4 YEARS LATER 
2016 - My left leg broke from an additional fracture created during first surgery
2020 - The guichet nail broke and fractured my right leg
Ouch, I think I know the pain you felt after the nail broke. When I was 9 years old, I had a bone tumor in my left thigh. I remember how much I cried from the pain and it took a year for the doctors to finally discover it and remove it. It was very close to the femoral artery. Risky surgery. Any news from NHS? Have they found a spare bed for you to get the nail removed?
I have no words, honestly Dr Guichet should have refunded your money and even given you additional support. I hope it all goes well for you, will keep you in my prayers.
Hi everyone,
Just giving you a small update on my 5th surgery which took place last Saturday at Kings College Hospital. Because my slated operation needed 2 surgeons, one for my femur and the other to harvest bone from my hips, the only way possible was to make them come in on a weekend and that they did with no hesitation (respekt!).
I've been so anxious about this surgery that for once in my life, I had nothing to add or say. How could things go so wrong that my right guichet nail had to break too? Not to mention the continuous hopeless non-union of my right leg.
At least things happened quickly, I didn't get to enjoy any benzodiazapine cktail before the big countdown to sleep. I just woke up and was told, it's over, your doc will tell you more tomorrow.
Wheeled back to my room, I was attended by many because they couldn't get my blood pressure above 65 but I tried to tell them that's kinda my range. I remember in Milan during my 3rd surgery, when my blood pressure plummetted, they called a priest.
I was observed every 15 minutes 24/7 for fever, infections, blood tests, IV antibiotics, IV painkillers, IV saline, my long scars/wound sites checked twice a day - in addition to sheet changes everytime I pee/bleed, shower and shampoo, movies 'n meals in bed... I'm starting to think twice about leaving this Club Med.
My doctor finally appeared on Monday morning and while she always has her serious face on, she was almost skipping like a child telling me that she was able to remove the broken guichet nail through the original insertion hole. They were fearful that the nail had disintergrated into so many pieces, they had to slice me open like a frog, and fish around for 'shrapnel'.
Instead, my doc was able to yank everything out intact and lost only 1 bob inside me where she had to do some digging. She replaced the guichet nail with a 12mm trauma nail using the same pin sites and chiselled out a chunk of my iliac crest (hip) to fill my non-union gap like a kebab. She mentioned that there was significant metal contamination and had to scrub my insides out (whatever that means, rust?). She felt sorry for my freak-show number of scars and asked if I would let her remove my keloids while she had me on the operating table. I told her I also needed a face lift, boob job and tummy tuck if ever she got bored.
So that's that. No shortening needed as the 2018 bone graft held up so much so that when they removed the Guichet nail, my entire right leg didn't collapse. Once the new trauma nail was stabilized in place, all they had to do was supplement my empty right gaps with fresh hip bones.
The one thought that kept coming back to me is this. The NHS has me hospitalized for 3.5 weeks because they deemed this surgery high risk and invasive. Hence, I'm being fussed about day and night with pressure/temperature checks every 15 minutes, antibiotic drips, painkillers, physio, wound checks, scans/xrays/tests and even blood transfusions, to prevent sepsis, gangrene, embolism, blood clots, necrotising bacteria not to mention COVID.
Now, when I compare this NHS aftercare to my Guichet Milan experience in 2017 - where I had my left leg nail removed, accidentally broken by Guichet, replaced with a new nail, osteotomy to rebreak my left leg, marrow harvested from 2 hip bones and grafted onto my right non-union gap. Both surgeries are essentially quite similar with 1 giant difference: Guichet discharged me from the hospital after 1 night while NHS looks after me for 3.5 weeks.
I had suffered after that surgery just as much as I have after this recent one, none more than any other surgery patient. I couldn't move at all, couldn't pee, couldn't eat, couldn't sit up, was in agonizing pain etc. However, how can a doctor or any decent human being, risk the life of his patient by limiting their hospital stay to save costs?
I don't think NHS is exaggerating when they constantly check for fevers, biopsies, give heparin shots, monitor wound site, change sheets, dvt socks, endless imaging, blood tests and scans... when in comparison, I was given a pharmacy prescription to fill by myself, when checking out of the Milan hospital after 1 night.
I remember being so angry with myself then because I was all alone at the Radisson Blu Milan and was in so much pain, I couldn't move from the bed, had to pee into trash cans and was marinating in the same bedsheet of urine and blood for days. It wasn't down to Radisson Blu's staff to care for me, it should have been the job of a hospital. And the irony is I was a paying patient of Guichet's in Milan 2017 and am now, a free patient at the NHS in 2020.
These 2 stark experiences upset me still, because the sheer day and night difference in aftercare btw Guichet and NHS simply shows how unnecessarily I had suffered and risked, in the hands of a doctor who prioritizes profit margins over life.
This doctor should be shamed and ran out of this practice before he butchers someone else. I am so sorry you had to go thru this.
dr Debiparsad discharges patients 2 days after surgery to make it cheaper. dr Paley keeps them for 5 days .
So sorry for everything that happened to you. Guichet is a monster. I was once thinking of doing the surgery with him. As soon as I realized what he did to you, I cancelled my consultation with him. The crazy thing is that he was acting like a beggar. He literally emailed me long paragraphs about why I should rethink and do the surgery with him. He was literally begging me. This guy should never be called a surgeon or doctor.
RIGHT LEG POST OP (5th Surgery)
HIP BONE HARVESTING
BLOOD TRANSFUSION
UPDATES ON INSTAGRAM
I'll post daily photo updates on Instagram, but my account has been reported and muted. So this combo is the best I can do, sorry for the inconvenience.
https://www.instagram.com/unicorn_gets_taller/?hl=en
Haha finally some good news combined with classic Unicorn humour. I'm glad you still got it! Funny that they talked about metal contamination in your leg and you wondered if it's rust. I said in a previous comment that I wouldn't be surprised if the nail rusted. Keep going strong! You could go on one of those TedxTalk shows one day. You are very inspiring and have a great story.
PS: I noticed your teddy bear . Check out this cute thing I got myself for Christmas last year . I named it Unicorn
http://prntscr.com/swv4og
I really feel for you for what you been through. as i have been butchered and had to have several correction surgeries after. you have had such a rough road and probably the longest road to recovery out of all of us, i really hope you will have a full recovery now, with quick progression, i hope you can sue the doctor. we must always keep active on the forum so people are constantly reminded about the names of the doctors that butcher us, so everyone will always know these are the scum that just care about profit margin and not their patients
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