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Titanium Connecting Rods, Oh My! (Update 21/1/14)


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Good luck Rob. I didn't realize it was still afu.

The hardware looks nasty, but I hope the surgery solves things for you as best as possible. :fing02:

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Off to the Vet tomorrow to get my left leg hacked up.

Can barely walk today without folding onto the floor or swearing loudly. :pissed:

All the best Rob ... here's hoping your nurse .... umm ... no ... I can't say that ... can I? :blush:

Anyway, all the best for the coming days mate :fing02:

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they're gonna give you good docs that know what to do!

Master carpenters. So nicknamed for their tools.

Sawzall? Check. Hammer drill? Check. Cordless screwdriver, bone hammer? Check. Orthopedic screws @ $100 each? Check check. :ohmy:

They oughta screw you back together real good. :biggrin:

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Hi Rob,

Hope things turn out well. Your situation is sounding increasingly like you're becoming a candidate for a DCT1200.

All the best.

Jim

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Well, I've been lurking for the past long while, some of you might have noticed my extended absence, (at least I HOPE some of you have)....... :blush:

So I figure now is the best time to let loose, and sorry to Miguel in advance for having crashed the server (in anticipation of the hits this thread may generate).

Thing is, I've been plotting how to segue into my latest mod for the past three weeks...... :biggrin:

The summit meet was a great way to put faces to names, ride some fantastic scenery, get stuck behind many a car, etc.

A lot of you guys who travel with Ipods have something to keep your mind interested on long highway trips.

For me, I don't, and I have long periods of time on an 11 day stateside trip to concoct things to do in the future.

Heading West is a great way to invigorate the mind and stimulate new and fabulous ideas. Getting near the mountains and appreciating the beauty of nature stirs the soul.

Finally, on the way home, by the time I got to Sylvan Lake, it hit me!

I think Sebastian planted the seed a few months ago when he jokingly (and maybe seriously) suggested that I should get a set of Titanium conecting rods (in preparation for a Torocharger kit).

Well, after telling him that such a job would leave me totally broke, my wiser inner half told me that he was only pulling my foot.

So the only logical thing to do was to go for it, and have a custom set of Titanium connecting rods made up!!! :biggrin:

Now I know everyone by now must be clamoring to get a gander at these little babies, but after what I paid, they are not for the faint of heart, so I think I'll have to direct your attention to this offsite link. There are other pics in that album if you want to stroll through them, so feel free to.

Offsite link to custom connecting rods, click me!

And for those of you who have my cell phone number (from the summit meet), and want to know how they can get a set for themselves, let me just say PLEASE DO NOT PHONE asking for a set for you as they are extremely limited production and I'm not going through the necessary hoops to have another set made.

Besides that, my wife has the cell phone as it lives in our Mini-van so I wouldn't answer it anyhow.......

Sure your leg has healed by now :)

I would give pretty much anything for a pic of them rod's

:fing02:

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Sure your leg has healed by now :)

I would give pretty much anything for a pic of them rod's

:fing02:

Nope, not healed yet. Link to original injury pics here (graphic warning in effect):

My link

I'm home, and in very little pain, all things considered. The initial wakeup after surgery in the recovery room was horribly painful. I was swearing like a sailor and crying like a baby all at the same time.

The nurses asked me not to swear, and I had to apologize and tell them I couldn't help it it was too painful.

2 days of instant hit, mainline morphine kept me going, although I was puking whenever food was even displayed in front of me. Oh, and the Morphine bugs crawling all over my skin too.

Another day of demerol in the a$$ was enough to keep things at bay, and I could finally eat. But I was still itching like crazy.

Finally, on day 4, and onto Percoset, I think I can almost go without painkillers at all. It hurts less now than the initial injury and repair.

So, they ground away the entire ankle joint, upper and lower, plus some bone on the talus that had died and would not be useful, then sawed away the lower half of my fibula to use as bone graft material. Thank goodness they didn't have to take any from my hip.

He drilled about a hundred tiny holes in the bottom of the tibia, and another hundred in the talus bone (to promote blood flow) and drilled out the entire works for the Ti rod to be inserted through the talus/tibia.

They placed the rod inside the bones and grafted in my donor material from my fibula.

The entire thing is still wrapped right up, and tomorrow I get my dressing changed and will get a first look at the new (improved?) FrankenFoot.

I haven't really tried to flex the whole foot, beyond wiggling the toes, as I don't want to place any forces on the bone graft area and screws while it's healing. I don't know if it would wreck anything, as it's totally solidified, but still, I just have no desire to even attempt any movement beyond wiggling toes.

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I seemed to have missed this thread. Sounds like your doing well considering. Heal up fast and don't fork it up so you have to do it again.

Good luck man and keep us up to date.

Hoping to see you in Nelson. If I get off my arse and get a passport..

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I'm home, and in very little pain, all things considered. The initial wakeup was horribly painful. I was swearing like a sailor and crying like a baby all at the same time.

So, they ground then sawed then drilled and drilled and placed the rod inside the bones and grafted and wrapped right up, and tomorrow I get my dressing changed and will get a first look at the new (improved?) FrankenFoot.

OOoogly!

Rather you than me.

Yeah, that whole morphine thing's no fun, eh? I vaguely remember my time in ICU, and being horribly thirsty on morphine, and throwing up whenever they gave me a sip of water to rinse my mouth out and I swallowed it instead. (Including throwing up once on the nurse...)

Hope you have a good recovery, Rob. :fing02:

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Ian, what have you been drinking that makes you post not once, not twice but three times????? :laughing6-hehe:

Best wishes Rob, onwards and forwards!!!!

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It's always interesting to hear the the patient's description of what we've done to them.

Strange practices they have, wanting to change a dressing so soon post surg. and no matter how much you do it, swearing will never take the pain away.

While attracting the attention of us, it's a good sign you are orientated to your situation.

Please rest Mr McKinnon, wiggling is good, being pain-free doesn't mean you're suddenly able to do shuttle runs.

Vomiting while on morphine ain't too bad... means you're still alive. Such a prehistoric drug. Percoset, while effective, the less you need it, the better IMPO.

Please rest!!! Or I'll come back with an 18 needle and a tranq. :biggrin:

Just buzz if you need me.

Seriously mate, I truly hope this is a means to an end for your situation.

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It's always interesting to hear the the patient's description of what we've done to them.

Strange practices they have, wanting to change a dressing so soon post surg.

I assumed it was to be able to see if there is any infection present? You'd want to address that PDQ I think.

It had been 5 days since surgery today.

They gave me several big freaking horse needles full of antibiotics in the hospital, I think one per day, and I am now on cephalexin 500mg, 4/d.

Good news is, I haven't taken ANY percoset since yesterday, and I don't feel the need to take any today! Just a slight dull ache is all.

Maybe my pain threshold is way up, having suffered a lot of pain in that limb already or something?

But it seems way less painful than the initial injury/repair ever was.

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But it seems way less painful than the initial injury/repair ever was.

That's a good thing Rob!

+1.gif

Hope it's the beginning of the end to this bloody awful injury Rob - cheers.

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