I find the good doctor's willingness to field such a torrent of questions without any compensation in return admirable. To you, I extend absolute graciousness. I see this thread hasn't been tended to in quite some time, so I hope doc Birkholtz is merely taking respite from the frenzied onslaught. If you are ever to return, I would be indebted to you if you would be willing to take a moment of your precious time to grant insight to the following questions I've been yearning to have answered. I'm currently undergoing LON in India, by the way.
There are many occurrences in our guest house that have not been given satisfactory answers by our doctor. Could you provide generalized answers to the following?
1) Many of us have noticed that the rings on our Ilizarov fixators have been installed with the centre of the rings heavily displaced to one particular side. ie. there is a gap of only a few cm. between the frame and the inner side of my knee but there exists a great many cm. gap on the outer part of the knee with the frame. Our doctor assured us that this will have no bearing on the distraction quality of the frame, but in my layman mind I would think, through simple application of force analysis, that this displacement would cause an outer/inner pressure on the bones, causing them to bend one particular way. I would have preferred to have had my leg centred in the frame, as would have everyone else, but is this something you take into consideration when installing a frame? Everyone's legs seem to keep straight, but some people have turned in ankles and others have what appear to resemble x-legs.
2) Ever since my initial surgery I've not been able to enact function on the big toe of the left foot. The doctor continually assures me its function will return. He seems unsure as to what the cause is, though. He says it is sometimes a nerve, and other times a muscle/tendon. Is it something that should ameliorate over time, as he assures?
3) This is perhaps too audacious a request, but I would like to know if I can send a picture of my legs to you after my frames are off to see if you can identify any occurrence of x-leg. Is there a particular angle and stance one can use to readily identify the symptom? The doctor tells everyone they do not have it, but I think some must.
Thank you in advance for whenever you have the time to resolve these enquiries. I would not hesitate in considering precise femoral lengthening in the distant future with you if you were ever to absolve your practice of the height limit contraindication. I reckon to be close to 183cm after this round, but would possibly do another 5-6cm on femur if the circumstances allowed for it.
Best regards,
Ashoka