Where Surgeons Dare

The surgery ended after more than three hours, with a basketful of bloody gauze, four tired surgeons and nurses, two anxious "parents" pacing outside the operating room, and feathers scattered across the gray linoleum floor.

A golden eagle found two months ago on the Eagle Ridge Golf Course's eighth hole underwent a procedure to fuse two leg bones together Tuesday afternoon. As two members of Morgan Hill's Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center watched from afar, Princevalle Pet Hospital staff and veterinary surgeons performed the surgery in hopes of giving new life to the 4-month-old male, Orion. The bird was suffering from a dislocation that had reduced him to hopping on one leg and impaired his ability to hunt, veterinarians said.

"If he hadn't been found, he'd be dead by now," Doctor James Roush said.

Orion was happened upon by a Gilroy resident who had sliced his ball into the brush. The eagle was on the ground, having previously suffered a dislocation in the equivalent of his knee - perhaps trying to learn to fly in his first months of life, Roush said.

After law enforcement netted the bird, he was brought to the wildlife center, which has sponsored Orion's $700 in medication, housing and supplies thus far. Hospital staff, surgical nurse Karen Flewelling and Roush also donated their services, which could total almost $10,000 when care is finished.

The most intricate procedure occurred when veterinarians attached two bones in the eagle's right leg. The process started with hospital staff anesthetizing the bird and plucking out the leg's thick down. When finished, the leg looked like an uncooked turkey drumstick.

After transferring the eagle to the operating room and sanitizing the area, Roush made an incision through calloused layers of skin surrounding the bones. Next, he cut off the top end of the lower bone, and the bottom end of the upper bone with a handheld saw.

"Usually we're doing constructive surgery," he said as he sliced off about one-half inch of bone, blood spraying all over his gloves and scrubs. "This is kind of destructive surgery."

Roush took the two bones, placed them flush and fastened them together with a metal plate and nine screws. He sewed up the incision with a thread that the body would break down in about two weeks.

With the procedure finished, veterinary staff stopped the anesthesia and held the bird - whose talons they taped together to prevent an attack - as he awoke. First, Orion's leg twitched. Then his eyes rolled in their sockets as a milky-white eyelid horizontally opened and shut across one eye, then the other. About a minute later, he raised his head, let out a small screech and was officially awake. To prove it, he even reached his head back and tried to nip the anesthesiologist's face as staff put him back in the dog kennel in which he is transported.

"It's just taking care of a broken leg now," Roush said.

The eight-pound bird, which measures more than two feet from head to tail with a six-foot wingspan, will be kept on a regimen of painkillers and antibiotics and have several follow-up visits.

Orion will not bend his leg again, but has an 85-percent chance of being able to perch, Roush said. The process was the equivalent to immobilizing a human knee joint in a straight position, he said.

While this position would interfere with Orion's hunting abilities, he no longer needs to hunt. He will serve as an educational bird, touring schools and education centers.

As nervous as the wildlife center members were, as taxing and expensive as the surgery and treatment were, saving the eagle was worth it, wildlife center executive director Sue Howell said. Through land use and habitat encroachment, humans have caused animals irreparable harm, she said.

"In a way, it's our duty to put them back out there," she said.

Source: http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/contentview.asp?c=224404

Broken bone won't stop Grabham push for Safari win

Moto leader Ben Grabham will go into tomorrow's final stage of Australian Safari carrying a broken collarbone that he sustained early on Friday's leg between Kalgoorlie and York.

The 26-year-old Honda CRF 450X rider had an off on Ryans Find, the 33km second stage of the day, and broke his left 'wing', finishing equal sixth on that stage, but scarcely missing a beat for the remainder of the day.

Despite the unscheduled exit, the Bathurst rider went on to demonstrate that the injury should be no major impediment to his hopes of winning the moto crown in his Safari debut, taking out the remaining Jaurdi and Clarkson Flat stages to end the day nine minutes and 16 seconds clear of the field.

“About 4ks from the finish I tried to dodge a furry critter in the dust and collected a stump along the way," he said.

"It doesn’t really hurt, I expected it to hurt a lot more."

“It was popping around a bit, but it’s not going to stop me tomorrow. I’ve got another good collarbone."

Grabham’s GHR Honda team has its own medico on board, who has wrapped the shoulder tight under his red racing uniform.

“I will do anything I can," he said.

“I sure do have a chance (to win this year’s Safari)."

"I have a lot of minutes up. It's what I was hoping for.”

Nearest challenger Jacob Smith thinks the injury will slow the race leader down, but won't stop him pressing on for the title on the final day.

“It will slow him down for sure," Smith said.

"But I don’t think a broken bone will stop him making it to the finish line. I would ride it with a broken leg."

“We’ll see. Anything is possible on our last day.”

Source: http://www.mcnews.com.au/NewsArchives/2007/August/safari_day8.htm

Injury to starter puts sophomore at QB for Cats

Bransen Ireland's heart is broken.

