lokerola

Hi all,

I was hit by an SUV in April of this year. It was a tib/fib break that required a titanium rod in my leg. Well, after 12 weeks, I had a non-union, which is where the bone basically doesn't heal. They had to go back in and take out the old rod, cut open my femur, do a bone graft from the femur(which is where they cut open the top of the bone to get to the magical marror at the middle), put in a new rod, put in a new plate on top of the break, then close everything up. Needless to say it been a hellish 3 months. Now I have to spend another 3 months on crutches to see if the bone graft works and helps heal the leg.

All this was due to the fact that a woman in an SUV ran a stop sign and hit me at 20 miles an hour. So - always wear your helmet and always keep your eyes on the road.

Pics are of the recent surgery.

Alex

oboeguy

Ouch! Rough deal, there.

But on topic... I'm a helmet fan and all but helmet don't go on legs you know.

jschen

Yikes! Hope things work out better this time. Hang in there.

woodcycl

I wish you much luck, patience, and a healthy recovery!

lokerola

Ha ha, good point! Yea, I guess I should have said that after she hit me and I went flying through the air for what seemed forever, my head hit the ground and it bounced off the ground ground pretty good. But I have had no problems with the noggin - just the leg.

nickf829

man that sucks to hear. alexandria is loaded with people with money, i sure hope you can get some form of payout from that woman. hope this graft works for you and wish you a full recovery. hang in there

jyossarian

Oh man, that sucks to hear. Hope you have a quick recovery and gain full usage back.

DrPete 

Definitely a tough injury to recover from... Best of luck in your rehab, and hopefully I'll see you on the road!

Out of curiosity, where were you treated? Just wondering if I know the docs...

I agree that wearing a helmet is a good idea, but now you've chummed the waters for all the anti-helmet folks who will come on here and say that because you broke your leg you don't need to wear a helmet.

3... 2... 1....

Cromulent

Haley Forking Carp!!! Hope you're back on the bike soon.

mister

Ouch! Hope you recover quickly. Was it a really bad break? My dad broke his tib/fib a couple years ago sliding into home plate during a softball game (he didn't get his leg under his butt before he touched the ground). He had a rod placed through the tib from the knee to the ankle and his incisions were WAY smaller than those.

haimtoeg

I hope you recover quickly.

John Wilke

Sweet staple job, I count 40. Is that right?

I got hit by an SUV last August. Took me a year until I felt 'normal' off the bike, still don't feel 'normal' on the bike, but at least I'm riding.

Heal well.

jw

Flak

Pfft, walk it off.

Seriously though, nasty crash. Good luck with the recovery.

Richard_Rides

How bad was your bike damaged?

Ward7

Hope you recover quickly man. That looks terrible. It's funny, I noticed that in many of the cases where a car strikes a cyclist, it is usually "I got hit by an SUV", not "I got hit by a car". I think people in SUVs oftentimes are more oblivious to motorcycles and cyclists and pedestrians because their line of sight is so much higher than those in regular cars.

maddyfish

You know you're a bike-nut when;

You see a guys leg chopped up and stapled back together,

and you say "How bad was your bike damaged?"

Seriously, hope you recover, and how's your bike?

JuanIsTheMan

I hope you had a lawyer extract the maximum dollar amount from that womans insurance company.

Blaireau

Hope you had health insurance.
Hope the lady driving the SUV, got prosecuted by the local DA and got a huge fine and at least a suspended sentence!
Hope you sued her too --if possible.
I hope you recover quickly!

As cyclists, We should try and rally round cyclists when they get hit by motorists. We need to make sure that reckless driving is not worth their while!

I never feel completely safe on the road in the because of reckless drivers out there...

1955

My friend got hit by a car yesterday morning commuting to work and went into surgery at noon the same day to have a rod put into his femur. Seeing what you're going through puts a picture of what he will be facing in the many months to come.

Was it only your leg that was messed up in the accident (not to diminish at all the damage to you).

I really do hope you recover without any more complication! Good luck.

lokerola

Yea, the first surgery only left a few incissions; 4" at the knee where they put the rod in and a few smaller ones for the screws. It was the second surgery where they replaced that rod (requiring all the same incisions as the first time) and the insertion of the plate on top of the tibia that required the long incision.

lokerola

jw - well, you are close - 46 actually! Good call. Yea, the ankle has some staples where two more screws are inserted. What happened in your accident? I'm always interested in hearing other people's crash stories. Glad to hear you're riding again.

Alex

lokerola

I joke with people that luckily my body took the full impact of the blow and bike was OK. Which, sadly is the truth. The bottle cages were bent to hell, the right side brifter and pedal are scraped up pretty badly. Other than that everything else looks OK. I need to get it into the shop and have them do an inspection of the rear derailleur, the frame as a whole, and the carbon fork.

lokerola

Yea, we have a law suit.

lokerola

Thanks everybody for you words of support. Besides my leg, my right shoulder has a severe bone bruise, and I have numbness and occasional shooting pain in my "good" left leg - a result of spinal compression during the accident. The doc says they see that a lot in car accidents and often they work themselves out. Otherwise it's off to see the osteopath in 6 months to start working on the back. I would've had a head injury as well if I hadn't been wearing my helmet - my head bounced off the pavement real good.

I do have health insurance, thank God. And we do have a law suit, but obviously I can't talk about it. I just hope it works out in my favor.

ripa

I had a upper leg tib/fib break on my right leg 18 years ago (football injury). They cut the back of my knee open and slipped a plate behind the break area and then placed me in a halo style cast to prevent the leg from moving. The halo went from my ankle to my hip. It was painful as hell and it took forever to heal. I was out for almost 10-11 months before I could start rehab. My leg looked like a noodle when I was finally able to start working it again. I'm good now but I don’t think it will ever be as strong as it once was. Take good care and follow the advice of your PT and you will be good to go.