Good luck to ya.

I'm not exactly a religious guy but if praying is the only thing I can do to possibly help, then I'll be doing it

[Edited on January 25, 2008 at 8:26 AM. Reason : 12]

1/25/2008 8:25:41 AM

i read that as ivan-tibiotics

1/25/2008 9:27:55 AM

i appreciate all the thoughts/prayers, they really do help.

well, they finally let me up out the joint yesterday. i'm confident in some real progress this time. Both precedures were VERY aggressive in achieving their goal and went above and beyond standard procedure. i'm paying for it heavy pain, but can deal with a little of that to get things done.

so, i will display the latest renderings of the mangled leg. seemingly impossible, it has become even more ugly. ***obviously, semi graphic pics below!***





























harvest area for skin graft to lower leg



pulling the bandage off the area. imagine a bandid getting dried to a bloody cut and have to take it off. it was like that, but X10. as you can see, i opted to peform my own work here,



almost done.



done.



done again



after 2 days



new picc line. i'll be doing this crap for 21 days.



removing the other bandage to see the fun stuff



visible here is the muscle tissue from my calf that has been brought around to the front. this is to close up the would due to the large amount of tissue taken out, as well provide much improved bloodflow to the area.



couple of side views. you can see where the muscle was taken from and how it was laid over. also how the existing skin graft was reworked, in addition to a new graft being applied over the muscle tissue.





[Edited on January 31, 2008 at 4:55 AM. Reason : .]

1/31/2008 4:54:29 AM

oh man. not saying u did anything wrong when u rode that bike that night.

but when i think of doing something retarded on mine i look back at these pics/story. this is the main shit keeping me from lot stunting my crap. human bodies are damn delicate.

1/31/2008 5:28:24 AM

holy fuck, i couldn't handle it.. i'd have told them to just cut the shit off by now.

gg to you for being able to do it

1/31/2008 8:00:05 AM

looks like a turkey leg v

1/31/2008 8:05:54 AM

good to see everything is looking good that is some hardcore stuff man. how long do you have to have that thing in your leg this time? (i'm guessing it has to stay)

1/31/2008 11:36:54 AM

yea dude your tuff, i have images blocked and can still barely read that shit

1/31/2008 4:40:52 PM

that must be hell

2/6/2008 2:24:38 AM

^^^probably about another 4 weeks or so. just until this recent stuff heals enough that they can cut it back open to do another bone graft.

^yeah man, obviously it sucks. how much it sucks is 100% attitude though. there's nothing i can do about it, so i might as well keep fighting. i'm too much of a stubborn/competetive asshole to ever let it get me. it's personal now, i've got a serious grudge to kick it's ass. seriously though, i won't deny that i haven't had some super low, no hope, depressed, crying times. i think that's stuff you have to get out in a situation like this though. then you have to bounce back and keep on keepin on.

it also helps me to look at the big scheme of things. there's ALWAYS going to be someone worse off than you. i see it at the doctor, the hospital, etc. unfortunately, i haven't had to look further than my own family recently. as a result of breast cancer, my mom had a double mastectomy a few months ago. also, my 17 yr. old cousin was diagnosed with leukemia last week. i look at them and know that if they both can fight something as big as cancer, then i can sure as hell deal with my little leg. they're both in for a long fight, so i hope that i can be some sort of inspiration to them in how to handle things mentally since i'm 1.5 years deep. in turn, i think that they'll give me even more reason to pursue my recovery as hard as possibe.

i had appointments with the plastic surgeon and infectious disease today. plastic guy said the muscle/tissue/skin appears to be taking well and blood flow is good. he also took a few staples out. maybe 100. still another 50 to go probably, and maybe 50-60 stitches. i think this brings my totals up to somewhere around 1100 staples and 1000 stitches (all surgeries combined).

if i thought some of my feelings and sensations were odd before due to all the initial nerve damage, it just got weirder. having a still active piece of your inner calf muscle on the top and side of your leg makes things much more interesting.

infectious disease people said bloodwork, visual signs, etc. all look good from their standpoint. as usual, they won't really know anything for sure until more cultures are taken at the next surgery though. the good news is the IV antibiotic i'm on now isn't nearly as bad as the stuff i had before. i get a little nausea sometimes, but none of the throwing up and ridiculous fevers from before.

okay, well this turned into a wild ramble, lol. oops!

[Edited on February 6, 2008 at 3:00 AM. Reason : the softer side of the garage;P]

2/6/2008 2:38:02 AM

what is the lowest amount of time it could possibly take for you to be in the clear from infection, etc?

