A story from a patient:
“10-years with osseointegration!!
My trip with osseointegration started 10 years ago. A treatment that brought hope, but also challenges. The first few months were difficult: pain, insecurity, sadness, the rehab. But step by step I regained my freedom, not only due to the surgery, but also the strength of everyone around me.
In the first picture you can see me on a forest trail, wearing my bone-anchored prosthesis with pride. My wife Jessica is nearby, as she has been all those years. This picture is still, but actually captures a motion, a movement, a symbol of how we kept marching together, even when the path was difficult!
The second picture shows me on the top of mountain in Germany, together with our dog. The sun is shining, and I am surrounded by nature. Not like someone with a handicap, but like someone with unlimited possibilities.
We have walked a number of great marches of the past 10 years. Notorious ones like the 4-days of marching of Nijmegen, Marbella, Mallorca, Tuscany and Girona and many more. The most special one was the climb to the top of Aggenstein, with 1000+ vertical ascent.
On average I walk 1700 kilometers a year, with 13 kilometers of ascent. Every step feels like an accomplishment, every trip brings me memories.
As such, 10 years of osseointegration is not only a medical story. It is a story of scars, seen and unseen. Of learning to deal with handicaps and regaining the trust in my body thanks to this treatment. It is a story of how a piece of titanium has given me freedom again, something I could only dream of 10 years ago.”
