BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020

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Surgery +7 Months, Start of Consolidation +3 Months

Another month has passed; here is my update:

Physical Therapy
I did my last few PT sessions a few weeks ago. Although I haven’t fully recovered, it was definitely about time to stop since the benefit was getting pretty small. Surprisingly, they haven’t asked me to settle the bill yet, but I’ll make a separate post on all my LL expenditures once I know what the final amount was.

Reactions
Since my last journal entry, I have seen quite a few of my friends for the first time since surgery. I saw them at a formal event, so I was dressed up which helped hide my swinging hips a bit.

Friend 1: This is the only person I’ve mentioned LL to, and that was many years ago. He is 5’7” so when he saw me it was super obvious to him that I was taller. He actually looks kind of short to me now. The first thing he asked was whether I got surgery or if I was wearing giant lifts, to which I awkwardly responded the latter even though I was clearly not. Since then, he hasn't mention it again so I guess he must have accepted it. It looks like people don’t ever forget about LL once they know that the surgery exists. Therefore, don't tell anyone you know that you want LL or that LL even exists if you plan to get it and keep it a secret.

Friends 2 & 3: These two guys I met at the same time. They are 5’11” and 6’0”. I feel like I’m almost as tall as them now, but I don’t think they noticed that I grew, because I’m still shorter than them. It has been a good two years since I saw either of them, so they probably don’t remember exactly how tall I was. One of them said I seemed a lot skinnier though.

Friend 4: This guy is about 5’8.5”, so I went from clearly shorter than him to clearly taller than him. I hadn’t seen him for over a year and I usually wore lifts when I hung out with this circle of friends so I don’t think he noticed my height increase. He didn’t say anything about it, which was a little surprising to me. He also said that I looked a little skinnier than before.

Family: I postponed seeing my parents as long as I could, but I finally had to see them recently. My mom is definitely too short to notice; I couldn’t even tell that she was shorter relative to me than before. My dad is just the right height to notice and he mentioned that I was limping as well, but he hasn’t outright asked me if I got taller. He is almost old enough to start shrinking, so maybe I can use that excuse if he brings it up. My sister is taller than my mom, but shorter than my starting height. Surprisingly, I don’t think she noticed at all that I had gotten taller, but I definitely felt like she was relatively shorter than before.

Consolidation
I got updated X-rays at the end of the month. I can definitely tell that my bones have consolidated a bit more compared to the last X-ray, but they are still far from fully consolidated. Dr. D told me to get another X-ray in about two months, but based on my current rate of consolidation he wasn't even sure if I'd be consolidated enough to run by then. At this rate it could really be a full year before I can think about playing any sports!

Recovery
Overall, I still have a long road ahead of me. My shins are still very numb; sometimes I feel like there’s some improvement but other days it’s just as bad as before. My gait still wobbles at the hip, and I have way less stamina than I did before surgery. I can walk maybe a mile or two before my legs are fatigued, and at that point my gait is absolutely terrible to the point I'm embarrassed to be walking in public. Walking for a while not only makes my legs tired, but my back hurts as well, so I probably still have some flexibility issues to address. Also, after a long walk or doing any leg exercises it takes at least a day to fully recover, during which my gait is bad the whole time.

I have had quite a few ups and downs this month in terms of my recovery. I know I’ve definitely improved a little, but I’m still struggling with walking normally. I certainly hope it will eventually get better, but if I walk like this for the rest of my life then I would have paid a ton of money to cripple myself. I have had a lot of negative thoughts about my legs lately. I think the worst part right now isn’t even my gait, but rather how my legs feel while I walk. Even when I walk toward a mirror and can see that my gait is almost normal, the process of walking doesn’t feel normal to me. I feel like I still have to put in a lot of effort to walk with a good gait so walking isn't natural to me. My legs still often feel very stiff and it actually hurts my bones sometimes when I walk, especially when I walk right after getting up from a sitting position or put a little more weight on one leg than usual. I am definitely getting stronger, but overall recovery has been very gradual for me, with no sudden transition from “bad” to “good”.

