I had LL in 2007 and I'm still here. Ask me anything!

I'm not an expert on LL; you may know more than me about certain technical details.  I had the surgery in 2007 and can provide a recovered patient's insights and opinions from a long-term perspective.

Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on October 19, 2021, 07:28:09 PMI'm not an expert on LL; you may know more than me about certain technical details.  I had the surgery in 2007 and can provide a recovered patient's insights and opinions from a long-term perspective.

Thanks for doing this. I'm 168cm (5'6) and 22 years old, which may be similar to your situation back in 07.

1) It's been 14 years since you've done this. Most that do this, never come back to this forum. You're still here though. Is it just to genuinely help others on here or do you still have height on your mind?

2) From your perspective, do you think your experience would of been more successful by any metric (less pain, less complications, more height) if you would of done it today vs 07?

3) Diminishing returns. As I'm 5'6, I've heard this surgery is life changing for someone my height. As for someone who is let's say 5'9, not so much. Do you agree with this statement? How satisfied are you at 5'10 and how has it changed your life around work, women, friends, family?

4) Put yourself in my shoes. 5'6. 22. WFM. Healthy weight and flexible. Have more than enough money for 10+ surgeries. Willing to spend a lot more money on the best full-time PT, caretakers etc and pick the best of the best surgeons. My femurs are naturally short (same length as tibia). Is this a no-brainer surgery to be 5'9 or 5'11?

5) How are you mobility wise now? 14 years later? from 0-100% (100% being your mobility pre-surgery), where are you on this spectrum?

I appreciate you doing this!

Quote from: everythingbutheight on October 20, 2021, 03:29:03 AM1) It's been 14 years since you've done this. Most that do this, never come back to this forum. You're still here though. Is it just to genuinely help others on here or do you still have height on your mind?

I enjoy hanging out with my people.  I've never been happier than when I was living with other LL patients in the Nis Vojna Bolnica and Guang Ji Hospital.  We all had so much in common personality- and experience-wise even if we were so different in other ways.  A small flock of other black sheep to belong to briefly.

Of course I wish I could be 6'.  Who under that height doesn't?  But there's no way I will ever get femur LL.  I'd considered it in the past but that door is now closed permanently.  5'10 is plenty anyway.

Quote2) From your perspective, do you think your experience would of been more successful by any metric (less pain, less complications, more height) if you would of done it today vs 07?

Assuming I would be in the same financial situation now as I was then, no.  I think things are worse now for budget LL'ers than they were 14 years ago.  Imagine a clinic that charges $33,000 (that's what 14 years of inflation did to the $25,000 I paid) all-inclusive for LL (Ilizarov frame with a proprietary spring-loaded heel attachment to stretch the Achilles tendon while you lengthen) and five months of hospitalization with Denny's- or mediocre Chinese restaurant-quality meals, caretakers, a physical therapy gym (sometimes staffed, sometimes not), and at least one doctor on duty 24/7.  I don't even know where I would go with that budget today.

People with a lot of money are certainly better off now with more doctors to choose from and better internal nails, though.

Quote3) Diminishing returns. As I'm 5'6, I've heard this surgery is life changing for someone my height. As for someone who is let's say 5'9, not so much. Do you agree with this statement? How satisfied are you at 5'10 and how has it changed your life around work, women, friends, family?

It's been a huge change in all aspects of life.  Probably a combinaiton of more respect from others just because of stature alone, and internal self-confidence from knowing I'm taller.  And the respect and self-confidence then interact and keep boosting each other in a virtuous cycle.  I've never been a 6' alpha chad so I can't be sure getting that tall wouldn't be just as life-changing.

Quote4) Put yourself in my shoes. 5'6. 22. WFM. Healthy weight and flexible. Have more than enough money for 10+ surgeries. Willing to spend a lot more money on the best full-time PT, caretakers etc and pick the best of the best surgeons. My femurs are naturally short (same length as tibia). Is this a no-brainer surgery to be 5'9 or 5'11?

I think a femur surgery is a no-brainer for you.  For an internal tibia surgery, a slit is cut into the patellar ligament and the nail is inserted and then removed through it.  My patellar ligament didn't react well to this and I've had mild tendonitis there ever since.

