David’s Osteomyelitis Ordeal

When David was 16 years old, (1989) he was a mountain bike enthusiast! On one occasion, in early summer, he went bike riding with his friends up by Bogus Basis above Boise and took a crash over the handlebars and ended up in a ditch! Each outing was an adventure and nothing kept him from doing what he loved!

Later, he experienced great pain above his ankle on his left leg. I took him to Dr. Borup who thought he had sprained his upper ankle or had a hairline fracture or such. After elevating, icing, and great prayer, nothing seemed to ease his growing pain. He was given a blessing. The leg was now swollen and double in size! Finally, he was bed-bound, agonizing, and suffering. At 9:30 PM one night, in desperation from his cries, I called Dr. Borup at his home. He suggested I take David immediately to ER so they could x-ray his leg. By midnight, I can remember the attending ER doctor coming to us and saying, “We cannot find what is wrong, so we’re going to put a soft cast on his leg to keep it from swelling more and admit him to the hospital.” 

Two days went by with no doctor being willing nor able to offer any diagnosis on this very painful leg. Then, Dr. Michael Naeve, an orthopedic sports surgeon, came on his rounds one morning and said he would examine David’s leg. “I know what this is!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t seen anything like it since I was in Residency!” Surgery was scheduled for 3 hours later—an emergency surgery to save a boy’s leg! 

We were anxiously there in the waiting room when Dr. Naeve finally appeared. “It was exactly as I predicted,” he explained. David had osteomyelitis in the bone of his leg. The disease was literally eating his bone away causing the great pain. Dr. Naeve said when he made the first incision, pus literally squirted in his face from the infection. He dug out the infected bone fragments, and said he couldn’t suture the wound; it would have to heal from the inside out. It was determined that in the bike fall, David had injured his leg. Then, a strep infection from a boil he had on his left knee traveled to the weakest part of his body (the sprained leg), and started eating away at the bone. Crazy still, when I think about it!

This was exactly what young 7-year-old Joseph Smith suffered when surgeons chiseled out part of his bone to save his leg, however, he had no morphine to cut the pain. Instead, his father used his full weight to hold his son down on the operating table. Joseph said it was the greatest ordeal he ever had to endure in his life! 

David would require extensive nursing care for the following 3 months at home! I was taught how to change his large IV unit piped into his arm on a Heparin lock which had a high dosage of antibiotics. I became Nurse Shepherd with sterilized scissors, gloves, swabs, antiseptic, face mask, etc. that I used to clean the open wound daily. The hard part for me was actually SEEING this wound on my boy’s leg the first time. It was 4 inches long and open to the bone. I turned green (according to David) and almost passed out! (I took this picture that David keeps on his phone to this day!) Jim gave him a Priesthood Blessing, and family, friends, and ward members prayed for & supported him.

We were told that if I didn’t do my part right, we were still in danger of David’s losing his lower leg if it got infected. My own summer plans went zip at this point. I became nurse, maid, encourager, cook, clean-up detail, entertainment provider (no cell phone/laptops then), and go-to person for the next 3 months. “MOM!” was the usual cry. I held it together somehow. As I had cared for two invalid parents in previous years, I told myself, “I can do this!” One night the Heparin lock popped out at 11:30 at night as I changed IV bags. I rushed him to ER, and the nurses put it back. We were hanging in there!

Finally, by the end of August, we went to Dr. Naeve’s office to get our official clean-bill-of-health. He slapped David on the back (he was kinda gruff and outspoken) and said, “Well, it’s a good thing your mother got this right or you would have lost your leg!” Gasp! The doctor also told him that he wasn’t to play basketball. His leg was weak and couldn’t take the pounding up and down the court. There went David’s dream of being on the Boise High School basketball team or even the Church ball team. He started his high school days on crutches which he soon abandoned! As he got stronger, his dad encouraged him to try out for the BHS cross-country track team the next Spring which helped strengthen that leg!

David’s lower leg still clicks to this day when he twists and tweaks it--a reminder to him of that healing Priesthood Blessing his dad gave him, a very smart and skilled doctor, and a Mom who loved her son so much that she sacrificed big time for him so he could “have a leg to stand on”—for the rest of his life! 

Memories of Carol Ann Shepherd 10-18