Bilateral Femur Lengthening with Dr. Paley 2015 (Q&A, not Journal)

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yes

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Update: It's been about 15 days I stopped lengthening on my left leg and 13 on my right. A little over 3 months since my surgery. My back was killing me the first day I got home from the constant use of stairs, but that went away pretty quickly. I'm much more flexible than I was last week, and that was a huge improvement over the week before. Last week I noticed that I'm able to take steps unaided. I have no intention of snapping my rods in half, so I've never taken more than 3 steps at a time, nor have I stood on one leg for more than a second. I'm 19, pretty light (like 125-130ish depending on how much I've eaten), and my bones began to consolidate in the last phase of my lengthening so I'm not too surprised by this. I'm getting pretty sick of crutches (haven't used the walker in over a month and didn't even take the wheelchair home with me) so hopefully my x-ray on the 16th will clear me to officially begin walking.

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I have to ask out of curiosity, but besides walking are you able to operate a vehicle in anyway? Keep us updated and good luck.

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Supposedly CLL patients are able to drive, but I have no intention of doing so for a while.

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My guess is that it would all come down to sensitivity of our legs and whether you can properly account how much pressure you can give in. The other one would be not having drastic knee-jerk like reactions randomly

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So contrary to what I said in my last post that I would wait for official clearance, I've been continuing to walk in the past 10 days. I've stopped using crutches entirely and I can safely and painlessly walk around my house. I've started taking normal showers (i.e. standing; without a shower-chair). My gait is still a little stiff but hopefully this'll go away over time with stretching and more walking. Before when I walked (as in 10 days ago) it felt as though I were carrying a large box as my back would tighten with each step, but this has gone away. I am able to walk up an entire flight of stairs without any assistance, though this does cause some pain and I normally use the railing. I have yet to try going down the stairs without the railing, however. My x-ray is on Monday, and I'm pretty confident as to what Paley's response will be.

And no, I've never heard of someone being able to start walking two weeks after finishing lengthening, but I'm certainly not complaining.

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Would you be willing to post pictures of your new proportions?

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Take it easy my man. I'm ecstatic you're managing so well but let's not push it lol. Eitherway good hear from ya.

Adding to what Taller said, can you at least inform us as to what your current true inseam is?

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congrats mb53 on your recovery. sounds like it's going really well!  however, please take it easy until you have clearance from your doctor to fully weightbear.  like you said, it's uncommon for anyone to start walking 2 weeks after finishing lengthening.  you're so close to the end of your journey, no need to risk it now...   

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I had the x-ray done today but apparently I won't get Paley's results back for about a week... lol. In the meantime, my walk is almost back to normal. The reason my gait was stiff was because (in addition to not walking for 3 months) I completely forgot about the iliotibial band stretch. After doing it a few times, my gait is much better.