2/6/2008 2:49:26 AM

well, that's a pretty complicated question because there are so many variables and options. i'll list a couple of the main ones though.

1. It could be completely gone, never to come back after this past surgery

2. They may have missed some spots and it grows back within a few months

3. They got everything, but there is a little bit that has become encapsulated in part of the bone. years and years later this infection could get back out and grow again. This is the one that would suck the worst, obviously.

There's really no way to put a typical time on it. By your question, it could go away immediately with a debridement surgery or it could take 50 years or more fighting it with anti biotics, etc. obviously, several week long programs of iv antibiotics, surgery, pills, etc. haven't worked for me. some people are different, they might have the same infection and beat it in 2 weeks with some pills. it's all in how your body acts to it, how much of it's there, how resistant it is to medicine, and whether or not it likes to migrate. mine is especially complicated because of all the broken bone hanging around to hide on or in, metal pieces to cling to, damaged tissue that can't fight back, and the constant surgeries exposing it to new stuff. technically, once you get some sort of strain in the main one i have (pseudamonis) there's a ninety something percent chance that you will always have it. even if you treat and tame it with medicine rather than be gone it just goes dormant somewhere in your body. then, oops, it pops back up again 60 years later.

you also have to be careful with over medicating. if you're loading up with too many antibiotics too often, the infection is going to become immune to them. many of them already have a slight immunity to stuff naturally, so you have to watch it even more. so basically the idea is to give just enough medicine to kill the stuff, but not enough for them to build an immunity.

this time, the doctors are saying they expect it to be infection free by the next surgery in about 4 weeks. we'll see, they've said these sorts of things before.

[Edited on February 6, 2008 at 3:26 AM. Reason : .]

2/6/2008 3:13:44 AM

Congrats on the good progress. I hope that it continues.

Quote :

"how much it sucks is 100% attitude though. there's nothing i can do about it, so i might as well keep fighting."

I don't know you, but I must say that I imagine that it would have been much harder, if not impossible to pull through without that attitude. Props on your mental strength. I'm not sure if I'd be that strong, but I'd sure like to think so. I'll be sure to keep your recovery in my prayers. Keep up the good work.

2/6/2008 3:35:51 AM

I've said it before, but Ivan's one of the toughest SOB's I know. I woulda quit long ago.

2/6/2008 7:59:12 PM

Ivan, I don't know anything really going on in this thread. I just saw the pics and I was like DAMN. You've got my thoughts bro. That's some serious shit that I would hope never to be involved with. I probably woulda just begged to cut the whole damn thing off...


Best recovery to you.

2/6/2008 8:52:06 PM

dude- on a lighter note... The pic of your leg in early pages (all blown up with your missing bone) has been all over the damn internet for a while-

I saw that shit a couple times a while back on a few different sites and was baffled with it and just now realized it was you-

You need to have a signature on that shit-


Best of luck buddy- Let a nigga know when ur up to drinks

2/6/2008 11:27:47 PM

^no kidding? what sites? i don't really care, just curious.

2/6/2008 11:33:40 PM

i've seen it on crazyshit.com, ebaumsworld.com, a couple sites listed earlier in thread as well... I've also had a buddy im me that pic and be like "dude- You think that shits real or fake?"

2/6/2008 11:42:14 PM

i went to wake med 2day. thought of ya mang



[Edited on February 14, 2008 at 12:07 AM. Reason : .]

2/14/2008 12:06:54 AM

^you ok? what happened?

2/14/2008 12:41:09 AM

yea man i just bled out a lot. knife slipped and cut deep (to the bone) inbetwween my index finger and thumb.

best 2 parts of the nite..

'MAHHHH IM BLEEEDIN''

and

'SO DOC UR TRYNA YELL ME I CANT JACJ OFF WITH MY LEFT HAND FOR 3 WEEKS!?!?!


man poor bbr tho he's gotta deal with this shit everyday.

[Edited on February 14, 2008 at 12:58 AM. Reason : ;l;]

2/14/2008 12:57:15 AM

shit that much blood from a finger cut

2/14/2008 1:14:42 AM

damn... so what'd they do, just stitch it up? lucky you didn't catch a tendon or something. finger injuries can be a lot worse than people think.

there's a similar stain on the floor of my dad's shop from my brother nearly cutting his thumb off on a table saw.

2/14/2008 1:53:23 AM

lol i think i got lucky and missed the tendons nerves,, who knows tho my fingers are still numb this mornin , puttin' a new meaning to the stranger.

