Quote from: MirinHeight on March 11, 2020, 03:39:00 AMdoes Dr. Paley clarify how long in between taking the aspirin doses. Just curious because aspirin has half life of 3 hrs
Dr. Robbins just had me take one in the AM as soon as I woke up and one in the PM around dinner. I was fairly active during the day with Stryde so the risk was pretty low IMO.
Update: Day 182 Post Op, Day 94 Post Distraction
It's been 6 months from my surgery date. Life is good.
I remember during my consultation with several LL doctors over a year ago, the general consensus was that 6 months post op was the magical milestone date where patients return to normal life (walking, running, sports, fitness, etc.)
Am I back to being 100% normal? Nope. Have I made significant progress? Yes, every day.
Unfortunately due to COVID 19 I won't be getting my x rays until next month at the earliest so my consolidation progress is TBD.
The Good
-My walk looks perfectly normal and my endurance has improved to the point where the fact that I had LL is undetectable up to 3 miles, at which point fatigue sets in with my glutes and hips and my walk declines to a hybrid walk/waddle.
-Strength has improved. I can go up and down stairs naturally. I can get up from a seated position independently without pushing off with my hand.
-I feel normal. No significant physical pain. Sometimes I go through the day forgetting I did LL.
-Before the surgery I was worried about friends, family and colleagues noticing my height. So far only one friend has noticed and it wasn't a big deal. I've learned that most people don't really care about you as much as you think they do, and for the people that do truly care about you, they will love and support you unconditionally through LL anyways. I own it.
-New sense of confidence. LL was really hard. Mentally and physically. After you do it you feel a sense of accomplishment. Now when life throws problems at me I think back to LL as a source of strength and confidence to carry me through.
-My height dysphoria is completely gone. No more shoe lifts. I wear shoes that I like, not shoes that make me taller. I never think about height anymore whereas I used to obsess about it daily for hours on end. This freedom has gifted me way more time to spend on other more meaningful areas of my life.
The Not So Good
-Nerve pain / shin numbness (left leg.) Still dealing with this. From the friends I made at Paleys, about half of them had nerve pain or numbness during distraction, and of those folks, about half of them are still experiencing it at about 3 to 6 months post op into consolidation. The pain isn't bad at all, just annoying. I'm stretching more in hopes that it improves.
-Athleticism. I can't run, jog, or play any active sports despite being told so at 6 months post op during my consultation. I think this varies by patient, but in general, most won't be returning to sports at 6 months. People like Movie have amazing athletic recovery outcomes and have definitely earned it, but I would call those out as impressive exceptions, not the norm.
-Lingering stiffness that occurs early in the morning after getting up from bed or getting up after having been seated for > 30 minutes. This goes away after warming up for a minute or so.
Hey brother,
Awesome update, very true and 100% authentic. You have described my general feelings almost precisely as well. LL is a fascinating and challenging process, yet rewarding and incredibly life changing at the same time. I hope that you stay active on this forum years down the line just to update the community as to how you have recovered long term. I plan to do so myself because I know that years ago when I searched for long term outcomes and effects of this surgery, this information was incredibly difficult to find because people forget and move on.
Anyway keep up the great progress and I'm looking forward to your next updates. Cheers my man!
Nice update bro, I'm glad everything is returning back to normal in due time. the shin numbness and pain are annoying they will subside though.
Thanks for the shout out bro! let's not forget I'm a month and a half ahead of you in recovery however, that's a huge difference lol, maybe a month and a half from now you'll be able to jog as well (: keep it up bro, best wishes.
Quote from: tiggy on March 17, 2020, 07:56:32 PMHey brother,
Awesome update, very true and 100% authentic. You have described my general feelings almost precisely as well. LL is a fascinating and challenging process, yet rewarding and incredibly life changing at the same time. I hope that you stay active on this forum years down the line just to update the community as to how you have recovered long term. I plan to do so myself because I know that years ago when I searched for long term outcomes and effects of this surgery, this information was incredibly difficult to find because people forget and move on.
Anyway keep up the great progress and I'm looking forward to your next updates. Cheers my man!
Thanks tiggy! 100% I will stay active on the forum for a while. I remember being on the other side, before my operation... the diaries that provided a rare glimpse into the long term outlook of LL, well beyond the nail removal stage (shout out to Programdude, YellowSpike, Purush, and many more) were so helpful in my journey. I want to give back to the community by sharing my experience all the way through passed the nail removal stage.
Quote from: Movie on March 17, 2020, 07:57:10 PMNice update bro, I'm glad everything is returning back to normal in due time. the shin numbness and pain are annoying they will subside though.
Thanks for the shout out bro! let's not forget I'm a month and a half ahead of you in recovery however, that's a huge difference lol, maybe a month and a half from now you'll be able to jog as well (: keep it up bro, best wishes.
