Hi Everyone,
I just had my bilateral internal Tib/Fib operation with Dr. M on 2.15.18 and my bilateral Femurs operation is scheduled next month. I’d like to share my experience with everyone who’s interested in pursuing their dream of becoming taller. I’ll provide more information soon.
Optimistic1
“how much are you paying”
Mirinheight,
To be safe, put 200K aside.
“Do you mind sharing your starting height and your height goal?
I wish you the best of luck through all this, Optimistic1.”
Myloginacct,
I’ll start my journal soon and give everyone my stats. I started one on the makemetaller forum but that site seems dead so I stopped.
I’m 5’5.5. My wing span is 5’7.5. I want to lengthen 8 cm on my Tib/Fib but Dr. M said 6.5 cm is more realistic but he also said let’s see how it goes and we’ll determine this as we go.
I want to lengthen 8 cm on my femurs and Dr. M said it’s doable as femur bone generates faster than Tib/Fib bone. I want to be between between 5’10 and 5’11 at my final height. I think there might be a problem with proportion at this height and my wingspan so that’s why I’m going to watch it very closely. I’ll be buying a lot of cloths and looking at myself in the mirror more often to see if there’s any obvious signs of disproportionality and stop lengthening right away. It’s going to be a tough fight and I’ll try my very best. Thank you.
Optimistic1
Hi Honore,
Thank you for your advise. It’s better be safe than sorry. Any extra inch I can increase in my height is a gain so I’ll be happy with what I can get. First, I have to be able to stretch probably so I can keep on lengthening.
Things are improving since the surgery but I still have this constant ache pain. Whenever I put both feet onto that floor before transferring myself to a wheelchair or walker, I feel a very strong pressure in both legs and much stronger in my left leg, the weaker one. Morning is the worst. Of course, these are without pain meds. With pain meds, I’m fine. Now, I’m trying to get the PT to come to my house as it’s extremely difficult for me to leave my house.
Did you experience this pain during your lengthening? If so, how long did it take for this to go away? Do you have any tips in dealing with it? Thank you.
Optimistic1
Mirinheight,
Fortunately, I’m flexible with money so cost is not the only factor. However, I can’t afford much down time and Paley requires his patients to stay within a close proximity for the entire process. He might have changed this now but it’s the protocol when I consulted with him, no exception. With Dr. M, I had my surgery last Thursday and I’ve been home since Wednesday (six days after). The procedure went well and the reason I’m experiencing some pain is because I don’t take pain meds.
For Rozbruch, he works in a city where I know many of the professionals including the staff at the hospital. New York is big city but the professional community isn’t that big. I want to maintain a highest degree of confidentiality of these procedures until I’m mentally and physically prepared to deal with human’s curiosity.
So far, Dr. M is a good doctor.
Optimistic1
Honore,
Good luck and I wish you the best. The pain is not so bad so don’t be discouraged. The reason I’m experiencing some pain is because I don’t take pain meds. If you take pain meds then you should be fine.
Hi Everyone,
I can finally post my journal about my Tib/Fib surgery and the early stage of the recovery process. I had my Tib/Fib surgery on 2.15.18, saw Dr. M for my post-op on 2.20.18, got home on 2.21.18 (I live very far from Dr. M), did my first lengthening session today for .75 mm on both Tib/Fib. I'm currently scheduled for my bilateral femurs next month. A little bit about me:
33 years old, turning 34 soon
Pre CLL height: 5'5.5 or 166 cm
Wingspan: 5'7.7 or 171 cm
Sitting Height: Don't know but it's either average or just a little shorter than average.
Goal: 5'10 or 5'11
Location: USA
My dad is around 6 feet tall (this is tall as the average male height for his ethic group is 5'4 or 5'5) but my mom is only 4'9 or 4'10 and she's considered a few inches short for her female ethnic group. My brother is 5'10 and both of my sisters are 5'3. I gave up on sports because I stopped growing taller after my last year of junior high, I was 13-14 at the time. I grew really fast before that and everyone thought I'd grow up to be taller than my dad. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. ;(
I started researching these magical procedures during my first year of grad school and that was 11 years ago. I was 22 years old at the time. I'm very happy that I can finally pursue my dream of being taller. God is fair. You'll be given either a good physical appearance or brain. Rarely do you get both. Some might think they have both but that thinking is subjective. I think he gave me the brain. Lol. I can now enhance my physical appearance and still keep my brain. Lol. I don't think I'd work extra hard to be where I'm today if I were 6 feet or taller growing up. Lol.
You guys can also look at LAgrowin's journal. I did a great job at putting it together.
2.15.18 at 5:30 am, I checked in at the Providence St. Joseph Medical Center. They took me to the first room to get prepared then to the operation room. I woke up at around 1:30 p.m. feeling a lot of pain in my left leg. They gave me 2 pain shots and the problem was resolved. I felt good that day and pain wasn't an issue because I was coming out of anesthesia. I even felt great and was excited too early. Dr. M came in that evening to tell me the operation went well on my right leg but my bone is soft on my left leg but nothing major. I don't remember the exact terminology he used. He fixed it and it will actually heal faster than the right leg. I felt so good that Dr. M was going to release me one day early.
