Hello DIFM,
How is your gait or lack of it lately? Is your waking back to complete normal? If so, how long did it take from the time you started consolidating or the time you were given permission to walk without aids? Thank you again
T
Update: X-rays show that my bones have stopped growing in the past 2 months sadly. This means that I'm still left with no bone growth on the left side of my left leg and right side of my right leg. The right leg looks a bit more promising, because the bone is only about 1-2 inches apart - meaning that some growth has occurred in the past year. But the left leg looks like a lost cause, because the gap is still about 3 inches long. So it means that barely any growth has occurred. Paley said that I can't remove the rods while my bones are like this. I'll have to get a bone graft. Sigh.
I started using the Exogen machine again. My last one broke 2 months ago after about 200 uses. So if you buy an exogen 4000 on ebay, keep in mind that it'll probably break after around 200 uses. I also stopped taking calcium and vitamin D supplements a month ago, because I was getting pretty good sun exposure and eating healthy food. But now after seeing no bone growth for the past 2 months, I'm starting to do what I did originally and using the Exogen twice per day, drinking a lot of milk, and taking calcium/vitamin D supplements. I'll let you guys know if this helps my bone start growing again in about 3 months. I've decided to stop doing x-rays monthly, because there's almost no progress anyway.
The only good news I have to report is that I'm able to do the missionary and pronebone sex positions without problems now, when before I reported that I had trouble with it because of the loss of flexibility. Lots of stretching in the past few months, especially Thomas stretch, is what fixed it.
In reply to Tiger5:
My gait is near normal at this point. A lot of it has to do with regaining my strength using the adductor and abductor machines at my gym. Those muscles helped me stop walking like a penguin. You'll have to go through my full diary to get an exact time of when I was able to do something. The timeline was something like this:
2-months post-op: Using crutches.
3-months post-op: Reached 8 cm and stopped lengthening.
4-months post-op: Flexibility improving, still mostly using the wheelchair.
5-months post-op: Able to touch my ankles to my thighs finally. Using mostly crutches instead of wheelchair now.
6-months post-op: Able to walk short distances without crutches, but only by doing baby steps. Able to touch my toes while standing up straight.
7-months post-op: Officially given the okay to walk without crutches, but I was secretly doing it for a month and a half already.
8-months post-op: Still in pain, mostly in my adductor/abductor muscles. Able to walk a few miles per day now, but will be in a lot of pain.
9-months post-op: Pains starting to go away. Mostly working out at the gym and doing adductor/abductor workouts got rid of the pain.
10-months post-op: Almost no pain now. Can walk long distances without pain. Legs getting its muscle definition back and butt is returning.
11-months post-op: Can do a slow jog now. Still no okay from the doctor to run, jump, or do sports. Can do all sex positions I was able to do before.
I hope everything goes well and thanks for letting us know that about the Exogen. Are you giving up on the left? Or are you hoping for the best and then just keeping the bone graft as a backup plan?
Quote from: Iamready on May 28, 2016, 04:08:27 AMI hope everything goes well and thanks for letting us know that about the Exogen. Are you giving up on the left? Or are you hoping for the best and then just keeping the bone graft as a backup plan?
Before I was using the Exogen only once a day. But Paley told me to use it once every 12 hours now. I'm also consuming about 200% of my needed calcium intake per day now to try to stimulate bone growth. I'm not going to take more than that, because I'm afraid of developing kidney stones. My expectation is that my right leg might fully heal after 3-6 months if I do this. I don't have much hope for my left leg, but we'll see. My best guess is that my left leg will probably need a bone graft. The fact that Paley even mentioned a bone graft probably means that I need one, because he's been mostly optimistic prior to this x-ray.
I'll be happy if at least my right leg can heal fully without a bone graft. Because then at least I'll only be on crutches with one leg, which is significantly better than on both legs. I'm really not looking forward to another surgery. But it goes to show that complications can happen, even with Dr. Paley. Potential LLers, don't take this surgery lightly.
I checked with the Exogen Company Tech support about this device, was told that it expires after 30 to 40 days of non-use, also it expires after 6 months even it is used. They would be willing to reset it or send another one only if the doctor issues a prescription based on bone not consolidating or in cases of non-union. Tech support said those devices bought form EBay, Amazon or private sellers will not work. However what I read from your last post that it worked contradicting what Tech Supp said. It's news to me and I suppose I need to do more research
Thanks for your info
It might depend on the model. Mine is an older model called Exogen 4000. It doesn't have a calendar like the newer models, and thus doesn't keep track of dates. It keeps track of uses, though.
Hey DIFM, thanks for the update and information on the recovery timeline. Good to see you're noticing return to functionality, that's great to hear!
