5.5cm but minor set back

Ava's gap in her bones has now reached 5.5cm. From looking at the x-ray below it is unbelievable that she has that level of break in both her tibia and fibula and doesn't complain and can still move around (albeit with the aid of a zimmerframe). This truly is an amazing procedure.

At today's hospital visit we were told that Ava's leg is starting to bow slightly. This is something that you don't want to happen during lengthening so the consultant has had to alter the rest of our program to try and do the remaining 0.5cm in length while rotating the bones so that they are correctly aligned. We won't know until the next x-ray in 2 weeks whether this has been successful or not. It's important that it is done now though before the new bone has started to harden.

To be honest we think this is only a minor setback and hopefully can be corrected. Things have been going well with Ava as she has not picked up a pin site infection and is generally (over the past few weeks) been coping well. So I suppose it was inevitable that something would crop up to complicate things slightly.

Lets hope in 2 weeks time that her leg is straight and we can then concentrate on letting the new bone heal.

Have also included a picture of Ava on her swing in the garden so you can see how determined she is for life to carry on as normal. I'm not a big fan of her doing this with a huge break in her bones, but it keeps her happy.

4cm down. Another 2cm to go......

Ava has now returned to school full time. Her school have been great with organising things to get her back in for full days. The classroom has been changed to accommodate her zimmerframe and wheelchair and they have provided extra help for her at break times. To be honest she is now pretty self sufficient but does need help carrying her lunch tray and someone to sit and play with her during the break.

In general she is now coping amazingly well. Even the hospital nurses have commented on how well she is doing for a child of her age. We do still have a few moments each week where she becomes upset or frustrated, but these are becoming rarer and she tends to get over things quite quickly.

Ava is much less bothered now when people look at her when we go out (and boy, do some people stare!). Ava's speed on the zimmerframe sometimes causes the most looks as she flies around (far too quickly for my liking). Infact Ava would far rather use the zimmer than the wheelchair, which is good, but it has resulted in her getting callouses on her palms. The solution for this has been to buy her wheelchair gloves. Thankfully I found a pink pair on Amazon.

We went to see the consultant today and we have now achieved a 4cm gap and the new bone is starting to grow. We discussed with him the option of doing another 2cm and have decided to proceed with this. Although this will extend the amount of time she spends in the frame, our view is that its on now so we might as well continue with the maximum the consultant feels happy with and what Ava can physically manage.

In our eyes this is good news as going for the full 6cm hopefully means that the second lengthening at 12 years old will take less time.

We also discussed the option of Ava having another ring fitted on her foot during the second lengthening to try and further correct the position of the foot at the same time as lengthening the leg. Again we have decided to go ahead with this, but its obviously a long way off.

4cm down. 2cm to go!