Hello everyone,
I did tibia lengthening with Dr. Salameh in January 2018. I have the frames taken off several months ago, in February 2019. Everything went well, so I wanted to share some experience with you. I apologize in advance for my English, it's not my first language.
I'm 24 this year. I flew to Frankfurt half a month after I finished my undergrad in Canada. I got in contact with Dr. Salameh several months before the surgery. Dr. Schmidt made the arrangements, and I sent the fees to Dr. Schmidt account. It was 25,000 euros. I sent 5000 euros before flying there, and I asked my boyfriend to send the rest after the surgery. I stayed at Dr. Schmidt apartment, which has multiple rooms, for the whole duration. Dr. Salameh met with me 2 days before the surgery to take the measurements. Dr. Salameh also told me that my right leg needs some correction.
The surgery took place in Dr. Schmidt's clinic, which was just below the apartment.
I have documented things that happened in the first month after the surgery. After that I stopped because not much seemed to happen every day. Let me first post the journals.
Jan17: surgery at 9, woke up at 14:00, carried to the hospital(St Joseph) by a van in a wheelchair. I was drowsy in the afternoon, but the anesthesia was fading, and I was fully awake in the evening. Legs hurt, and it was hard to fall asleep at night. The nurses gave me painkillers when I ask for it. But it didn't help much. It was also really hard to move my legs, and my heels hurt from the constant pressure.
Jan18: A physiotherapist came to teach me to walk with support, and to exercise. My leg bones kept making a "clicking" noise when I move, which was a little scary. Doctor Salameh changed the bandages, but blood was still oozing. Had antibiotic, painkillers(the oral one is less effective than the injected one). Right leg was more swollen and numb. I tried to elevate it with pillow. I am not sure whether it helped. Doctor said it’s normal. I had lip herpes, tongue and tooth hurt.
Jan19&20: swelling in right leg stayed the same. I walked and exercised when possible. Elevated right leg. Clicking seemed to be less.
Jan 21: Dr. Schmidt drove me back to the apartment. Legs stopped hurting in the afternoon, but after standing for very long to wash my hair the pain came back. Doctor Schmidt bought pizza. Did not elevate my legs because of lack of pillows.
Jan 22: Started to cook for myself. legs hurt significantly more in the evening. Right leg was always worse than the left.
Jan 23: Numbness in my right foot seemed less. Doctor Salameh made modifications on the right fixator so that my right leg can be corrected. He said my left leg was already aligned. right leg hurt a lot when the screw was loosened. I was not able to walk for sometime afterwards.
Jan 24: Dr Salameh made sure that I know how to turn the screws. I asked my roommate Thorsten to buy colored stickers (he bought tapes, which also worked), and color coded each face of each screw. Physiotherapist Nadja came in the evening and told me that my left leg was in good condition.
Jan 25: Started lengthening at 12:00. Did not hurt as much as the first time the screws were adjusted 2 days ago. I was able to walk afterwards. I drew the positions of the screws on a paper to make sure I turned them correctly. Left fibula started clicking in the evening. I still go to bed at ~10pm. I set an alarm at 0:00 to turn the screws. I was able to sleep after.
Jan 26: Dr. Schmidt told me the clicking is normal. Numbness in the right leg is less. only the ankle is swollen and numb. I took picture of the position of the screws on the paper, and marked it with colors in a drawing app, so that I don't have to draw the positions every time, thus I can avoid the accumulation of errors.
Jan 27: Pain is less in the right leg. Stretching lessen the pain. At least for the short time being after stretching. The inner pin on the first ring started hurting tremendously after I washed m hair in the evening. However, I was careful not to get water on my legs by wearing pants and covered my legs further with a towel. When I checked after washing my hair, the dressings were dry. So I don't think the infection came from the water.. maybe the moisture?
Jan 28: I was not able to sleep well. I woke up every hour because of the pain, and gave up sleeping at 5 in the morning. There were pus forming on the pin site when I changed the dressing in the morning, which made me certain that it was an infection. I texted Dr. Schmidt but he did not reply. I figured out later that I got the wrong number. Thorsten called Dr Schmidt for me, and Dr. Schmidt came half an hour later and injected me with antibiotics. He has brought me more concentrated painkillers, and cleaned the infected site with saline water and changed the dressing. The pain subdued when I am not moving my left leg. however it still hurts a lot when I walk. Thorsten brought me food
Feb 10: The infection is almost gone. However, It has been several days where it hurts every time I turn the screws, the pain is continuous, and seems to be coming from the bone. it hurts the most right after I turn the screws. Dr. Salameh told me to rest for one day every week.
Feb 11: I did not turn the screws today. The pain seems to go down a lot.
Feb 24: The vitaminD and calcium+magnesium (from Nature Love) that I bought on Amazon has arrived. Hopefully they will help
Feb 26: I have > 2cm~ The bone pain is less now, but my right foot(mostly toes) hurts when I go to sleep, and prevents me from falling asleep
March 3: The foot cramps had been occurring for the past week. It was quite painful.. it usually starts 1-2 hours after I fall asleep, and keeps me awake until the morning. The pain usually go away in the morning.. but it seemed to be lingering longer and longer. I felt the pain for the entire day today, it was coming from both my foot and my leg.. and it was not only until the evening that I was able to flex my foot. Dr. Schmidt gave me some muscle relaxant with the side effect of making one sleepy.. I only felt its side effect. It was really strong. I usually send message to my boyfriend when I cannot sleep, and I found myself falling asleep in the middle of typing a sentence.
March 4: My room mate Peter, who has had a surgery for his knee problem, told me that my foot cramps might be coming from a tendon. The tendon is on both the leg and the foot. I stopped lengthening today as usual.
March 5: I did not wake up by the pain yesterday! So maybe it was indeed because I did it too fast..
And this is when I stopped writing journals.
The pain slowly subsided since then. In April I was able to sleep almost everyday without being waken by the pain in the night. I went back to Canada in April. I kept the pace of 2 turns per day. I send xrays to Dr. Salameh slightly less often than once per month. It is worth mentioning that I reversed the lengthening process when I reached 5cm, (Dr. Salameh's suggestion) then slowly lengthened it back to 5 cm and stopped.
I experienced 1-2 infections per month since I left Frankfurt. It might be because I didn't clean the screws thoroughly. It was quite painful.. I think it's important to always have some antibiotics ready, so that the infection can be stopped early.
In terms of ballerina feet, I have started to have it at 3cm, the reversing process helped a little with it. I have not been doing stretching actively, even though I should. However, at September 2018, by the time I started grad school, the ballerina feet has improved a lot, and I was able to walk with sneakers without people noticing.
That's all I can think of at the moment, I plan to post some pictures. I'm sure there are things that I have missed. Questions are welcome.
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Topic: Tibia lengthening (5cm) with Dr. Salameh in Frankfurt (Read 2710 times)