So is the Blue Springs High School senior quarterback's left fibula (the outer and thinner of the two bones of the leg, extending from the knee to the ankle).

Ireland was hit on the tail end of a 39-yard touchdown run Friday at the Blue Springs Jamboree and suffered the broken bone, which will likely cause him to miss the first five games of the season.

"It's the toughest thing I have ever had to go through," Ireland said Monday afternoon. "I'm having surgery at noon (today). They are going to put a plate and some screws in the break - which is just above the ankle - and the doctors think I'll be ready to go the sixth week of the season.

"That's our homecoming game against Lee's Summit. I'm hoping to take some snaps in that game and then be ready to start the following week at Lee's Summit North."

The starting quarterback duties now belong to sophomore Jared Lanpher.

The last sophomore to start at quarterback for the Wildcats was record-setting standout Jeff Handy (1987), who went on to play Division I ball at Missouri.

"I've dreamed about starting; it's just happening a lot sooner than I thought," Lanpher said before Wednesday night's evening practice session. "It was like, 'Wow! I don't believe it,' when I heard that Bransen was hurt. I really feel sorry for him. We spent a lot of time together over the weekend.

"I'm going to work hard and do my best until he can come back."

Wildcats coach Kelly Donohoe watched game film as he discussed the team's quarterback situation.

"First of all, I'm just sick about what happened to Bransen," Donohoe said. "He's a great team leader. He proved that during all the practice sessions, and he proved he's a real man when he came to practice Saturday morning and told his teammates that he was going to have to have surgery and miss the first five weeks or so.

"The good news is that it's not a weight-bearing bone and that we can get him back for that sixth game of the season."

Overhearing Donohoe's remark, assistant coach John Garrison snorted, "Just cancel the season. We're just going to be practicing punting the rest of the season."

The comments were drenched with sarcasm.

"I know how down Bransen is," said his friend, senior running back Carlos Anderson, "but we're going to rally behind Jared until he gets back. It's going to be tough because Bransen is a great running quarterback. We're going to have to take some of our running plays out for Jared.

"Jared is just a sophomore, but he's got a great arm and a lot of talent. And he knows that every guy on the team is backing him, supporting him. We're just going to have to get the offense rolling, and I'm going to do everything I can to help (Jared) feel comfortable back there."

Ireland's injury happened just eight plays into the jamboree.

"It was a running play for me," Ireland said, "and I cut back and got past the linebackers and was on my way to the end zone when one of their secondary guys hit me when I dove and extended to get the ball in the end zone. I knew something happened to my ankle, but I never thought it was broken.

"The mental part of this is going to be tougher than the physical part. I can work my way back into shape, but when you dream about playing quarterback and it's taken away from you, that's tough."

While he won't be on the playing field, Ireland will do anything he can to support his young understudy.

"Jared will get the job done," Ireland said. "I feel better knowing we have a great young quarterback like him backing me up. He's going to be a great quarterback at Blue Springs, it's just all happening his sophomore year instead of his junior year."

Donohoe said he will make some changes in the offense to help make Lanpher's life a bit easier.

"Everyone knows about Bransen's injury, so you know Park Hill knows about it," Donohoe said, referring to the Wildcats season-opening opponent Thursday at Peve Stadium.

"We'll make some adjustments, tailor some things to Jared. But we'll be all right. This is a team game, and Jared has a great group of teammates around him."

Source: http://www.examiner.net/stories/082807/spo_174092013.shtml

Calcium for the over-50s prevents broken bones

Australian scientists say people over the age of 50 should take supplements of calcium in order to reduce the risk of bone damage should they fall.
The scientists from the University of Western Sydney suggest that daily calcium supplements would prevent one in four fractures in this age group.

The scientists reached their conclusion after a three and a half year study examining the combined results of 17 studies involving more than 50,000 people over 50 who were given calcium supplements.

They discovered that supplements reduced the risk of fractures by 12% but when the proper dose of 1,200mg was taken every day the risk was reduced by 24%.

A connection was also established between the reduced risk and an appropriate dosage of vitamin D.

Subjects ingesting over 800 International Units each day experienced a 16 percent risk reduction and, in comparison, people taking less vitamin D enjoyed only a 13 percent reduction.

Many medical experts maintain that vitamin D helps the stomach absorb calcium, but the study showed that calcium worked just as well with or without it.

Lead author Benjamin Tang says the advice may be optional for those who are fit, healthy and have a very good diet at 50, but those on a poorer diet who are older would gain more benefit.

Dr. Tang says they found that many people are not taking strong enough doses of calcium, or not taking them regularly enough, to reap the full benefits and most of the tablets taken are low dosage.

In older people and particularly in women osteoporosis and low bone density become major health problems, and fractures are a major cause of injury affecting as many as 10 million Americans.

Women suffer a faster loss of bone density after the menopause and osteoporosis, the loss of bone density is thought to cost health services millions each year.

Women have a one in six chance of fracturing a bone after the age of 50 and men a one in 20 chance.

