A mother has endured four years of hell after having her leg amputated following a catastrophic fall in the stairs.
One morning changed the life of Louise Bird, 43, forever.
The mother-of-four was getting her children ready for school like any parent in March 2020.
While doing so, she rushed down the stairs and slipped, breaking her left tibia and femur.
Louise decided to have her leg amputated from below the knee to get life back (Picture: Louise Bird / SWNS)The last thing Louise remembers is running up the stairs to get a book for one of her children Alanna, now 20, and Alexander, now 16.
Louise, from Lanark, Scotland, felt her leg snap and she was rushed to the hospital where she was fitted with a metal plate and cast.
But this was just the beginning of four years of hell as she developed an infection which failed to heal.
At Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Louise was told she could lose her leg.
To save it, she was fitted with an Ilizarov frame she spent six months with before it was removed.
She said: I thought thats it. I can walk again.
However, her hope came crashing down after the doctors discovered she had osteomyelitis an infection in the bone.
I couldnt cope with more pain anymore
Louise said she could feel her leg getting swollen and hot.
In late 2020, she had a nine-hour operation to remove 9 cm of the infected bone and to fit her with another Ilizarov frame.
She endured the cage for two years.
But Louise said she was in constant pain and unable to leave the house apart from doctors appointments.
Her leg was ten times the size it should have been when the metal frame was removed before the amputation (Picture: Louise Bird / SWNS)Her husband Alex Bird, 43, who Louise described as her rock, became her carer.
She told of the moment she decided to have her leg amputated: I was in agony.
I was in so much pain and I couldnt cope with the pain anymore.
I decided that Id have my leg amputated.
In June 2022, Louise underwent the amputation.
After the procedure, she felt relieved, but she had to spend seven weeks in hospital to heal an infection in her stitches.
Muscles have come away from her stump, making it difficult to find a prosthetic which fits her and Louise struggles to walk.
Its just unlucky, she said.
She is now scheduled to have another surgery in January to remove more of the limb to make it the right shape in January as doctors have tried to find a prosthetic that fits.
Louise said: The only time I go out is for doctors appointments.
Ill be able to go out.
Another symptom she suffers from now is phantom pain a pain in the missing body part after an amputation.
She explained: I would get an electric shock in my foot.
I have pins and needles constantly in my stum.
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