Mr. George's Limb Lengthening Diary

Limb Lengthening Diary| This February 2020, we were glad to host, Mr. George from the USA and provide him world-class limb lengthening surgery and services. Mr. George got in contact with our patient’s consultant for femoral lengthening surgery in January; as he had already had tibia surgery, earlier and had his fixators removed late 2019. Once he felt that he had recovered enough; he contacted us and another hospital in Egypt for his femur lengthening. However, due to the mismanagement and doubtful quality of service of the Egyptian hospital; Mr. George, choose our medical team and decided to come to Turkey. We are grateful that Mr. George allowed us to share his limb lengthening diary; for our vast patients and limb lengthening enthusiasts.

Soon after the initial talk with Mr. George, his consultant arranged an online consultation with the surgical doctor; who after viewing the patient’s recovery process from the first surgery; allowed them to continue to have the femoral surgery, in February. Mr. George was more than delighted to hear the news and arranged his flight and our team was glad to receive him at the airport. We are thankful and honored that Mr. George allowed us to share his limb lengthening surgical testimonial for our hospitality and services.

As Mr. George is an English speaker, we arranged for an English translator for him during his trip, who helped him communicate with the doctors, medical staff and helped him with his surgical treatment. It is very important and thus we make it compulsory to add translation services in our surgical package; as it allows for a good and fluent means of communication between the patients and the medical professionals at the hospital.

As Mr. George was on a schedule, he skipped the complimentary Istanbul city tour services that we offer to our patients. If you haven’t viewed our Services Page; you will see that we provide an extensive and enjoyable, free of charge a guided city tour of Istanbul; we try to include such activities in our surgical packages, so that the patients feel relaxed and happy; before they undergo the procedure. So, instead, the day Mr. George landed, he went straight to the hospital and had his in-person consultation with the doctor, followed by his medical examinations and which included x-rays, blood tests, etc. After finalizing the consultation and ascertaining the date of the surgery, Mr. George was accompanied back to his hotel and we arranged and managed, everything for this surgery to go as smoothly thereof.

On the very next day, Mr. George’s femoral leg-lengthening surgery was performed successfully. Understandably, as he woke up and the anesthesia wore off, he started to experience some pain, which is common after the surgery; but our helpful staff helped him take his first steps and explained him the daily routines and coaching him how to lengthen or distract daily and all the cleaning routines associated with keeping the external fixator and wounds clean. This very fact became a bit of a challenge for our patients, as they left Turkey on the 6th day after the surgery.

After, a week of leaving Turkey, Mr. Gregory contact his consultant and complained of pain, while displayed sights of puss and discharge from the surgical pin sites; from where the external fixator was attached to his femurs. The consultant promptly contacted the doctor and his medical staff for their opinion and it seemed that Mr. George had developed an infection. Upon further investigation; it was found that Mr. George was not regularly changing his wound dressing and cleaning the pin sites; which caused an infection and pain for our patient.

The doctor immediately advised the patients to start a course of antibiotics to fight the infection and strongly advise them to regularly clean their wounds on the pin sites of the external fixator. We cannot stress enough, the importance of regular cleaning with external fixator methods; as the risk of infection, can always materialize and cause suffering to our patients.

After fighting the infection for 2 weeks it finally seemed to subside and the wound sites began to heal properly; it was a hard and painful experience for our patients and we are always very worried and concerned about patients who leave our care too early after the surgery, but not every patient has the same schedule to accommodate for several months of post-surgery recovery.

This is why the doctors and our team insist that the patients at least spend the first month, in our care and comfort; as it allows them to learn the cleaning, dressing & physiotherapy routines more accurately and helps them develop the habit of these important post-surgery steps.
Nonetheless, it has been 2 weeks since Mr. George’s infection has subsided; as he has been cleaning the wounds religiously; besides, he had also gained almost 3 cm to date.

Please stay tuned to Mr. George’s limb lengthening diary to find out more updates about his lengthening journey with us.