Day 21 - Post #13 - X-Ray images: Surgery-Left Ankle

During the long surgery on Devin's left ankle, he had over 20 pins inserted into his foot to help hold things in place while two large pieces of bone from a donor about the size of two cherry tomatoes, were grafted into place after the surgeons made wide gaps in the Calcaneus when trying to reshape that bone back to its normal size, shape and position. The Calcaneus bone had been severely crushed, misshaped and misaligned, and getting the normal size and shape were critical to the healing process. The good news is that the cartilage between the Calcaneus and Talus bones was still there (unlike in his right ankle).

After hours of reshaping the bone, and putting the pieces all back together again including the new bone grafts and pinning it all together, then the plates were added as a more permanent way to hold everything together while the bone heals over the next several months. Most of the initial pins driven into the bone were removed once the plate was secured with larger screws, however as you can see from the x-rays, not all of the pins were removed.