Diary: Femur LON - Dr Halil Buldu - May 2021

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Quote from: RB on July 10, 2021, 06:16:41 AMHey mate, how’s recovery going now? Any improvement? Are you walking without aids at this stage? You should have a full recovery given the amount you lengthened so keep working hard man and you will be normal before you know it!
I can penguin walk without aid. No pain, but tightness on quads if i sit for too long, and knees always problematic. The road will be long but there's no other path forward

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Small update - 12 days after fixater removal

Mood has improved. I think the opioids (contramol) had a negative affect on my mental health last week. However as my freedom/return to the US approaches my regret lingers; I can't walk normally or sit down/get up naturally. I 100% expected all of this, but confronting it in reality is a completely different beast.

I now walk without crutches a lot - they're more annoying than anything now. My walk is atrocious of course, but I'm happy that I'm not 100% dependent on crutches. I get tired very easily. Yesterday I walked 30 minutes at the lowest speed setting on the treadmill, and it got hard trying to stay at pace. Before this the 1 setting was almost insultingly slow - now it's almost too fast.

The physical therapists (in and out-house) help a lot with regaining movement. A lot of it is stretching/fixing muscles that haven't been used or are extremely and utterly tight because we couldn't work them out due to the fixater. Alone I'm a little scared to stretch by myself - my legs are extremely heavy and hard to move. This feels very injury prone if I do anything irregular. On top of that I don't want to do any movements that could disrupt healing. The pool has finally opened up in the hotel so I'm swimming/stretching in the water. It helps a lot. 


I look forward to all the comfort that home brings. Especially the food.


To the people looking at Buldu for this surgery:
Go ahead, he's a really good surgeon.
The purpose of my blog and posts is not to smear the work being done here. The purpose of my posts is to give you a western, US-leaning perspective on my experience. LLT is good but they are not my choice for #1 clinical team out of those whom I have worked with. However for the price, this service will get the job done. Don't let me deter your decision. I understand that if you are seriously considering this operation you are in serious (mental, emotional) pain and you cannot afford the 100k price tag. This procedure can help cure those ailments.
This has not been easy, and it never will be, but it's the price you pay to do the impossible. Just be aware of how the culture/climate is in Turkey and how this team works. If you can stomach these problems, your experience here won't be as bad as it was for me.

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Was it the 90days Premium package you picked with Dr. Buldu? Did you manage to haggle down the price by 2k EUR, because it seems like the package is listed at 22k EUR?

Best of luck to you on your recovery, In less than one year, You can probably read about my painful journey at the same place...

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Quote from: RichTheGreat on July 17, 2021, 11:02:13 PMWas it the 90days Premium package you picked with Dr. Buldu? Did you manage to haggle down the price by 2k EUR, because it seems like the package is listed at 22k EUR?

Best of luck to you on your recovery, In less than one year, You can probably read about my painful journey at the same place...

Good luck. It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life and many patients there can attest to this. I bought the surgery for 15k EUR and negotiated the package. I only stayed 2/3 months so I paid for a little less than 2/3.

Casual reminder: LON-Femur diaries that do not talk about how extremely, devastatingly painful it is 100% FAKE.

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Small update since my last post:
I'm approaching the 4-week mark after removal. My gait is wobbly but ok, it's getting better very quickly everyday. I am doing physical therapy by myself at home 2-3 times a day for 45 minutes. Hold the stretch for a total of 90 seconds for at least 30 second per rep. Repeat twice.  Feels great after every time.
I walk without crutches unless I'm going outside. I only use 1 crutch for support/safety. Flexibility is terrible - I'm getting 105-110* bending. Extremely tight quads. Hamstrings are great. Hips are awful. I am stretching everything of course. I can scale stairs ok with one crutch.

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Thanks for the detailed journal. I was set to go this month but after reading I'm thinking of changing my mind. You think someone who's more of a loner would have a easier Time being there? I noticed guys who are used to home comforts have a harder time. I go months without seeing family from time to time. So 3 months for me would be a nothing. I just need Netflix and YouTube to keep me occupied. My concern is the pain. I thought they'd give something for that but it seems what they provide isn't good enough.

