To follow the thread of tangentially related concepts:
The Ilizarov apparatus (caution NSFL). The leg is intentionally broken, then a terrifying cage encourages it to heal in a different size or shape.
I'm not sure how much it's used now, but I was presented with it as patient as a potential option about 20 years ago. It was kind of a "please don't pick this one it's clearly worse" choice. Thankfully they'd done about a decade of prep work to enable me to pick the less extreme option.
I've been listening to 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. So far I've been enjoying it, even though I have no idea where it's supposed to be going. I can't imagine the current plot thread persisting through 28 hours.