Purpose

Hello! Welcome to my corner of the internet. Actually, it's not so much a corner as that tiny crevice tucked away under the stairs that always seems to get overlooked when it comes to dusting... but that's beside the point. 

The original purpose of this blog was to record my life with one very stubborn chronic bone infection. I had a compound fracture of my right leg in February 2006. Despite a delayed union and obvious signs of infection, I was misdiagnosed until 2011 when an abscess formed on my shin and I was finally referred to an infectious disease specialist. In spite of surgery, 16 months of antibiotics, and getting the all clear at the start of 2013, I relapsed in January 2015. Although this is when the relapse was diagnosed, we suspect the infection had actually returned as early as summer 2014. I am now dealing with the aftermath of almost a decade’s worth of infection. 

After eight months of antibiotics and surgery to remove the infected section of my right tibia, my doctors are cautiously optimistic that I am infection free. Over the following months I will set out on a new adventure – a process called distraction osteogenesis via a monolateral external fixator that will hopefully regrow the missing 2.5 inches of my tibia and allow me to walk unaided. I look forward to the day I can ditch my crutches and carry a cup of tea again! 

By blogging about my experiences, I not only want to create a record of what I have gone through for myself but also to help other people going through similar situations. Hopefully this blog will be a source of advice and information. Please join me as I chronicle my experiences in the strange medical world that is orthopedics and swim in a sea of new terminology like distraction osteogenesis, bone transport, and lengthening progressive over nail.