Rainy day procrastination...

First of all, wow.

I've gotten so many positive comments from people not even going through the process and it's absolutely amazed me. Thank you all so very much, your support is very much appreciated! Just had to say that before continuing...


THE FRAME
I said I'd go into more detail regarding the frame, so here we go. Now, there are a few different frames that are in use for leg lengthening, but I'll just be covering the one that I'm using.

Like I mentioned before, the frame that I've got on my leg is a Taylor Spatial Frame (TSF). It was 'invented' by Dr Charles Taylor, but it's based upon the same method as the more widely known Ilizarov Apparatus - "the theory of tensions". This just refers to the way the pins in the bones are connected to the framework, allowing a person to apply tension stress in order to regenerate soft tissue and bone in a fairly reliable manner. It was all based off the shaft bow horse harness, and the original frames were made out of bicycle parts. I won't go too much into Ilizarov - during your research, you'll probably come across Ilizarov's name many, many times. He's the guy who perfected limb lengthening in the Soviet Union (back in the day!), before it was taken to Italy and then the USA.

Left, front, right and back views
of my frame.

Here's some pictures of my TSF. My boyfriend likens the two black rings to mini Stargates and now that's all I can think of when I look at it. It's a good thing, it's good to be able to make light of not the greatest situation ever. So these two rings have six telescopic struts that can each be individually shortened or lengthened according to the need of the user. Because they can all be changed differently, it give you six different axes of movement, making it extremely able to manipulate bones in multiple directions. This is really handy for me, because of the curvature of my tibia. We're not only trying to stretch it, but we're also trying to straighten it out in the process. We do this very slowly, most of my struts get changed 1mm per day, but occasionally one, or even two of the struts have a 2mm change in a day.  These 2mm change days are not altogether fun, because there's more stretching in a 24 hour period, your leg feels much tighter than most other days. There is a general feeling of tightness as you go on, for obvious reasons. Apparently this is why I'm going to be having a rough time when it comes to the last week of stretching, according to Dr Astori. I can't believe I'm not even half way there yet, so the further we go and as the gap between the bone fragments increases, the more anxious I get. I guess we can only wait and see...

Each strut has measurements on them
so it's easy to lengthen accurately.

Each frame will be different for each person, depending on the size and shape of your leg (or whatever you're getting lengthened). But you get the basic idea. I'm pretty short regardless (152cms/5ft flat), so I've got short legs anyway. My frame is about 22.5cm in length from the bottom tibial pin up to the top black ring.

The frame itself is approximately AUD$15,000 - thank God for private health insurance! For a bit of an extra bling, the dressings that were originally around my pin sites after the surgery were lined with silver, but the hospital paid for those apparently. The silver acts like an anti-bacterial agent, for reliable infection control.

For more information on the frames, you can go here:
http://www.smith-nephew.com/us/professional/products/featured-products/taylor-spatial-frame/

They're a bit bulky, and you'll knock it on things occasionally. I felt really clumsy at first, because I kept doing that as I was getting used to it being there - but it doesn't hurt to gently knock. I wouldn't recommend going around bashing the crap out of it - but it can take it, and it won't leave you in pain in the slightest. I've even fallen over once, and rather than anywhere on my leg hurting, it was my backside that hurt the most from landing on the edge of the shower, bruised quite impressively. Speaking of showers...




SHOWERING/BATHING

Right, so for the first night, I didn't shower. Obviously, because I hadn't been allowed out of bed and was still out of my mind with drugs. I was able to shower the very next day though, with help taping a bag around my leg and I had help wrapping a towel around my head and being dried off as well (remember, it was two days before I could dry my own butt? My balance was horrible). The shower itself I was able to handle on my own, by having a chair placed in the shower. For the first week and a half, I would sit down in the shower. Both the hospital and the shower downstairs at home are the models that are mounted to the shower on an adjustable rail and the nozzles themselves are detachable from their holder. This comes in handy, and I'm glad I decided to move downstairs because the upstairs shower is permanently fixed to the wall.

As the muscles in my left leg slowly got used to being the primary weight bearer, I was able to actually stand in the shower and balance best I could through out the duration. This was highly preferable for me, because it turns out sitting down in the shower the entire time is a right pain in the posterior. I did this for a while with my crutches either just outside the door, or even once or twice I took my crutches in with me. I don't do that anymore, as we've since gotten a walker for me to put in the shower to use for my balance. As I mentioned before, I've actually fallen over while trying to come out of the shower - I put a crutch down on the edge of the bath mat, and the mat flew out from under me. I managed to twist my body well enough that I landed on my side with my upper body and my leg was facing up, so I landed on the back of the frame rather than the front and it didn't hurt my leg and none of the pins hit the ground, but my backside definitely ached for a few days. So just be careful with your crutches. Also with slippery floors. There's been a couple of close calls where I've put my crutch down on a slippery surface and it's come out from under me but managed to catch my balance in time not to stack it. Again.


So the picture is of how we have our shower set up for when I use it. We still have the chair in there for when my leg does get tired, but also have the walker as it provides a more stable support. That wasn't even my idea, I think I accidentally scared the living daylights out of my mum when I stacked it though, because she went out and bought it the very next day. It was about AUD$100 brand new.

I wore a bag around my frame for the first three and a half weeks, until I got the okay from Dr Astori to bathe without it. And like I've mentioned before - I was told no soap, just water. It helps soften the skin before cleaning, too, so it doesn't hurt as much as it did if the skin needs to be broken from the pins. I shower at night because that's the best time for us to clean my pin sites as well, and the pin sites need to be done straight after showering. And this was the worst part, as far as I'm concerned - because I had to bag my leg up, it meant no shaving my right leg for three and a half weeks! Gasp! The first night I was able to shower with no bag, I made damned sure to make that baby as smooth as possible, without getting *too* close to the pin sites so not to irritate or get any stray hairs in the wounds. Another tip I was given from one of the nurses at the hospital, was to spend some time going around my leg with an eyebrow trimmer, or something similar. It's all rather fiddly, but you do what you can to feel clean!

I change towels (I use two, one for my hair and one for my body) about once every four or five days, but I'm probably going to change that to every second day, just to be on the safe side. It's recommended that you change your towels once every three to five uses to avoid mildew or mould bacteria from growing inside your towel. When we wash the towels, we wash them like normal but also with a capful of  Canesten Hygiene Laundry Rinse, which has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.