Ski Injury - A Broken Leg in France - Intramedullary Rod

As a current broken leg sufferer, I seem to have become accustomed to viewing other people's x-rays on the internet. Surprisingly when it happened, I couldn't bring myself to even look at my own until my Graham Norton look-a-like anesthetist held it up in front of my very eyes right before going into theatre. By that point I was being knocked out so couldn't comment. Anyway I thought I would include the X-rays here so **Warning** Graphic content below if you are not a fan. To set the scene, my holiday went from this.......                                             to this.............

There's nothing quite as adventurous as a skiing accident. After I'd fallen, my journey began with a Skidoo ride, then a helicopter ride off the mountain (only caught a snippet of the views as I was laid down) and an ambulance to the medical centre. What a way to travel- if only I could have enjoyed it! Fortunately I had taken out an extra insurance on my ski pass (Snow Risk in my resort but commonly referred to as Carre Neige) which covers your rescue on the slope without question.
                                                                

The first X-ray was taken with my ski boot on so you have to ignore the metal clips of my boot. You can see the break of the tibia into multiple pieces and a break of the fibular at the top. I was soon knocked out with Ketamine (VERY weird experience- I thought I was in the film Inception). This meant they could take my ski boot off and I didn't have to endure the pain of it. It was such a relief to look down and see my leg out of the boot and in one piece- I could now lay back and relax a bit better. 

It was then an hour drive to the nearest French hospital. Fortunately I was carrying my EHIC card so this eased the process of being admitted to the hospital. Funnily enough, the night before my friends had queried what an EHIC was and all I can now say is, 'Well at least the accident happened to me then!' Thankfully my dad had always told me to carry it with my passport. I spent the early hours of the morning on the corridor of A&E, which I have to say was no different to a UK Hospital aside from the incessant rubbing sound of salopettes as the ski injuries came through on a constant conveyor belt. I was then given a room on a ward at 2am. It was then a waiting game to be taken to theatre for an operation (at this point I still hadn't looked at my X-rays but I had a vivid image of what I had done). 

In the morning I was finally called in for surgery (after having not drank water for 24 hours). I'm not sure how long the operation lasted but I was gone for about 4 hours as they wouldn't let me out of recovery until the pain had subsided somewhat. And here's the outcome....(hoorah). I could now lay without gritting my teeth every time I felt bone rattling and that was such a relief!

There is now an Intramedullary Rod inserted into my Tibia bone, fixed with two screws at the top and one at the bottom. The Fibular has been left to its own devices and am told it will just fuse together. I have been told the rod will stay in for good (unless it causes a reason for removal). **CUE David Guetta - Titanium** ......Nothing says strong leg more than having a splash of titanium in it! I'm 24 years old so not sure what the preference is with the IM nail- I've been told it will stay in but a lot of people comment about having it removed, particularly if you're younger. Any comments on this would be appreciated (although those considerations are a way off and really I need to focus on the now). 

I stayed in the French Hospital for another three nights and was very well looked after (despite the language barrier.....only kicking myself for not remembering key verbs from GCSE French!).  It is true, you never know when you'll need it..... 

So that's the important bit and I hope the X-rays give you an idea for comparison of other injuries.

If you have any questions on my experience then do please comment!

LTL 

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