Dr Dimitrios Giotikas-Stryde. Goal: 8cm (Femurs)

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Hi guys!

After some conversations a few months ago with Doctor Giotikas, I decided to go for the surgery.

First I thought that this is kind of extreme, but more than 2 million people have plastic surgeries done each year around the world, so probably this type of surgery will be much more common in the next years, specially taking into account that we have the Stryde method. If it were cheaper I´m sure that much more people would choose to do it. Hair transplants were very rare before, but in the last 10 years they have become common. Maybe the same thing happens with stature.

I will have it on December 28. Information:

-Starting: height: 1,70 cm.
-Goal: 1,78 cm.
-Femoral lengthening with STRYDE.
-Weight: 67 kg.
-Pretty healthy.
-I practice sports/gym 4-5 times/week (hope that being fit will help in a faster recovery).
-Will stay 5 months in Athens, so that I finish the physiotherapy there. The place is an airbnb, a few minutes from the physiotherapy clinic.

Any recommendation?

Note: my appartment has two rooms, so in case you are interested, we could share it if you are going to Athens too. Just write me in private.

best!

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Quote from: Tupac on December 10, 2019, 09:39:16 PMGood luck !

Have you hesitated between an AirBnB and housing in the centers of reeducations?

Hey, thanks! I preffer having my own apartment, as I will be working with my laptop. Also not sure how life would be in the physio center.

Quote from: otavio on December 11, 2019, 12:29:07 AMhow much it will cost with everything included?

there you have https://www.athensbjr.com/cost-pricing-of-cosmetic-limb-lengthening/Quote from: dreamingtall on December 11, 2019, 12:37:41 AMHey man congratulations !!! I am hoping to do Dr. G too so I will be following your diary and keeping up with you. I hope you go all in and provide as much as you can. I hope you do get a chance to see that Dr. G will keep the price tag low and it'd be awesome if you could ask him that.

Are you from Greece? I am from USA, but wanted to see if you weren't if you had applied for a visa for the 5 month stay.

Hope all goes well and cheers to your journey man!

hey thanks! I'm european, so no issue about the visa. hope price will be same for you all, maybe cheaper in the future

Quote from: Dreamer57 on December 11, 2019, 04:41:33 AMBest of luck....
Do ask the surgeon about what he does to tack fat embolism....

thanks! not sure about that but I guess they have some plan or procedure in case of some issue. You can write them, they usually reply fast

Quote from: Nestor on December 11, 2019, 07:56:52 PMHey Eddie, I had surgery with Dr G last month, he's a very good surgeon. Thankfully my progress is going well so far. The only thing that's been a major problem for me is sleeping at night, the leg pains can be unbearable when you're trying to sleep.

One piece of advice, make sure your apartment isnt in a noisy area, if it's close to the PT centre then it's gonna be close to the main road which is crazy busy with traffic. Also look out for barking dogs, know that sounds crazy but I had to move to a different apparent coz of 3 barking dogs non stop where I was, it's super important to try and find somewhere not too noisy when you're recovering.

Hey Nestor, thanks for the advice. I had luck and could find a place near the rehab center. Hope the noise is not that bad!

Quote from: Great321 on December 11, 2019, 11:39:10 PMCongrats for making this step. I can imagine how you must feel now right before the surgery but pretty sure life will be easier with Stryde! Good luck!

thanks Great!

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Hi guys, so DAY 1 after surgery. I´m going to be brief:

-The surgery went as expected.
-From my experience, the most uncomfortable part is just before the surgery, as you need to start adapting to the new situation.
-After the surgery I felt quite well with the painkillers. I haven´t feel pain until now, only when peeing.
-Doctor Giotikas and the team of the Mediterraneo hospital are very nice, kind and professional.
-I already had 4 walks with the walker. Not far, but I´m happy with that. Gaining independence hour by hour.
-Starting to do the exercises the doctor has told me today.
-Not yesterday, but today I have good apetite.
-Important: nurses are cute

Advice if you are having the surgery:

-Bring ear plugs, so that you can sleep better.
-Bring sleeping mask.
-Of course, books, Netflix...
-4-5 t-shirts and underwear, and loose trousers.
-Slippers, as the physiotherapist will encourage you to walk with the walker.

You can see some of my exercises and mobility here, not good quality but I guess is enough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iPUjo92Qug

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Night 2 after the surgery and pain has started.
So much that haven't sleep.

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Hey Nestor, sure I told them but didn't work on the second night.
Third night have been much better, they increased the painkiller dosis. Yesterday, second day, already had 3 walks, today again and feeling more independent.

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Day 4-
I recorded two new videos showing the exercises that I'm doing. If you want to do them too, ask your doctor/physioterapist and you should have at least one supervision from him.
The exercises from the video 1 have been explained to me by the doctors. Regarding video 2, I was having issues to wake up from the bed (not balanced and pain) and started to think how to do it in a mechanical way.
Besides this exercises, I'm having improvements walking with crutches and pain controlled by the painkillers (reducing dosis).

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I know at least 6 other patients that are being or are going to be treated by the Doctor. 2 girls and 4 men.

