Broken Collar bone

[sparky3008]

Well, I may just be a Lucky SOB!

The doctor I spoke of Dr Mark Sanders from https://www.sandersclinic.net/ in Houston has graciously asked my to come see him while I am in Texas. I have been dealing with his office all morning faxing insurance info and medical info back and forth. The last papers were so they could book a room for me at the hospital for surgery.

He wanted to keep me for 3 days but is willing to let me go after 2 but he does want to keep me around to check the cut and inform me of exercises.

Acumed Method is the plate and system he uses for this surgery with very good results.

I know it is bad timing and good timing all at the same time but you gotta take opportunities when they arise sometimes.

 

[gulag]

Good news sparky. Get'er fixed. I'm waiting til Fall for surgery.Too much mountain fishin, dirt ridin & road riding tween now & then to pass up.Doc said I'd need about 12 weeks to heal. Can still hike & fish,I think. Then SKI! My busted collarbone isn't bothering me anyway.Went dirt ridin on a NASTY trail this morning.Had a blast. My doc in Boise(a good one) said they'd put a cadaver's bone piece between my bone ends ,then brace it with metal. He said the "other guy's" bone would grow into mine.Be better than new. Kinda weird,don't ya think? I read where people have gotten the cadaver's desease from such procedures. Gotta check that out! My luck it'll be a mad bomber Islam's bone they put in me. Hope I don't speak arabic afterwords. :blink:

 

[sparky3008]

Good news sparky. Get'er fixed. I'm waiting til Fall for surgery.Too much mountain fishin, dirt ridin & road riding tween now & then to pass up.Doc said I'd need about 12 weeks to heal. Can still hike & fish,I think. Then SKI! My busted collarbone isn't bothering me anyway.Went dirt ridin on a NASTY trail this morning.Had a blast. My doc in Boise(a good one) said they'd put a cadaver's bone piece between my bone ends ,then brace it with metal. He said the "other guy's" bone would grow into mine.Be better than new. Kinda weird,don't ya think? I read where people have gotten the cadaver's desease from such procedures. Gotta check that out! My luck it'll be a mad bomber Islam's bone they put in me. Hope I don't speak arabic afterwords. :blink:

My mom says to expect a lot of pain afterwards. She also said that she is allergic to codine and itched alot. I had the same reaction to percacets. She said that this time it could be itching the next time cardiac arest. Great now I have to tell my doctor this and figure out what pain killer I can take. :dribble:

I am off to pack my wife is hitting my in my broken arm!!! Just kidding but gotta go!

 

[evil_henchman]

Good luck with your surgery! I had a similar experience with a boxer break in my hand a couple of years ago. My MD didn't cast it right. The cast came off and xrays showed no bone growth. Went straight to a specialist, got casted again and took a month off. Good as new now. I know it's apples and oranges since you can't cast a collar bone. The ribs I broke last October healed nicely Thanks for the tip on the doc. The way I'm going I may just need to see him too!

 

[sparky3008]

I got er done!

Here are a few pictures for everyone.

Enjoy

Before

In the operating room. The piece in the middle is the piece from my hip.

After surgery x-ray 2 screws in the middle are in the hip piece. The hip bone is less dense so it shows up differently on x-ray but it is completely filled.

 

[Bounce]

Currently that is all the medical advice I have received. "IT WILL HEAL ON ITS OWN" Yea right!!Get er done!

Chicks dig scars, d00d!

Great now I have to tell my doctor this and figure out what pain killer I can take.

Morphene! There can be... only one!

Get well soon!

 

[sparky3008]

Currently that is all the medical advice I have received. "IT WILL HEAL ON ITS OWN" Yea right!!Get er done!

Chicks dig scars, d00d!

Yea, it will be long one.

The Doc had to cut 2centimeters of dead bone off of my clavicle.

 

[Harvey55]

I'm glad that you finally had surgery. I hope things improve greatly for you.

After I wore the figure 8 brace for 12 weeks, the doctor told me on the 13th that my collarbone was healed enough to take off the brace. It's crooked and my shoulder is quite a bit lower than it should be. My hand still tingles, so my next trip is for neurology consultation and EMG.

From what I have read on the web doctors usually give the collarbone 4 months to heal before they consider surgery. Most do heal on their own and it takes a while for new bone growth to show up in an x-ray.

There are lots of first hand experiences posted on dirtrider.net.

"Those of the Collarbone Club"

 

[gulag]

Harvey,I'm going to look up the dirtrider.com "broken collarbone club". Was dirt riding yesterday on a steep, DEEP dust trail when the tire lost traction ,the bike spun & I flew off downhill. Seemed like forever I watched the ground come up to my face.Helmet hit 1st,no pain.Was sorta interesting. Injured ankle tendons tho. My busted collarbone (never healed) didn't bother me at all.Weird. Think I'll get Sparky's surgery anyway. After all my busted bones, I'll be one weird lookin skeleton.

