tib fib fracture

[ginarauen]

Hello, My name is Gina. I am 29. On september 26 of 2008 I fractured my tib fib it was a compound fracture. That was 10 months ago. I have had 3 surgeries, the first I had a rod and screws put in, second the screws were romoved. Then we had alot of trouble getting it to heal, so 6 months later my dr decided to rebreak it remove the rod replace it with a screw put bone marrow in. This was in march, everything seemed to be going well, infact he told me it was healed last month. A few days ago I was experiancing extrem pain and swelling that was not going away, I went to the ER they admitted me for possible osteomyelitis, they released me the next day. I am wondering if maybe I could have cracked the plate that was put in or maybe my body is rejecting the hardware. We are still waiting on the blood cultures, but I am so frustrated this has taken a year away from my life and I am ready to live again! I will be going back to my orthopedic surgeon monday, but I just thought I would give this a shot.
                                                 Thanks,Gina

[Dr Vinod]

In children the healing of bones takes without complications. At your age the healing takes time. Your problem is that when the screws were removed the procedure did not take place properly due to the problem with the site of fracture or the procedure.
So you had the long wait and suffering and you had a second procedure.
Remember infection is the most common complication of fracture healing and also foreign body implants cause more problems. Hygienically you should maintain the cleanliness level very high so that you do not have the problems of osteomyelitis.
You should keep yourself motivated and best of luck for the future procedures!
Discuss with the Surgeon everything and he has to be very careful this time. Take care!