Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope you all are doing well in such strange times with COVID-19 and all.

I am going to start this new topic to share my LL experience, hoping it would help some with their current and future experiences.

I am sharing all the info I can hoping it could help current and future brother and sister LL'ers get more data points while deciding on what is best for them to go for:
 
48 year old male, LA county resident, 5'8", very athletic with an extremely strong upper body.

My health status: perfect based on my feeling, activities and numbers. There are exceptions: my cholesterol (LDL) has been at 110 - above normal for a very long time, despite having low levels fat body even while working from home during COVID-19.

Activities:
European soccer, gymnastics and taekwondo since I was a kid till 2001. Switched to swimming in 2001.

In short I could describe myself as someone who is exceptionally competitive and looking forward to challenges and doing things very few can do. I have done many crazy stuff in my life which make me feel happy and content. In addition to the extra height boost, the challenges of LL have been the reasons for me to go for it!

I did research on height increasing options since 2001. I've been determined to do this since the precise nail technologies were developed. The main problems were money and time and both were finally cleared this year.

I chose Dr. Mahboubian after 20 years of research, also considering that he is local and more importantly my phone call and then meeting with him in December 2019.

He assured me that based on my health status I am an ideal candidate. I showed a couple stretches that are probably records among adults in terms of the difficulty level. I completely trust Dr. Mahboubian and 100% sure if something goes wrong he would be able to make the right decision and perform the steps carefully and precisely.

I Did BILATERAL FEMUR OSTEOPLASTY WITH STRYDE NAILS on Thursday, July 23, 2020, aiming for 8 cm.

I will post my diary, hopefully on a daily basis. So far the most important finding since the surgery is that the LL challenge looks impossible to deal with individually with no help. I quickly realized that it's a team work. In addition to the posts here, the help of many loved ones have been crucial, therefore if all goes well, it would be a mission accomplished by a group of people and I was just one of them. 

I would like to thank all the LL'ers who have shared their experiences all these years. I am so thankful especially to my man, IFS whose posts have helped me so much since a week before the surgery when I started reading them.

Congratulations on the start of your journey. One of the oldest if not the oldest patient diaries I've seen. If you don't mind sharing your reasons for getting this procedure (height neurosis, attractiveness increase, etc) besides the challenge aspect that would be fantastic.

Happy to see another diary. Interesting username by the way. Good luck

You do sound like a good candidate to a speedy recovery and great outcome, best wishes on your journey, will keep up with the diary

Thanks very much!

As my post may have implied I am all for challenges that very few can do. This was on my list of things to do and I am looking forward to cross off of my list.

I look tall. I am not sure adding the extra height would make me more or less attractive, but I don't care. I hope you understand I did not do this for others. I did this because I wanted the challenge. I hope I look better, but if I end up looking like too thin or tall, I don't care as long as I deliver the results my Dr. has described to me.

I give you an example: if I knew I would die on July 31st, I would still have done the surgery, because I wanted to experience the challenge. I guess it's a disease competitive people have

I have a long list done already, but this is the first one involving a surgery The rest were mostly athletics related or related to skills I know.

Movie, my Brother! I found out about your posts about 24 hours ago. I started watching them. Before checking your videos, I thought I would easily break the record of recovery among all Dr. Mahboubian's patients; but checking your videos, you've looked unbelievable. There is a chance I underestimated how good other LL'ers are.


Next step for me is to see Dr. Mahboubian. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Good Job

Wish you all the luck.

Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on July 31, 2020, 07:53:27 AMThanks very much!

As my post may have implied I am all for challenges that very few can do. This was on my list of things to do and I am looking forward to cross off of my list.

I look tall. I am not sure adding the extra height would make me more or less attractive, but I don't care. I hope you understand I did not do this for others. I did this because I wanted the challenge. I hope I look better, but if I end up looking like too thin or tall, I don't care as long as I deliver the results my Dr. has described to me.

I give you an example: if I knew I would die on July 31st, I would still have done the surgery, because I wanted to experience the challenge. I guess it's a disease competitive people have

I have a long list done already, but this is the first one involving a surgery The rest were mostly athletics related or related to skills I know.

I am doing LL for other reasons but I can still relate. That feeling of rush and being alive comes with difficult challenges and it can get very addicting haha

Hi mrmccall,

You described it well     Great icon man! One reason is liked the idea of Dexter so much was knowing that he was the best vigilante and all the precise steps he had to take to do everything right.

