Quote from: simple on October 19, 2020, 05:25:21 AMcan you prove me wrong?
Not really, cause I don't want to prove myself to anybody. As I said, I don't think this is worth my time or attention. I am sure there are people here that are indeed advertising their business and work for doctors. I am very comfortable that you or anyone else here thinks I am a doctor or work for a doctor. I would then expect that you ignore my diary, would be more generally super careful on this site, and do not believe most or all the content and in a safe scenario, decide to not to do this surgery. This sounds safe to me, cause I think by default one should not do this surgery. It's so tough and the possible side effects are so severe and long term, that the chance of regretting the surgery later is high. One should do a lot of studies and research before coming to this site and therefore should avoid arranging for a surgery just based on this site.
Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020
Day 87 Post-op (Sat., Oct. 17) - Consolidation Day 6
Day 88 Post-op (Sun., Oct. 18) - Consolidation Day 7
Day 89 Post-op (Mon., Oct. 19) - Consolidation Day 8
I still have pain, partly because I have cut down the painkillers (from two Gabapentin and two Tramadol pills per day during the distraction phase). Up until Saturday I was taking one Gabapentin and one Tramadol. On Saturday, I took a half Tramadol pill around 3pm and then postponed taking Gabapentin by about 7 hours, i.e., about 24+7 hours since the last time (on Friday) I had taken Gabapentin. Later around midnight I took a second half Tramadol pill.
Starting Sunday I stopped taking Gabapentin, so I have been on two half Tramadol pills per day. In a few days, I hope to cut that down to half Tramadol pill per day. I hope it works for me, cause in the past every time I tried to quit on painkillers, I could not handle the pain!
The most important update is that I gradually see more flexibility in my knee bending. I have a PT appt this Tuesday (tomorrow) and I would then be able to have an measure of improvement.
Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on October 19, 2020, 03:00:57 PMDay 87 Post-op (Sat., Oct. 17) - Consolidation Day 6
Day 88 Post-op (Sun., Oct. 18) - Consolidation Day 7
Day 89 Post-op (Mon., Oct. 19) - Consolidation Day 8
I still have pain, partly because I have cut down the painkillers (from two Gabapentin and two Tramadol pills per day during the distraction phase). Up until Saturday I was taking one Gabapentin and one Tramadol. On Saturday, I took a half Tramadol pill around 3pm and then postponed taking Gabapentin by about 7 hours, i.e., about 24+7 hours since the last time (on Friday) I had taken Gabapentin. Later around midnight I took a second half Tramadol pill.
Starting Sunday I stopped taking Gabapentin, so I have been on two half Tramadol pills per day. In a few days, I hope to cut that down to half Tramadol pill per day. I hope it works for me, cause in the past every time I tried to quit on painkillers, I could not handle the pain!
The most important update is that I gradually see more flexibility in my knee bending. I have a PT appt this Tuesday (tomorrow) and I would then be able to have an measure of improvement.
An update on Gabapentin: This is day two without Gabapentin and I already feel more alert and sharp. I am very hopeful I would not experience nerve pain, now that it's over one week since my last distraction session.
I still have the feeling of numbness on the tibia area of my left leg; which started soon after my 14-day fast distraction plan started. I have a feeling it's getting better, but the progress is so little. I have not been able to figure out an exercise, etc. that can accelerate the process of resolving the numbness. It's not a big deal, but I would like to see it gone 
My pain level in the last few days are 0-4 on the left leg and 0-3 on the right. I hope this will improve soon, to a level that I could completely quit Tramadol (these day on two half Tramadol pills).
Day 90 Post-op (Tue., Oct. 20) - Consolidation Day 9
Day 91 Post-op (Wed., Oct. 21) - Consolidation Day 10
Painkillers: Overall for my surgery I must have taken 66 Gabapentin pills. I am confident I would not need to resume taking it. The good news is that I don't miss Gabapentin.
I must have taken around 135 50 mg Tramadol pills, so far during my surgery. I am still on Tramadol, but managed to further reduce the dose to half a pill per day on Tuesday. I took that around 8pm. I plan to continue the half a pill per day schedule for a few days, before quitting I am going to try to stop the half pill Tramadol tonight, considering today is the 10th day since the distraction phase. in the past during the post-op I have tried several times but always failed to quit Tramadol. Let's see if I can finally pull this off 
Pain and discomfort are the worst between late afternoon and midnight. This has been the case for a while now. I try to stretch and take hot baths to mitigate the pain.
Stretching: I have continued those 16 sets of distraction phase exercises (that I had posted last week) also during the consolidation phase.
Question: Is there any suggestions on modifying the list of exercises, to fit them better for the consolidation/recovery time? I would appreciate any comments.
