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Alex Smith - "Devastating Complications" Re: To His Injury


Wally Pryor

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4 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Bad thing is, now he's going to be stuck with her all day every day. He is going to miss being with the boys (teammates) and the traveling that comes with football. Some of these athletes don't know what to do with themselves when it's all over. Football has been all they've known their whole lives. It's one thing to mentally prepare for retirement and go out on your own terms. But it sucks when the one thing you love is taken away in an instant. Doesn't matter how hot his wife is or how much money in the bank he has. He's going to be depressed for awhile.

Yep

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I have not seen an update on this thread in a few days so when Googling to see what the current status was. Honestly given my background it was sickening. They are mentioning a surgical procedure called a free flap which involves splitting the calf muscle and wrapping it back around were they bone extruded through the skin. I suppose perhaps if he has a huge calf muscle to do that with maybe it has a chance. The thing that stood out in my mind was after all the surgeries and amputations were said and done, and I was reading through the surgeon's notes referring to the free flap stating that we know this is not going to work and seldom ever does but we're going to try it anyway. Most of the articles I read kept referring to his ability or capability to continue as a professional athlete. This kind of enrages me. The primary and sole concern should be over his health both physically and mentally as has he has one hell of a mountain to climb regardless of how good his medical professionals are. There are just some things but regardless of how good his treatment is are huge obstacles. God bless him and his family and I wish him the best.

Edited by SHOOTER12
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So smiths injury is something similar to this image.

ed6a9d665196e28c924118ed9d010292.jpg


Infection set in and they had to remove the screws and plates and start using an exterior structure like an erector set to keep bones in place until they can get a handle on the infection and reinsert the plates and close the wound.

Since the fractures occurred near the ankle, there isn’t much muscle down that far and there may not be enough skin to cover the area after cutting away the necrotic tissue.

So they have to do the open flap which is taking some calf muscle and cover the open wound in order to cover the bone and allow healing of the open wound.

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On 12/8/2018 at 1:33 PM, Mileslong said:


I’ve never heard from an actual human cannon ball before, how does one actually join the circus?

Ha.  I grew up playing football, boxing and racing moto-x.  Add that to growing up in the age of being a free range kid with an adrenaline issue and you get broken bones pretty regularly. 

Edited by DigglerontheHoof
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On 12/6/2018 at 2:16 PM, capnamerca said:

I've actually never asked her the question in that context. I think the answer is both, tbh. But I know that since the injury, her goals in life were VERY clear. She's committed to returning to the universe what she was given.

so whose arms is she going to break?

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4 hours ago, RPM said:

Alex, by all appearances, is a genuinely nice guy that's had a tough pro career. He was ridiculed in SF and KC, labeled 'a game manager' and finally had a chance to shine with the Skins. Then this. Then Colt. DC is hard on QB1.

He got a lot of guaranteed cheddar from Dan Snyder and the skins are a dumpster fire.  Assuming he get's healthy, he may want to consider walking away from the game and moving on to the next phase of his life.

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2 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

Ha.  I grew up playing football, boxing and racing moto-x.  Add that to growing up in the age of being a free range kid with an adrenaline issue and you get broken bones pretty regularly. 

Brother?

 

My first lumbar fracture was a motocross wreck.

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3 minutes ago, BarkingSpider said:

But how many of us perfectly healthy people wouldn't trade spots with him in a heartbeat?  He's got a hot wife and is set for life with millions of dollars.  I don't feel for the guy, there are many others less fortunate who are in much worse situations.  

Way, way off track.

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3 minutes ago, BarkingSpider said:

But how many of us perfectly healthy people wouldn't trade spots with him in a heartbeat?  He's got a hot wife and is set for life with millions of dollars.  I don't feel for the guy, there are many others less fortunate who are in much worse situations.  

Yeah, no way should you have compassion for a fellow human being... unless he's poor of course....right ?  I mean that compassion well is only so deep.

