After 3 jobs, 5 surgeries, woman standing again

After working three jobs to pay for five surgeries in less than two years to treat her osteomyelitis, a woman in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, is finally able to stand again, Haibao News, a news portal based in Shandong province, reported on Jan 8.

In December 2021, Li Caiai, born in 1995, started to experience an uncomfortable sensation in her left leg. "I just felt a bit uncomfortable in my leg, and my muscles were sore. Gradually, the pain intensified to the point where I couldn't turn over or walk anymore," she told Haibao News.

After diagnosis, Li was informed she had contracted osteomyelitis, a rare, painful bone infection caused by bacteria or fungi that occurs in the arms, legs or spine. Looking back, Li realized she was overly optimistic about her condition at the beginning.

"I thought one surgery would fix everything, so I didn't worry too much. It was just painful during the surgery," she said. "It wasn't until the condition recurred and I had several more surgeries — and I heard that amputation might be necessary — that I felt devastated."

The surgical process involves scraping the infected bone and extracting damaged bone marrow. For Li, the affected area was her inner left thigh.

When she first came down with the disease, her muscles, nerves and bones were all in pain. Even taking a breath hurt. Painkillers proved ineffective and even caused stomachaches.

Li said she could only lie face down when she slept.

The first three surgeries drained her savings of over 300,000 yuan ($41,982). She took three jobs to pay for further treatments to alleviate the financial pressure on her family.

She would wake up at around 10 am each day and begin managing her online store, selling items for girls. At 1 pm, she would start her second job, editing promotional videos for her clients. And at 5 pm, she would be taking customer service calls for another online store, sitting for eight hours straight until 1 am, and then going to bed around 2 am.

Li said the income from the three jobs was enough to cover her medical expenses. She said she tried to get better jobs but was rejected because she had to use crutches or a wheelchair.

Last year, she began documenting her daily life through video posts, which she dubbed her "Rebirth Diary", on short video-sharing platform Douyin and eventually attracted over 400,000 followers.

Her fans would leave encouraging comments to cheer her up. She also received negative posts, which she said she would just ignore since they were nothing compared with what she had gone through. After her fourth surgery, Li began to earn extra income through the videos.

"I calculated that the total cost of the five surgeries was about 340,000 yuan. Afterward, I would need periodic check-ups, but my current work income was enough to fully support my medical and living expenses," she said.

In November, Li underwent her fifth surgery. Before the procedure, the doctor told her that the success rate was only about 25 percent. Fortunately for her, the surgery was successful. A small piece of her leg bone was removed and a prosthesis was implanted in her leg.

Eighteen days after the operation, Li was finally able to stand up from her wheelchair without aid. She said at that moment, she was happier than she had ever been. "I recovered two months earlier than the doctors expected!" she said. "Even the medical staff praised my rapid recovery!"