hiya bagofmilk. Thanks for sharing your experience in gram' as well and congrats for the surgery! I was wondering the reason why you choose to have İlizarov rather than monorail ones?
hey milk what is your status now? are you finished lengthening? hope you're doing well.
Hi milk! It's been a while since we haven't heard from you, I hope you are doing okay mate. Give us an update if you are here
Hey guys and gals. Im sorry 
I have been MIA for the past five ish month. I'm back and I will update this dairy now. Also big thanks to all the LL friends whom contacted me on IG and also visited me in person! I wish you all the best of luck and speedy recovery when you get ur surgery done. So happy my experience so far has helped in anyway possible.
I'm doing well! Still here in Istanbul, lengthening daily. Have been here since Dec of 2021. I have finished my Tibia illzarov LON lengthening with 5.5cm gained. Zero major complications. Some small issues which are all resolved.
As of today. July 16th 2022. Im currently in the process of finishing up my Femur Lengthening with precise 2 nails. I'm at 5.4cm today. Will stop lengthening in one week at 6cm. Heading back home to Canada in two weeks time.
I will now attempt to catch up on the missed posts in sequence. =)
Jan to Feb 2022
Got very used to the daily routine. Grab breakfast on the first floor. One extra for the Australian friend and eat in her room. Watch a video or two then get ready for the PT session. The sessions gets pretty intense and you might even break a sweat from time to time. Every Mondays and Thursdays are my dressing change days. My Physical Therapist Mr.Bayram does it very well! Making sure it's well cleaned and well protected. Once PT is over I go back to my room for lunch. I usually order from the hotel restaurant, Grilled salmon; Grilled sea-bass; Chicken thigh and salad etc. Chill in my room till dinner time. Head back up to my Australian friend's room and we will decide what take out to order off of the Yemeksepeti app. Dinner usually consists of Pizza; Stri-fry; Fried noodles; Curry Chicken etc. Once that is done I go back to my room clean up and head to bed. Pretty much repeat this day after day.
Jan 7th 2022
Had my first infection on the top inner wire site of the right leg. The cause was unclear but Mr.F from AFA got me onto oral antibiotics the very next day. This infection lasted about 10 days. The worst pain I have felt since the initial surgery. The whole right leg was swollen due to this one wire site infection. Even the knee joint was in pain. Any type of movement would have caused some type of pain. I did not put much weight on the right leg. Nor any PT movements for a good two weeks. Took 1000mg of oral antibiotics every 12 hours for 7 days straight. Dr.Uysal came by and saw me at the hotel. He did a quick dressing change and injected some RIF (external antibiotic solution) at the infection site. On the 6th day. The infection settled. I was able to move my knee joint without much pain. The swollen ankle and soft-tissues was still not completely gone just yet. That took about 4-6 weeks to completely settle. Dr.Uysal also determined the cause of this infection to be either from hygienic issues. Or most likely from the shearing action between the skin and the metal wire. Either I walked too much or over did some PT movements. Overall I was pretty happy that this episode came and went without too much headache and no painkillers were needed. Infection episodes happen to external patients regularly. So I wasn't too concerned.
Jan 14th 2022
Friday. A very Sad day ... I had my first mobile x-ray at the hotel. The mobile xray was taken in the PT room. Around half an hour after that Mr.F sent me my set of xrays through whatsapp... and... I was blown away with the emptiness between the bone gaps... Literally "Clean and Clear". We saw no visible bone regenerate. I was feeling very down for the whole weekend. Dr.Uysal had time on sunday to video call me after he saw my xrays. He made me feel better by confirming that things will be okay. He said he saw signs of regenerate in my poor/weak callus. We did agree to slow down the lengthening rate from 1mm a day to 0.5 mm a day. For the next week or so I have had negative thoughts all the time. What is going to be the outcome of this... what will need to happen if I have no callus.. what if Non-union occurs? I have to be honest. I did NOT quit smoking on time. The required 3 month of smoke free period was not satisfied. I even had a smoke before I got on the plane to Istanbul... but i have not had a single smoke since. At this point... I had to do everything I can. Including contacting my good friend Victor (cyborg4life). He took the time and effort to set me up with some great instructions along side Dr.Assayag. We all decided to up my calories count to 3000 k/cal a day. 10000iu of vit D. a protein based diet. Sleep and exposure to the sun!
