Grrrr . . .

OK--Side by side, I could see how one could argue that the second (before surgery) picture here looks a lot "cleaner" . . .

But, looking at the wound--we definitely made some progress.  The bracket at least has real tissue covering it now (that little string got cut out of there later).

Dr. Carbonell did his best to pull the wound back shut with the steri-strip.  

Enough already . . . use the dermaclose

These pictures show the results of my 5th and 6th surgeries.  Basically, the brackets were attached to my foot using multiple staples (ouch!).  Then, over the next two days, a tiny cord (that had been threaded through the brackets) was pulled tighter and tighter--stretching the skin and closing the wound.  

Getting smaller . . .

The first photo shows what my wound looked like with a little human newborn foreskin attached to it (called dermagraft).  Unfortunately, as you can see in the second photo, it really didn't help to generate new tissue.  The dermagraft just kind of died on the metal plate.  

The wound improves

These pictures show how my body started producing more and more healthy tissue to slowly start closing the wound.

Infection leads to the 3rd surgery

Although the 2nd surgery worked wonders, the debris that found its way into my body during the fall led to serious infection of the wound.  Dr. Carbonell went back in to open up the wound, clean it up, and remove dead tissue.  Little did we know it would take almost 4 months to make close up the wound again.

The Big Surgery

Two days after my fall, Dr. Carbonell performed a small miracle and put my talus bone back together with pins and a metal plate.  Pins were also put through the bones of my foot to attache an "external fixator."

Right after the fall

This is what my ankle looked like right after the first surgery.  Dr. Corses said that he basically just tried to clean the wound site and push all the parts back inside the foot!