Legwork

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to visit the hosp and doctor where one of our friends is having major reconstructive work done on his leg. When he was a child, his left leg stopped growing (I can't remember now if he had an infection in it or if it was the result of something else); by the time he reached adulthood, that leg was 22 cm shorter than his right leg. About 5 years ago he had the first of several surgeries to begin to lengthen the left leg. This process has taken years, partly because some of it had to be re-broken and re-set. For months, he's had an apparatus similar to this one on his upper leg and one on his lower leg.


Two weeks ago, he and his wife, both deaf, arrived in Kyiv for checkups. He was in the hosp for a week; during the course of his stay, the apparatus was removed from his upper leg; the Dr is pleased with his progress, bone is doing well and he can begin to put a small amount of weight on that leg as he walks with the assistance of a crutch. He was beaming radiantly, to put it mildly, at the freedom of life without the clunky thing on his upper leg.


I know a similar procedure is done at home; I'd be very interested to hear more details about how if anyone knows. I was in the dr's office and got a close up look at the many posters on his walls that explain the procedure as it's done here. This doctor designed the whole thing and was the premier bone specialist in this area in the whole Soviet Union in his day. He's a native Ukrainian and chose to stay in Kyiv- which is certainly a huge benefit to Ukr. I also got to meet the man and he was compassionate like no Ukr'n dr I've been in touch with before. He's kind and not a big-shot... I was impressed.


However, he finished his main research work in developing the apparatus in 1984 and there have been no changes at all (that I could tell), no advancements since that time. The apparatus is extremely ungainly, attached to the leg by pins and consists of a metal brace that is nearly the size of the leg itself. The brace is on the outside and is a nuisance, to say the least, to the wearer. How is this done in the States? Another question: Is it common to do this sort of procedure (break the bone and then gradually spread it apart to cause it to fill in the gap with new bone, which lengthens the bone) in adults? This man is my age... a few years older, actually.