Next steps

As the prospect of future surgery hung-over me, I began to realise that I would not be able really get on with my life until I had it all sorted. Realistically I was unable to change jobs, as no new employer would take me on with this on the cards. As Synergy had supported me once, the chance were high that they would support me again - for which I was very lucky.

Once again, I found myself getting back in touch with Mr Hill. At my last appointment, he had said that he would happily see me in the future to further discuss my options - be it for him to undertake any more surgery or to point me in the direction of someone else. It transpired that he no longer ran his clinic at Harlow, but now focused on his Private clinic at The Portland Hospital and his paediatric clinic at Great Ormand Street. He agreed to see me at The Portland. He told us nothing new - on reflection I am not sure what I was expecting to hear, although I had decided that I did not want him undertaking any further treatment and I simply did not trust him. He reiterated the options he thought best and suggested that we get in touch with a colleague of his at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in Stanmore. RNOH is a centre of excellence for all things bones and therefore if they could not get it right there... we were stuffed.

Mr Peter Calder was the man for the job and within four weeks of the referral, we found ourselves in yet another outpatients department.

The years between

Following the outcome of my surgery, I decided to get my life and career back to normal. December 2006 I hit the ski slopes which was fantastic!! Only four months after having the frame removed and I was skiing!! I got myself back to the gym and threw myself back into work. I loved being back in London.

However, the results of my 'bodged' surgery were never far from my thoughts. My 'new' leg looked terrible. Totally out of shape - which made me very self-conscious. Finding suitable trousers became even harder than it had been initially. I had a constant limp due to having one leg longer than the other, which people always commented on and I could not get a full bend through my leg. The limp soon lead to backache and I was unable to stand for long periods of time, making going to the pub, cocktail parties or standing in queues very uncomfortable. I was given an instep for the left shoe, to lift my left leg slightly, however this was not enough and I could not have anything larger as I would not be able to hold it in my shoe. However, I continued with life as normal and started to train for a 10k run, went to the gym regularly and was back on skis!

My father was particularly disgruntled with the result and wanted to explore the legal possibilities and compensation which we may be entitled too. Our reasoning behind this was not purely mercenary, but if I was to have to have future surgery, then more time would be required off work and I would suffer loss of earnings. We also wanted to look into the private facilities available, however could not consider this as an option without some kind of financial assistance. We instructed a lawyer and started the legal ball rolling. Once we had received copies of all my medical records, we enlisted a medical expert to pull together a full report on my case. He would write a paper on my history and the operation and post-operative care and draw a conclusion on my care and if any negligence can be pin-pointed.

Several hundred pounds later (legal fees are expensive), we saw the report. I was not really sure what to expect, however it was far from conclusive. We felt that many of the questions and issues we raised had not been answered. The conclusion drawn was that my 'varus deformity had been corrected, which it had, but in the process I had been left with a valgus deformity' (the new shape of my leg). It stated that if this 'new deformity had been identified whilst the frame was in place, then it would have been a relatively straightforward to correct by re-programming the frame... However, a valgus deformity occurred and this should have been avoided if a careful eye had been kept on the patient in outpatients.' This is what we were hoping to hear, there had been some element of post-operative negligence throughout my treatment. However, the paper went on to say that 'despite this, the end result has been much better for the patient than the preoperative state'. So, medically I was better off than before the operation, in terms of a reduced risk of osteoarthritis, but I had been left with a limp, a leg length discrepancy of more that 2cms and I was starting to get associated pain in my lower back, my quality of life had been significantly reduced, not to forget that I would need more significant surgery in the future. How was this considered 'better off than previously'?

We decided to take the case to a medical negligence specialist to ask their advice, it agreed that a degree of post operative negligence had taken place - my leg was 8 degrees out of line with my hip and ankle, but this would be a very hard case to prove in a court of law. As the frame was self-adjusting it would be easy for the defence to flip the case around and blame my parents for the over correction. It was also advised that it would cost thousands of pounds to get this to court, it would be hard to create a solid case and if we were lucky then the settlement received would be minimum, especially in relation to the amount to get it through the courts.

We thought long and hard about the course of action we would take and we decided not to pursue with any legal action. The cost, stress and high chance of a negative outcome strongly outweighed any of the positive points. This was slightly frustrating as it was a dead cert that I would have to go through it all again in the future and therefore my career and life would once again be interrupted.

The results

Well, as anticipated the odd shape of the leg turned out to be slightly more problematic than any of the doctors were letting on. At my post-op consultation with Mr Hill it became apparent that my leg had been 'over-straightened' and therefore stuck out at the bottom and a rather peculiar angle. This, coupled with the new leg length discrepancy which I now had - my right leg now 2cms longer than the left, meant that I was considerably worse off than when we started. This was horrendous news to hear - the last three months had been a complete waste of time.

Mr Hill was relatively apologetic and admitted that this was not the ideal outcome. He did not exactly confirm that a mistake had been made, but did advise that further corrective surgery would be required to prevent degenerative arthritis in my right knee.

We traced back the appointments and the consultations we had had over the last few months. Everything pointed to the appointment we had with the registrar, when Mr Hill was not present and the re-running of the programme. If over-correction had been picked up at this stage we would have had the chance to correct it.

I left the hospital totally deflated, with the knowledge that I would have to go through everything again in the years to come.

Life with the Frame...

Once the pain reduced, my mobility increased quickly and it was not long before I was managing with one crutch and then just a walking stick and within weeks, I was able to walk normally, well as normal as was possible with a TSF attached! I stopped taking all painkillers, the only thing which continued to be an issue was the swelling in my right leg and ankle and I was advised that this would not stop until the frame was removed.

I was able to get out and about much more regularly. I was blessed with a beautiful summer and spent my days down at the beach or in the garden. My friends were amazing (and kind of took over from my parents). They were always picking me up and taking me to one BBQ or another. I even made it to the races and enjoyed a couple of glasses of champagne!!

The end of July quickly came around and we once again hit the M25 for a check up at the hospital. I was met with good news, my bone had fixed (faster than anticipated) and was now consolidating. I would be able to have the frame off in August!! Still concerned about the 'shape', we again mentioned this to Mr Hill and were once again told that it would be fine and he would assess it fully once the frame was removed and I could be x-rayed.

Removal day was set - Monday 14th August. It was a relatively simple procedure, undertaken in a day. I was only under for 30 minutes and when I woke up was delighted to see a 'normal' leg, with no metal work!! It was heavily bandaged, but I could just about get a pair of baggy pyjamas over it! I went back onto crutches for a week or so and then the bandage was removed, I had been left with 10 tiny holes in my leg. These healed quickly and before I knew it, I was back in jeans and back behind the wheel of my car!! I started back at work at the beginning of September with one day a week and by the end of the month I was back full-time as though nothing had ever happened. Although, unfortunately this was not the case and my TSF wearing days were not quite yet behind me.