Xrays & operations...

Early up this morning, and the now all too familiar procedure of catching the hospital bus through to George and joining the queue system.
To make things a little more interesting this morning, when i eventually got to the front of the queue, they told me that i did not have an appointment, and had to first go to the xray dept and get my name on the list, then to go upstairs to the orthopaedic dept and get my name on the list there, and then to return to collect my file in order to go and get my xrays taken!
Muttering under my breath i headed off to complete the process.
45 minutes later, and with my name now on all the required lists, i was sitting in the xray queue waiting for my turn.
At 2pm i finally made it to the front of the queue, and went inside to get my xrays taken.
Then upstairs to wait for another 2 hours to get to to see the specialist.
He looked over the new xrays, which showed multiple angles of the head of my femur, the ball part that slots into the hip.
His thinking was that maybe the screws that went at a 45 degree angle through the nail in my femur, and into my hip, were protruding out of the side of the ball part, and scraping on something, causing the pain.
Unfortunately the xrays were inconclusive. They only showed that the 1 screw was broken off, and the 2nd screw that they used was screwed very close to the edge of the joint.
He suggested removal of the hardware in my upper leg to see whether this would fix the problems i was having.
He looked through his diary and made my appointment for the next available date, 11th February next year!
6 days before my birthday! Oh well, maybe a nice birthday present awaits me? One can only hope hey?!
He notified me of the complications that may arise from the op, namely infection, or the re-fracture of the femur, or that they cannot remove the screws!
I was willing to put up with the risks involved though, as we all seemed to think that the op is necessary to get me walking again.
He explained that after the op, even if everything went well, he would need me to still be on crutches for another 6 weeks in order to make sure the bone was strong enough to take my weight again.
I dont think that the op will fix me entirely though.
I know that there are a lot more problems with my leg and knee that will develop over time, and perhaps even in the near future, but if i can lose the crutches and get walking again without them, then this, for me, is a huge bonus!
I have done a lot of research on calcium supplements too, as he mentioned that the bone around my hip area looked very weak, as i have not been using my leg for weight bearing much over the last 2 years. He was afraid that the hip might fracture whilst removing the nail as the op is quite a forceful one.
I have some Calcium Carbonate/Glycine chewable tablets that i am taking, and research shows that vitamin D3 helps the body absorb the maximum amount of calcium for the bones, so i have bought some D3 as well.
1 tablet of vit D3 in the morning with 2 tabs of Calcium Carbonate and then another 2 tabs of Calcium with lunch.
I'll keep on with the quad exercises as well, and hopefully by Feb next year i'll be strong enough to walk once the crutches can get chucked away!
At the moment i am almost able to stand straight legged with all my weight on my left foot. I can put about 90% weight through it now.
I know that walking requires the knee to be a lot stronger than just being able to stand on the leg, but i'm sure that as the quad gets stronger, the knee will will get stronger too.
Thats my aim now anyway...to strengthen the quad muscle to the point where it supports the knee enough to limit the amount of damage that will be done to it when i am walking again.
So, thats the news up til now.
Back to the physio and supplements drawing board, and pray pray and pray some more that Feb next year i get some good news for my birthday!
I was really hoping to be walking by the end of this year, but that doesnt look like happening now.
At least i've got summer to look forward to.
Its almost here, and by all accounts its going to be a scorcher!
Much love to all my readers.
Peace