Quote from: FormerKidd on February 17, 2020, 04:10:59 PMI was looking back, but unclear -- how long was it post-lengthening before you could walk without a cain?
I started walking without a cane during distraction/lengthening. Here's a rough timeline:
During distraction 5 cm to 8cm - Walked without a cane for very short distances with abnormal gait (e.g. room, kitchen, around hotel lobby etc.) otherwise took cane with me everywhere
3 weeks post lengthening - walking without a cane for up to a quarter of mile with an 80% decent gait. Only brought cane with me when going out for precautionary safety purposes and when walking > a quarter mile.
5 weeks post lengthening - walking without a cane with normal ish 90% gait for up to a mile.
7+ weeks post lengthening - walking without a cane with normal ish 90% gait for up to 2 miles.
Diary: Stryde Femurs with Dr. Paley September 2019
Bro I totally feel you on wish we can tell our story and can't believe I did it sometimes, I think to myself I'm crazy with a smile on my face, because I'm the good kind of crazy... the crazy that doesn't let fear stop me from conquering my wildest dreams and desires, the crazy that knows I can achieve anything I want really, I've confirmed that to myself by doing LL lol. Only LL brothers might relate, I'm happy you're progressing I remember the first time standing up with my own two legs again, it's awesome, keep pushing bro. Rooting for ya
Quote from: Movie on February 19, 2020, 05:25:14 PMBro I totally feel you on wish we can tell our story and can't believe I did it sometimes, I think to myself I'm crazy with a smile on my face, because I'm the good kind of crazy... the crazy that doesn't let fear stop me from conquering my wildest dreams and desires, the crazy that knows I can achieve anything I want really, I've confirmed that to myself by doing LL lol. Only LL brothers might relate, I'm happy you're progressing I remember the first time standing up with my own two legs again, it's awesome, keep pushing bro. Rooting for ya
Movie I feel you bro! We are the good type of crazy that does whatever it takes to self actualize our dreams and desires.
To have gone from short, to bed ridden in pain, to a gimp, and now just simply tall to the untrained eye is wild. LL is a powerful, life changing experience. I remember conceptualizing the idea of being tall back when I was 5'9, to now walking around tall at 6 ft, having girls tell me I make them feel small and petite, is mind blowing.
I'm more confident and excited about the world than I have ever been in my entire life. Not so much due to the height, but more so having conquered my dysphoria, putting in the immense amount of work every day and night, and fighting through the pain to get here. It takes a ton of mental and physical strength, pain tolerance, discipline, dedication and faith to successfully do LL and the gift you get in return is the confidence and mindset that you can do anything you put your mind to!
Before LL I would have described myself as a risk averse person, always taking the safest route, always opting for deferred gratification instead of living in the moment, the guy who would work his ass off just to say he will wait to enjoy it all in retirement in old age...LL changed me, doing something as crazy as this makes you realize that we should all live a life that is true to our purpose and dreams. I can't wait to see what the next chapter of my life brings....
Update: Regressed a bit these past few days.
Overworked my glutes and hips with too many side leg raise exercises and strained my hip abductor muscles. Muscle is sore and weak now to the point where I'm waddling a bit more again.
Going to rest for the next few days and recover. Going forward I'll listen to my body more and do exercises in moderation.
Similar thing happened to me couple of weeks ago, overdid it with squats and somehow managed to injure my knees and hips, feel like it's set me back about 2 months in terms of mobility. Like you say it's soooo important to listen to your body and not push beyond its current limits, it's not like exercising when your body is normal, you really have to be super careful.
Recently met with immediate family members and some other acquiantances and didn't get a single comment on height. I attribute this to the 2 inch lifts I've been wearing for the past 5 years that are now in the garbage 
I ended up telling my immediate family and they were of course initially shocked, but ultimately supportive.
Felt amazing finally sharing this secret that I've been living with for the past 6 months with my family. Once they knew what I had done they looked at me again and registered the increase in the height. They explained that they initially thought something was different about me but in a good way, possibly lost weight or was more confident......
For those prospective LLers worried about friends, families, and coworkers noticing your height increase, I'd suggest wearing 2 inch lifts for at least a year before your surgery. Ideally you want to gradually increase the lift height (1 inch, 1.5 inch, 2 inch) over time to ease into it. Post LL get rid of them and you'd have a good chance of hiding it and even then if someone registers an increase in height you can probably get away with explaining it away as an improvement in posture.
Quote from: TheAlchemist on March 04, 2020, 02:38:45 AMRecently met with immediate family members and some other acquiantances and didn't get a single comment on height. I attribute this to the 2 inch lifts I've been wearing for the past 5 years that are now in the garbage
I ended up telling my immediate family and they were of course initially shocked, but ultimately supportive.
Felt amazing finally sharing this secret that I've been living with for the past 6 months with my family. Once they knew what I had done they looked at me again and registered the increase in the height. They explained that they initially thought something was different about me but in a good way, possibly lost weight or was more confident......
For those prospective LLers worried about friends, families, and coworkers noticing your height increase, I'd suggest wearing 2 inch lifts for at least a year before your surgery. Ideally you want to gradually increase the lift height (1 inch, 1.5 inch, 2 inch) over time to ease into it. Post LL get rid of them and you'd have a good chance of hiding it and even then if someone registers an increase in height you can probably get away with explaining it away as an improvement in posture.
