Week 10

Just back from the clinic...

The plan is to leave the tilted bone segment where it is and let the leg heal.  There will always be a large lump on my shin. But I'm sick of the pain and immobility. I am now prepared to put up with a degree of disfigurement.

We've been moving it for 10 weeks now. The fracture should be in the middle of the soft callus phase and it's probably becoming difficult to move the segment by hand. The leg will still be mechanically straight and strong which is what counts.

I have been given another week of adjustments to make, in which the two ends are to be realigned by about 5 degrees. 

But I don't really get it. The more I think about what they are doing with my leg, the more baffled I become. 


Two weeks ago I had an operation in which they intended to straighten the tilted segment of shin.  The fact that they used a beaded wire and the way the pin and wire sites were forcefully re-opened seems to confirm that. But that part of the op failed, and the consultant said something about the bone or leg being too strong.

A week after the op we took some more x-rays and the they gave me a new set of adjustments to stretch the leg by 8mm. My understanding last week was that they would then push the bone back into place and then we would shorten the leg.

However, this week the plan seems to have changed. There is now no intention of correcting the tilted bone. The senior consultant tells me that if we adjust it then we may cut off the blood supply and the separated chunk of bone could die.

But by separating the upper part of the shin from the loose segment we will extend the time it takes to heal. So why did we bother separating it? And why don’t we shorten it and put it back?

Each time these guys make a decision and set me on a particular course, it all sounds very logical, but in the end it seems to be a mistake. 


I’m very concerned.