drachenmina (drachenmina) wrote in little_details,
drachenmina
drachenmina
little_details

Broken femur from skateboarding

I have a side character in a novel who needs, for plot reasons, to go to hospital for a few weeks—it's vital that he doesn't return home, as his absence is the catalyst for the main plot. I'd like him to be injured in a skateboarding accident, and I'd prefer the injury to be a little unusual—something to cause a doctor to first, be unsure how to treat it and second, want to write a paper about it, perhaps. The character is a fit 31-year-old man living in the Southampton area, UK. He has private medical insurance.

I thought a supracondylar femur fracture might be suitable, which could eventually be treated by an external fixator.

My questions are:

1. Does a supracondylar femur fracture work for my purposes, and if not, what might?
2. How long after the initial injury is it feasible for the doctors to wait, undecided, before operating?
3. How soon after the operation to fix the external fixator would the patient be expected to get on his feet?
4. How long would the overall hospital stay be? Would the patient stay in hospital until the fixator is removed? Might he be moved to a rehabilitation centre? Or am I better off abandoning the idea of a long hospital stay, and having him move in with his parents, say?

I've looked at sites such as www.orthopedics.about.com, http://www.mdguidelines.com and www.bonesfracture.com. And I've had no end of fun googling images... ;)

Thanks!
Tags: ~medicine: injuries: broken bones
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