Quote from: Antonio on May 20, 2017, 03:19:32 PMHi UOL1 (man, I like your username!),
Congrats on taking the first step in this life-changing journey! I am very very happy I did it, although I am sure as you have read from other diaries here (Unicorn, DIFM, Yellowspike etc) you know it is not a piece of cake. May I ask how tall you are now? I think LL has helped me in 3 different ways:
1. My self-image. Before I used to look at my body and curse my parents for giving me such short legs. Now I look at my longish legs and body and I am so happy. And it shows when I approach women how comfortable I am now in my skin.
2. My confidence. As I said before, my confidence is now sky high. Going from average woman's height to 3 inches above is incredible. I have received so many flirtations and outright come-ons that I still can't quite believe it. I started dating a Danish woman a few months ago (she's about 5'6") and I can honestly say that at my previous height she would not have even looked at me. And now next week we are going to Naples and the Amalfi coast to celebrate!
3. My internal struggles. I feel that I have finally accepted myself for who I am and feel there's no need to be like someone else. I have overcome my genetic destiny. I may have been born with genes for naturally short height, but I have genes for artificial height (determination, mental strength, physical awareness of my body)
On to your questions. Would I recommend Monegal? For me, undoubtedly. I would place my life in his hands (and so I have, being under the knife with him 4 times now). He gets a bad rap in this forum but if you do your own proper research you will come to some rather different conclusions. I'm actually happy now that there are trolls who bash and lie about Monegal - they act as a kind of first filter. If you can believe someone on the Internet without any credentials or proof and not do your own research, then I think you do not deserve LL. And really sometimes I feel sorry for the kind of BS that Monegal has to put up with his prospective patients.
For you, I understand you are worried about being so far away from Spain. In this case, I recommend you contact a specialist in your home country to ask him if he can correct the screws should they come loose. I don't know how easy it would be for you to fly back here, I know that one patient of his from Canada has to fly back here to get the loose screw corrected. From what I've seen, screws coming loose are quite common, although no one seems to know why exactly it happens. In my case it was because I put weight at an angle on my operated leg. I also did a lot of walking and climbing stairs when I was on crutches. I think it could have been avoided if I had been careful, in fact this is what I did with my second leg and the screws are still firmly in place.
Is lengthening on your own easy to do? For me, yes, it was ridiculously easy. I only really experienced pain and tension at night, then I started to take more Tramadol and Orfidal to sleep and it was manageable. Because I always had one strong leg at any one time, I could go anywhere (I drove my car), fly, even swim in a a shallow pool. Just had to bring my crutches. Of course I was slower and had to adapt to how to cook, do laundry, get things etc, but it's not that difficult.
Insoles. I bought two insoles at 1 cm and 0,5 cm. After lenghtening 2 cm on on eleg, I had an external sole fitted on one shoe of 2 cm, then later 4 cm, then 5 cm. So adjustments were made at every 0,5 cm. I admit the external soles were very ugly-looking but I told people it was necessary for my recovery from the accident.
Good luck to you, and have a nice day
If you are going to Naples, be careful. I arrived today, and after literally less than 25 minutes in town, my wallet had been stolen! :-(