Weightless: Compared to before surgery I have lost about 6 to 8 pounds. This gets worse considering the 8cm extra soft tissue. I eat well, but have not bee able to gain weight to a level that better represents my height, i.e., a more reasonable BMI, as my BMI must be very low.
Gait Analysis: My walks don't look normal at all. I still walk like a robot or penguin. I believe my legs are too weak to help my walks look normal. I appreciate any suggestions on how to speed up strength and flexibility during the consolidation/recovery phase.
My legs are so stiff, still.
I don't think I have much pain any longer because my muscles are stretched. I feel like my pain originates from the bone gap area and propagates to joints, etc. I could however be totally wrong on this and the pain could be mostly due to soft tissue being under a lot of stress/stretch.
Please let me know if you have any questions for me.
Hello SNC,
I do squats with no weights, bridges, side leg raises, and Clamshell Exercise to activate the glutes. These exercises will help to build glutes, quads, and hip abductors. I stretch several times a day doing thomas stretch, prone knee bend and hamstring. I use the stretching band to do the prone knee bend and hamstrings. I am also walking several miles a day and walk up and down the stairs
Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on July 31, 2020, 06:19:50 AMHello 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.
Overall how much did the total experience cost you?
Quote from: readyprecisestryde on October 22, 2020, 02:10:04 AMHello SNC,
I do squats with no weights, bridges, side leg raises, and Clamshell Exercise to activate the glutes. These exercises will help to build glutes, quads, and hip abductors. I stretch several times a day doing thomas stretch, prone knee bend and hamstring. I use the stretching band to do the prone knee bend and hamstrings. I am also walking several miles a day and walk up and down the stairs
Thanks man! this is great help. I make sure to add them to my list!
Quote from: SpeedDialer on October 22, 2020, 04:23:47 AMOverall how much did the total experience cost you?
I am going to try my best to add everything here:
1) Hospital: $45k
2) Dr. Mahboubian's fee: $25k
3) Anesthesia doctor: about $2000
4) pre-surgery evaluation by a third party: about $500 (including some x-rays they took).
5) Pre-surgery x-ray in a center Dr. M., referred me to, because I was worried that I had a height discrepancy between left and right legs, with left being shorter. The cost was $170.
6) x-ray reading at the hospital: This is a bill I later received and found out had not been included in the $45K hospital fees: around $100
7) Cost of equipment (wheelchair, walker, crutches, massage roller and ball) : overall around $220
8 ) Cost of medicine (pain killers): $20+$50+$65+$20+$25+$30 = $210
9) Cost of vitamins/calcium: I already had them at home, but must be around $30 or so.
10) Cost of pain ointments and patches: $60
11) Cost of PT (physical therapy): $25 per session. So far 3 sessions, but overall I expect to go for a maximum of 20 sessions, therefore around $500.
12) Unfortunately I wasted a lot of water and most likely energy (for the water heater) for my multiple hot showers/bathtubs. I feel very bad about this part, but I depend on how water to manage my pain!
13) I live in LA area, so I did not need to rent a place. I also have not included the cost of food or transportation (as I drive myself).
Looks like the first 11 items add up for about 74000 dollars.
I hope this helps.
Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on October 22, 2020, 06:45:37 AMI am going to try my best to add everything here:
1) Hospital: $45k
2) Dr. Mahboubian's fee: $25k
3) Anesthesia doctor: about $2000
4) pre-surgery evaluation by a third party: about $500 (including some x-rays they took).
5) Pre-surgery x-ray in a center Dr. M., referred me to, because I was worried that I had a height discrepancy between left and right legs, with left being shorter. The cost was $170.
6) x-ray reading at the hospital: This is a bill I later received and found out had not been included in the $45K hospital fees: around $100
7) Cost of equipment (wheelchair, walker, crutches, massage roller and ball) : overall around $220
8 ) Cost of medicine (pain killers): $20+$50+$65+$20+$25+$30 = $210
9) Cost of vitamins/calcium: I already had them at home, but must be around $30 or so.
10) Cost of pain ointments and patches: $60
11) Cost of PT (physical therapy): $25 per session. So far 3 sessions, but overall I expect to go for a maximum of 20 sessions, therefore around $500.
12) Unfortunately I wasted a lot of water and most likely energy (for the water heater) for my multiple hot showers/bathtubs. I feel very bad about this part, but I depend on how water to manage my pain!
13) I live in LA area, so I did not need to rent a place. I also have not included the cost of food or transportation (as I drive myself).
Looks like the first 11 items add up for about 74000 dollars.
I hope this helps.
This really helps! Need to compare Dr M between Dr Paley
Quote from: init1alove on October 22, 2020, 08:05:34 AMThis really helps! Need to compare Dr M between Dr Paley
Glad this helped
Best wishes on your future endeavors.
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