A lot of people don't get this problem and many doctors say they've never heard of it, so you might consider going for two surgeries.  Splitting up the height increase between femurs and tibias may help you avoid the issues I mention in the next question.  Lengthening three inches on the tibias alone wasn't ideal.

Quote5) How are you mobility wise now? 14 years later? from 0-100% (100% being your mobility pre-surgery), where are you on this spectrum?

Mobility is pretty good.  My estimate overall is about 90%.  I used to be able to put my palms on the floor with my legs straight.  Now I can get the palms 3" from the floor.  Leg strength seems to be the same as before.  Balance is something that doesn't seem to improve with time because the center of gravity is higher and won't change no matter what; I notice I'm more wobbly and sometimes need to pay attention to balance, especially when I'm getting up or walking through cramped spaces with a lot of obstacles to avoid and turns required.  Before, balance was nearly perfect and automatic.  Same with agility; it seems to have a lower ceiling for what's possible now.  Moving a long leg is always going to be more difficult and slower than moving a short leg.

How private have you kept this procedure?

And at what point did you think it's your new normal height and felt you no apprehension while meeting old acquantainces?

Why femur lengthening no longer an option mdow? Is it an age thing?

Quote from: indication on October 20, 2021, 08:50:46 PMHow private have you kept this procedure?

And at what point did you think it's your new normal height and felt you no apprehension while meeting old acquantainces?

I kept it absolutely as private as I could.  I only told close family I actually lived with at the time.  They would certainly know something was up if I mysteriously disappeared for five months and came back taller and in a wheelchair.  I planned to tell everyone else that I grew.  However, those family members told other family members.  The secret was contained to just that side of the family though.

This did not seem like my new normal height for 3-4 years.

I made it my business to never meet old acquaintences.  From 2007 I sought to define myself to the world as a 5'10 guy, not a stretched out short guy.  If anyone found out about LL I'd failed.

Quote from: Highest on October 20, 2021, 09:51:47 PMWhy femur lengthening no longer an option mdow? Is it an age thing?

I could still physically do it.  It's a private reason that has nothing to do with age or the surgery/recovery itself.

Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on October 19, 2021, 07:28:09 PMI'm not an expert on LL; you may know more than me about certain technical details.  I had the surgery in 2007 and can provide a recovered patient's insights and opinions from a long-term perspective.

if you could go back in time, would you still lengthen 3 inches?

Quote from: dexter1930 on October 21, 2021, 06:11:18 AMif you could go back in time, would you still lengthen 3 inches?

I would do only two.

Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on October 21, 2021, 01:25:50 PMI would do only two.

So would you use a sentence or two to describe the benefits and costs of the three following height increase to your life?
1. Increase 3 inches
2. Increase 2 inches
3. Increase 1 inch.

Do you really think that the benefits of 2 inches would outweigh the costs? Why didn't you say 1.5 inches or not doing it at all?

Quote from: TakingAction on October 21, 2021, 03:33:32 PMSo would you use a sentence or two to describe the benefits and costs of the three following height increase to your life?
1. Increase 3 inches
2. Increase 2 inches
3. Increase 1 inch.

Do you really think that the benefits of 2 inches would outweigh the costs? Why didn't you say 1.5 inches or not doing it at all?

Every inch matters and is progressively tougher on the body, not in a linear way.  Hard to know exactly how much tougher though.  I don't bother thinking in half inches or lower increments because there's not much difference between one number and the next with intervals that small.

I think 5'10 is certainly better than 5'9.  Even a 5'9 guy might be seen as short in some situations involving taller people wearing thicker shoes than he is.  Still better than 5'8; that's a huge mental jump to 5'9 in my opinion even though it's the same distance apart.

I think two inches would outweigh the costs.  I thought of doing 2" even back then but went for 3" because a lot of other people were doing that much or in some cases even more, and the price was the same.  8-9 cm was a range of lengthening several foreign Beijing patients were doing.  And the domestic Chinese patients' lengthening ranges varied even more than that.  Some only wanted 4 cm, one girl wanted 14 cm.   They got charged by length and didn't have package deals offered to them.