Feet: ex fix

This case was from my first day at Swedish. We put on an external fixator for a patient with Charcot neuroarthropathy. What that means is due to his loss of sensation from years of uncontrolled diabetes, his bones have undergone repeated injury which brings along with it inflammation. The blood which rushes in to bring healing to the injured bones also washes away the structural integrity of the bones over time, resulting in almost mushy and deformed bones. This frame will be adjusted over a period of six weeks to realign the bones in a more functional place, then another surgery will fuse the joints to allow for a stable foot. After a couple weeks the frame isn't painful and patients can even bear weight with it on. They are also used in other situations like complicated fractures.It took a few hours to put on, and the whole time I was thinking Joel would be much better at working all those wrenches and pins much better than the residents who were fumbling around!