Lindsey Vonn has provided an update on her leg injury (Image: Getty)
Lindsey Vonn has issued an emotional message confirming she has left hospital after suffering a serious leg injury at the Winter Olympics. Vonn was airlifted to hospital while competing in the downhill competition in the Games in Italy earlier this month, just days after rupturing her ACL.
Vonn underwent multiple surgeries and reports emerged claiming that the skiing star had been discharged from hospital in Italy to return to the United States for further treatment. In an emotional post on Instagram. Vonn provided details on the injuries she suffered, including compartment syndrome and a broken ankle, and how the doctor in the hospital saved her from losing her leg.
« I had a complex tibia fracture, I also fractured my fibula head and everything was in pieces, and the reason it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome, » she said in a video posted on Instagram. « Compartment syndrome is when you have so much trauma to one area of your body that there is too much blood and it gets stuck. It basically crushes everything in the compartment – muscles, nerves, tendons, it all dies.
« Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg, he saved my leg from being amputated. He did what is called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg, let it breathe, and he saved me. I always talk about everything happening for a reason. If I hadn’t torn my ACL, which I would have done anyway in this crash, Tom [Hackett] wouldn’t have been there, he wouldn’t have been able to save my leg.
« I feel very lucky and grateful for him, for this six-hour surgery he put in to rebuild it, which went amazingly well. »
Vonn also explained why she remained in hospital longer than expected, and went on to put a timeframe on the next stages of her recovery. She said: »I was in the hospital a little longer than I hoped because I had very low haemoglobin from the blood loss from all the surgeries. I was really struggling, the pain was a little bit out of control and I had to have a blood transfusion.
« That helped me a lot and I turned the corner and now I am out. I am in a wheelchair right now, I am very much immobile, and I will be in a wheelchair for a while because I also broke my right ankle.
« I hope I can be on crutches in a little bit but we will see, and I will probably be on crutches for at least two months. But I’ll get right to work on rehab and see what I can do and take it one step at a time, like I always do. »
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Lindsey Vonn underwent multiple surgeries after suffering a leg injury at the Winter Olympics (Image: Getty)
Vonn accompanied the video with a lengthy caption, which also provided a potential timeframe for a full recovery which could require further surgery in the future.
« I’m finally out of the hospital!!! After almost 2 weeks of laying in a hospital bed almost completely immobile, I’m finally well enough to move to a hotel, » she wrote in a post on Instagram. « It’s not home yet, but it’s a huge step!
« I hope I explained my injury well enough. I’m not a doctor so if I don’t explain something perfectly please forgive me. When the injury happened the situation was quite challenging in many ways but in the end, the situation was brought back into control. Again, thank you Dr Tom Hackett.
« Now I will focus on rehab and progressing from a wheelchair to crutches in a few weeks. It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL.
« It will be a long road but I’ll get there. At least I’m out of the hospital. Love you all. »
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