Debbie’s Leg

In January 2019, Debbie fell on black ice in front of our house.  I was out of town but called an ambulance for her when Alex called me (after having him wrap her up in blankets and my heavy coat).  The leg and ankle was broken and a series of surgeries were undertaken. 

A few weeks after her last surgery, Debbie’s anemia and kidney issues caused Hyponatremia; she was in ICU for over two-weeks and nearly died. 

The leg healed slowly, ultimately through usage, compression wrapping and a bone stimulator, she began to navigate decently, but it took 18-months.

In October of 2021, Debbie fell and broke the same leg again, in the bathroom, late one night/early one morning.  This time, the bone pierced the skin.  The surgeon wanted to pull out some of the hardware but a screw would not come out, disallowing him to insert a rod.  After the surgery, the surgeon told me that if they had to do another surgery on that leg, they would have to cut her leg off.

After the surgery, she had months of intense seizures, but the leg began to heal to the point that she was biking on a stationary bike, but then she had a setback.  We didn’t understand what caused the setback, but apparently, the loose screw allowed one of the plates to come up, which is why you see this deformed abnormal shape in her left shin area; the shape is a lot worse when she stands on the leg.  The leg never healed appropriately and she needs to have a third, risky surgery.  We are in the process of trying to take care of her anemia and kidney issues, get in front of the seizures that always come after a surgery (typically when she comes off of pain killers, post surgery), and to find a surgeon we have more confidence in. 

Hopefully we can have the surgery with minimal side effects, she can get into physical therapy and the healing will be swift and fast - that’s never been our experience when it comes to Debbie’s health, but the way we look at it, she’s due!