Femur Questions
(2 discussions)
My 13 year old son had emergency surgery for a femur fracture a year ago.
He had plates and screws attached to his femur and lengthy PT.
He still has a limp and has pain in his leg and hip.
His knee is still slightly turned in.
We have an appointment in 2 weeks with his ortho surgeon and we are to let him know at that time if we want the hardware removed.
We don’t know what to do!!! When I asked the doctor he said it is our decision and not enough research has been compiled yet to determine if there is harm to leave the hardware. Is the limping and the pain normal and where can I find more information on hardware removal.
The doctor also said that he has developed bursitis in his hip and can take ibuprofin for this.
2 comments
mike
I had the same procedure 3 years ago and still have the hardware in today.However, the size of the rod going up the femur causes my muscle rub across it feeling like someone frogged me anytime I run or even walk for about a mile. Doctor said anytime I have to have any surgery,even dental work, I would have to be pre-medicated (antibiotics)I am not a doctor but would suggest removal.
Tara Connelly
I suggest you find the best possible medical center in your area and demand them to do tests. My titanium rod problem happened to be caused by a staff infection that didn’t allow my femur to bond properly. started off with slight pain and a bit of a limp. 2 months after the femur fracture, my Dr took xrays and released me full time back to work, no restrictions. I started to limp and have pain, it got worse and worse. He sent me for a bone scan to see if the rod needed to be replaced or if it was strong enough. The result was I needed a new rod. Having no insurance he required me to put half down ($40,000approx). I didn’t have the money and pleaded with the receptionsist. I worked over a year as a sensored dealer standing 10 hrs a day until I finally was in so much pain I could no longer walk alone-I took loa. I was waiting for dissability and finally I got delerious -begged to go to the hospital. They were swouldn’t listen to us= their minds were made up. My mom begged them to take the rod out and run tests on me, by this time it had broken down at the fracture site -it was over 2 inches shorter and ….the rod has nowhere to go and drilled through my hip 2 inches. They sent me home and told me that they had real life threatening emergencies to deal with. Went to ortho doc next day and he promised to send my xrays to harborview that day. I waited and waited, 1-2 weeks later I developed abscesses on my knee and was delerious- talking to the tv. It was my birthday-my moms trying to bring me cake and I begged her to take me to harborview. They almost refused me because they were too busy and were gonna send us back to the place that rejected us in the beginning. My parents were distraught and a nice Dr walked over quietly and said ” you know they can’t force you to leave”. Apparently, when the Dr. installed the orig rod, there was staff on it. I had to suffer with it for two years and was 3 days from having one leg amputated and a week from death. Thank god, I’ve had 4 surgery’s and need one more,to get my other two inches back. I had to spend like a month in harborview with 3 surgeries in 2 weeks (they had never seen that much puss in this situation). They installed antibiotic beeds but the pressure I used while they were in there bowed my leg even more. I had to go in for another one so they could shave off bone and make it look even. Only one more surgery – Thank God for Harborview’s Medical Center Ortho Red team-they saved me.