Day 8-

-Already growing, using the magnetic device 4 times a day.
-Almost no pain. Only around 4 am, maybe some medication start to lose the effect. The main point of pain at that time are the heels but it´s easy to solve: I put the feet a little out the bed, not too much, and no pain anymore. I guess the cause of the pain in the heels is the pressure against the bed.
-The biggest drawback is the discomfort and slowness in doing things.
-Last night I could sleep a few hours looking down. The issue are the balls/penis. To solve that I put a very small pillow near them, so that they don´t crush against the bed  .
-Can´t sleep yet on the side.
-In the morning of today I started walking with a single crutch  but very low and slow steps.
-I don´t cook and use an app for food.

Advice from my experience:

-Adapt your room/home to your new body. Place the things you will need so that you can catch them easily.
-Push yourself a bit. Don´t depend on the help of other persons too much. Otherwise everything will be slower. I´m sure I wouldn´t be walking around with the crutches if I could ask a nurse/relative to do things for me. Of course this depends on your situation but at least you should try your limits.
-Have a daily routine and don´t consume too much social media/netflix/hbo. I think staying unproductive promotes depression, so try to have goals and do things to get them even in this situation.

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Quote from: MichaelJose on January 05, 2020, 08:49:01 AMamazing job bud - keep going
Thanks man!
Quote from: Montreal172 on January 05, 2020, 08:13:02 AMAre you doing it on your own in an appartement ?
Yes!


Day 15 after the surgery-

In the last week:

-The first 3 nights of the week with a good level of pain, about 5/10. I'm not sure why the pain arose, but probably for standing too long.
-Still with painkillers and other medication.
-Very low level of pain the last nights, specially last night (saturday 12 january).
-Last Friday I had X-rays and review with the Doctor. I went alone on crutches and took a taxi. I comment this so that you know that other people's help is not always necessary, as long as you feel good and strong. If you feel dizzy or physically unwell, you need to move with the help of another person. It is very important to walk and train in a safety place (home) before going to the street.
-My main problem is the discomfort caused by the swelling of the hips. Sleeping all night in the same position can be very uncomfortable. The swelling has gone down a lot, but it still doesn't allow me to sleep on my side. Sleeping upside down is quite uncomfortable too.
-Have been practicing walking using chairs. You can see how I put them in the next video.
-Improving leg flexibility.
-I had yesterday my first steps with no crutch. Very few but enough to know that I can take steps without crutches.
-Went today to throw the trash and I felt quite good, so I decided to try to walk. These are my first meters walked after surgery, hope to improve the next days/weeks:

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Hi guys!Quote from: readyprecisestryde on January 12, 2020, 08:38:38 AMWow..that's amazing for only 15 days after the surgery. You look great!!
thanks!Quote from: TheAlchemist on January 12, 2020, 03:28:11 PMLooking great man! Keep up the good work! Stretching and physical therapy is important at this stage, make sure you are doing those hamstring and quad stretches at least 3X a day!
sure, I´m doing stretching 2 hours/day aprox.Quote from: cobalt on January 12, 2020, 07:19:42 PMThanks for the videos, your progress looks very good seeing that you are able to take a taxi and independently help yourself already. Keep actively working on your physiotherapy.
thanks man!Quote from: xuqiang on January 17, 2020, 08:57:29 AMgood luck with your jourley! can you answer me a few  questions?
1. can you estimate how much will you spend for living there for 5 months,including food,accommodation and so on ? 
2.where do you receive PT, in your apartment or the Rehabilitation Center?

1.you will need around 2000 euros per month, but I think is a good idea to have saved money just in case.
2.I go to a rehab center.

Day 30 after surgery-

-The Doctor checked the x-rays 4 days ago and everything is fine.
-1 hour stretching at home, 1 hour at physioterapy center (4 days a week). 2 hours stretching at home (3 days a week).
-2.5 cm of lengthen aprox.
-I´m independent: having showers (started 3 days ago), going to the bathroom, preparing breakfast, doing the laundry... I could cook, but I don´t like it, and prefer to dedicate the effort and time to other things.
-I can walk with no crutches (tumbling), but if it´s for a long time I may feel pain at night.
-Today I had an important advance for me, since I went to the supermarket (using taxi) and now I can enjoy more variety of food. If you can walk with a crutch you can do it. The food from the food-app is limited and I got tired of it, so I went to buy fruits and other things. Specifically in Lidl, it is easy to enter and seems prepared for people with disabilities.
-Biggest inconvenience is sleeping. I rarely find a comfortable position and maybe sleep 4-5 hours at night.
-Some pains during the night lying on the bed, barely during the day.
-Another inconvenience is not being able to do sports and other activities. Being almost all day in the apartment is very overwhelming.
-Stable mood. If I spend too much time in the smartphone with social media/netflix/whatsapp, I may get bored and start to be sad. If I'm busy working everything right.

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Quote from: Issun-Boshi on February 04, 2020, 04:52:09 PMThat's amazing progress! Thanks for the update.

Since you mentioned budget around 2000EUR/month, how many months are you planning to stay in Greece?

I'm still unfamiliar with Stryde lengthening so I'm not sure if I should budget for 3 months or 6 months.

Should we stay for Greece for the whole process, or just till it finishes lengthening (3-4 months?)

Thanks!

You should ask the Doctor, as your situation could be different.

I will stay 5 months in Athens because I preffer to have the consolidation here, but I could be just 3 months. The physiotherapy clinic has experience with many LL patients.

Take into account that the time you are going to be here can increase for different reasons.