When this happened:
While things seemed to heal well, there was a minor problem. My leg could twist itself to face behind me. There was 50 degrees of internal malrotation. Oops.
I still managed to ski. Get some shots like this:
But the hip and knee pain was really getting annoying.
So, in March 2011, after getting the run-around from my old orthopedic (note: not the one who did the surgery. that was emergency surgery performed at the nearest hospital), I saw Dr. Janes at Vail Summit Ortho. He agreed that this pain was no good and the long term consequences were even worse. I was too young to have those issues. But, it is not a common procedure anymore to do a midshaft femoral osteotomy. Most of the time, the femur comes in pre-broken for the surgeon. It is not common for the surgeons to break it themselves.
Dr. Janes and I decided for a fall surgery. This would allow me to have an optimal summer (about 100 miles hiked in the Gore Range and Rocky Mtn. National Park) and still make it back for most of the winter. He had to order special equipment for the surgery, then spent much of the summer practicing on fake bones.
September 6 rolled around and I went in for a 6:00am surgery.
While I didn't handle the anesthesia well, the break was clean and physical therapy wanted me at 50% weight bearing right away. The pain was very manageable, except when a nurse came to change a dressing (that apparently didn't need to be changed) and literally pealed my skin off in spots.
I has now been four weeks and I have full range of motion in my knee and almost full in my hip. I can almost full weight bear (I'm walking with a cane) and strength is coming back quickly... I can already leg press my weight again.
Wolf Creek opens tomorrow and while I know I still won't be skiing until at least December, I am excited to know that this season will probably be my best season since 2006/2007.
Thanks for listening. And if you have a malrotated femur of more than 30 degrees... don't just "suck it up, live with it, and pop out three kids" (as my old ortho recommended), find a good surgeon and get it fixed.
