17 year old Ms. Kajol, used to look at her leg in disbelief, as to what crooked shape it had taken, used to wonder, why god would do this to her.

Childhood misery:

A leg infection that plagued her childhood had persisted over the years. This infection had eaten up the upper half of her leg bone, the bone which is necessary for supporting the body weight and for walking. It left her body only with a short and crooked leg, unable to support her and hindering her in every activity a child would do while growing up.

The Doctors back in Jharkhand, Bengal and even in Kolkata had expressed their inability in doing anything significant for her to have a normal leg back. Some had even advised her to get the deformed leg cut off.

At MIOT:

Referred by a friend, she was brought to MIOT by her parents. After complete assessment she was diagnosed to have a huge defect non-union of right upper Tibia with ‘compensatory fibular hypertrophy and tibia vara and recurvata’. A simplified version of it meant that she had a deformed leg due to absence of the critical weight bearing portion of her leg bone.

The doctors in MIOT were determined. They decided to take up the task of ‘reconstructing’ her limb. She underwent a surgery termed as ‘Tibialisation of fibula’.

TIBIALISATION OF FIBULA is a surgery done to shift the overgrown ‘non weight bearing’ (fibula) bone of the leg in place of the void left in the ‘weight bearing’ bone (Tibia) of the leg.

Recovery:

She was immediately rehabilitated with Physiotherapy and was made to walk with the support of crutches. The leg was straightened up and with some foot wear modification, Ms. Kajol was on her feet walking without any support for the first time in over 7 years. After 4months of surgery, she was able to walk by herself to school.

She was on regular check-ups. An X-ray taken 6months after the surgery showed that the bones had completely healed. The problem which had been looked unsolvable had been solved, impossible was made possible and Ms. Kajol’s happiness had no limits.

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