Considering that you've been busy under the sheets and all (you sly dog), have girls ever mentioned your long legs or anything of that matter? Both under the sheets and just around in life, seeing as how you're returning to regular life
Lastly, if you can, how far do your knees go up when you bend your legs close to your body? Like as if you're gonna do a cannon ball in a swimming pool. I guess I'm just trying to see how long might be too long for me, since my brain as gone into a spiral about how I might look after around 8 CM.
did you get your vitamin D levels checked?
I am taking Vitamin D supplements now, so my Vit D levels should be okay. I'll update you guys on my x-rays when I get them 2-3 months from now. I really hope I don't have to get another surgery other than rod removal. Not looking forward to more scars, pain, loss of time/money, and complications.
Quote from: Alu on June 02, 2016, 11:59:33 PMHey DIFM, thanks for the update and information on the recovery timeline. Good to see you're noticing return to functionality, that's great to hear!
Considering that you've been busy under the sheets and all (you sly dog), have girls ever mentioned your long legs or anything of that matter? Both under the sheets and just around in life, seeing as how you're returning to regular life
Lastly, if you can, how far do your knees go up when you bend your legs close to your body? Like as if you're gonna do a cannon ball in a swimming pool. I guess I'm just trying to see how long might be too long for me, since my brain as gone into a spiral about how I might look after around 8 CM.
Yes. A girl said that I look disproportional. I have mentioned this before that my knees look oddly too low on where they should be, even though prior to LL, I had a .8 shin to thigh ratio (which is normal according to Paley). With pants/shorts on, I look fine, because they hide my legs proportions. But nked, I look weird. This is one of the main reasons why I wouldn't recommend this surgery especially if your plan is to be physically more attractive to the opposite sex.
My knees go to where nose is if I do a cannonball pose. But what's more ugly/deformed looking is that when I bend my knees, my heel is touching the middle of my thigh when before it touched my butt.
I also want to mention that my sex drive is diminished after the surgery. I've noticed this in other diaries as well. This is another reason why I wouldn't recommend this surgery. I'm not sure if it's psychological or physical. Most likely physical, as my stamina is significantly worse than before.
Anyway, it's approaching a year since I had this surgery. Looking back, I'd say that I don't recommend this surgery. Yes, girls are less dismissive of me because of my height now. In fact, a lot of people have called me "tall" in the past few months. I've never been described as "tall" before in my life. But these girls are no better or worse than the girls who dated me who didn't care about my height. Yes, my height neurosis is gone now, but I've replaced it with other things I'm dissatisfied with myself, such as my lack of athleticism caused by this surgery. Sports stop being enjoyable when you suck at it. My friends don't treat me any differently. Even girls from the past who dismissed me for my height don't treat me any differently. So in other words, there are not many benefits to this surgery. I still have minor aches and pain in my legs while walking and doing other leg-related activities. For me, it's a fair trade off, because it fixed what I hated the most about myself. But for others, I'd say the amount of time/money you have to put into this surgery to get that is far more valuable spent elsewhere. I happen to have a lot of time/money, so that part of the surgery doesn't bother me. I don't regret this surgery, because I don't regret anything I do. But I can see why someone would regret this surgery.
My recommendation for anyone looking into LL is to surround yourself with people who don't care about your height and to get away from people who do. For example, if you're an Asian, don't surround yourself with people who think of Asians as second-class citizens. They will put you down and make you feel less of a person. In the same vein, if you surround yourself with people who hate short people or surround yourself with short people who complain about being hated for being short, you will feel less of a person. I made this mistake by browsing these LL forums and short self-help groups. A lot of the posts that point out discrimination against short people only made me feel worse about being short.
The only time I didn't think about LL and was okay with being short was when I stopped browsing these forums and stopped looking at how being short is disadvantaged. Being short is disadvantageous, but so are many other things. You can still live a great life without LL. I did just that prior to LL. Don't discount yourself so much just because some other people do.
On a lighter note, there IS one benefit to LL that I think is hard to achieve while being short. And it's that I now can see over people in a crowd.
Hey thanks for the reply. Always great to hear from you!
I have two more queries:
1) If you can, and I promise this will be the last thing I physically ask you to do lol, if you do the Thomas test Stretch (standing or laying down), how far does you knee go? Nose again or around what level of the torso?
2) Do you think you wouldn't have gotten the disproportionate comment from her, if say you had done quadrilateral and lengthen both segments equally? I'm assuming you must be comfortable (or not have received) any comments regarding your body to legs.
(Quick non-LL question: you still recommend that book that got you into coding? I'm planning on reading something over the summer so i thought I'd give that a shot.)
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