First, what a joke. I can't believe OP didn't wear lifts before surgery. If you wear them a lot before getting surgery, and switch to regular shoes after surgery no one will know how tall you are. In fact, a few people even asked me if I was wearing lifts when they first saw me after surgery, and I was like heck yeah! Idk what kind of circles OP is running in, but no one I knew before surgery knows enough about CLL to make a judgment call on me. That includes friend I've known for over 20 years, my parents' friends who saw me grow up, etc. Most people just say that I look skinnier or "in better shape". Seriously, people really don't spend as much time thinking about you as you think they do.
Quote from: so on August 08, 2023, 01:32:45 AMHiding it is not an option. People WILL SEE. The best option is to be truthful... most importantly to those friends and family who are closest to you... forget about the rest... who cares what they think. My opinion is that those who have embarked upon the LL journey stay truthful to those who are close and are the REAL support system. Truth and honesty will allow you to be your most authentic and true self... and give you the opportunity to rally people around you who support your journey and won't negatively judge you. This is uncharted territory... you veterans know this. Going forward, we need only supporters who will help our LL journeymen find their true aim... their true purpose...their true character. Tell the the truth to those closest to you... for those on the outside... ignore them. You need a supportive team to help you reach your goals. Put the mistakes of the past behind you and focus on creating yourself as you want to be... nothing can stop you. Rely on your REAL support system. Ignore all the other voices.
You shouldn't care what anyone thinks about you but more importantly you shouldn't give anyone ammunition to attack yourself with.
Something high stakes like a CLL surgery should not be made public. Even if you tell 20 people (or tell one person and 20 people find out) and 19 of them support you and only one doesn't, that one person can ruin your life with the information any any point in the future. That's why I don't understand anyone who is willing to tell people that they got CLL. The risks are high and there is absolutely no benefit to doing it.
Who cares about a support system? Your supporters aren't the ones who are going through grueling pain every day to get that extra 0.75mm or so and your supporters aren't the ones who will benefit from the extra height once you're done. CLL needs to be something that you really want to do yourself and that's what pushes you through the pain to get it done. If you need external support to get it done, then it's probably not something you want badly enough.
Anyway someone who is truly close to you also recognizes the need for you to have your own private parts of your life and won't judge or pry. If someone keeps pestering you about it, then they care more about gossiping about you than your right to privacy. I would say in that case no matter how close they are to you they're not really looking out for you.
As someone who did the extra work to make sure absolutely no one knows about my surgery, I can tell you it's definitely worth it.