DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley

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if you are ok with it, can you post x-rays?

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Quote from: patientdad on December 27, 2015, 05:17:14 AMWhy would you walk without crutches without being given the ok?  That does not make sense to me.
Because I'm afraid of muscle atrophy and permanently weakening my leg muscles. I also heard that using your legs will speed up the bone consolidation because it promotes blood circulation, which is responsible for bone growth. I did not intend to walk without crutches at first. I started off just wanting to stand in the shower without crutches. But then I noticed that I was okay when I took baby steps. I also found that I was extremely weak and that caused pain in my thighs. Doing the exercises did get rid of the thigh pain from when I wake up. But the pain on the top of my femurs where the screws are, still haven't gone away.. So to get some more leg exercises, I did baby steps every once in a while first with crutches. Then slowly I placed less and less weight on my crutches. And finally I took the crutches off altogether. My left leg should be done consolidating by now. Only my right leg is slow. But it also already has bone union.

The kind of pain I feel is like a soreness from working out too much. Perhaps what I'm doing is stupid and wrong. But I do think that muscle atrophy is now my greatest concern. The precice nails have been doing great so far of not breaking or bending. I will post X-rays when Paley gives me the okay to walk. Then I'll show you the X-rays in like a chronological order to show the progress.

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Quote from: DoingItForMe on December 26, 2015, 09:28:06 PMwhere I don't really recommend LL as much due to all the problems I've seen various people having, including myself now. It sucks because I had a pretty complication-free lengthening, but this pain in my legs is really bugging me.

You really don't? I mean is it seriously not worth the new height ? :/

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You really don't? I mean is it seriously not worth the new height ? :/

My son thinks it is well worth it.  He is now walking, but has the hip sway so many people talk about.  It should be pretty close to normal in a month or two, I believe.  He did not have any complications, so it turned out great.

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Quote from: Peaceout on December 27, 2015, 05:55:25 PMYou really don't? I mean is it seriously not worth the new height ? :/
I think you misunderstood what I said. I said I highly recommend Lasik. I don't highly recommend LL but that doesn't mean that I don't recommend it. I recommend it, but I dont highly recommend it. If LL were as cheap and easy and complication-free as Lasik, I'd recommend LL to anyone who wants to be taller. But if you factor in all the sacrifices, I'd say that LL should be a last resort and should not be treated very casually.

I also recommend LL if you're young (teens to late 20s). I tend to see the people who are 30+ who have more problems with it, including myself, who is almost 30 now. The young ones seem to cope with LL much better, and I'd even go as far as saying that I somewhat highly recommend it. But once you're close to and past 30, I'd have to say that you really really must want it before I recommend it. And when I say want it, I mean that you suffer in mental anguish by the fact that you're short. You look in the mirror and hate the way you look. And the diaries are recommended reading before making a decision. Because what we go through, most likely you will go through the same pain and mental torture. Everyone may think that they'd get lucky be one of the problem-free ones. But from all the diaries I've read, it's seems like a majority of people have one problem or another.

Patientdad, does your son have pain in his legs when he has hip sway? I know that hip sway is leg weakness, so I'm wondering if it includes pain or soreness like mine does.

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No, he does not mention pain.  His doctor seemed to be pleased that he did not experience pain when the lengthening was finished.  But, I think you are right - the younger you are when you get LL, the less likely you are to have complications.  He had it before his 19th birthday.

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Quote from: patientdad on December 27, 2015, 11:29:33 PMNo, he does not mention pain.  His doctor seemed to be pleased that he did not experience pain when the lengthening was finished.  But, I think you are right - the younger you are when you get LL, the less likely you are to have complications.  He had it before his 19th birthday.
But his legs are weak right? And yea, the only patient I know who didn't suffer any pain was 17. Everyone else who was 28-35 all had some pain.

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Thanks for your very detailed thread, it seems like you have been the perfect patient for LL.

I have been an avid reader of your experience, but it was not clear to me when you were allowed to move from the wheelchair to crutches. I guess it was 4-5 months after OP? Do you think it is safer (& feasible) to stay in Florida until a bone bridge is formed (and one is thus free from the wheelchair)?

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The great news today is that that pain I talked about for the past month on the top of my left femur is gone. I was massaging it all day yesterday and finally today, the pain disappeared. Now I'm only left with all the other soreness and pains in my legs. Those are probably from doing all this walking and trying to regrow my muscles and strength. But it's a huge relief, because I thought that that pain would have been permanent, since it lasted for months. I'm back to being optimistic about my recovery. I think it's just a matter of time now for me to get back to normal. Legs are still tight from even just standing. Is that normal to the non-LL out there? Are your thigh muscles tight when you stand or are they relaxed? I completely forgot if they were or weren't pre-op.

Quote from: zatara on December 28, 2015, 11:04:16 PMThanks for your very detailed thread, it seems like you have been the perfect patient for LL.

I have been an avid reader of your experience, but it was not clear to me when you were allowed to move from the wheelchair to crutches. I guess it was 4-5 months after OP? Do you think it is safer (& feasible) to stay in Florida until a bone bridge is formed (and one is thus free from the wheelchair)?
You are on a walker since day 1. Wheelchair is completely optional if your recovery is great. You can just use the walker to get everywhere. I would even recommend that because muscle atrophy is a pain for me right now.

You can use crutches whenever as well but they recommend 1-2 months post op, because crutches a bit harder to use than a walker. Some people do stay 5-6 months and then go home walking. But hotel fees have gone up from $70 per night to $120 a night at Homewood.

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even without LL I get random aches here and there every now and then. but I don't really pay any attention to it. Now that I'm considering LL I keep telling myself to remember my state before LL so that I'll know if things regress after LL.

to answer your question, no they don't get "tight" or anything when I stand, but yeah they do hurt a bit from fatigue after long. I have no idea what tightness even means.