Posted by DarrenG
on January 09, 2010
I’d like to think that I’ve generally kept my spirits up for the most part throughout the treatment I’ve been undergoing. Yes there have been bad days, infections etc that have brought my mood crashing down but I’m generally a positive person and tough as it can be, I’ve kept smiling.
January is a bad time for many, post Christmas/New Year with bleak weather and back to work etc but this last week has been a real test.
Wednesday was the day I was supposed to be travelling to St Peters Hospital in Chertsey (a 30 mile drive) to meet with my consultant and set a date for surgery to remove the ilizarov frame. As we all know, Tuesday evening saw the worst snow fall in the UK for a great many years and so when we awoke Wednesday it was clear Cinders would not be going to the ball.
With a foot of snow having fallen overnight our car was stuck and the local roads were equally treacherous. Soon after we got up and surveyed the scene I received a text from the hospital cancelling the appointment and advising that a new one would be arranged in due course.
Buggeration!
Continue reading…
Posted by DarrenG
on October 02, 2009
Tuesday was supposed to be my clinic appointment to measure the bone growth. Last Sunday was the tentative 25mm goal point assuming the bone has grown as planned so the clinic appointment was already late.
What with all that happened over the weekend Tuesday just appeared. The appointment at St Peters was for 2.30pm and so just as we were about to leave the house at 1.15pm the phone rang. It was St Peters cancelling the clinic as the Consultant had just rang in sick!
So I was left in Limbo. If I stop turning the nuts and the bone has grown as planned it will begin to knit. Fine if the leg is the right length, not so good if it’s short. If I continue to turn I risk having the leg too long!
We tried calling our liaison Sister at St Peters on Wed and despite being promised a call-back, none came. called again Thursday and got through. The cancelled clinic has caused turmoil so the best advice they could give me is to turn the nuts twice a day rather than 4 times and I’ll be seen on Tuesday 6th, a full week later and 10 days after I should have stopped turning the nuts.
Apparently the bone rarely grows at the ideal 1mm/day and even if it is longer, the bone is still soft and so can be compressed back a bit, indeed this is often planned as otherwise when it settles and knits you lose a few mm of length.
So now we’re keeping our fingers crossed for Tuesday. Hopefully the bone will have grown well and we can have a date when the lengthening stops and it is all locked off. Then the consolidation/knitting phase can begin.
