My best friend and I were traveling through Mississippi on a trip we planned to visit the casinos there and later to visit Graceland. I am from Georgia, so I was about 400 miles from home. We were traveling in my SUV, I ran off the road slightly , which jerked the vehicle I lost control of it , we flipped about 5 times and we were both thrown from the vehicle, I thank God every day that my friend’s only injury was a broken arm and a few minor cuts. Mine was a little worse, I had a broken pelvis, torn bladder, and I dislocated my left knee, which severed the main artery in that leg.I stayed in MS. hospital for 12 days. The first and only surgery performed there was to repair the artery of course, but just my luck there was only 2 DRS. in the state that could do such a surgery , one said he wouldn’t touch it and the other was 50 miles away on his way to a golf tournament. He was reached and turned around to do the surgery, but by the time all this occurred, alot of pressure had built up in the leg from the bleeding. He made the incision to repair the artery, and the pressure made the leg burst open all the way to the bone and all the way up the side of my lower leg. It was decided that the surgery was a success, and I had good circulation in that leg, but it had to be left open to heal. I was finally flown by medical jet back to Ga. , after I was stable, no other surgeries were performed there on my other injuries.
When in GA. It was determined the pelvis break I had would have to have surgery ( some do not) mine was broken completely in half and I had some slight nerve damage, it was determined my torn bladder would also require surgery. I had been told in MS. , that my pelvis and bladder would heal itself, but doctors here said no. A specialists was called in to do the pelvis surgery, again I was told only 2 in the state that did this type surgery and the one I was getting was suppose to be the BEST. I know I have to shorten this story…at any rate during all this discussion and focus on my other injuries , everyone must have forgotten about my leg, except me of course, the nurses changed the dressings regularly, it was packed since it was an open wound, but I don’t remember any doctors paying much attention to it, so when I finally went into surgery for the pelvis break, the DR. was under the impression she was just suppose to graft some skin , clean up the wound and possibly close it, but when the dressings and brace was removed in surgery , much to her SURPRISE !! GANGRENE!! and everything in it had died , for lack of a better word…sorry I just don’t know all the medical terms. My family was informed the pelvis surgery was a success, but my left leg had to be amputated, and had to be done quickly, it was my leg or my life they said. I wasn’t told until a few hours later, and was on my way in to surgery again only 1 hr. 10 minutes after receiving the news, so not much time to get used to the idea. I was in so much pain and had been for 18 days, they could have told me they were cutting my head off, and if it would stop the pain it would have been ok with me. But I am sure all of you know when reality hits it can be a different story. I feel I am a classic case of getting lost in the paperwork of the details of my case, I really will never have any true answers if it was something that could have been avoided, I really haven’t ever searched for those answers. I was in the hospital 2 months, and under went seven different surgeries.