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Quote from: Growing on August 02, 2021, 08:46:47 AMThanks for the detailed journal. I was set to go this month but after reading I'm thinking of changing my mind. You think someone who's more of a loner would have a easier Time being there? I noticed guys who are used to home comforts have a harder time. I go months without seeing family from time to time. So 3 months for me would be a nothing. I just need Netflix and YouTube to keep me occupied. My concern is the pain. I thought they'd give something for that but it seems what they provide isn't good enough.

Every with best pain medicine the discomfort itself will drive you crazy

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Quote from: Growing on August 02, 2021, 08:46:47 AMThanks for the detailed journal. I was set to go this month but after reading I'm thinking of changing my mind. You think someone who's more of a loner would have a easier Time being there? I noticed guys who are used to home comforts have a harder time. I go months without seeing family from time to time. So 3 months for me would be a nothing. I just need Netflix and YouTube to keep me occupied. My concern is the pain. I thought they'd give something for that but it seems what they provide isn't good enough.

Bring a ton of sleeping medications, seriously. If you’re not a military/trained sleeper youlll need all the pain and sleeping meds in the world. Internet is absolute   and you need vpn so don’t count on it.

Food is also absolute  , at best a 2/10. I like Turkish food but you’re a patient at a hospital/hotel you don’t have many options.

This is doable but it’s very hard. My biggest regret, seriously, is not doing an extra 1-2 cm. But in the face of not even the pain, but just being in Turkey with bad internet and  ty food (but of course also the pain and being immobilized) no thank you. I am very happy with my 5cm. If you are shorter than 17x cm before starting this surgery I heavily recommend doing at least 7cm. You don’t want to leave this with regrets.
You’re a loner? F*Kc off man, you’ll need to spend 100% of your time with the other patients. It’s the only thing that will help you, seriously. Company is key.

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Quote from: PerfectBody on August 04, 2021, 01:08:14 AMBring a ton of sleeping medications, seriously. If you’re not a military/trained sleeper youlll need all the pain and sleeping meds in the world. Internet is absolute   and you need vpn so don’t count on it.

Food is also absolute  , at best a 2/10. I like Turkish food but you’re a patient at a hospital/hotel you don’t have many options.

This is doable but it’s very hard. My biggest regret, seriously, is not doing an extra 1-2 cm. But in the face of not even the pain, but just being in Turkey with bad internet and  ty food (but of course also the pain and being immobilized) no thank you. I am very happy with my 5cm. If you are shorter than 17x cm before starting this surgery I heavily recommend doing at least 7cm. You don’t want to leave this with regrets.
You’re a loner? F*Kc off man, you’ll need to spend 100% of your time with the other patients. It’s the only thing that will help you, seriously. Company is key.

Thanks bro. I'm just glad you got to the other side of it ok. I'll try to lengthen as long as I can tolerate. That will suck for me if the internet is bad.. lol. I was in turkey last year and had no cell service so I depended heavily on wifi.

As far as food, do they have delivery services like uber eats? Its actually kind of a good thing for me if the food is bad. I could stand to lose a few pounds.

I'm stacking up on the zzzquill and Tylenol PM. I just hope customs don't give me a hard time about it when traveling.

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Quote from: Growing on August 04, 2021, 11:25:53 AMThanks bro. I'm just glad you got to the other side of it ok. I'll try to lengthen as long as I can tolerate. That will suck for me if the internet is bad.. lol. I was in turkey last year and had no cell service so I depended heavily on wifi.

As far as food, do they have delivery services like uber eats? Its actually kind of a good thing for me if the food is bad. I could stand to lose a few pounds.

I'm stacking up on the zzzquill and Tylenol PM. I just hope customs don't give me a hard time about it when traveling.

Yeah they have delivery services. Food is pretty cheap here too. Put those in your carry on and not your luggage, make sure they’re still sealed otherwise it will be trashed. So once you buy them don’t open until you get here.

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Quote from: Fiveandsomething on August 05, 2021, 06:27:21 AMYeah they have delivery services. Food is pretty cheap here too. Put those in your carry on and not your luggage, make sure they’re still sealed otherwise it will be trashed. So once you buy them don’t open until you get here.

Thanks bro, good thing you said something. I was planning on putting it in my luggage so they won't throw It away. I thought we couldn't bring liquids through the line when going through TSA.