This procedure involves patience, preciseness, and a lot of attention by a team (of your doctor and his team, yourself, and your family members and friends).

Thanks very much!   Likewise, I wish you the best. Let me know if I can help with any questions.
I'll start posting my daily notes today.

Pre-Day 1:


The date of the surgery had been set to July 3rd (back in Decem when I met Dr. Shahab Mahboubian (Dr. M.) for the first time. Later on when nurse called me to say it was cancelled, I was not surprised at all, considering the COVID-19 situation. I was under the impression that the surgery would move to 2021 (when herd immunity would be achieved with or without vaccines). However later on after talking to Dr. M. I was assured that the process is super safe and I should not worry about COVID-19 infection during my hospital visit.

The office had given me a tentative date of July 23 for my surgery. I think by July 15, I confirmed that I will keep the surgery appointment.

Food to avoid: Their instructions have some information related food items to avoid, etc.   Particularly turmeric and fish oil should be avoid at least within the last two weeks before the surgery. I asked the Dr. if it was an issue that I had turmeric and salmon about 8 days before the surgery and he said it should be fine, as long as during the last week, I would follow and avoid them. That's what I did.

Pre-surgery exercises: I just continued what I typically do these days during COVID-19 (quick sit-ups, stretches, in-door cycling, chin-ups, and hanging from bar). I don't push it though.

Pre-surgery Tests: In addition to normal tests that are done before surgery to make sure all is good, I had to do a COVID-19 test two days before the surgery. It's a very simple test that takes around 30 seconds, basically doing a gentle lower nasal swap (both left and right). Of course you would have to come out of it as negative, otherwise the surgery will be cancelled!

Day 1 (Thursday, July 23)


I woke up at 4am, took shower and brushed my teeth for one last time before the surgery! My family dropped me at the hospital by 5:15 AM. A nurse picked me from the waiting area at 5:30am and took me to the pre-surgery room. I had noticed starting the COVID-19 test appointment how nice the nurses are. My hospital experience is definitely a very positive one. I have never had any other over night hospital stay, but it felt so like home, as the nurses were so caring.

The nurse said my leg is hairy, but they shave it themselves, cause they don't want the patients to shave and possibly create infection complications. They shaved the outer side of my thighs!   They also shaved a bit of my right wrist to connect the IV.

Dr. Chan was my anesthesia doctor. He visited me before the surgery and asked me some questions that had also been asked by the nurses, like any allergies, whether I was exposed recently (COVID-19) , what time last night I stopped eating, ...

Dr. M. Also came by and asked if I am ready. Finally one of the biggest moments of my life was approaching! the challenging of LL with a lot of unknowns for me!

Another doctor or nurse took me to the surgery room.

I really really wanted to remember the last moment before going to sleep. Unfortunately I don't remember that moment at all. All I remember was that Dr. M. had 4 nurses (two ladies and two gentlemen) who greeted me very warmly.

I think I woke up around 12:30pm. I was told the surgery went well

Pain was at level 2 to 3 right after waking up,  pushed the pain button several times    That injects morphine based on the certain maximum amount during a period of time. I was later told that I used it overall minimally during day 1 (apparently 1mg).


Lunch was great and made me realize how hungry I have been.

Daniel, the PT (Physical Therapist) came by and showed me how to walk using the walker. Also showed me two stretching exercises and one bonus one.
The  two stretching moves are 1) bending knees half way by sliding your feet on the bed,  alternating between left and right legs, and 2) squeezing and releasing the knee caps while legs are straight.

The bonus was to lift a legs up, while both at 180 degrees lying on the bed.  I could not do the bonus and after a while even bending knees was getting harder. Daniel said that that I walked longer that other patients. However my left leg was by far more painful that the right one.

Anthony, the OT (Occupational Therapist) also showed up and gave me tips on how to go to later on go to restroom from bed, how to take shower, etc.

Pain remained manageable. For most of the day I used my laptop and cellphone to distract myself while doing some stretching exercises in bed, once iin a while, and also took rest.

I felt a bit light-headed because of the anesthesia impact. The nurse gave me a medicine. Dinner was great! I should say the food in this hospital is great, but once gain, I am not a hospital veteran, but I heard from one of the nurses that the food here is better than a typical hospital food.