Manuel Zelaya fractures femur, receives surgery in DR

An x-ray of Manuel Zelaya’s femoral-head fracture, as reported in Contrainjerencia today. Here’s the story:

On Saturday, Dominican surgeons operated successfully on the former president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, for a broken femur, which he suffered in a fall on Friday, according to the politician’s daughter.

“A prosthesis was inserted successfully. The process of recuperation and later therapy begins,” tweeted Xiomara Zelaya, the president’s daughter, who informed on Friday that the doctors of the Centre for Diagnostic, Advanced Medicine and Telemedicine (CEDIMAT) were debating what treatment to apply, according to AFP.

Zelaya was in Santo Domingo to participate in a conference on the Central American Parliament during the 15th International Book Fair. He suffered a fall at his residence in the Dominican capital and fractured his femur.

The former president, who was exiled in the Dominican Republic after being ousted in 2009, was admitted to the Armed Forces Hospital and later referred to CEDIMAT.

Zelaya sent a message of thanks to all the Latin American heads of state who expressed concern for his state of health.

Translation mine.

It’s not clear what “prosthesis” Zelaya’s daughter, also known as La Pichu, was referring to in her tweet, but I’m guessing he had a femoral head replacement, which is a common treatment in injuries like this. It’s hard to set a broken femur, and all but impossible when the fracture occurs this close to the hip joint. It’s also painful and nasty as hell; as someone who’s suffered a shattered pelvis, I know all too well what bone pain in that region feels like. He’s going to be needing a lot of bed rest and painkillers, and he’s going to have to relearn to walk, as I did. Yikes! Feel better soon, Mel, you’ve had entirely too much rotten luck in the last three or so years.

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