Quote from: crimsontide on May 30, 2015, 11:26:57 AMmy evidence is your leg
it looks really bad, to be honest. your osteotomy looks bad, and your bone is bending outward
that's not normal. if you think all will be okay, that's your choice. I don't know what else to say. It wouldn't be acceptable to me.
Agreed. The same problem has happened to bluebarbie as a result of her monorail lengthening - major misalignment of the proximal and distal bone fragments.
OP, I'm going to give you the same advice I gave to her. She hasn't taken the advice and I am certain she will live to regret it. Hopefully for your sake you are smarter.
Get the monorail exchanged for a proper external frame like a hexapod or TSF which will allow realignment of your bones before they fully consolidate. If you don't, I can promise you that you will be "recovering" for the rest of your life. People that leave these surgeries with major misalignments do not do well in the long term.
Both of your tibias have become grossly misaligned. It is probably still fixable now but it won't be for long.
My Experience So Far- External Monolateral - Dr Mitkovic
christ lord, thankfully I found out about this now.
i am now crossing serbia off my list, i hope you get well Descreteuser.
looks like it's barinov or dhawan for me, but so little is known of dhawan.
Personally I have a hard time considering any surgeon who offers monorails reputable. Why on earth would you offer a patient monorails, where you have pretty much no capacity to control the alignment, when you can just as easily use a hexapod or TSF? Yes, with a full external frame you have more pin sites. But at least you can keep the alignment straight. That should be the number one priority for all leg lengthening cases. Who cares if you have fewer pins with a monorail but end up deformed by it?
I think you should look more at the devices the surgeon offers and their track record with those devices than just what country they are from.
ye i just said serbia as a shorthand, seems a lot of people here do that, what i meant is i will cross mitkovik off my list.
Quote from: maximize on May 31, 2015, 12:02:43 AMAgreed. The same problem has happened to bluebarbie as a result of her monorail lengthening - major misalignment of the proximal and distal bone fragments.
OP, I'm going to give you the same advice I gave to her. She hasn't taken the advice and I am certain she will live to regret it. Hopefully for your sake you are smarter.
Get the monorail exchanged for a proper external frame like a hexapod or TSF which will allow realignment of your bones before they fully consolidate. If you don't, I can promise you that you will be "recovering" for the rest of your life. People that leave these surgeries with major misalignments do not do well in the long term.
Both of your tibias have become grossly misaligned. It is probably still fixable now but it won't be for long.
Bluebarbie will be fine. She's getting LATN, so the misalignment can be corrected on the operating table during her nailing surgery.
Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on May 31, 2015, 01:52:43 AMBluebarbie will be fine. She's getting LATN, so the misalignment can be corrected on the operating table during her nailing surgery.
There's a chance they'll get it close enough to straight during the nailing process that she won't be disabled. But "fixing" the alignment during nailing is a poor idea. When you fix alignment with TSF/Hexapod you can control the exact position gradually down to the mm. No such precision exists during realignment when nailing.
Monorails are a bad idea all around. Whether nailing after or not.
you guys are pretty much saying ill be disabled if my leg stays like this.. this forum shows that people on here done know what they are talking about.. your saying you need to get another frame put on.. god ive heard it all.. previous patient before me had worse mis alignments then me and he got them corrected here.. he is walking completely normal. hes even doing light jogging and its only 10 months post op.. he said his flexibility is better than it was before the surgery.. you guys are throwing false information out there saying that if u have mis alignments with this device that your are going to be crippled.. dont say things that you dont know about.. people on this site think they know alot more than they do.. i agree that this device isnt good for alignments but dont say that someone will be deformed or disabled from it.. BECAUSE ITS NOT TRUE.. i can already stand up completely straight.. my walking is improving daily.. i might have the bump on my left leg pushed in just for aesthetics sake.. it seems as tho people have done a bit of reading and now think they are doctors..
Quote from: Descreteuser on May 31, 2015, 05:59:49 AMyou guys are pretty much saying ill be disabled if my leg stays like this.. this forum shows that people on here done know what they are talking about.. your saying you need to get another frame put on.. god ive heard it all.. previous patient before me had worse mis alignments then me and he got them corrected here..
I'm curious how they correct the misalignment with a monorail device. As I understand it monorails only function along one axis (hence the name "mono") and thus cannot correct misalignments in 3 dimensions (as you have).
Quote from: Descreteuser on May 31, 2015, 05:59:49 AMi might have the bump on my left leg pushed in just for aesthetics sake.. it seems as tho people have done a bit of reading and now think they are doctors..
