Broken bone not growing back together.

de8212 · 01-25-2008, 07:22 PM

I broke my humerous bone back in sept. 2007. Over the course of ~3 months the bone did not fuse together. My Dr. decided to operate on Dec 20. He put a plate in my arm to connect the two bones and some kind of material to help aid bone growth/fusing.
Had an xray a week and a half after surgery just to see how things looked. Had an xray today, ~5 weeks from surgery, and the bone has not even started to grow. The Dr. acted a bit concerned but wants me back in one month.
I guess this is a vague question but does anyone have any knowledge in this type of situation? Should I insist that the Dr. runs some kind of test on me to see if I have a bone disorder?
Did the Dr. wait too long and now the ends of the bone are "dead"? Any info or help would be appreciated.

feelbad · 01-26-2008, 11:18 AM

have you been taking any type of NSAID like aleeve or advil during this time you have been dealing with this,or even smoking?both of these things can inhibit bone fusion.are you taking any other meds for any reason?has he ever just run a basic metabolic panel on your blood to see if there are any deficiencies like with certain minerals like calcium?FB

de8212 · 01-26-2008, 01:57 PM

Thanks for the reply feelbad.

No medicine other than pain medicine. At first I took oxycodone, then hydrocodone. I do not smoke and I'm 36 BTW.

He did not run any tests on me whatsoever.

I plan on calling my regular Dr. on Monday to give her all teh details on this (haven't seen her in a long time).

Another bit of info is that I broke my thumb (matacarple (sp?)) a bit less than 2 years ago and it healed pretty good for the most part. I may try and contact the Orthapedic Dr. I saw for the thumb injury to get a second opinion.

Just not sure what else I can do????