Have questions you'd like to ask someone who had LL six years ago? Ask them here

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Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on August 08, 2014, 11:34:25 PMYes.  My flexibility came back surprisingly well.  It's better than it's ever been actually.  The fact that I started doing yoga helps a lot.

Did you loose yourself during lengthening or did your morale and generall awarness stay as high. i Mean 17:39 at the clock with pain on your legs in a foreign country doing a surgery you don't know much about regarding complications.

I feel that i will have a hard time relaxing when i do the surgery.

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My morale and general awareness always stayed pretty high.  I think I can credit the Guang Ji Hospital social scene for that.  There were always ~20-25 foreign patients there who spoke English, plus the Chinese patients who knew the language.  Being able to look forward to going on rounds and visiting with friends every evening after dinner was hugely important for my mental well-being.

I was able to relax because I was basically a baby while I was there.  I was under the care of doctors, nurses, and caretakers the whole time and didn't have to do anything for myself.  I signed up for a program with proven results, and I fully bought into it mentally.  I was really worried about my knees in the beginning, but those problems ended up resolving themselves and the end was pretty smooth sailing.

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Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on August 14, 2014, 04:29:46 PMMy morale and general awareness always stayed pretty high.  I think I can credit the Guang Ji Hospital social scene for that.  There were always ~20-25 foreign patients there who spoke English, plus the Chinese patients who knew the language.  Being able to look forward to going on rounds and visiting with friends every evening after dinner was hugely important for my mental well-being.

I was able to relax because I was basically a baby while I was there.  I was under the care of doctors, nurses, and caretakers the whole time and didn't have to do anything for myself.  I signed up for a program with proven results, and I fully bought into it mentally.  I was really worried about my knees in the beginning, but those problems ended up resolving themselves and the end was pretty smooth sailing.

Thanks man. This give me great relief because i need the certainty that the pain im feeling is the right one.  And im being taken care of accordingly. I am normally a person who don't talk about my feelings or ask for help. I want to do it myself because i always am happy with the result or i can only blame myself. So the thought of being 0% in controll scares me.

Also a question. How did you socialize with the other patients there. Do you just roll into their room while you are in a wheelchair or what?. I think i will be "ashamed" of the procedure so i don't want others to know i went to great lengths to improve my height thinking im UBER insecure while i just want a little bit of height. Maybe im looking into this too much haha.

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That's pretty much it, just roll on into their hospital rooms and start a conversation.  You've got the "how are your legs" icebreaker to use on everyone there so it's easy to start chatting with people.  Then it moves into deeper conversation.  I revealed quite a lot about myself and got told a lot by others.  It's amazing how quickly strangers can open up when they have something in common.

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Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on August 14, 2014, 05:40:43 PMThat's pretty much it, just roll on into their hospital rooms and start a conversation.  You've got the "how are your legs" icebreaker to use on everyone there so it's easy to start chatting with people.  Then it moves into deeper conversation.  I revealed quite a lot about myself and got told a lot by others.  It's amazing how quickly strangers can open up when they have something in common.

Very good point, i also suspect that when people are vulnerable which they would be doing LL, they tend to be more open because they need the support and sharing the burden etc.

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Kinda pointless question, but did the topic of LL ever come up at a medical examination with a doctor after the operation? Like when you were at the doctor for something totally different, and he just casually notices scars and you said "Oh yeah, I had surgery to lengthen my legs" or when you just told him. Did something like that ever happen?

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That happened to me a few weeks ago actually, and has happened before that as well.  I always just tell the truth since there's no reason to hide things like that from a doctor, due to confidentiality.  I like using the term "distraction osteogenesis" with them though.

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How have doctors reacted or responded when you tell them that you did this surgery for cosmetic reasons? What kinds of visits/examinations prompted you to feel the need to reveal LL to doctors, and do the doctors document what you reveal to them on terms of LL?

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They haven't had strong reactions at all.  Just "oh, okay" and then they move on.  But pretty much everything you tell a doctor will get documented, even if you didn't come in for that reason.  Doctors like to document stuff.

It mainly came up when I was dealing with LL-related stuff, like scar revision and my fasciotomy surgery.  But it's come up when I was in a wheelchair, and also when I was wearing shorts one time and the doctor saw my scars.

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When I consulted with an ortho he was astounded that I would do something like this, especially in India of all places. We spent more time discussing the details of my journey than the condition of the legs. He even called people in to show them the x-ray.

One nurse looked disgusted at me, almost like I had raped her or something to a similar effect. It was complete and utter disgust and disdain and like I was the biggest loser she had ever encountered. Completely avoided eye contact the whole time. Why? I don't know. But it goes to prove a point: never tell a female about this, ever.