Thanks Movie! You set the gold standard in recovery and you earned it through hard work! All those stairs, training, stretching and the love of soccer really came through for you. You're right.... I hope that in a month and some change I can catch up to you bro! Cheers
Quote from: ferniebritishcolumbia on March 18, 2020, 03:33:03 AMWhat are the scars like? Did you ever consider spreading the 8cm out over both femur and tibia for proportionality?
Scars are still visible, I avoid wearing shorts due to the IT band related scars located slightly above the outside areas of my knee. I'm ignoring the scars for now as I plan on re-opening the wounds again anyways when getting the rods removed in early to mid 2021. Shortly after that I plan on getting laser treatment for scar removal.
I did consider doing femurs and tibias to maintain ideal proportions but the additional time, costs, health risks and pain did not seem worth it IMO. Looking at myself in the mirror today, my knees do look a little low but nothing out of the ordinary that the average onlooker would take note of. The human body, especially the femur/tibia ratio, varies pretty significantly across individuals and I've embraced that.
Nice one mate. So glad to hear your well. Seriously impressive.
1) do you think your recovery has been luckier than most or just average? Can the average person expect to recover as well as you with not much by way of complications so far?
2) does everyone have that scar above the knee? I thought they insert and remove the rod from the hip at Paley’s clinic? From what I read you had to get an additional procedure because of tight IT bands... which is why that scars there. What about the scar from the actual ll procedure itself?
3) I’m planning on doing 3-4cm on femurs at most. Do you think I will need any alteration of my IT bands? Do you think my recovery will be quicker because of such small lengthening or same as the guys doing 5cm+?
4) if I want to lengthen 4cm and let’s say finances aren’t an issue, taking everything else into account how much more risky do you think it would be to do 2cm tibia and 2cm femur as opposed to all 4cm femur? I know u said it was riskier doing both but since mine are such small amounts on each do you think it would mitigate the risk?
5) out of curiosity did Paley mention the forum at all or ask you to post or is this completely your own volition? Appreciate your thoughts on this in general as it would help my research and judging what I should believe onn here. A lot of posters seem to be sponsored either by Nuvasive (company that makes stryde and precice) or doctors themselves
Thanks so much for your time. 1 on 1 time with people actually undergoing the procedure is a commodity not to be taken for granted so I appreciate your help
Quote from: ferniebritishcolumbia on March 18, 2020, 06:10:08 AMNice one mate. So glad to hear your well. Seriously impressive.
1) do you think your recovery has been luckier than most or just average? Can the average person expect to recover as well as you with not much by way of complications so far?
2) does everyone have that scar above the knee? I thought they insert and remove the rod from the hip at Paley’s clinic? From what I read you had to get an additional procedure because of tight IT bands... which is why that scars there. What about the scar from the actual ll procedure itself?
3) I’m planning on doing 3-4cm on femurs at most. Do you think I will need any alteration of my IT bands? Do you think my recovery will be quicker because of such small lengthening or same as the guys doing 5cm+?
4) if I want to lengthen 4cm and let’s say finances aren’t an issue, taking everything else into account how much more risky do you think it would be to do 2cm tibia and 2cm femur as opposed to all 4cm femur? I know u said it was riskier doing both but since mine are such small amounts on each do you think it would mitigate the risk?
5) out of curiosity did Paley mention the forum at all or ask you to post or is this completely your own volition? Appreciate your thoughts on this in general as it would help my research and judging what I should believe onn here. A lot of posters seem to be sponsored either by Nuvasive (company that makes stryde and precice) or doctors themselves
Thanks so much for your time. 1 on 1 time with people actually undergoing the procedure is a commodity not to be taken for granted so I appreciate your help
No problem man!
1) I think my recovery was slightly ahead of the curve based on a small sample size of about 15 patients that I kept in touch with from Paleys. My surgery was textbook, my flexibility, ROM and strength was above average thanks to dedication towards PT, and my bone consolidation was only average. I think there is a good chance an average person can expect to recover as well as me or even better (see Movie diary) with the right mindset and discipline towards PT.
2) Yes every femur patient has the IT band scar as Paley does an IT band release for all femur patients. The scar from the nail implant (and eventual removal) is in the hip area as you mentioned. I've decided to defer all scar removal procedures post rod removal.
3) Yes Paley does IT band release for all femur patients regardless of length. 3-4 cm is a worlds apart from someone doing 5 cm+, your recovery will be incomparably faster and easier at 3-4 cm. A general rule is recovery to decent walking is 2 to 2.5 days for every mm you lengthened. Soft tissues got really tight and things got exponentially more difficult once I crossed the 5 cm threshold, so I think regaining flexibility, ROM, and strength will be much faster for anyone doing less than 5 cm. I think you could be walking decently about 3.5 to 4 months post op. Furthermore, I believe anyone doing less than 5 cm has a decent chance of full athletic recovery.
