US skier Lindsey Vonn says surgery saved her left leg from amputation after Olympics crash

U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn said Monday that surgery saved her left leg from amputation after she crashed in the women’s downhill at the Milan Cortina Olympics.Vonn, 41, made the statement in an Instagram post, saying that her injuries went beyond the complex tibia fracture in the leg she initially revealed after clipping a gate and flying off course just 13 seconds into her run on Feb. 8, The Associated Press reported.
Vonn said the trauma from the crash led to compartment syndrome in her left leg. Compartment syndrome occurs when excessive pressure builds up inside a muscle, either from bleeding or swelling. The high pressure restricts blood flow and can lead to permanent injury if it’s not quickly treated.
“When you have so much trauma to one area of your body so that there’s too much blood and it gets stuck and it basically crushes everything,” Vonn said.
Vonn said that Dr. Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon who works for Vonn and Team USA, conducted a fasciotomy to salvage her leg.
“He filleted it open (and) let it breathe, and he saved me,” she said.
Vonn added that Hackett was in Cortina because she was competing after tearing her ACL in her left knee shortly before the Olympics.
She also suggested the tear was serendipitous because Hackett otherwise wouldn’t have to been there “to save my leg.”
Vonn said she has been discharged from the hospital after that she also broke her right ankle in the crash.
“It has been quite the journey and by far the most extreme and painful and challenging injury I’ve ever faced in my entire life times 100,” she posted.
Vonn had multiple surgeries during a week-long hospital stay in Treviso, Italy, following the crash. She said that both Hackett and Italian doctors helped repair her leg, which she said was “in pieces” after the accident.
She also said that she struggled with pain and blood loss in the immediate aftermath and had to receive a transfusion to help increase her hemoglobin levels.
Vonn is now in a wheelchair but it moving toward rehab and being able to walk on crutches. 
She estimated the bones in her left leg will need about a year to heal, after which the doctors will be able to go in and repair her torn ACL, which she says played no role in the crash.
Vonn also said she has “no regrets” about her comeback after a six-year retirement or her decision to ski at the Olympics despite the knee injury.
“I wish it had ended differently, but I’d rather go down swinging than not try at all,” she said.

Read Full Article: https://justthenews.com/nation/culture/skier-lindsey-vonn-says-surgery-saved-her-left-leg-amputation-after-olympics-crash?utm_source=justthenews.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=external-news-aggregators