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8 minutes ago, BarkingSpider said:

Its not that I don't have compassion, its that he is still in a great situation compared to pretty much anyone.  

No no he's not from a personal point of view. He may lose his leg or worse. He's in a horrible place.  

Money and happiness become meaningless when you're not healthy or become disabled. I've seen it in family and friends, and have a bit of personal experience with it. It's a horrible thing to have happen to you when you've been a healthy, world class athlete. It does really bad things to your head. 

Maybe a better phrasing of your post would help. 

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1 hour ago, BarkingSpider said:

My older brother hanged himself over financial troubles, guess I was seeing things from a different perspective but I can definitely see where you are coming from.  

That's sad, but... Man, just shut the fuck up before you dig the hole any deeper. 

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On 12/7/2018 at 2:11 PM, Magus Ossis said:

Open ("compound") fractures carry higher infection risk because of exposure of normally sterile parts of the body to the unsterile world. Without knowing exactly what was done when for Smith, I am a little limited. A danger is that he was treated like someone with a sports injury when what he needed was to be treated like a trauma patient. Sports surgeons can be jealous of their players and try to manage everything themselves much like they would with an ACL tear.

An open fracture needs early (ASAP) empiric IV antibiotics and fairly early (next day actually OK in many cases, but ASAP not a bad idea) surgery. They need continued antibiotics for days after surgery, unlike the average fracture or other sports surgery. At the time of fixation, they generally should have some debridement (at least exposure and curettage) done in the zone of fracture, as opposed to the typically minimally invasive sports procedure. Bad luck can pull anyone down, but a low-energy open fracture without intrusion in a healthy, young patient is not a super-high infection risk with normal care. Sports is considered low-energy, and under 40 is pretty young still. I am guessing he had a Gustilo grade 2 open injury, for which infection rates have been documented at 2-7% among all comers.

For breaks that look like they are at higher risk of infection, a trauma trick is to put it in an external fixator for a while and come back later for definitive fixation-- I am almost certain that this was not done. There is certainly no shame in proceeding directly to internal fixation, but it can have consequences. The usual way to treat a fracture through the shaft of the tib/fib is a nail ("rod") in the tibia +/- a plate and screws for the fibula, depending on pattern/location of its break. When you have an infection in the tibia and a nail in the tibia, you have infection all the way up and down the medulla ("hollow middle") of the bone. Bad. Antibiotics won't clear an infection in bone with metal still in it.

How "bad" an infection is depends on where it is and how aggressive it is, and to a lesser degree on antibiotic sensitivities. We have antibiotics to kill the more resistant bacteria like MRSA (for now, at least); we just don't like to use them. In the bone (osteomyelitis) and aggressive enough to require cutting out affected tissue are both bad. When we don't know the bug, a common regimen now is Vancomycin and Rocephin for 6 weeks. This is IV. This can destroy kidneys. Once the hardware has been removed from his leg, the tough question becomes whether, when, and what to reimplant based on presumed progress in treating the infection.

I would be surprised to see Smith play another down of football. This looks like Tyrone Prothro redux.

I should get 0.5 CME’s for this post.  🤘🏽

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9 hours ago, Homesickhorn said:


Brother(s)?

My first lumbar fracture, along with three broken ribs, were the result of a motocross wreck. Fortunately, I was in the 8th grade, and my folks went ahead and made the decision to get rid of my bike before I even had a say.

I sense a pattern here.

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35 minutes ago, G650 said:

I sense a pattern here.

Off topic, but I have a good buddy that had a pretty significant pill habit from all the damage he took racing motor cross and 4 wheelers. He ran the amateur and low level professional circuit for years and still runs enduro races on 4 wheelers at almost 40. Dude loves it but he can barely walk most days.

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2 minutes ago, Brew said:

Off topic, but I have a good buddy that had a pretty significant pill habit from all the damage he took racing motor cross and 4 wheelers. He ran the amateur and low level professional circuit for years and still runs enduro races on 4 wheelers at almost 40. Dude loves it but he can barely walk most days.