4) I believe doing quadrilateral (both femurs and tibias) is more risky due to the surgery itself, not so much the amount you lengthen. There is a very small risk of surgery complications like a fat embolism happening, and with 4 bones broken instead of 2, the risk of such a complication is higher, but overall still low. Furthermore, the quadrilateral guys I met at Paleys reached an ambulatory state much slower than bilateral patients, they were in wheel chairs longer due to having way more trauma after having two surgeries three weeks apart....the slower you get to walking and weight bearing the slower your bones consolidate and muscles strengthen.
5) Completely doing this at my own volition to give back to the community as the older diaries were so valuable to me leading up to my operation. Paley never mentioned the forum. Totally understand the skepticism, I was the same way when I was doing my research but I think most American doctors (Paley, Rozburch, Mahboubian) have enough experience to let their skills speak for themselves, IMO I would be cautious of any diaries for international doctors, doctors with a history of complications, or new doctors looking to market their practice.
Been getting a steady stream of PM's from people trying to decide if LL is right for them so I decided to create a Step by step framework on how to decide if you are a good candidate for LL.
LL was life changing for me but I'm a firm believer that if you are struggling with height neurosis LL should be the LAST RESORT in your journey towards resolution.
Step 1: Reflect on whether the core areas of your life outside of height (friends, family, career, wealth, romance, purpose etc.) are healthy. LL will NOT fix all of your problems. It can only fix height neurosis and enhance an already good life. If you're depressed or if you're not satisfied with your life beyond just your height, you will remain depressed and unsatisfied after LL and doing LL would be like pouring a glass of water into a forrest fire. Invest in YOURSELF first before you invest in lengthening your legs.
Step 2: Ask yourself why you are doing LL. Are you doing it for any one person or thing? Are you doing it because some random bimbo said you were short? Are you doing it because you think it'll get you a promotion at work? Other people's opinion of your height is none of your business. Those people don't matter. Forget them. Don't do this for anyone else other than you. Do it because you don't want to let height neurosis get in the way of you actualizing your fullest potential.
Step 3: Try to resolve your height neurosis through therapy before you consider LL. You might find that the source of your height neurosis is deeply rooted in other mental issues buried deep in your mind and seeing a therapist may provide you with a way of addressing it. Perhaps try meditation. These are healthier and far more economical ways to resolve height neurosis than LL.
Step 4: Ask yourself how important athleticism is to you. Results may vary but the large majority of LL patients who do > 5 cm in any segment will not recover 100% of their athleticism. You have to be at peace with sacrificing a considerable amount of athleticism. If competitive sports are a major part of your life you may want to reconsider LL.
Step 5: You wouldn't buy a car unless you test drove it first right? So don't do LL unless you do a tall trial run. Wear lifts for a couple months that puts you at your desired LL height. Try an inch, try two, then try three. See how it makes you feel. Happier, more content, in a state of nirvana? Or indifferent, or the same? Update your virtual identity with your desired LL height on your online dating profile and observe if it's made a meaningful difference in the dating world. You might be surprised.
Step 6: Don't worry about what other people will think or if they might notice you taller. I worried about this a lot before doing LL and it gave me a ton of anxiety and guess what.... after doing LL I realized it doesn't really matter, people don't really care about you as much as you think they do.
Step 7: Plan for the worst and hope for the best in the context of finances, your health, and timeline. If your operation is $100k, make sure you have at least $200k in savings. One thing is for certain with LL, it will not turn out how you planned. There will be unexpected costs, unexpected changes in recovery timeline, and at worst potential complications. At the very least this is a 6 month journey, a lot can happen in that time frame, you could lose a job, lose a romantic partner, lose friends, and you need to be ready for the world to change and move on as you lay in bed crippled with rods in your legs. Make sure you have money in the bank, liquid, you need to have at least a 12 month operating expense runway.
Step 8: Make sure you are mentally strong. This journey will test you in ways you never imagined. Beyond just the physical pain. There is the isolation. The solitude. Deep loneliness. Lack of sleep. It can break you down. You need to have the ability to shift your perspective when things get tough. It's a super power. I remember every time I hit a low point and was about to break down due to the excruciating pain and loneliness... I had to dig deep and shift my perspective towards expressing gratitude about how lucky I was to have the rare opportunity to get taller. This is not for the weak minded.
Deciding to do LL is a deeply personal one. It's a drastic decision towards fixing height neurosis and it should be the last resort to fixing height neurosis. Although I am very happy with my decision to do this I still believe prospective LL'ers need to deeply reflect and meditate on their decision to do LL before they make that decision. Best of luck to all!
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