 

[sparky3008]

I'm glad that you finally had surgery. I hope things improve greatly for you. After I wore the figure 8 brace for 12 weeks, the doctor told me on the 13th that my collarbone was healed enough to take off the brace. It's crooked and my shoulder is quite a bit lower than it should be. My hand still tingles, so my next trip is for neurology consultation and EMG.

From what I have read on the web doctors usually give the collarbone 4 months to heal before they consider surgery. Most do heal on their own and it takes a while for new bone growth to show up in an x-ray.

There are lots of first hand experiences posted on dirtrider.net.

"Those of the Collarbone Club"

As you can see in my before x-ray mine was very far apart and parts of the bone had already died. It was not going to do any healing in my case no matter how long I waited.

In high impact breaks such as motorcycle accidents the collarbone is known to do this.

1 more month for me would have just meant a deader bone and more time not healing.

Surgery for collarbones use to be such a no no for doctors because the methods were not very good and results were poorer than just letting them heal. The area was known to bleed a lot, the plates and screws used were less than desireable. The plates were straight and had to be contoured by the surgeon. The screws were not threaded all the way and many times would come loose. The plates of SS would bend and the screws weren't recessed like mine and would cause tissue damage.

Even with the plate and screws that are used in my case many doctors will only put 2 screws in the good bone and my doctors recommends no less than 3. The nerve is also very close and historically damaged.

The hip bone that is used is a art in itself. It takes a lot of skill to cut that piece to proper size and make a tight fit. Also knowing how much bone to cut off so healing will start is also a talent.

Short story is doctors still use 50 year old ideas when it comes to the collarbone. I went to a doctor who has started new procedures in ACL repair, rehabilitation and is one of the best at reconstructing the collarbone.

Not all docs are created equal...

Do me a favor, go to his website, call his office. Read his testimonies. Dr. Mark Sanders When I was in doing rehab a guy from a Canadian football team was in there who had been through 2 acl's and was unable to use his knee for 9 months. Dr. Sanders was bringing him back so he could get back to playing football.

The plate also is not to touch the bone which mine does not. It will actually cause the bone to die.

If your doctor is telling you to wait wait wait for surgery, your bone is dying dying dying...

 

[twowheelnut]

Hope that works for you Sparky... Heal up quick!

 

[gulag]

Sparky, did your doc say anything about using cadaver bones(bones from a dead guy) instead of your hip bones? My doc is a doc for one of our olympic teams & he did mention cadaver bones to me.

 

[Bounce]

They used cadaver bone in my neck. A few years later there was an article about how one of the few clearing houses for such things had been fudging their records on how the tested and passed their donar bone. EEK!

 

[twowheelnut]

They used cadaver bone in my neck. A few years later there was an article about how one of the few clearing houses for such things had been fudging their records on how the tested and passed their donar bone. EEK!

Lemme guess, your doctor's assistant's name was Eyegor, right?

 

[sparky3008]

Sparky, did your doc say anything about using cadaver bones(bones from a dead guy) instead of your hip bones? My doc is a doc for one of our olympic teams & he did mention cadaver bones to me.

He didn't mention much against it specific but he did mention that the hip bone is mine and it has a better chance of taking with no problems. Even though the hip bone is less dense than the collarbone eventually when it all grows together it will be just as hard. The specific type of bone that the hip bone is takes to fusing well.

I would like to avoid transfusions and parts from others if possible but it isn't always. In this case it is and it makes the surgery quicker I would think.

 

[Groo]

Let the healing begin!

Hope this speeds up the process for you Sparky... :thumbsup:

 

[gulag]

Thanks sparky.I'll keep that in mind when I get my collarbone fixed. Best of luck to you !

 

[Silver Penguin]

Ouch! Reading through the posts, it looks like today is your big day with the doc. Sending you good wishes for healing.

Jill

 

[sparky3008]

Ouch! Reading through the posts, it looks like today is your big day with the doc. Sending you good wishes for healing.
Jill

Thanks Jill. I got operated on last Tuesday and I am well on my way to recovery. As long as the bone starts to grow this time I should be golden.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Ouch! Reading through the posts, it looks like today is your big day with the doc. Sending you good wishes for healing.

Jill

Thanks Jill. I got operated on last Tuesday and I am well on my way to recovery. As long as the bone starts to grow this time I should be golden.

Good to hear! I'm sure it'll be okay!

Feel the positive energy coming your way?