Cross lengthening in st petersburg russia

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Damn man, you will definitly have some scarring.
Its better to get out of the frame asap.

Goodluck Jim and let us know how the nailing went!

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Awesome update Jim! It was fun to read it in this distilled, non-panicked form. What a rollercoaster of a journey it has been for us.

Let me add that the presence of the clamp has nothing to do with confidence. You also don't get to choose which doctor performs your surgery, they work together as a team. Dr. Solomin has the final say on frame configuration, and for some reason he put in clamps for us (well, like Jim said, they said it's for easier rod insertion at the nailing phase). Here's mine in my femur in plain view, probably overlooked by most.

Jim and I did some research when we got our x-rays, because we were confused about our limited ROM, especially since he had nearly 90 degrees of knee ROM on his femur frame leg during the first stage. I looked through Dr. Solomin's book and found the clamp, called the Extracortical Bone Clamp (ECD), in the parts list on page 14. The ECD isn't necessarily new, here's a paper by Dr. Solomin, and here's a document detailing the ECD on the Ortho-SUV site.

Regarding the limited knee ROM on the femur frame knee, after a while we both agreed that maybe it's because the frame is set a bit too low on the leg. There's a wire that is basically right above the knee joint, and this may be the culprit. As you can see in the later pages in the last link, this patient's flexion is just fine; but the frame is much higher up on the thigh compared to Jim and me. Our frames go right over our knee caps.

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Jesus those externals look brutal. I guess there is reason why doctors dont use them in western countries. Then again the price is very low.
Any idea how is doing they guy lengthening two femurs?

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Quote from: doomsday on August 10, 2018, 01:08:13 AMJesus those externals look brutal. I guess there is reason why doctors dont use them in western countries. Then again the price is very low.
Any idea how is doing they guy lengthening two femurs?

Jim's thread but I'll add my two cents: I actually don't mind externals. They're cumbersome sometimes, but as long as the pain is managed with injections and pills, I'm good. However! The current configuration that severely limits my knee ROM is not good.

Pope is doing well. He completed his lengthening, got nailing (LATN), and has gone back home. Hopefully he'll update his thread soon, but life sometimes gets in the way.

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But isn't externals much safer than internals? Since it's been around since the 50s and it has been improved and practiced on a lot of patients since? Internals has been around for a little more than a decade, but some LL surgeons have barely gotten their hands on internals and some had just started using them.

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Quote from: Clint Eastwood on August 10, 2018, 03:48:57 AMBut isn't externals much safer than internals? Since it's been around since the 50s and it has been improved and practiced on a lot of patients since? Internals has been around for a little more than a decade, but some LL surgeons have barely gotten their hands on internals and some had just started using them.

Yes. Pure externals are proven to be safer as no reaming of the bone canal is being done and you dont mess with the patella in trying to insert the rods. Although my surgeons consider it rather safe and say no long term effects are made by inserting rods through the knee area. So far i havent experienced any chronic knee pain on my first segment. Pure externals on the femur though is something really tough and only a few have been able to accomplish it. Pure externals on tibia is more tolerable.

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Hi Jim. Thanks for sharing your diary!

I am a new LL-er here as you can see. I share around the same height @164 with you and also similar to Android's. After reading your and Android's LL diary with Dr. Solomin and Dr. Kulesh, it really pushes me to get the procedure done myself following you guys' step.

MayI ask why didn't you go for more than 10cm+ in total ? Is it because of body proportion ? Or something that the two doctor did not advise you to do? This is actually something I am a little bit worried about since I do intend to get at least 10 cm+ in total like you and Android are currently undergoing, but I feel like I have a very small torso and short arms (never measure, and perhaps I feel that way because of height?)

I am at my early twenty and I can definitely quit my job next year to get the procedure done for whatever recovery time necessary. How long does the recovery process really take? I am a little bit confused (well, I am really new to the LL scene, and so many terminology is foreign to me...) as to how many surgeries you are actually undergoing, and also what stages of recovery you are undergoing in each surgery. And when do you expect to walk with the new height ? Really appreciated it if you can answer as much and as detailed as possible.

Thank you and wish you the best !!!!! 

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How much does it cost to use a Solomin doctor to do a traditional llizarov extension of the 6.5cm tibia in Russia? the full cost

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Glad your doing good Jim, Best of luck. Would you happen to know by any chance if a private clinic is mandatory? I would rather spend thousands less to get it done like the rest of Russian patients.

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dear jim
Thanks for your shareing 2step of cross lengthening with 9cm gain with good proportion with good price. Could I ask you a question that what do you think about the drop feet due to the surgery? Do you think it could be avoid by lowering the lengthening speed?
Hope your recovery good. Thanks.
Kind regards