The pictures on the left and the right below show the original injury to my leg. These were taken after a preliminary re-alignment of the bones had been carried out in accident and emergency. No x-rays were take before these as my foot had to be re-positioned to allow blood flow to recommence. The degree of displacement from the norm (greater than 90 degrees) had completely shut off all blood flow to the foot which was rapidly turning black!

These pictures [left and the right below] show the leg in the Ilizarov fixator after my May 1999 hospital re-admission due to infection. The distraction gap (subsequently recompressed) is clearly visible. The necklace which appears to be coiled up inside my leg is a string of gentamycin antibiotic beads, placed in the cavity left after the removal of the infected tissue. These beads, a slow release antibiotic, complemented the intraveinous treatment with Penicillin V in combating the Streptococcus B infection

This picture shows the two ends of my fibula. This was never reconnected even at the time of the accident and was subsequently shortened even more during the fitting of the Ilizarov fixator. The fibula is a non-weight bearing bone and is often left ununited in cases of severe trauma as recovery and subsequent walking are not fibula dependant.

The actual gentamycin beads as removed from yours truly. (Suitably cleaned I may add). The ruler (in centimetres) gives a comparative idea of scale.

The pictures on the left and at the centre below show the wound in the side of my leg. This was where the abcess grew and was then excised in theatre. The first shows the wound when the dressing was being changed after about 2 weeks. The second shows it about 2 weeks later. The amount that it had healed is readily apparent. The third picture, to the right shows the caring hands of the NHS as nursing sister Jane does a wound cleaning and dressing.

This shot shows the excision wound on July 2nd 1999. As can be seen it is carrying on healing at quite a good rate. I am still cleaning the wound (saline washing) once a day, drying it, dressing with Gelonet (petroleum jelly impregnated gauze), dry gauze and Meofix plaster. A slight concavity is still visible where so much muscle tissue had to be removed.

Those of you who've been reading my story will have seen that back in February 2000, I had a visit from Andrew Demetriou. He is another unfortunate frame wearer, following a motorcycle accident. His story is being followed as it progresses as part of an upcoming Sky TV programme about limb reconstruction. Andrew visited with the film crew [Dom on Camera and Shelley on sound] who sat whilst Andrew and I chewed the fat about things frame related. The programme aired in April/May 2000 and then vanished from the airwaves