Experts believe people should be able to get all the necessary calcium from a balanced diet and nowadays many cereals breads and margarines are fortified with calcium.

The researchers recommended a minimum daily dose of 1,200 mg in the case of calcium-only supplementation.

The benefit appeared to be more apparent in elderly people over 70 with a low body weight living in institutions.

Dr. Tang says the side effects of taking the correct dose of calcium were minimal with only a small number of people suffering mild stomach upsets.

Dr. Tang says most of the research he surveyed was based on women, who have a far higher chance of developing osteoporosis, and the advice would differ for men.

Experts suggest people with osteoporosis may benefit from a daily intake of 1,000 -1,200mg of calcium but also caution against exceeding the recommended limits of calcium as too much calcium can produce unpleasant side effects such as kidney stones.

They also say calcium supplements and vitamin D should be looked upon only as supplements and not as a replacement for a healthy diet rich in veggies, fruit, and grain products.

The study is published in the Lancet medical journal and was sponsored by the Australian Government.

Source: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=29122

Do broken hearts lead to broken bones?

OBJECTIVE: Mental distress may entail increased risk of hip fracture, but it is uncertain whether the effect consists solely of an indirect effect through use of medication, or whether it is also mediated through other mechanism. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between mental distress and risk of hip fracture in women, adjusted for medication (that is, use of tranquillisers/sedatives or hypnotics).

DESIGN: A three year follow up of hip fracture was conducted on 18,612 women, consisting of 92.5% of all women aged 50 years or older in a Norwegian county. Three hundred and twenty nine suffered a hip fracture. A mental distress index was based on questions about life dissatisfaction, nervousness, loneliness, sleep disorders, troubled and uneasy feelings, depression and impairment attributable to psychological complaints. Relative risk with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of hip fracture with respect to mental distress were controlled for medication, age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, physical inactivity, and physical illness by means of Cox regression.

RESULTS: The 10% of women with the highest mental distress had more than twofold increased risk of hip fracture compared with the 10% of women with the lowest mental distress, after adjustment for age and medication. The relative risk was 1.95 (95% CI 1.2, 3.3) after additional control for BMI, smoking, physical inactivity, and physical illness. The relative risk of hip fracture for daily users of medication compared with never users was 2.1 (95% CI 1.6, 2.9). After adjusting for mental distress it was 1.5 (95% CI 1.0, 2.2).

CONCLUSIONS: Risk of hip fracture was positively related to mental distress, also after adjustment for medication use. The effect of tranquillisers/sedatives or hypnotics on hip fracture risk may be overestimated in studies with no adjustments for mental distress.

Source: http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/53/6/343

Trip day trip for Wendy

TRIP day came to a painful conclusion for one Driffield tripper who took a tumble and dislocated her elbow.

Trip Day veteran Wendy Addy, 66, was enjoying the day out at the seaside until she tripped and sustained the painful injury which has left her with severe bruising and three stitches in her left thumb.

She had been visiting Bridlington with the Trip Day entourage last Wednesday, as she has done for the past 40 years, but ended up in hospital with a dislocated elbow.

She said: “I was walking with my family when the next moment I was down on the road.

“The pain was terrific and we had to wait for an age for an ambulance because it had to travel from Hornsea.

“I felt so faint and sick. I’ve never broken any other bone in my body. I’ve been telling people that I went on Trip Day and had a trip.”

Mrs Addy’s fall came just minutes after a bird made an unwelcome deposit on her back which many people would consider to be good luck.

She had been walking near Bridlington Spa with her husband, Philip, daughter, Denise, and three granddaughters when she said she tripped over the pavement where part of the kerb was missing.

The ambulance first took her to Bridlington Hospital but when they were unable to treat her she was transferred to Scarborough Hospital where she was put under a general anaesthetic while her arm was put back in place.

Her right arm has been put in a sling but she must return to hospital in around three weeks time to discover the full extent of her injuries - she may have also sustained a broken arm or a torn ligament.

Mrs Addy, who lives on Wansford Road, suffers from lymphoedema, a chronic swelling of the lymph nodes, in her right arm and because her left arm is strapped up she is unable to do anything for herself.

She was planning to bake a birthday cake for her granddaughter, Olivia, who will be three on September 3, but at the moment she struggles to wash and dress herself.

She said: “I can’t do anything. My family have to help me get dressed.

“We had a lovely time on Trip Day up until that happened but it hasn’t put me off. I’ll be returning next year with my youngest granddaughter.”

Mrs Addy wrote a letter of complaint to East Riding of Yorkshire Council about the pavement in Bridlington and has been informed the broken section of the kerb has been repaired.

A spokesperson from the ERYC said: “We have received a complaint from this lady.

“We are sorry to hear about her injuries and hope she is recovering well.

“Since she brought this to our attention we have carried out repairs to ensure the area is safe.”

Source: http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/news/Trip-day-trip-for-Wendy.3142622.jp