Jan 25th 2022
First snow in Istanbul. It was a beautiful scene. Reminded me of home. Took a few photos from the hotel window. I will share it on IG. It isn't usual for this much snow fall in Istanbul during this time of the year. I feel like I have brought over this cold breeze with me... somehow. LOL. As the roads accumulated with unmelted snow. The food delivery companies also stopped services. Government also issued closers for all road related work. I had to get some raw materials and cook for my self for the first time. Lets just say... Im happy I didn't die from the food I cooked. This lasted for about 3 days.
Jan 27th 2022
This was going to be the second xray day. Mr.F wanted to take me to a near by hospital for a more comprehensive xray. Maybe at a higher resolution to reveal my poor callus. Before we went to the hospital. I asked Omar from AFA to take me out for a hair cut at the mall. Omar got me a wheel chair to goto the mall with. This was the first time I got to go out for about a month now. Felt amazing! Definitely missed going outside and the fresh air. Hair cut was only 100TL. Also pretty amazing!
Ozzy and Mr.F took me to the hospital after work. We were all nervous about my callus conditions to say the least. Sadly... the bone gap got bigger and the void of blackness got bigger as-well... once again.. I felt super depressed. At this point I have decided to stop lengthening for the up coming week maybe two. The fact of having no bone regenerate sucked! Almost at the point I regretted ever smoking / doing this surgery all together. I had to suck it up and push through a few more weeks of PT and daily stuff. hoping to see the next xray in two weeks.
Feb 1st
Leopard (fellow LLer here at AFA) Whom wrote his tibia Monorail Lon dairy with Dr.Inan on this forum. He and I became good friends during his femur LON process with Dr.Uysal. He is a quad patient whom finished both segments with in one year. I was very impressed with his conditions. Great callus conditions with amazing ability to walk unassisted. Sadly he is leaving to go back home. I was a little sad to see him go. Felt empty without him here now. All the best wishes to you Leopard! 
Feb 9th
Had to include this day. Omar from AFA surprised me with a loaded breakfast! He himself is a vegetarian. So for him to prep such a big breakfast... I felt spoiled! I will upload a picture on IG. Thank you SIR! I really appreciate all the help!
Feb 10th
This will be the 3rd xray of my poor bone conditions. This xray is key for determining wether I get to keep lengthening or retract the bone ends. I have to be honest. Having the illzarov ring fixators on my legs without the ability to lengthen really sucks 
. We went to the near by hospital after work hours. Took both front and side view xrays. Let's just say we see almost nothing. No cloudy regenerate. Nothing at all. So, the decision of retracting the bone ends by 1cm was made. Retract for a few days and wait another two weeks. Hoping to stimulate some bone end connections and cloudy regenerate. This really sucked... Super depressing. Wishing that I have quit smoking earlier
Feb 14th
Valentines day.. also a sad day. My close Australian friend left for home as well! She had her tibias done a couple of year back. She has just finished her femur Monorail Lon process. She left with amazing callus and muscle conditions. She was able to crutch her way to the airport. No need for a walker. Super jealous of her conditions! Best wishes to you Mai! Hope to see you in the future! =)
Feb 28th
Had a Second infection on the same wire site... ouch!! I can for sure say this infection was caused by too much movement. Shearing action of the skin and wire/pins will cause inflammation. Long enough it will cause drainage and infection. I had the same stiff pain in the knee joint and swollen soft tissues. Started Antibiotics right away. 1000mg every 12 hours for 7-10 days.
Another friend went home after her femur Monorail Lon process. She was a tiny little girl whom had a great big heart! We had shared many great meals and watched many movies together! Best wishes to you! Really hope you recover perfectly!
Quote from: canterk on January 06, 2022, 05:29:21 AMwhat made you choose this doctor over Dr. Inan? i understand AFA is also connected with Dr. Inan? Was it the price, availability, something else?
Hey canterk.
My original choice was doing with Dr.Inan. As I saw the great conditions of the patients in the hotel. I quickly changed my mind to go with Dr. Uysal. Also I got to have an in person meeting with Dr.Uysal. I felt like he was going to take care of me. Also treat my surgery in a very conservative manner.
Quote from: Mayday on January 13, 2022, 01:31:34 PMhiya bagofmilk. Thanks for sharing your experience in gram' as well and congrats for the surgery! I was wondering the reason why you choose to have İlizarov rather than monorail ones?
Hey Mayday
I had a meeting with Dr.Uysal. He educated me on the risks of misalignment; angular deformities etc that monorail Lon presents during lengthing. Illzarov ring fixator provides a much more stable structure. Also the ability to fix any type of issues that Monorail just can't. As of now... I'm sure my choice was smart 
. I have perfect alignment and no angular deformities etc. Very happy with my choice.
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