I don't think the aesthetics of the bump are what you should be concerned about. It's that the bump is there because the two bone fragments have become misaligned. If your surgeons have some way of accurately fixing this without a 3 dimensional frame like the TSF/Hexapod, I would sincerely love to hear about it.
it's not the aesthetics
i can tell you from experience. my left leg is not aligned at all,its bad. getting it fixed very soon. only been a few months and im in no pain, because i purposely hardly walk
but the forward bending, which i have, will definitely impacxt your walking. you will just not be able tyo walk normally, it will feel like an effort. the more you walk, the worse it will be
you have 2 options, nailing or or a frame. either one is much better than your current situation
ive heard some say the tsf is better than ailing, but im not sure. rozbruch thinks nailing is as effective, paley too. catagni does not
either way, both options will fix you, and youll be much better off than your current situation.
That malalignment will take a toll. ive been doing nothing because of my left leg. theres no way you 'll be okay walking, especially in a few years.
i would not accept my dr telling me its okay, when it is not normal.
and mitkovic has had complaints before on the old forum.. this is not the first time, he got off the boards because of complaints. i know this may surprise some people that think of him as being perfect
just look at mdow's story. it's not about mitkovic's surgical technique, but still, the guy stopped responding, and mdow was in serbia!
I agree with maximize, and others that discourage monorails.. you can always get leg corrected after surgery, but its a pain in the ass, and more money
youll be fine if you eventually get it corrected, but I wouldn't accept that alignment.
i dont get the fascination wth monorails, the only positive i hear is that they are cosmetically better, but i dont even think thats true. the scars from monorails can be gnarly, and they are still big metal devices protruding from your leg. it's not as if they arent noticeable
don't be mad at us because we are saying things you dont wanna hear. the bone is not aligned. if it becomes aligned, then great. I would not count it though
Thank You for posting your experience Descreteuser given Im possibly going to do same thing in 2016 with aim of 5-7cm.
Information was that by sometime in 2016 reasonably priced rental apartments were going to be available close to the hospital specifically for LL patients. Do you have any info on this? In any case there are very nice furnished apartments in central Nis for 180-300 Euros per month. Your hotel accomodation is a bit overpriced for my budget.
What type of visa if any do you have? EU citizens I believe do not need a visa to enter and stay 3 months beyond which permission can be extended once or twice more for another 3-6 months. Permission to stay up to 1 year I believe can be given provided you supply evidence of surgery, doctor etc.
Did you take out any health insurance? The Serbian Embassy websites say this is necessary not sure it applies to folks who already have a doctor ie Mr Mitkovic.
Have you managed to find long pants which fit over the monorails?
Have previously had Ilizarov fixators free of charge in a western public hospital to correct genu varum ie bow legs. 4 months with huge heavy clunky Ilizarovs was more than enough. I was given the option of keeping them on for lengthening free of charge but declined. They were just too impractical to wear for long periods. Couldnt wait to get them off which is why Im going with monorails this time.
Re Ilizarov or similar versus Monorail comparison. Im no expert. Can only say Ilizarovs I had were very solid and stable but totally impractical. Was forever banging them together while walking. Sleeping was uncomfortable given legs were in metal cages. Ive seen pics of various Ilizarov external variations including some which only extend halfway round the leg. Perhaps these are more practical than full blown Ilizarovs. Dont know why and when these slimmed down Ilizarovs are used can only say the full blown traditional Ilizarovs were totally impractical for me.
Ill finish by saying the pain in my legs for several hours immediately post op Ilizarov surgery was the worst Ive ever experienced. Pain meds had no effect at all. IT FELT LIKE MY BONES WERE BEING CRUSHED IN A VICE. Was finally given large dose of sedative to put me to sleep to stop my complaining. Thankfully woke up with much less pain several hours later. Dont know if this is normal or not. Im not a big reader of this or old forums just browse occasionally for anything relevant to my own situation which is why I posted here. Sorry if I hijacked the post.
Re Mitkovic, Serbia etc. Surgeon speaks fluent English which is a plus in my book. Has worked in western hospitals another plus. Serbia has produced the likes of Nicola Tesla who was Thomas Edisons equal it has been argued. All countries have pluses and minuses. Having had Ilizarov surgery free of charge in a large public hospital in an advanced western country I can say it wasnt all pluses. Nursing care for my 9 days in a private room was minimal basically just taking vital signs. Noone ever bothered to ask me in 9 days if I wanted a wash or to brush my teeth for example. Surgeon came in very occasionally to see me. Again sorry to have hijacked thread. Good Luck will be reading.
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