If you ask me how I feel regarding the surgery right now, I definitely have mixed thoughts. While I appreciate being taller, I can't utilize my new height in any meaningful way because I'm still a cripple. My legs also don't feel good/normal yet, so I think about my gait, my walk, and my legs all the time. If I'm outside I also think about how others might perceive me. At least when I was short, while walking around in public I was invisible. Now I feel like everyone is looking at me and judging my crippled walk. Now that summer is here, everything is opened up again, and everyone is outside enjoying life, I can definitely say that my sense of urgency and the need to return to normal is much more than before. I can't say that I recommend getting the surgery at this point as the recovery period is just too long.

Clothing
So I originally thought I’d go from 30 to 32 inseam pants, but what I found out is that 30 inseam pants fit me perfectly after LL. I think that means my legs were just hella short before. I think in the past when I was wearing size 30 jeans I thought that they fit me, but now I realize that they must have been compressed a ton around my ankles. Now I feel like I finally know how pants are actually designed to fit, especially jeans. I will say that I look much better in clothes than before. I definitely enjoy looking at my body shape in the mirror more than before and it's a confidence booster. It's currently the only positive thing I have to say about the surgery.

Video
I was originally going to record a video for this entry, but my right knee started hurting out of nowhere about two days ago, especially when I put weight on it. It has been a few weeks since this last happened; I thought I had already gotten past this knee issue, but I guess not. I'm sure you don't want to see me walking with a limp on top of hip sway, so I will record a video when my knee feels better. I do think I have made some small improvements since last month, especially on flexibility so I can try a few new things on video. Let me know if there’s anything you guys want to see.

Edit Post

Fantastic progress. I think there's actually no reason to be depressed. Gaits usually persist until you take glute strength training seriously. Many of the nerves and muscles in those areas shrunk due to inactivity during lengthening. There're a ton of great glute exercises on the internet that will vanquish your gait in a month.

Edit Post

Yeah man at 7 months you might still have a bit of limping but recovery starts really speeding up right after that up until 1 year mark or so. then you'll most likely face what I call the 1 year-post op hell.

Edit Post

Yeah man at 7 months you might still have a bit of limping but recovery starts really speeding up right after that up until 1 year mark or so. then you'll most likely face what I call the 1 year-post op hell.

Edit Post

Hey brother

I am in second week of consolidation

The thoughts you have about your legs and pain and recovery is exactly same as I feel

Some days my left leg the nerves go crazy. Doc says to push and walk and climb stairs when I do that I get shivers next day and takes me 2 days to recover.

Some times nails in hands and feet get blue and doc says it’s vascular system adjusting to new height

Bone pain still persists and some days is very hard

Like you mentioned I wouldn’t recommend this surgery yet and I am unable to fully utilise new height.

Yes looking in mirror is awesome and when people say u r taller but over all when other symptoms exist it’s not best feeling internally

I truly think this is a one year recoevry process. I’m glad you don’t have any blood flow issues

I hve been asked to continue taking aspirin and heparin injections of I travel. I have lost half of my hair due to this as side effect

I am hoping all this normalises in a years time

So let’s hang in there and see how we perform as human body

Edit Post

Hey brother

I am in second week of consolidation

The thoughts you have about your legs and pain and recovery is exactly same as I feel

Some days my left leg the nerves go crazy. Doc says to push and walk and climb stairs when I do that I get shivers next day and takes me 2 days to recover.

Some times nails in hands and feet get blue and doc says it’s vascular system adjusting to new height

Bone pain still persists and some days is very hard

Like you mentioned I wouldn’t recommend this surgery yet and I am unable to fully utilise new height.

