After Weeks in the Hospital, Lindsey Vonn Is Finally Out — But Says the Last Two Weeks Were Brutal

LINDSEY Vonn has officially been released from the hospital after her horror Winter Olympics crash.

The star American skier revealed to fans that she nearly lost her leg due to a “complex” issue with the injury.

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Lindsey Vonn has revealed she is out of the hospital after her horror Winter Olympics injuryCredit: am/lindseyvonn
 

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Vonn had a massive surgery to repair a ‘complex’ tibia fractureCredit: instagram @lindseyvonn
Vonn took to social media to share a long message with fans to describe her injury and recovery process.

“After two weeks I finally made it out of the hospital,” Vonn said.

“It has been quite the journey, and by it was the most extreme and painful and challenging thing I’ve ever faced in my entire lifetime times 100.”

She underwent surgery on Wednesday last week for a complex tibia fracture.

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However, the injury was so much more severe as X-rays showed her bones looked completely shattered.

“I’ll give you the full rundown. Basically I had a complex tibia fracture. I also fractured my fibular head and my tibia plateau,” Vonn continued.

“Pretty much everything was in pieces, and the reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome.

“Compartment syndrome is that when you have so much trauma to one are of your body that there’s too much blood and it gets stuck. It basically crushes everything in the compartment. So all the muscles and nerves and tendons, it all kind of dies.

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“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my life. He saved my leg from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg and fileted it open so to speak… let it breathe and he saved me.

“I know I always talk about how everything happens for a reason, but if I hadn’t tore my ACL… Tom wouldn’t have been there and he wouldn’t have been able to save my leg.

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Vonn was hospitalized for two weeksCredit: instagram @lindseyvonn
“So I feel very lucky and grateful for him and the six-hour surgery he put in on Wednesday to rebuild it, which went amazingly well.”

Vonn revealed the process took longer than she had expected, especially because of how much blood she lost in surgery.

“I was in the hospital longer than I had hoped because I had very low hemoglobin from all of the blood loss of all of the surgeries,” she said

“I was really struggling, pain was a little bit out of control, and I had a blood transfusion. That helped me a lot and I turned the corner, and now I am out!”

Vonn now has a long road to recover ahead of her, but can do so from the comfort of her own home.

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USA finished with 12 golds and 33 medals overall – behind only Norway on both counts
“So I want to say thank you to Tom and all of the medical staff in Italy and Colorado that helped take care of me,” she said.

“It’s been quite the journey and it’s going to be a long road. Right now I’m very much immobile.”

After revealing she made it home safe, Vonn revealed she also suffered a separate injury during the crash that wasn’t as life-threatening as her surgery.

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“I’ll be in a wheelchair for a while because I also broke my right ankle,” she said.

“I hope I can be on crutches in a bit, but we’ll see… and I’ll probably be on crutches for two months, but I’m gonna get right to work on rehab and see what I can do and take it one step at a time like I always do.”