Christmas Came Early

Discussion in 'General foundry chat' started by Al2O3, Dec 17, 2021.

  1. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Halleluiah! Cast is off!

    Cast Comes Off.jpg

    .....and as a parting gift I got a lifetime membership to the special screening club at airport security.

    Plate and Screws.jpg

    Best,
    Kelly
     
    BattyZ and Tobho Mott like this.
  2. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    What in the hell?
    Have I just not been paying attention?

    Pete
     
  3. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    I think I only mentioned it in one of my casting threads. Rolled it and fell awkwardly. Walked on it for 10 days and then finally went to see the Dr. Was in surgery 12 hours later. Fast forward 6 weeks and here we are.........and I've got an easy chair the shape of my ARSE!

    Best,
    Kelly
     
  4. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    Only 53 more plates to go and you'll equal Barry Sheen ;)

    Good to see you on the mend, best wishes with the recovery.
     
  5. Mach

    Mach Silver

    Glad to see things are getting back to a new normal. That's quite the hardware drawer you're packing.
     
  6. rocco

    rocco Silver

    Many years ago, one of my uncles had a severe compound fracture of both bones just above his ankle, he spent several days in traction before surgery and after surgery, his x-ray was almost indistinguishable from an x-ray of my junk hardware drawer, plates and screws everywhere.
     
    DavidF likes this.
  7. Good to hear you're up again and back on deck Kelly, one area of this kind of repair I'm interested in is using treated rattan plant based implants that gradually act as a scaffold for living tissues and eventually get replaced by living bone again. It's nearing human trial stage after animal trials went well.

     
  8. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    Lookin real good, Kelly. Your mortise joint spacing looks well preserved---that is key. It looks like your surgeon may have used a sort of guy wire of maybe dacron (something radiolucent) to pull the fibula and tibia together. That is an interesting and intuitive method to keep the joint from spreading.

    I don't suppose you have had a lot of time to chat about the hardware used and the very cool tooling that goes with it. But, ortho surgeons get to play with all the fun Swiss toys. As a family doc, I used to assist quite a bit. It was really fun---and I got paid besides! And the screws and their design and the plates and fixturing and gaging equipment was designed to the highest possible standards. Interestingly, a lot of the advances in hardware design have started out in "some guy's" garage.

    I did minor surgeries in my office and designed some very simple but otherwise unavailable tools (well, instruments I suppose) to make the job easier. That was satisfying.

    So glad you are progressing well. I am sure this enforced "rest" has been challenging.

    Denis
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2021
  9. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    I forget what he called that thingy but he mentioned it was added in part because I had also torn the ligament on the inside of the ankle making the joint more unstable and that thing help hold the whole works together. I was sort of surprised when I saw the hardware in the XRay......it was bigger than I had imagined.

    Hard to see the break in that picture and partial healing but it was diagonally down toward the second to last lower screw.

    I just have a little removable air splint now which makes life much easier. Now onto PT and trying to get strength and range of motion back!

    Best,
    Kelly
     
  10. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Nothing like the smell of a foot that's been a cast for 6weeks. Bet you're happy you can scratch again.
     
  11. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    The list of reasons to be happy the cast is gone is a long one, but not having to bag it before showering is near the top. First ex-cast trip was to the shower with the exfoliation rasp......absolutely disgusting but quickly correctable. The top of the list was regaining the use of my hands and being able to carry something since my hands weren't on the crutches.

    Best,
    K
     

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