Awesome man....when I read something like this, somehow I get a feeling that ....bro it's possible....the dream height that I have been wanting to have all these years...maybe I can fit into the world the way I want to...maybe it's all possible.....
Happy for you man!
Wanted to ask about your physical status....
Are you back to normal...like w.r.t. walking and running?
Would be really nice if you could give an elaborate answer to that!
Congratulations!
Quote from: Dreamer57 on March 05, 2020, 11:49:54 AM
Awesome man....when I read something like this, somehow I get a feeling that ....bro it's possible....the dream height that I have been wanting to have all these years...maybe I can fit into the world the way I want to...maybe it's all possible.....
Happy for you man!
Wanted to ask about your physical status....
Are you back to normal...like w.r.t. walking and running?
Would be really nice if you could give an elaborate answer to that!
Congratulations!
Thanks man! It IS possible! I remember last year being on the other side and questioning the decision to possibly do something as drastic as LL, analyzing all the "what ifs", all the possible negative outcomes, worrying about what OTHERS might think, many times I felt overwhelmed by it all and talked myself out of it. Looking back now it was one of the best decisions of my life.
In its entirety the LL journey almost seems impossible, but when you break it down to its core processes, and design a system where you can chip away at it one day at a time, little by little, it's definitely possible with the right mindset, dedication, and consistency. I hope you get to experience your dream height one day man!
As for my physical status (Day 170 post op, 82 days post distraction) I'm great! It gets incrementally better each day. My walk is normal on a full tank of energy with my legs warmed up.
If I've walked over >2 miles fatigue will start to set in and my walk declines to about 70% (wide gait, bit of a waddle) due to weak glutes and hips.
When I get up from a chair or when I wake up first thing in the morning my walk is a bit stiff, but it normalizes within minutes. I haven't tried running or jogging yet because I'm still waiting on Paley's review of my second set of x rays, but I feel like I can lightly jog right now. Playing it safe though so I'll keep you guys posted once I hear back on the x rays.
I'm still actively working on the above by stretching and doing light glute and hip exercises every day. Overall it's been great and I'm at a point where there are times that I forget I've had anything done.
Quote from: TheAlchemist on December 30, 2019, 05:36:49 PMInteresting take away from all of this is realizing how distorted everyones perception of height is. I've measured myself at home as exactly 6 ft. It's crazy when I'm out...the handful of girls I've talked to all think I'm over 6ft, one girl thought I was 6'3.
I've realized that women's perception of height is distorted because in general men inflate their height by a couple of inches or at least tend to round up to the next inch. I wouldn't be surprised if most guys who claim 6 ft are actually 5'10 or 5'11 barefoot. Hell I'm guilty of this, pre-LL I was around 5'9, maybe just under in the evening, and I self listed myself as 5'10 on my drivers license. Bottom line is women with shallow height standards probably perceive "6 ft" as a guy who is 5'10 or 5'11 in real life, hence their superficial standard of "only dating guys over 6 ft."
This is the funniest thing I noticed after LL. I became 5'9" and a lot of people said I looked 6ft. I lot of dudes who said they were 6 ft (and I assumed they were) were suddently my height now. Its hilarious that you noticed this too.
Quote from: TheAlchemist on March 06, 2020, 01:11:33 AMThanks man! It IS possible! I remember last year being on the other side and questioning the decision to possibly do something as drastic as LL, analyzing all the "what ifs", all the possible negative outcomes, worrying about what OTHERS might think, many times I felt overwhelmed by it all and talked myself out of it. Looking back now it was one of the best decisions of my life.
In its entirety the LL journey almost seems impossible, but when you break it down to its core processes, and design a system where you can chip away at it one day at a time, little by little, it's definitely possible with the right mindset, dedication, and consistency. I hope you get to experience your dream height one day man!
As for my physical status (Day 170 post op, 82 days post distraction) I'm great! It gets incrementally better each day. My walk is normal on a full tank of energy with my legs warmed up.
If I've walked over >2 miles fatigue will start to set in and my walk declines to about 70% (wide gait, bit of a waddle) due to weak glutes and hips.
When I get up from a chair or when I wake up first thing in the morning my walk is a bit stiff, but it normalizes within minutes. I haven't tried running or jogging yet because I'm still waiting on Paley's review of my second set of x rays, but I feel like I can lightly jog right now. Playing it safe though so I'll keep you guys posted once I hear back on the x rays.
I'm still actively working on the above by stretching and doing light glute and hip exercises every day. Overall it's been great and I'm at a point where there are times that I forget I've had anything done.
First of all thanks for the reply man!
Its people like you who inspire me day in and day out....on some days i question myself...is this life worth living.....then i think about people like you movie and puru....and i think....yeah! its something more than that.... ultimately its in our hands to make this life worth living for.....
congratulations once again on your progress...a few months from now you will be jogging and sprinting....also it would really be nice if you could keep us updated about what paley thinks on your progress and xrays....and yeah... would it be too much if i ask you to post the xrays...?.....its like im very curious to see how the bone looks like at this point of recovery!!!
btw im very happy that you replied! congrats once again and best of luck!
RESPECT.
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