Hi y’all. This is going to be a lengthy post as my issue has somewhat of a complicated history. I (26F) was involved in a car accident at the age of 8 in 2007. I got hit by a speeding driver and sustained a closed simple fracture on my right femur. I had surgery done to correct the fracture in which a surgical plate was used to align my bone. There were no issues post surgery until 2011 where I slipped and fell and landed on that leg. Immediately, I felt great pain and was unable to walk. It turned out the plate that was in my hip was no longer aligned with my bone and you could see a visible bulge (didn’t break skin though) I was rushed to the hospital and was told that the first surgeon did a poor job and I really didn’t need any surgery in 2007. I did have to do a second surgery to be able to fix this issue and got sent home with a surgical implant (unsure if this was the same implant from the 2007 surgery) 

After the surgery in 2011, there were no issues and I thought I was done with everything concerning this injured leg. I also want to add that the accident and the 2 surgeries all happened in Nigeria and I immigrated to the US in 2019.

Sometime last year in July 2025, I noticed a dark area on the surgical incision from the 2nd surgery but I just assumed it was a bruise that left a mark (I’m Black so I deal with hyperpigmentation) Over time, I noticed the dark area started looking like a lump. I got worried and I instantly knew something was wrong so I decided to wait until I graduated in December because I had a feeling it would disrupt my academic journey.

I did visit a nurse practitioner in November and she informed me it was an abscess and prescribed a 10 day course of doxycycline and advised me to apply Mupirocin ointment to that area. I did all these and there was no improvement so after I graduated in December, I booked an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. After getting X-rays, MRI and labs done, he confirmed that there was an infection in my bone; most likely from the implant and from the X-ray results, I was also told my bone was deformed and had healed in the wrong position.

I was scheduled for surgery on the 27th of last month to take out the implant, drain the abscess and debride the surrounding tissues. I was sent home with a PICC line and have been receiving IV antibiotics (Cefepime) after my cultures came back positive for enterobacter. Right now, I’m non-weight-bearing and my next appointment with the orthopedic surgeon is on Friday. So far, my labs have been looking good and the stitches have been healing well with no issues. I still need to have a surgery to fix the malunion but we are monitoring the infection before we can move on with that. 

I understand the surgery to fix that is called an osteotomy where my bone will be broken and realigned in the proper position and my question is how is the recovery process for that surgery going to look like and do I have a high chance of needing amputation if the infection flares up again. 

Right now, I’m trying to stay positive and not spiral into a depression and I’m just looking for any form of hope or good news to cling to.

I’ll attach pictures of my x-rays and the lump that I noticed which triggered this entire ordeal. I’ve also attached a picture of what my stitches are looking like.

I appreciate your replies and look forward to reading them. Thank you.

What is recovery going to look like for me after osteotomy surgery?