Hi everyone,
So I have left Barcelona after staying there for 70 days post operation, and I will continue to lengthen for 2 more weeks. At first I was unwilling to do a diary as it could be time-consuming and prone to privacy issues, but the dairies on this forum had always been an inspiration for me before and post op, so now I would like to give some recount of what I've been through with this surgery and with Dr. Monegal.
Basic info: Starting height, 168.5 cm. Goal. 6.5 cm. Weight, 60 kg. Age, early 20s.
1-7 days post op: I didn't encounter any severe pains that many people described in their diaries. The nurse gave me painkillers, but I never had them, except for the analgesic that went through the tube in the first 4 days. The main issue for me was the inability to constantly move around my legs, which I always do for all these years, and even as I'm typing this post. The uncomfortabiltiy with this almost went to 4-5 out of 10 at night, but I still generally had good sleeps averaging 7 hours. I had CPM sessions three days post op, and before I left the hospital, my leg was at 105 and right leg 90, which contrasts sharply considering that I cannot bend my both legs more than 70 degrees now, which let me wonder whether the cpm machine was at a different scale or my bending got worse after that.
8-70 days post op: The reason I group these days together was that there weren't a lot things to write about. On day 8, the day I left hospital, I had huge bruising appearing on the right side of my right leg. That night my pain level reached 6 and was the highest pain level I've experienced so far. The bruising was followed by a bleeding incident three weeks later after intense stretching due to hematoma, but there was no pain at all, and a week later it was gone and I started heading to the pool for the first time. I will post pictures later. Every week I would do pt sessions three times with pt Claudio and went to the pool once or twice. He was very caring. I had a good time with him. At my apartment (at MIC) I bought a little bicycle that's like 50 euros and I usually do it for 30-60 minutes every day. Since I'm lightweight, Dr. Monegal said I can stand. On day 68, I bought a pair of forearm crutches and took a walk on the street for 30 minutes, there was no pain or tension. After that, I totally ditched my wheelchair and only go out with crutches. I lengthen my femurs at a rate of 0.81 mm per day. I've never gone to 1 mm because I'm comfortable with 0.81 and I do have some time for this surgery.
Pain level: 0 except for the bruising incident night and 30-40 days post op for an hour after the last distraction. I thought that I should do three distractions within 8 hours, but it turned out that it is 7-8 hours apart, so after it clarified, no pain after the last distraction anymore. Pain level was sometimes 1 or 2 on my left knee (more like the tendon connecting the kneecap and quadriceps) after exercise, but will generally calm down within 30-60 minutes. As a result, I have never taken any painkiller except for the anti-inflammatory Enantyum after the bruising incident.
Sleep: since I don't usually have pain, My sleep is no different from usual, averaging 8 hours every night.
The biggest concern: knee bending is my biggest concern. I'm now at 70 degrees for both legs. It's not the muscle tension that's preventing me from bending, but rather the outer sides of the legs next to the quad tendons (immediately higher than the knees). When I bend, I can feel (touch) a strip of hardness protruding from underneath at that sites. Another possible cause is my bad knee positioning even before the surgery. Basically, when I bend, my knees will rotate outwards, so when I'm wearing pants and bending my knees, they will appear to align with the outer sides of the legs instead of being in the middle. As a result, if I run a lot my knees usually hurt badly, and I have to wear knee-straps for that matter.
Dr. Monegal: Dr. Monegal is usually quick in response, which I think is a pros over other more famous doctors. He would come to MIC to check his patients regularly and would take me to do x-ray every three weeks. Most time he would resolve my concerns and problems, but there were a few times where I felt that some of concerns were left resolved. But based on the dairies I've read, I think he does better than many other doctors.
I may have left out some other aspects. If you have questions, feel free to post them.
Bilateral Femur Lengthening with Dr. Monegal
TIBIKE200,
7 days after surgery. There is no need for the second rod. I'm now at 5.7. Yes, people say I'm taller. Most seem to attribute it to natural growth, but one person did come to me and said, "You didn't break your knees [sic] and got leg lengthening, uhh?." I was like, shoot, have it become so widely known already? Of course I said no, no. Awkward, awkward. For me subjectively, I do feel like I'm on high-heels. You get a better FOV (does it apply to settings beside games?) and everyone seems shorter somewhat.
The first and second pictures show the extent of bruising that occurred 8 days post op.
The third picture shows the bleeding from hematoma as a result of bruising three weeks after the episode. It healed in a week.
The blue circle of the fourth picture shows the area where it gets hard when I bend my knees. I don't know if it relates to my bad knee bending. The same for right leg. In the red circle, where the bruise can be seen (always there since 7 days post op when I first noticed it), in the place where pain goes to 1 or 2 after exercise involving knee bending, but will generally calm down quickly. The right knee has no such problem.
Images are very large. Please right click on them and open on another window.
Hyong,
Before the surgery, I can touch the floor with both my palms, keeping my legs straight. My hands can reach over my toes a little bit when I sit and keeping my legs straight. But I cannot open my legs very wide, maybe 120 degrees.
TIBIKE200,
He prefers doing it that way, but he has no problem doing two legs at the same time (bilateral).
Yeah I'm pretty satisfied. If the nails were to stop distracting now, I will have no complain.
Quote from: TIBIKE200 on March 21, 2016, 09:27:45 AMWhich country are you from?
China
Quote from: hyong on March 21, 2016, 09:56:02 AMDid Dr monegal said roughly when would you be able to walk without crutches ?
The bleeding wound look really painful though 
congratulations for making it through the lengthening phrase 
!
No, it depends. In my case I'm expecting 4-5 months post op.
The bleeding looked scary but it was not painful at all. I didn't even notice it until the blood wetted my legging.
Quote from: TIBIKE200 on March 21, 2016, 10:11:37 AMSo now you are considered average or tall in your city?
I will consider myself being average among my generation now.
Quote from: chineseguy on March 21, 2016, 10:20:30 AMsnd. where are you from in china?
why did you choose spain and not beijing?
You can PM me for the more private questions.
Because I prefer internal method of course.
Yesterday I took my latest x-rays. Unfortunately the images are a little bit unclear (as is common in China). X-rays showed a even gap of 58.5 mm for left leg and 58.3 mm for right leg by their measurement, but on my book, it should have been around 6.1 cm. Anyways I'm not worried about this but rather that the x-ray showed that the pelvis isn't quite horizontal, which implies that the left femur is shorter. I tape measured the gaps and they are of equal length. Then I measured the lengths of the nails, and they are almost equal too. Weird. I wonder if it's because of my standing posture. I will continue distraction for about ten more days. Lengthening remains painless. I continue walking quite a lot with my forearm crutches everyday, and I swim (freestyle) once every two days.
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