Yes looking in mirror is awesome and when people say u r taller but over all when other symptoms exist it’s not best feeling internally

I truly think this is a one year recoevry process. I’m glad you don’t have any blood flow issues

I hve been asked to continue taking aspirin and heparin injections of I travel. I have lost half of my hair due to this as side effect

I am hoping all this normalises in a years time

So let’s hang in there and see how we perform as human body

Edit Post

Quote from: BelowTheMean on June 18, 2021, 06:42:28 PM

Recovery
Overall, I still have a long road ahead of me. My shins are still very numb; sometimes I feel like there’s some improvement but other days it’s just as bad as before. My gait still wobbles at the hip, and I have way less stamina than I did before surgery. I can walk maybe a mile or two before my legs are fatigued, and at that point my gait is absolutely terrible to the point I'm embarrassed to be walking in public. Walking for a while not only makes my legs tired, but my back hurts as well, so I probably still have some flexibility issues to address. Also, after a long walk or doing any leg exercises it takes at least a day to fully recover, during which my gait is bad the whole time.

I have had quite a few ups and downs this month in terms of my recovery. I know I’ve definitely improved a little, but I’m still struggling with walking normally. I certainly hope it will eventually get better, but if I walk like this for the rest of my life then I would have paid a ton of money to cripple myself. I have had a lot of negative thoughts about my legs lately. I think the worst part right now isn’t even my gait, but rather how my legs feel while I walk. Even when I walk toward a mirror and can see that my gait is almost normal, the process of walking doesn’t feel normal to me. I feel like I still have to put in a lot of effort to walk with a good gait so walking isn't natural to me. My legs still often feel very stiff and it actually hurts my bones sometimes when I walk, especially when I walk right after getting up from a sitting position or put a little more weight on one leg than usual. I am definitely getting stronger, but overall recovery has been very gradual for me, with no sudden transition from “bad” to “good”.

If you ask me how I feel regarding the surgery right now, I definitely have mixed thoughts. While I appreciate being taller, I can't utilize my new height in any meaningful way because I'm still a cripple. My legs also don't feel good/normal yet, so I think about my gait, my walk, and my legs all the time. If I'm outside I also think about how others might perceive me. At least when I was short, while walking around in public I was invisible. Now I feel like everyone is looking at me and judging my crippled walk. Now that summer is here, everything is opened up again, and everyone is outside enjoying life, I can definitely say that my sense of urgency and the need to return to normal is much more than before. I can't say that I recommend getting the surgery at this point as the recovery period is just too long.


All good my friend - at 7 months post op you are right around where I was - I was still deep in recovery mode but had a more optimistic outlook because I measured progress in small increments rather than a big bang overnight result.

One of the most dissapointing things from LL marketing materials is this notion that we are "fully recovered" and can return to full contact sports at 6 months post op - this is not the case for the large majority of LLers. At 6 to 9 months, at best our gait is normalized, but for a short period of time, at which point fatigue sets in. The key is that our muscle atrophy is still recovering, and our quads, hips, and glutes are still relatively weak. At this stage if you focus on working out your glutes and hips, I think you can reaccelerate recovery, and revisit how you feel about yourself and this surgery at the 9 month mark.

The journey is far from over, but there is much more upside to look forward to with work and dedication.

Edit Post

Quote from: BelowTheMean on June 18, 2021, 06:42:28 PMSurgery +7 Months, Start of Consolidation +3 Months

Another month has passed; here is my update:

Physical Therapy
I did my last few PT sessions a few weeks ago. Although I haven’t fully recovered, it was definitely about time to stop since the benefit was getting pretty small. Surprisingly, they haven’t asked me to settle the bill yet, but I’ll make a separate post on all my LL expenditures once I know what the final amount was.

Reactions
Since my last journal entry, I have seen quite a few of my friends for the first time since surgery. I saw them at a formal event, so I was dressed up which helped hide my swinging hips a bit.

Friend 1: This is the only person I’ve mentioned LL to, and that was many years ago. He is 5’7” so when he saw me it was super obvious to him that I was taller. He actually looks kind of short to me now. The first thing he asked was whether I got surgery or if I was wearing giant lifts, to which I awkwardly responded the latter even though I was clearly not. Since then, he hasn't mention it again so I guess he must have accepted it. It looks like people don’t ever forget about LL once they know that the surgery exists. Therefore, don't tell anyone you know that you want LL or that LL even exists if you plan to get it and keep it a secret.

