Triumphs

Well…I'm done now. At least, I think I'm done. At least mostly done.

Let me explain: before heading to my second post-op appointment this morning (the third one is in two weeks, I believe), we didn't do any strut adjustments, seeing as those have normally been done around lunch-time and the appointment was a morning one.

So. After getting x-rayed (more on that later, including the previously promised pictures), I went into examination room Purple 3 to be seen by Dr. Sundberg. We told him adjustments hadn't been done for today. And, between chatting about the history of these frames (let's just say I'm glad I'm having this done now instead of back twenty to twenty-five years ago…the pins have improved) and offering stories of medical issues he's encountered before (such as a dog accidentally eating a man's toes), he did two days worth of adjustments right then and there and my leg is now more or less straight.

Well, probably.

But at this point, probably is so much better than not at all. Certainly I enjoy being in this position, knowing that I'm either all the way or a few degrees away from being able to live a fuller, more active life rather than knowing that I've got a frame and two weeks of adjustments (plus a couple months for bone cut healing) before that fuller more active life.

So that feels good.

That feels really good. Knowing that I've gone from here:

This x-ray, from two and a half years ago, is what set me on this whole journey to begin with. Now, your weight-bearing axis is an imaginary line which can be drawn from the center of your hip to the center of your ankle. Note how, for the left leg, the weight-bearing axis passes straight through the center of the knee. This is normal. For the right leg, however, the weight-bearing axis does not, resulting in major potential problems down the road.

To here:

Because I still have difficulty standing (you can't see in this picture, but I was devoutly leaning on whatever I could lean on, including my father, to remain upright while feeling slightly nauseous), this isn't the most perfect picture. My legs are probably turned at some strange angles (the left one definitely is), but you get the idea. The leg is much, much straighter. Maybe not all the way to normal, but definitely in the zone of OK. And this x-ray was taken before Dr. Sundberg decided to just finish up strut adjustments), so with corrections to standing ability and the improved degree of correction… Well, you get the idea.

This isn't to say that there's still not a ways to go. My tibia has to fill in the bone cut, which looked like this last week (there isn't a clear picture from today…sorry!):

With helpful digital annotation from Dr. Sundberg. No bone growth in this photo yet (as in, no bone filling in the hole…as you can see, there are plenty of bone growths…)

Considering that the fibula cut looked like this last week…

Also of note: you can see how well those pins are fixed into my bones. Those things aren't coming out…

And now looks like this…

At least this is proof of progress?

Well, there might be a ways to go still.

But at the moment, today has been more or less the best day in my life. Sure, I spent a good chunk of it on my couch feeling tired and some redness was spotted around one of the piano wire pins, which might be a pin site infection but is most likely just skin irritated by being stretched around as the frame gets adjusted (my mother went to Target to pick up antibiotic cream just in case), but my leg is straight. Today was also a success in matters totally unrelated to leg straightness: after years of waiting and desperately searching Internet rumors, Jurassic Park 4 has been officially announced, which means I'll be busy between the hours of about midnight and two in the morning on June 13, 2013. And I got into college (at last! triumph!).

All in all, success.