Great news! Most of my pain is gone. So, what changed? I finally got to use the adductor and abductor machines at my gym, because I feel confident enough that my rod won't bend. I've been increasing the strength on my adductor and abductor muscles and increased it by 50% in the past two weeks. The pain on my TFL is also going away and doing leg lifts while on my side no longer hurt and doesn't take much effort now. My inner thigh muscles no longer hurt as much when I put a pillow between them and squeeze. My penguin walking is starting to go away and my walking looks pretty normal now. Still not 100% normal walking yet, but looks like 90% normal. I think it's because the ratio between femur and tibia are different now, so my walking doesn't look natural to me. But it would be really hard to tell that I had leg surgery now. I'm also strong enough to get up from a squat without using my arms now. Also I can do a light jog. I'm too scared to do a full speed run without Paley's blessing. I still have that persistent issue with my left TFL causing random sharp pains. It really does feel like the screws on the rod are cutting into my flesh. I can feel it having this bumpy feeling whenever it starts hurting and I touch that area. It feel like the head of the screws are getting caught onto the strands of my muscle fibers. So it's rubbing my muscle fibers like a pick through guitar strings. Anyway, that pain will probably never go away until I get this screws out.
Since the pain no longer seems like it's going to be permanent, the only thing left I can't do right now seems to be getting a low angle during sex. This is because I can't spread my legs out as much I used to. This will be very very hard to fix, because the tendons near my inner thighs feel like they're stretched to their max already. My guess is that this condition is permanent unless I train like a kung fu master and practice making a leg split.
In light of the positive events, I'm updating my recommendation for LL from a "no" to a "maybe". On a scale from 1-10, it'd be a 6. I'd give it an 8 if money wasn't a factor. I'm deducting the points because of 1) loss of flexibility, meaning certain sex positions are awkward now 2) scars, though this a minor point 3) loss of time. Realistically, you're spending around 12 months of not being normal. I was expecting it to be more like 6 months, because 3 months of lengthening and 3 months of consolidation. But it took me about 10 months to feel somewhat normal now. I think it'll be the 1 year mark before I feel completely normal again.
Things aren't much different than before, except my height neurosis is gone, and I've been going on dates with gorgeous girls who probably wouldn't have dated me at my shorter height - because they're taller than my previous height. I wouldn't say that my confidence got higher, because I was already very confident before. But now I can look at a mirror without feeling ashamed of being short. I'm very glad that I got rid of that feeling finally.
Quote from: EndGame on April 14, 2016, 09:34:00 PMIs there anything more you would be willing to share in regards to Dr. Paley's ethics? Any examples of things which you think one should be aware and mindful of before or during a LL with him? Or perhaps would you even recommend against going with him for LL b/c of those ethical concerns?
Paley charges a lot and even refuses to refund you a portion of the PT even if something went wrong and you had to stop early and don't need the rest of the PT. I don't know how much of it is Paley's doing or the hospital's doing. But either way, you're stuck there in that hospital. I don't recommend going to him unless you're loaded, like Polycrates said. I don't mind as much because I'm wealthy, but I could see that someone who isn't as loaded as me would be pissed if a complication comes up and he has to pay $20-$30,000 more, when he could fix the same thing for less elsewhere. I think Iamready had a complication that caused him to have to pay a few tens of thousands more, because Paley's team didn't catch something in his x-ray. I think it was bone union too early and he had to break it again. I wouldn't go to him if money was tight.