Friends 2 & 3: These two guys I met at the same time. They are 5’11” and 6’0”. I feel like I’m almost as tall as them now, but I don’t think they noticed that I grew, because I’m still shorter than them. It has been a good two years since I saw either of them, so they probably don’t remember exactly how tall I was. One of them said I seemed a lot skinnier though.

Friend 4: This guy is about 5’8.5”, so I went from clearly shorter than him to clearly taller than him. I hadn’t seen him for over a year and I usually wore lifts when I hung out with this circle of friends so I don’t think he noticed my height increase. He didn’t say anything about it, which was a little surprising to me. He also said that I looked a little skinnier than before.

Family: I postponed seeing my parents as long as I could, but I finally had to see them recently. My mom is definitely too short to notice; I couldn’t even tell that she was shorter relative to me than before. My dad is just the right height to notice and he mentioned that I was limping as well, but he hasn’t outright asked me if I got taller. He is almost old enough to start shrinking, so maybe I can use that excuse if he brings it up. My sister is taller than my mom, but shorter than my starting height. Surprisingly, I don’t think she noticed at all that I had gotten taller, but I definitely felt like she was relatively shorter than before.

Consolidation
I got updated X-rays at the end of the month. I can definitely tell that my bones have consolidated a bit more compared to the last X-ray, but they are still far from fully consolidated. Dr. D told me to get another X-ray in about two months, but based on my current rate of consolidation he wasn't even sure if I'd be consolidated enough to run by then. At this rate it could really be a full year before I can think about playing any sports!

Recovery
Overall, I still have a long road ahead of me. My shins are still very numb; sometimes I feel like there’s some improvement but other days it’s just as bad as before. My gait still wobbles at the hip, and I have way less stamina than I did before surgery. I can walk maybe a mile or two before my legs are fatigued, and at that point my gait is absolutely terrible to the point I'm embarrassed to be walking in public. Walking for a while not only makes my legs tired, but my back hurts as well, so I probably still have some flexibility issues to address. Also, after a long walk or doing any leg exercises it takes at least a day to fully recover, during which my gait is bad the whole time.

I have had quite a few ups and downs this month in terms of my recovery. I know I’ve definitely improved a little, but I’m still struggling with walking normally. I certainly hope it will eventually get better, but if I walk like this for the rest of my life then I would have paid a ton of money to cripple myself. I have had a lot of negative thoughts about my legs lately. I think the worst part right now isn’t even my gait, but rather how my legs feel while I walk. Even when I walk toward a mirror and can see that my gait is almost normal, the process of walking doesn’t feel normal to me. I feel like I still have to put in a lot of effort to walk with a good gait so walking isn't natural to me. My legs still often feel very stiff and it actually hurts my bones sometimes when I walk, especially when I walk right after getting up from a sitting position or put a little more weight on one leg than usual. I am definitely getting stronger, but overall recovery has been very gradual for me, with no sudden transition from “bad” to “good”.

If you ask me how I feel regarding the surgery right now, I definitely have mixed thoughts. While I appreciate being taller, I can't utilize my new height in any meaningful way because I'm still a cripple. My legs also don't feel good/normal yet, so I think about my gait, my walk, and my legs all the time. If I'm outside I also think about how others might perceive me. At least when I was short, while walking around in public I was invisible. Now I feel like everyone is looking at me and judging my crippled walk. Now that summer is here, everything is opened up again, and everyone is outside enjoying life, I can definitely say that my sense of urgency and the need to return to normal is much more than before. I can't say that I recommend getting the surgery at this point as the recovery period is just too long.

