Doctor is hopeful

Went to the doctor today and got xrays. The good news is that it appears that the new hardware is working. There doesn't appear to be any movement, so the bone can finally start healing. We were pretty surprised last week that we had a centimeter of movement where the nail was coming out of the head and consequently extending out of the rod in my femur. The big question was, "is it going to continue moving?" and the answer is "no." That's good because as it moved the head closer to the rest of the femur it meant the leg was shortening up. The doc said "it wants to heal." I'm not sure what that means medically, but he seemed happy. My original doctor took a look at the xrays and agreed that it was looking good.

I was told I need a few more weeks of 'paranoid careful.' He said the only thing that can go wrong at this point is if I take a big fall or something and pop the hardware out. A few more weeks after that and we can start my rehabilitation.

Something interesting that my wife told me that I forgot was that he might have to go back in and replace the nail because it is sticking out so much that it might interfere with my muscles around the bone (and I suppose could cause a wound if I fell on it).

My long term concern is that of AVN which can be an issue because the blood supply has been interrupted to the head (breaking it off will do that). I asked the doctor about an alternative surgery I heard about that uses a sliver of fibula and a vein graft to insert into the head where it will grow and get blood to flow. The doctor said he knew of it but that I was getting way ahead of where we were. I'm concerned in that by the time we get there it may be too late, so I'm hoping at the time of when he considers taking out the nail that we replace it with this bone sliver instead.

A couple of other positives- I don't go back to the doctor for *two* weeks. So, I must be well enough that we don't need to keep a constant look at it (which I think would have helped determine the hardware failed early in my first operation). And no new meds- I've got enough to last until the next appointment- and maybe longer since I've cut back on opiates during the day.