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.
Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020
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!
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.
Quote from: BoneStretching on August 02, 2020, 05:47:39 PMThe journey begins my friend. Key is, stay positive. Remain very alert and active, in mind body and soul. That will be my first tip.
Hey BoneStretching,
Thanks for the message and support. It's a very exciting experience, but more challenging that I thought! Particularly I wanted to stop pain killers starting week two, but I failed on that. The pain was unbearable at 8 or above and I had no choice but resuming Norco and Tylenol!
Day 2 (Friday July 24) - Bye Catheter!
Catheter removed early morning! I have no trouble urinating in the urinal. Big relief 😊
However the day was dramatic in terms of exercises and walking.
Dr. M. visited me and said legs looked very good. He however wanted me to move. I told him about my left leg pain and the sound on the first day that it made while moving my left leg sideways (i.e., laterally from left to right so I can get close to the right side of the bed to start walking). He believed it was just bones adjusting, and nothing to worry about.
Allan and his colleague (PTs) came by in the morning, but I could not move my left leg, so they left 
They were so kind to come by once more and on the second attempt, I was able to take perhaps less than 10 baby steps overall from and back to my bed. The main reason is the severe pain on my left leg (upper thighs – on the outer side).
Later the OT (Anthony), also visited me to show me how to dress, but the process was too painful (bending my left leg) and instead I moved out of bed and did some very few steps and then back to my bed.
They disconnected me from the IV (morphine, etc.) early morning. I am on Norco now (two tablet each time). I had two in the morning, and I think two at 7pm, then another two on Saturday @ 4am.
I was able to move my legs up, and did a lot of knee bending.
I also used the inhaler for deep breaths as my body temperate had risen to 100+. That solved the problem quickly!
Overall, today was tougher than the first day, but something I had expected based on other LL'ers experiences and what the medical staff had told me.
Day 3 (Saturday, July 25) - Going Home Today
Last night I felt comfortable doing some simple bed exercises. But in the morning I feel like my feet are stiff. On a positive note, I am sure they are in better shape than yesterday.
A new PT came by around 9:45 am. I had taken my Norco around 8 am. My experience with him was great at start for a few seconds, but turned dramatic so fast that I lost confidence in him and partly even myself. He started by giving me some stretching exercises. He said he would guide me through movements.
First I squeezed knees that also straightens legs and he approved. Then bending knees almost to 90 degrees which was good too. The drama started when he said he would lift my feet to move them to sideways. I warned him about my left leg that if it gets into a certain position, the pain goes from 0-2 to 8-9, and I asked him to avoid…. He did not listen to me to finish my sentence, and he moved my legs keeping my feet lifted. It was so painful I screamed very loudly and nurses who were passing by stopped to see what happened. I told him I could not continue that move. He said whether I still wanted to try to stand up and possibly walk and I said sure, if he has time, because I would move very slowly to avoid pain. He said he has some time. I put my feet down, stood up and then cause he seemed a bit in rush I told him that I would just sit and go back to bed. As I was trying to bring my feet off the floor he grabbed my feet to speed up. I told him I would not need it, but he said, it would be faster. Then the severe pain on my left leg started; once gain my movements were not under my control and any tiny movements by him would elevate the pain to 8-9. I told him to not move my feet for a while, so I figure out a way to grab my feet up to the bed, and he said he cannot just keep my feet in the air for me and I have to do this fast. It was so painful and him pushing me on time, was so disappointing. I hated the experience, thinking why is he even there if he does not have time to do what I expect him to do and spend time for.
I knew from the posts by IFS, that Dr. M. showed up for him on a Saturday two days after his surgery, therefore I expected to see Dr. M. today again. I was still impressed when he showed up around 11 am. He evaluated my legs, and in terms of bending knees. He said that is the bending degree he expects me to maintain every day; and that I would have a quick recovery from the surgery.
He asked me about the morning PT. He was kind enough to remember and later asked the nurses to assign a different PT for my afternoon exercise.
Later around 2 pm, Irene, an OT stopped by for any questions about going in or out of the car and also towards the restroom. Based on her recommendation we ordered during our meeting a commode. She also recommended a bathtub transfer seat if I later found out that going to the shower room would be difficult.
She was so kind to offer to help me with standing/walking practice. I asked if she had any appointment after me, cause I was slow. She said to not worry. She then did what I exactly wanted: not touching me, but just watching me and giving me tips on how to do the next thing. She was the first to finally clarify the pain I was experiencing on my left knee. The pain comes from muscle contraction, when it is not bearing weight. This was very helpful, cause now I knew exactly where the source of the pain is and therefore I knew when to expect it and plan ahead of it. Her recommendation was to release that muscle, which I have no idea how to do so. She also recommended deep breaths. That helped a lot: this is how I was classifying my pain: when my body weight is on both feet, there is no pain. When weight is on right leg, my left leg has this sharp severe pain; this is initially even worse, when switching weight from both feet to the right foot. I therefore made the switching super slow so I could examine my body reaction almost in fractions of a second and be ready to guide the pain to gradually appear and subside! It worked. I got a lot of confidence and thought I would be okay going to then wheelchair then the ride and finally from the ride to home.
Later Eric, the new PT came by. He emphasized the same points as those made by Irene, about my left leg's muscle contraction. I am really thankful of Irene and Eric for helping me. I could walk more than 10 feet, while Eric was just observing me and giving me tips. I believe this afternoon was successful because Irene and Eric are not only smart, but also very patient with me.
Finally it is time to go home! I loved this hospital, but very excited to go back home! Going from the hospital wheelchair to the car was very smooth. However while getting out of the front seat in front of my house, my right leg dangled out of my control. It was so painful that I think the neighbors heard my scream. But I was finally at home.
Like the hospital nights, I woke up almost every 60 to 90 minutes. Unfortunately I forgot to ask my family to prepare some ice packs and by morning, my legs were swollen. I typically do bending and squeezing exercises anytime, including night times while I am awake, but tonight it was so painful to make any movements.
Today, with the help of my family, I could do a in-bed shower!! It was not exactly a shower, but I could wash my hair with warm water and shampoo and also wash my body piece by piece. I feel so fresh
Day 4 (Sunday, July 26)
The major barrier is severe pain in my left leg due to its muscle contraction. I did my first walk practice of the day starting 12:45pm and a 10 to 15 foot walk took me about an hour till 1:45 ☹
Tonight is going to be much better cause I have four ice bags from hospital ready to use in pairs, meaning I am currently using two of them and by night time the other two which are in the freezer are going to be ready to use. I fill them with water and they perform much better than any other ice packs, I have at home. They are large ice bags and they don’t get wet on the outside.
Pain level: So far as long as I don't walk or move, the pain level is 0-3. In case of any movements in bed it depends on whether they trigger the muscle contraction of my left leg, and if so, the pain can be higher say 5-6. However pain level while walking can be as high as 8. I move very very slowly to be able to manage the pain.
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