Clothing
So I originally thought I’d go from 30 to 32 inseam pants, but what I found out is that 30 inseam pants fit me perfectly after LL. I think that means my legs were just hella short before. I think in the past when I was wearing size 30 jeans I thought that they fit me, but now I realize that they must have been compressed a ton around my ankles. Now I feel like I finally know how pants are actually designed to fit, especially jeans. I will say that I look much better in clothes than before. I definitely enjoy looking at my body shape in the mirror more than before and it's a confidence booster. It's currently the only positive thing I have to say about the surgery.

Video
I was originally going to record a video for this entry, but my right knee started hurting out of nowhere about two days ago, especially when I put weight on it. It has been a few weeks since this last happened; I thought I had already gotten past this knee issue, but I guess not. I'm sure you don't want to see me walking with a limp on top of hip sway, so I will record a video when my knee feels better. I do think I have made some small improvements since last month, especially on flexibility so I can try a few new things on video. Let me know if there’s anything you guys want to see.

Hey BTM - Thanks for the update and candid assessment.  Very helpful for someone like me who is also planning on taking the plunge soon.  The process undoubtedly seems like a marathon - one full of highs and lows, which is good for me and others to recognize.  In terms of the height increase, I would bet that more persons noticed, but probably just didn’t say anything.  Your impressions are certainly better than my guess though for sure 😊.  Hang in there.  I’m sure that given all of your hard work and dedication, you will be much better soon.  Stay strong 💪 and thanks again for the unvarnished update!

Edit Post

wow you look great with your new height but really your wingsparn is 169? because with 177 height are 8 difference :/                                         
i for example i am 166 with wingsparn 170.5 and i want 176.5 with 2 surgeries

Edit Post

Quote from: SirStretchAlot on June 19, 2021, 12:22:11 AMFantastic progress. I think there's actually no reason to be depressed. Gaits usually persist until you take glute strength training seriously. Many of the nerves and muscles in those areas shrunk due to inactivity during lengthening. There're a ton of great glute exercises on the internet that will vanquish your gait in a month.
I think either my gait has been getting better or I'm caring less about it. I've been out socializing a lot recently and no one has commented on it lately.

Quote from: Movie on June 19, 2021, 04:44:03 AMYeah man at 7 months you might still have a bit of limping but recovery starts really speeding up right after that up until 1 year mark or so. then you'll most likely face what I call the 1 year-post op hell.
Thanks, Movie. I already have pain in my femurs, especially above the knees and when I bear additional weight with the nail (standing on one leg, etc). If I have even more pain at the 1 year mark I don't know if I'll be able to walk

Quote from: Ahd1978 on June 19, 2021, 11:34:28 AMHey brother

I am in second week of consolidation

The thoughts you have about your legs and pain and recovery is exactly same as I feel

Some days my left leg the nerves go crazy. Doc says to push and walk and climb stairs when I do that I get shivers next day and takes me 2 days to recover.

Some times nails in hands and feet get blue and doc says it’s vascular system adjusting to new height

Bone pain still persists and some days is very hard

Like you mentioned I wouldn’t recommend this surgery yet and I am unable to fully utilise new height.

Yes looking in mirror is awesome and when people say u r taller but over all when other symptoms exist it’s not best feeling internally

I truly think this is a one year recoevry process. I’m glad you don’t have any blood flow issues

I hve been asked to continue taking aspirin and heparin injections of I travel. I have lost half of my hair due to this as side effect

I am hoping all this normalises in a years time

So let’s hang in there and see how we perform as human body


I'm feeling a bit better now, but still struggling a lot going down stairs. My legs literally shake with unsteadiness if I don't hold the handrails, especially if they're already fatigued. It's also difficult balancing extra workouts on the legs and having functional legs normally. If I work out my legs too hard, then the following few days I won't even be able to walk normal. Fortunately, I'm still working from home so on my days of rest I don't have to walk in public with bad gait. I hope your nerve pain, vascular issues, and dependence on painkillers will all go away soon!

Quote from: TheAlchemist on June 19, 2021, 04:25:01 PMAll good my friend - at 7 months post op you are right around where I was - I was still deep in recovery mode but had a more optimistic outlook because I measured progress in small increments rather than a big bang overnight result.

