Ah, thanks for the concern.
I reread DEM's diary, and I noticed that he actually did take a 6 week recovery period after taking the externals off.
Is the main purpose of the recovery period to check if anything went wrong so the patient can return to the doctor?
Any other timed resting period I should have besides this one?
You'll definitely have three timed resting periods:
1. Between surgery and beginning lengthening.
2. Between stopping lengthening and getting the frames off.
3. Between getting the frames off and going home.
Maybe more if you need to stop because of tendon tightness or infection.
Waiting period #2 is to give your legs time to settle and get the tendons to adjust to their final length. Misalignments could happen during this phase, and if they do, they'll notice and correct it on the operating table. I don't think it needs to be six weeks long, though. You should ask your surgeon how long he recommends these waiting periods to be.
For external, I've read it's 2months consolidation time per cm lengthened.. I thought Kilo gained 6cm?
I thought it was 1.5cm.
Also, I was wondering if this was a possibility:
Book flight for 5 months. Have surgery within the first 2 weeks, then stop distraction and have fixators removed 1 month before my flight.
That's definitely a possibility. You could probably do it in 4 or 4 and 1/2 months, but 5 is nice and safe.
Another thing that is on my mind is the removal of exfixes.
Will there be complications during this phase?
I'm imagining two opposing views on this.
First, I imagine the happy case, the one where you just limp around in your crutches and are happy that you've made it.
Then, I wonder if there could be anything as bad as what people experience right after surgery or during distraction. Things like extreme swelling, bad infections, misalignment, etc.
Your legs will probably swell up for a few days, and infection is always a risk with surgery, but I've never heard of someone developing a misalignment after frame removal and nail locking when there wasn't one before.
I've also read about how Sweden lost 3cm after the surgery. However, his signature still says 180cm. Is this an actual possibility?
I don't know how that happened, or even that it did. Most likely that's due to a measurement error at some point during his LL. 3cm doesn't just "disappear."
Yeah. I had my surgery on May. Had the frames off on August. I planned like OP did only to get my plans derailed by an infection and slow regeneration. If you have deadlines (school/work) my advice is be prepared to disregard them and whatever you calculate for your needed budget, add more for complications and for when you get bored.
I am at the 7 month mark and able to go out with crutches and basically waddle from one end of my flat to the other without crutches and someone closeby for assistance due to limited balance.
Medium Drink of Water:
After 5 months you had frames off like me. You chose to go home immediately. How long were you in crutches for?
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