I need stories of incouragement from riders that have had femur surgery and riding.

[ClockworkOrange]

Hi przc

I so wish I could offer you good advice, regarding your current dilemma but I would like to take this opportunity of wishing you lots of good wishes for a very speedy recovery.

Please don't sell your bike, it will wait for you to repair, I read previous posts about your bike and it seems such ashame to be thinking that way.

Almost 11 months ago, I broke my back and didn't know what to do with regards to exercising etc, now I am not saying it will work for you but it did for me. In the beginning all I could do was walk and no, I am not one of these ultra fit people. Several months later I bought a super exercise bike on eBay, then sold it a few months later at a nice profit!

For me swimming has helped a lot, nothing too extreme, then when I am at the far end of the pool I do a few discreet exercises.

AND at long last, I am back on my bike, still a long way to go with the confidence but getting there.

Now the point of my ramblings m'dear, is that I am sure that this is where you will be at some point in the very near future.

Take good care.

[emily_in_nc]

Not femur, but I fractured my pelvis in three places in 2005. One fracture was very serious, reached from the outer edge of the ilium all the way to the sacrum. I had surgery for internal fixation. They placed a 5" metal plate and 4 pins in my pelvis.

I started riding approximately 3 months after the surgery. I won't say that I am as good as new as I do have some chronic pain issues in my SI joint area, but I can still ride, and I still love to. I'm not as fast, nor do I do nearly as many miles, but riding is still one of the main joys and passions of my life.

Wishing you healing and many more miles on the bike in the future. Never give up!

[Cataboo]

My bf broke his leg probably about 4 years ago playing ultimate frisbee - it was a tib fib fracture, they casted him within the first 24 hours. His leg swelled inside the cast, causing some deep pressure ulcers in what previously was a closed fracture. They then had to install a rod to fix the leg, because of the pressure ulcers. One of the pressure ulcers basically necroticized till there was exposed bone in his shin... Either from that exposed bone or from the installation of his rod, he ended up with an infection in his bone. They basically every 2 or 3 days for a couple weeks opened up his bone and pressure washed the inside of his bone. They ended up cutting off the ends of the fracture to try to remove the infection. You can't do a skin graft to cover up exposed bone, so they had to cut half of one of his calf muscles and use it as a flap to cover the bone and do a skin graft over that. He couldn't lower his leg for a month while the flap/skin graft took. He spent about 3 months with external fixators holding the ends of his bones apart while they tried different 6 week courses of antibiotics (the first didn't take, so they had to do a 2nd one). Finally, they removed the external fixators, put in a metal plate and casted the leg. The bones still didn't heal because all of the pressure washing had killed off the ends of the bone - so they did a bone graft using cadaver bone and taking marrow from his hip. They left the plate in for about 2 years waiting for his bone to heal and finally when it was about 70% healed, they operated to remove the plate and told him to go full weight bearing on the leg to encourage it to heal. So basically, it took about 2.5 years to get to the point where his bone was healed, and he's still got messed up muscles/tendons.

But he was able to ride his bike again about a year after the fracture (even though the fracture was nowhere near healed at that point). We took up kayaking when he was in a cast and non-weight bearing. Then we moved onto biking when his leg was up to it. We backpacked and snowboarding after they took out the plate. He's started running in the last 6 months or so, and went out to play ultimate frisbee again.

When they first did the muscle flap and after cutting the ligaments under his knee cap multiple times, they pretty much told him that he was going to have trouble bending his knee and would have issues walking up stairs for the rest of his life. Range of motion in his knee is fine, and stairs are more than fine. His doctors during all the surgeries were bemused when he told them that he would be climbing again and running marathons, but encouraged him to show them that.

[OakLeaf]

I don't have any experience to offer either, but can you talk to the PT who'll be treating you after your surgery? They may be able to encourage you (and if they're not, you can start shopping now for a different one )

Hugs and wishes for an uncomplicated surgery and a quick and complete recovery.

[przc]

I just wanted to say thank-you to you all !!! I really needed to read stories like all of yours. At this point i won't know all details of recovery till i have a patholoy report to tell if its cancer. I really can't thank-you all enough. Patty

[emily_in_nc]

Patty - I hope the pathology report comes back cancer-free and that you'll have a quick recovery. Please keep us posted and never give up hope. There are so many stories of people who have recovered from horrible injuries and lived to ride another day.

Best wishes!
Emily

[NbyNW]

Hi,

Like Clockwork I had a serious back injury, but it was a few years ago. I wish you the best of luck with your diagnosis and treatment.

My advice for anyone who has to be off their feet for a while is to look for exercises that can do while lying on your back or in a seated position, if you are able to sit up. You can probably find a lot of yoga- and Pilates-based exercises that you can do. There is much that you will be able to do to keep your core and upper body strong and limber. I think this is an area that you can be proactive about and an advocate for yourself when you talk to your Drs and PTs as you plan your procedure and recovery. I also think that it often gets ignored.

My thinking is that you may be using some mobility devices in the weeks and months following your surgery. If you are using a walker, crutch(es), cane(s), then your upper body will be doing the work of the leg that is healing. That's a lot of work! In my case my left shoulder nearly froze up doing the work of my right leg. It doesn't to any good to injure another part of the body while one is healing! Thankfully I had a great MT who was able to get my shoulder moving again.

It may be a challenge to keep those healthy parts moving, post-op, as I imagine you may be dealing with a great deal of pain and fatigue and I don't know what else. I wish you the best, please let us know how it goes.