One of the most dissapointing things from LL marketing materials is this notion that we are "fully recovered" and can return to full contact sports at 6 months post op - this is not the case for the large majority of LLers. At 6 to 9 months, at best our gait is normalized, but for a short period of time, at which point fatigue sets in. The key is that our muscle atrophy is still recovering, and our quads, hips, and glutes are still relatively weak. At this stage if you focus on working out your glutes and hips, I think you can reaccelerate recovery, and revisit how you feel about yourself and this surgery at the 9 month mark.

The journey is far from over, but there is much more upside to look forward to with work and dedication.
Yeah, I think I was too optimistic going into this thinking that I'd be somewhat normal by the 6 month mark. I think a lot of peoples' videos after the 6 month mark look pretty good, but videos can't show how the legs feel internally. Even if someone looks like they have decent gait and a solid stride, they are probably still feeling some level of struggle in their legs while they walk. Some days are worse than others, but overall it does feel like I'm slowly improving over time. It still takes me days to recover after a tough leg workout, so I think that's part of why I am recovering so slowly. I'm super impatient with recovering right now, but my body can only tolerate so much. I've been doing a ton of upper body workouts as well, so it still feels like I'm making "progress" on something even if my legs aren't.

Quote from: L8GrowthSpurt on June 20, 2021, 06:31:04 PMHey BTM - Thanks for the update and candid assessment.  Very helpful for someone like me who is also planning on taking the plunge soon.  The process undoubtedly seems like a marathon - one full of highs and lows, which is good for me and others to recognize.  In terms of the height increase, I would bet that more persons noticed, but probably just didn’t say anything.  Your impressions are certainly better than my guess though for sure .  Hang in there.  I’m sure that given all of your hard work and dedication, you will be much better soon.  Stay strong  and thanks again for the unvarnished update!
I've been out a lot in the last few weeks and so far very few people have said anything directly about it. I just don't think most people's brains would 1) realize that it's possible to gain height as an adult and 2) their friend actually went through with a major surgery in the months since they last met. Therefore, most people would just think that they remembered your old height wrong. After all, memories are most certainly fallible! I think the only person who knew was the person who I told that I was planning to do it a long time ago. I had only brought it up once over seven years ago, and that was enough for him to remember. Otherwise, who would jump to such a silly conclusion

As for my recovery, I think I will eventually fully recover, I've just become very impatient about it at this point because it's summertime now and all the local lockdown restrictions have been lifted. People are socializing like it's 2019 again and I don't want to be left out because my legs don't fully work yet.

Quote from: lift17 on June 27, 2021, 06:44:18 PMwow you look great with your new height but really your wingsparn is 169? because with 177 height are 8 difference :/                                         
i for example i am 166 with wingsparn 170.5 and i want 176.5 with 2 surgeries
I usually don't entertain proportions questions because proportions don't matter in real life, but if I didn't state in this journal that my wingspan was 169cm, would you have even noticed from my videos? Now if I told you that I measured it wrong and that it was actually 173cm would you be able to tell from looking? The point is, height is just a number, but it can be easily compared between two people. Wingspan is not something that you compare with others very frequently, and people aren't going to notice a negative ape index unless you have dwarfism or something.

See my post here on proportions: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=5498
Based on peer reviewed research, having a short wingspan relative to height is not noticeable even at 3 standard deviations below the mean. That means even if your ape index is worse than 99.7% of other people, it won't have an impact on your overall appearance. If you are obsessed with wingspan then you should not get LL, because what you need is a psychiatrist who can fix your compulsion regarding proportions and body dysmorphia issues. Also, it seems like you're new here since you only have 1 post and want to get two surgeries. Over time I'm sure you'll learn what's realistic and what actually matters.

P.S. @Everyone: I haven't been in the mood to record a video, so I'm just going to hold off until my next update. I've been practicing squats a little, so I plan to show my progress there. If you want to see anything in the video, let me know.