2.16.18: This day was bad and they put me on morphine but to me pain and suffering is subjective. The nurses felt so bad for me. To me, it wasn't so much about the pain. It's about my inability to pee and had to keep going to the bathroom the entire night but can't pee. I feel bad for the nurses because I kept on pressing the button that night. I'd sit in the bathroom for as long as 60 minutes trying to pee. I had the urges to go but as soon as I sat down, it was hopeless. At some point, I felt my bladder was going to explode. Ask Dr. M if he can put you on dilaudid instead of morphine as morphine can decrease your ability to pee normally. That night, the nurse had to stick the catheter pipe right into my **** and it feels so weird when a girl is doing that while you're awake. She kindly asked if it was okay to do that and I said "at this point, nothing matters anymore, lol." The pee came out and filled up one and a half bag (that's a lot).
I was icing both legs nonstop. My nurse (favorite one) and I came up with an amazing system and Dr. M was amazed when she saw it. Lol.
2.17.18: I decided to stay for another day as I was previously scheduled for. This day was great. I didn't feel much pain and by 9:00 am I was very okay. I think because I was able to get some sleep the night before. I was able to pee and had some bowl movement. You'd find this weird what I'm about to tell you how I was able to pee but whatever you can do to make it work, do it. Lol. Like I said earlier, nothing matters at that time. So I was sitting on the toilet and place both of my hands on the toilet seat and moved my body up and down. That created the urges to pee. The other method I did was leaning forward and rest my hands and shoulders on the walker. The last method is using my middle finger and push it against the part right above my****. Do that gently and keep doing it. If one of these methods works, then just use that method. I hope I don't gross you guys out.
I was put on dilaudid and only needed 2 shots. I was on only Norco from that point on. I was released on February 17 at 2:30 pm. Before I left, I asked for a shot of dilaudid to deal with the possible trauma of transportation. I used Affinity and the van has a ram to roll my wheel chair up and into the van. It's only $55.00 for one way. It's worth it.
I arrived at the hotel around 2:50 pm and my private nurses were already there waiting for me (you don't need this service if have someone to help you. I, personally, don't like to bother anyone). I gave one nurse a grocery list to buy and the other one started to help me bathing and shaving, etc... I'm feeling fine now with very little pain. I didn't feel I needed my Norco but took it anyways.
Tips:
1. Bring anything that you normally need to the hospital because the supplies at the hospital are just the basic.
2. Ask Dr. M if you could be put on dilaudid instead of morphine but I think each person reacts differently to pain medication. For me, I was having diarrhea instead of constipation like most people do.
3. Just relax as it will get better every day. The second day (the day after the surgery) is the worst but you'll likely get much better on the third day.
I'm aiming for 8 cm but Dr. M said 6.5 cm is a more realistic goal for the tib/fib. He also said just wait and see how it goes. Complications are inevitable with these surgeries so I'm going to follow Dr. M's instructions religiously and hope for the best. I might have had a good start but there's no guarantee it's going to stay that way throughout the entire lengthening process. I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best. I will update everyone with any changes.
4th day: Today is my fourth (4th) day since the surgery date of 2.15.18. I feel better today than I did yesterday. I can perform most ADL by myself including icing and putting pillows underneath my feet to elevate them. No noticeable problems so far but I'll keep everyone posted.
5th day: 5th (fifth) day since the surgery (2.15.18) and I'm getting better every day. It's amazing how you can witness your body recovering and improving everyday from such a major operation. I'm down to only 1 Norco every 5- 6 hours now. Pain is more manageable. I can raise both my legs up without using my hand. My left leg is slower and weaker than my right leg. The left leg is the one with soft bone that Dr. M discussed with me after the operation. I don't experience the sharp shooting pain in my left ankle every time I move it anymore. I slept for 9 hours last night (2 hours +3 hours + 4 hours because I woke up in between to use the restroom). When I woke up at 7:00 am, I felt very good and didn't feel any pain at all. I felt I could reconnect with all of my nerves in my legs and no more drowsiness feeling from the pain meds.
I became excited too early so I went back to sleep for another 2 hours. When I work up at 9:00 am, I started feeling the pain in both legs as the last time I took one (1) Norco was over 5 hours ago.
There's nothing exciting today. I just took my meds, ate, washed myself, brushed my teeth and used the restroom. I'm doing all these things on my own the nurses are just on standby. Getting in and out of bed is much easier now that I can raise my legs up. I will try to get some ice on my own instead of using room service. I think I'm going to tell my nurses that their service is completed.
6th day: Saw Dr. M and he said everything looks great. He took my bandages off and said I can shower. Oh boy, it feels so good to finally shower.
7th day: I flew back home and the experience was horrible. I felt like both of my legs were exploding even after taking 2 Norco. My recommendation is DO NOT fly unless you need to. I got home and my nurse came over to assist me. Nothing much.
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