5 stitches. were gonna give six but they wanted to keep it lose?

yea hands bleed a lot when they are cut, nurse was like a lotta blood goes there. when the bandage comes off ill try and getta pic of my hand

no motorcycle for at least 2 weeks





[Edited on February 14, 2008 at 6:55 AM. Reason : .]

2/14/2008 6:53:03 AM

bbr - poster child for proper bike gear


the best would be some form of armor and a airbag suit and it's not here yet fully

2/14/2008 10:21:54 AM

more like bbr - poster child for use some fucking sense when you drive and don't be an idiot/watch out for bikes

2/14/2008 1:05:24 PM

Quote :

"bbr - poster child for proper bike gear the best would be some form of armor and a airbag suit and it's not here yet fully"

What the fuck do you think proper bike gear would have done? Unless he had steel leg coverings or something, I highly doubt it would make any difference. I think this ones a little past ATGATT.

2/14/2008 6:47:10 PM

yeah, i had a helmet, gloves, boots, and a leather jacket on. they all did their job, especially the helmet since i smacked it on the curb pretty hard when i landed.

i didn't slide on the ground at all (which is the main point of gear), just flew 20ft. in the air and landed at a dead stop on my back. having a full suit, riding pants, or chaps on wouldn't have prevented any of the orthopedic injuries. in fact, it might have complicated things in dealing with cutting them off, etc.

i'm all for wearing some basic protection while you ride. however, once it gets to the point that you have to wear armor or some other ridiculous crap it's time to consider a new hobby.

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:41 AM. Reason : .]

2/15/2008 1:34:09 AM

updates

2/25/2008 11:20:09 PM

back

to

the

top

2/26/2008 12:06:16 AM

you need to hurry your gimp ass up and get into jet-ski riding condition

i'm headed back to the Ol' North State in like 3 months.

2/26/2008 12:18:13 AM

^true

no updates really. everything has healed well from the skin flap/graft. go to the ortho guy tomorrow, probably find out when the next bone graft will be.

2/26/2008 12:24:04 AM

True.

I think a mildly warmed-over Ultra might be on the shopping list...or maybe a GP1200 or STX1300.

[Edited on February 26, 2008 at 12:34 AM. Reason : and there will be plenty of water around my house, where you're welcome to crash]

2/26/2008 12:30:14 AM

oh ok...good to hear...last i had heard things kinda turned for the worse and you still might have had to lose it =/

2/26/2008 12:31:17 AM

nah, i think i'm pretty clear of that right now. things went downhill a few months ago and there was talk of it, but not now. just depends on how successful the last two and this one upcoming procedure turn out.

[Edited on February 26, 2008 at 12:36 AM. Reason : i need to post some updated pics]

2/26/2008 12:34:46 AM

they give you any kind of time estimate on when you could potentially be done worrying about this stuff? like "in 14 months you might be healed" or something...also, do you have health insurance....i bet if we had universal health care you'd be fucked

2/26/2008 12:41:57 AM

not sure, i think they've just quit estimating it's gone on so long. if this next surgery proves to be successful and no infection is found, it could potentially be the last one.

yeah, i have coverage through bbsnc. i don't know if universal care would have been better or worse. i do know bbsnc has been a royal pain in my ass to deal with. in addition to my recovery, i've had to fight them tooth and nail over everything. assholes.

2/26/2008 1:06:04 AM

bttt any updates? been about a month, i'm just wondering

3/23/2008 12:37:15 AM

yep, actually a fairly major one. i go back to the hospital this wednesday for the 15th and possibly final surgery. this will be for a bone graft and to put some more metal in. a couple of plates and screws. they will also be doing a final straightning and lengthening the leg 1/2" as it's gotten a little off during all the multiple surgeries, things healing, etc. i've been told to expect this to be the final surgery, but we'll see. that's the third time i've heard it. another 6-8 weeks will tell the truth.

where as the previous bone graft was primarily bone harvested from my left hip, this one will include cadaver bone, a synthetic material, and fluid from my right hip that will contain live bone cells. the reason for the difference is because there is a larger gap to fill this time and it's also much less evasive to the hip. since any bone would have to come from my right one this time, that would put me back to being completely immobile (wheelchair) again for 6-8 weeks. a normal harvesting of hip bone is extremely painful. by far it was the worst pain i've had other than the night of the accident. this procedure of withdrawing the fluid is with a large needle/syringe and only causes some soreness so i'll still be able to get back on crutches afterwards.

the really good news is that the muscle flap and skin grafts they did back in january have healed up very well. no open spots draining fluid or anything. it's an ugly looking thing and it's pretty funny to flex your calf muscle and see part if it move on your shin. if it works, who cares... i know i don't.

