Infected Non Union of my Broken Humerus

It has certainly been a funny few weeks. We started off with a scheduled appointment with a doctor at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, then it was switched to Stanmore, which was a mistake, and was meant to be UCLH. So imagine my surprise last week when I got a second letter from a hospital in the UK confirming an appointment date in very short notice!

UCLH had confirmed that I had an appointment for the 24th of November to see a specialist there in writing, which I had received on Monday. Thinking that was quite a wait until I saw a doctor again, given the fact that my scar from surgery was still weeping, I arranged an appointment with Mr Surgeon Man's replacement for the Wednesday to get things checked over. However, on Tuesday evening I received another letter, this time confirming a consultation with yet another surgical specialist, at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London for Thursday the 20th of October... the very next day. 

Armed (no pun intended) with this new information, and with the prospect of possibly getting the mess that is my arm seen to sooner rather than later, I saw Mr Replacement Surgeon Man and asked his opinion. He was horrified having seen my arm for the first time and agreed that seeing a specialist as soon as possible was probably the best idea, as in his opinion, I had what looked to be an infected non-union. This was coupled with the fact that my latest set of bloods and swabs had shown signs of infection also. A quick discussion with the surgical team secretary and with the sponsored patient people and I was booked on a flight, along with my old man for support/company, that evening, to attend Guy's the next day.

After being seen by an assistant to the chief upper arm consultant and sent for some xrays, Chief Upper Arm Consultant Man gave me the news:

1. I have, without much doubt, an infected nonunion of my humerus fracture
2. All the metalwork I currently have inside me needs to come out
3. The whole area needs "debridement" with samples sent to test what bacteria is causing the infection
4. I will be placed in an external fixator which will hold things in place until they finally heal
5. This is going to take at least 6 months

So I'm back to St Thomas' two weeks today for an operation on the 8th to have all the above done... but, in a weird way, Mr Replacement Surgeon Man's tact and manner have already calmed me down. He was apologetic for the way things have gone up to now, when he has only just seen me. He was reassuring yet honest, by giving examples and success rates they've had with this technique in the past. 

So, back to square one, as predicted when I first started the blog exactly 2 months ago... I've still not done the back dating of surgery number 2 and the huge pus-filled cyst, but I will get round to it, I'm sure!