Yeah, it is realllly easy to pick one up.

I still ride, but just take it very easy. I love it too much to ever stop, but try and be as careful as I can.

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20 hours ago, BarkingSpider said:

Its not that I don't have compassion, its that he is still in a great situation compared to pretty much anyone.  

There is much more to life than just money. Alex Smith's life passion has been abruptly taken away from him. And now he could possibly lose a limb and would change his life forever. That can spiral some people into deep depression. Football is all he knows. I get it, he has a lot of money and a wife. So he isn't completely void but it's going to be very tough on him mentally. And now physically with this infection. I never bought into the whole mindset of 'just because there are people that have it worse than you that you can't feel down'. 

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Yeah, it is realllly easy to pick one up.
I still ride, but just take it very easy. I love it too much to ever stop, but try and be as careful as I can.

^^^This. I was thinking (and am still thinking) about getting Little Homesick a four wheeler for Xmas. I found the same one I got when I was 7 yrs old (1986 Honda fourtrax 70). I just think it would be fun for the two of us to put it back together and get it running.
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  • 1 month later...

Had to bump this thread, even though this has nothing to do with the topic. This morning, I drove to San Antonio to pick up the 1986 Honda Fourtrax 70 for little homesick.
When the guy walked me out to the shed and opened the door, I was taken aback at how much work needed to be done on it. d826eaf70fe0cb4b4a83f7e0ffc2d416.jpg
He wanted $50 for it, and before I could say anything, or haggle about the price, I saw this on the back fender.
40149fb3345d2d7625f07c553c742463.jpg

Two days after Xmas in 1986, I rode my bike up to the Kirkwood Foodmart in Houston, to buy this sticker with my own money, so I could put it on my brand new 1986 Honda Fourtrax 70.

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Got curious after seeing the thread bumped & looked up Smith. Last update I found was that he returned home on December 16, football future still in doubt, but apparently they got the infection under control. The article didn't say that but can't imagine they'd send him home if the infection was still a problem. 

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/12/16/alex-smith-injury-update-exists-hospital-future-uncertain-redskins

Weird side note: I did a search on the SI site for Alex Smith. The second article to come up was "Early 2019 Fantasy Football Breakout Candidates"

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 minute ago, taybo20 said:

If he plays, that’s a miracle 

...plays ever again, no?

If he sits out this year, he'll be trying to come back at the age of 36...

WHY?

Why would you risk losing a leg when you've got a hot wife (maybe a pun)...

CwCtnvTVIAAJe4t.jpg

 

...and three little kids...

Alex-Smith-Wife-Elizabeth-Barry-Kids.jpg

 

...and a reported "Net Worth" of over $50 Million?

 

Everything would have to be perfect with my leg to risk coming back at 36 and it seems like nothing will ever be perfect with his leg.

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...plays ever again, no?
If he sits out this year, he'll be trying to come back at the age of 36...

WHY?

Why would you risk losing a leg when you've got a hot wife (maybe a pun)...

CwCtnvTVIAAJe4t.jpg
 
...and three little kids...
Alex-Smith-Wife-Elizabeth-Barry-Kids.jpg
 
...and a reported "Net Worth" of over $50 Million?
 
Everything would have to be perfect with my leg to risk coming back at 36 and it seems like nothing will ever be perfect with his leg.

Guys that love the game usually don’t take that factor into consideration.
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4 hours ago, Napoleon said:

...plays ever again, no?

If he sits out this year, he'll be trying to come back at the age of 36...

WHY?

Why would you risk losing a leg when you've got a hot wife (maybe a pun)...

CwCtnvTVIAAJe4t.jpg

 

...and three little kids...

Alex-Smith-Wife-Elizabeth-Barry-Kids.jpg

 

...and a reported "Net Worth" of over $50 Million?

 

Everything would have to be perfect with my leg to risk coming back at 36 and it seems like nothing will ever be perfect with his leg.

Exactly. I truly expect a retirement announcement 

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