Growth.Journey - Femur lengthening w Betz - Sep 2022

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my  2 cents , eat a lot ,  rest a  lot .

good luck  !!!

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Day 6

I asked Daniela if i could start clicking 1 day early as things were progressing well. She agreed. I had to ask the nurses 3 times for muscle relaxer which starts on day 7 -  a really important drug. I went to the gym at 11am and increased my weight on all machines. My walking is getting better, i am walking with speed and stamina.

After the gym, Daniela came to do clicking with me. I was nervous as i had been testing it myself but couldnt get a click, so was getting worried. Daniela is truly an expert though, she knows exactly all the tips and tricks. I got it and the clicking was actually quite easy. I did 6 clicks each leg in about 5-10 mins total. No pain, just a weird sensation in my leg as the mechanism resets and pops.

The first click she said to do the traditional way which is to lie on your back, put leg in air and twist. Neither my roommate or i liked this method, but perhaps you need to do it for the first one to 'release' it better. After that Dani showed us the better / easier technique, which is to lie in bed, put on leg to the side and pull the leg inwards. it is much more comfortable and easy to do.

My tips for clicking technique (for right leg, do the opposite for left leg)
- Warm up for 15-20 minutes like walking, bike and stretching. Best done after the gym and or long stretching session. Also take a muscle relaxer so there is no tension.
- Sit on the left hand 30% of the bed to give you room. Sit up, maybe 60 degree.
- Put your right leg to the side of the bed, quite wide, so the toes are almost dangling off. The foot should be a 45 degree to the bed. Your leg is straight, knee is bent upwards maybe 45 degrees. Your other leg is just lying straight on the bed.
- Twist your upper body to the right, ideally with your right arm, grab on to the bed side/handle. Shift your body weight to your right side/hip/buttock.
- Lean in a bit to your right (this was what i was missing for it to work easy)
- Place left arm on knee and gently pull down. Be gentle, any sign of stress just hold it until it gives away like a muscle. Relaxation and breathing is key.
- Click!
- To reset the movement, pick up your foot with left hand and knee with right hand and pull towards you. You should get a pop.
- important to write down every click somewhere as it is easy to lose count.

Anyway time for more stretching, what a relief it is done.

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Quote from: Growth.journey on September 26, 2022, 04:13:43 PMThanks all

@reallostsoull - thanks for your tips on clicking. Can I ask why you started clicking so early? I understand betz does it on day 7

Because I had a very good start with 0 swelling and 0 inflammation and I was walking really well from the beginning.

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Hi Growth.journey,

is it always the same anesthesiologist who does the anaesthesia at the Betz Institute?

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can you walk without any support?

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How many LL surgeries has becker performed in total? Did you ask this?

Since when are Betz and Becker working together?

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Limbfan / yes same one
Bagga / yes for short distances but prefer to use crutches
Becker / he has only been working with betz for 2 years I think but he has already done hundreds of surgeries with him.

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thanks for the reply!! do you know if becker does any deformity cases also?

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Did you ask Dr. Becker/Dr. Betz if they've ever had a patient death?

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Day 11
- things are generally going well. The thing that is really bothering me is that clicking on my right leg is getting really hard to find the click. Fortunately I don’t feel a lot of pain but I find it quite hard to get the clicking mechanism working. Left lag is actually quite easy for me but I feel like it’s taken me hours to get 15 on the right and many seem to be accidental or not a traditional click. It starts to hurt my leg after awhile simply from pushing it in all different directions trying to get a click.
Given the left is so easy for me I wonder if it’s something wrong with the nail. Or maybe my legs just vary a lot in flexibility, either way it is causing me stress , particularly when I fly back to my country in a few days. I cannot fly back here it is just too far, and is making me unhappy/sad.

I’ve started clicking on the floor too instead of the bed because I wanted to get accustomed to something I have at home, which is a floor, I don’t have a hospital bed  at
Home. I noticed having a shower made it really
Easy to do the clicks on the left side too, but just can’t the technique on the right.

Can anyone share more tips / knowledge to help me out?