactly the news anyone would want to hear, but i consider it a step in the right direction (excuse the pun) nonetheless!
Here's hoping for positive news next week...