7mnths post op and they finally treat me for chronic osteomyelitis, anyone else suffering?

Hi. Chelsea.  What you are saying is very familiar to me.  In 2008 I had a hip replacement after 40+ years with a fusion due to femoral head necrosis.  The hip dislocated within days, and did it twice, requiring two replacements.  I then got an infection and had to undergo 2 rounds of antibiotics through PICC lines.  I eventually had the replacement removed and now have no hip and it has fused itself.  My leg is 4 inches shorter than the other one.  I totally understand about no one understanding the pain and trauma of this experience.  You need to keep going and stay strong.  Hopefully you will get better and have no residual changes.  This forum is a good place to get support and information.  Take care.  Lorraaine

Hi, Firstly im sorry to hear what your going through. Its just not fair, or right that this is getting misdiagnosed or simply put in the too hard basket as my specialist told me.

November 2015 i was admitted to hospital to have a straight foward Bunionectomy. Well it was anything but straight foward. The 5 months that followed i was fighting just to get the wound closed. I had a Staph infection in the wound and was admitted again to have 2 emergency clean outs. That followed with weekly visits to the specialist to check on the wound and re dress. When the wound finally closed it was the best day of my life. As time went on i knew my foot wasnt right. It was tender and swollen all the time. GP visit after GP visit i was told its just settling.

Finally 2 weeks ago i got the shattering news. I have Chronic Osteomylitis of the big toe. Im waiting to have my operation where they will remove a big chunk of the toe bone and leave it dangling 😟 when that heals then i can have another procedure to build a new toe. Im dreading going through the ordeal again of recovery. This disease doesn't seem to let go once detected. Its worse because i truely believe mine is caused by " Orthopedic Negligence "

I still have my bunion and two fractured toes. So im thanking Dr Mark Shillington from Qld Australia for my on going pain and suffering.

I hope you get some relief and answers real soon xo

Hi Chelsea my partner suffers with the same thing. In 2014 he fractured both heel bones playing football. Pins and plates were removed and my bloods showed that I had the infection. Long story short and plenty of suffering and different kinds of medication, I have seen numerous doctors my infection has proven to be more than chronic and spreading so now my only real option is to have my leg amputated. This is a big thing to think about for anyone but if I want some quality of life and go back to work I have chosen to have this done. You need to keep going and to stay strong. You will get through this with plenty of support from family and friends

It's been 4 years since I had my wreck and broke my tibia and fibula. 5 months ago before my 4th surgery because of non union fractures I went to new surgeron and found out I have 2 staph and 1 organism infections. He did surgery and took all medal out and bore inn on 2nd round of home IV'sand still not healing. Im scared I may loose my leg.

It's been 4 years since I had my wreck and broke my tibia and fibula in 5 places. 5 months ago before my 4th surgery because of non union fractures I went to new surgeron and found out I have 2 staph and 1 organism infections. He did surgery and took all medal out and now on 2nd round of home IV's through picc line and still not healing. Im scared I may loose my leg.

Hi Chelsea

I know so well what you are going they & have been they. I myself never ever heard of osteomyelitis until I was diagnosed in march 2013 with chronic osteomyelitis in my left tibia, it had become life threatening & I underwent below knee amputation of my left leg,

It literally turned my entire life upside down, once I had been diagnosed I did so much research into it via internet & my support network, the thing is Chelsea, you have a life to live and deserve to be treated with respect, care & support from you Nhs service provider, don't be fobbed off,

I keep a diary where upon I record everything, if I become poorly again, in any kind of pain near the effected area, writing down any changes in appearance,

Appointments I've had and waiting to attend etc,

I write down what drs? Say, & keep all hospital, drs letters in file.

It may sound over the top, but when your health and wellbeing are in question, look after number one , yourself.

So be yourself & don't let it control you Chelsea,

My case is ongoing, the signs, symptoms had been missed ? For over 14 years, when it should have been properly looked into where anomalies had shown up on MRI/ct scans, had this been the case then I would not have had to have my leg amputated, but I'm a happy go lucky guy, life has to go on, so I do the best I can and try not to dwell on it, there are far more worse off people than myself,

I haven't been on here much of late , but will try to get on more as and when,

So for now , be positive & smile.

Kind regards, billy.

I see that your post was 2 months ago, but I feel I need to respond. I had a similiar situation and I agree that it is something no one understands. I had a knee fracture last year and had to put off surgery due to travel commitments. (I am a long distance runner and had to lay off this and do walking and water jogging.) In July I have my fracture treated with an injection of calcium prosphate to seal up the cracks. All went well for 2-3 months and I started back to running. Then I started to wake up in pain and swelling. I got a shot of corticosteroid and ran a half marathon with little pain. Then I notice a small "blister" in the area near my incision. It kept getting bigger and bigger and I saw my family doctor who referred me back to my orthopedic doctor because it looked like a bone infection. However, my culture and blood work didn't indicate this so I went on for awhile without a diagnosis. My blister was now a big open wound. So ortho doctor did debridement and bone biopsy and 2 months of oral anitibiotics. I was now in the care of an infectious disease doctor. But after 3 1/2 weeks, my knee was not getting better so back to ortho doctor who scheduled another surgery to go in and scrape out the infection and embed antibiotic beads and get on 2 months of IVAB. Yes, this is so painful. I had the same kind of treatment as you. But after 3 weeks my body started to reject the antibiotic beads. My wound looked like a bullet hole. In addition, my skin developed a staph infection and this was not diagnosed by either doctor. I finally went to a dermatologist who treated me and this cleared right up as well as my open wound. So after 9 months I think I am finally overcoming this injury. However, the infectious disease doctor said this could be a remission and has a small chance of reocurence. Not happy to hear this.