also, x-rays last week showed that the tibia bone has attempted to grow a thin shell around the antibiotic impregnated concrete spacer that's in place of the missing bone. this is good news because it means that the infection has possibly been completely eradicated. no way to tell for sure until cultures are taken though. just the bone material growing again is good news though, especially that much. it had pretty much stopped doing anything for a while, even with the compression stimulation from the external fixator.

i smell victory and see light at the end of the tunnel. i can't wait to stand (literally) back and say i kicked this thing in the ass. my mom and cousin have beaten breast cancer and leukemia respectively over the past year, i'm running behind damn it.

on a side note, i got to thinking the other day about how many places my crutches have been. came up with 25 states and 3 other countries. they've been run over twice. thrown across parking lots, used as a bat, etc. i've had to replace the rubber parts three times. these things have some mileage on them, i'm going to make some sort of monument of them to hang in my rec. room or the garage. or maybe the company will buy them back for $texas, lol.

[Edited on March 23, 2008 at 1:19 AM. Reason : .]

3/23/2008 1:11:59 AM

thats freaking awesome

3/23/2008 1:24:55 AM

^^ yeah, like car companies buying back cars that made it to 1,000,000 miles to put on display


anyway, the important question is when you'll be able to work a clutch pedal...have the docs given you any idea on that?

3/23/2008 2:10:51 AM

6-8 weeks this time. i've been able to work one intermittently the whole time, just depended on what metal contraption they had on, if there was an internal rod or not, etc. hell, i drove my rv back from nashville. 9 speed eaton-fuller with a clutch you get up and stand on. took a 4 wheeling trip about this time last year with my ramcharger (3 on the tree). i've played with my dad's c5 when i can also. i was actually trying to think if it being 1/2" shorter would improve heel/toe work, but i couldn't think of how, haha.

i did drive one completely sans left leg the other week. going up through va and wv, we hit snow. friend wasn't comfortable since he hasn't done much snow driving, so i took over (00 trooper). right leg worked the clutch, and right hand worked the gas if need be. that was to get it rolling, just match shifted the rest of the time. safely/smoothly/easily done with careful thought and execution.

3/23/2008 2:22:17 AM

well, it's looking like this could be the final successful push we were looking for. one of the more painful procedures out of the 15, but feeling much better today. had the following done over a 4 hour surgery yesterday:

-2" of bone graft consisting of bleached cadaver bone (creepy), synthetic material to stimulate growth (basically "miracle grow" for bone, lol), and bone cells/fluid from my right hip.

-10" plate along the exterior of the tibia bridging the graft area. 6 more screws installed also (total of 8 now).

-rebroke fibula to straighten a slight bow that had developed during its healing as well as extend everything 1/2" to make both legs perfectly even in length.

-cut/extended achilles tendon again to finalize proper range of ankle motion.

the best news has to be NO signs of any infection in the tissue or bone during the procedure. also, as of 24 hours after surgery no signs of anything growing in the cultures. 72 hours will be the "final" answer, but in the past there has been obvious infection in the tissue visible to the naked eye as well as gram negative rods growing in the cultures within 12 hours. 6-8 weeks will tell the story on the bone graft healing.

i'm not about to get my hopes up based on the past and because there's still a lot that needs to happen to bring things to a closure. however, speaking as objectively as possible this has been the most promising news from within the past few months if not the whole time.

nothing really impressive in the way of pictures at the moment, just a small incision on my hip. the leg is fully wrapped and splinted, but i'll snap some whenever it's opened up again.

3/27/2008 11:52:09 PM

so has this ordeal scored you tons of play from lots of hot dames, at least?

[Edited on March 28, 2008 at 12:20 AM. Reason : also, fuck yeah! get your ass ready for some jet-skiing.]

3/28/2008 12:07:30 AM

^^ Glad to hear you're doing well man

Cadaver bone...creepy...are you seeing dead people yet?

3/28/2008 12:31:58 PM

at my uncles office we use cow bones in peoples mouths

3/28/2008 12:48:08 PM

I'm curious, did the leg bust from the landing or was that a result of the car slamming into you? I saw you said you landed on your back, so I guess it happened from the force of the car hitting you?

I wouldn't ask if you haven't been so willing to talk about the whole process so far.

3/28/2008 1:28:54 PM

GOOD NEWS!!! hope the recovery from this surgery is speedy man

3/28/2008 2:07:37 PM

awesome news... good luck.

3/28/2008 2:23:32 PM

Glad to hear that the prognosis is good! Hopefully you'll be walking tall again soon.

3/28/2008 2:46:13 PM