Limb lengthening with Fitbone

There were several implant malfunctions in Musicmaker's case like in Helloworld's. It's well documented in the forum. Accident was another complication but implants failed without any accident. I don't know the details about the failure of the American guy but this guy had many complications too.
Helloworld's cloud is very good IMHO

Notimportant: thanks for your positive opinion :-)

There are 4 forces at play in determining success:
1. Patient
2. Surgeon
3. Implant
4. Luck

In my particular case I would assume doctor and patient (me) did everything correct and it was mainly bad luck and implant.
I think in many cases it is patient fault, like lengthening too fast, not following recovery program, smoking, wrong nutrition, putting too much weight on implant too quickly.

But no surgeon nor implant is perfect, so combined with bad luck, we can all have complications. I had one, but I would say a small one, as I am now doing very well.

I decided that Internal LL, Monegal, Barcelona and Fitbone was the best combination at the time and would still take that decision today.

When I say bad luck and implant, were the cause for me to have to get a replacement implant, I actually would not say that the implant manufacturer was at fault. In fact, I think the company has done everything correctly to assure the best quality and 100% functioning. But there is always the element of luck and nothing is 100%.
So I would not say that the implant manufacturer was at fault, but I would say that in my cases the failure falls within their area of responsibility.

Does Monegal recommends you to walk with a walker too or you are just in wheelchair??? Which would be the protocol if the patient is overweighted?

The protocol is:
5 days bed only in hospital
from 5 days stand up and sit in chair
one week in wheelchair only in rehab
after 2 weeks walk between bars
shortly after use the bike
once stiches removed and wounds healed use the pool
once x-ray show some bone growth, you can use walker (so I started using walker after my x-rays last week, 7 weeks after operation)
I weight 80 kg. The more you weigh, the more careful you have to be.

Bilateral vs unilateral lengthening

My surgeon, Dr. Monegal, prefers unilateral lengthening and I am sure there a good reasons for that. However, after having gone through bilateral procedures and having shared experience with many unilateral patients, I very glad I did bilateral and wanna tell you why:

Mobility
A unilateral patient is supposed to be more mobile as he as one “normal” leg. However, I have not seen a big difference between me and unilateral patients:
Neither of us can walk normally.
I am faster in a wheelchair than they are on crutches.
I have been able to stand up early on, which is actually easier for me as my legs are equal length.
I am able to swim, to bike, to walk with arm support.
Many exercises seem to be easier for me as I have both legs in the same conditions.

Pain
A bilateral patient is supposed to have twice the pain. I think the opposite is true. Comparing pain levels it seems that mine are the same or lower to unilateral patients. My explanation is that pain is a signal of the body that something is wrong. Having 2 legs broken instead of 1 does not make that signal stronger. In fact, I believe it is easier for your brain to accept the condition as normal and thus stop the pain, as your brain does not have a “normal” leg to compare to, while a bilateral patient always knows what a normal leg should feel like and that this is different from the broken leg.

Mindset
You need a lot of determination to do everything you can as a patient to speed up recovery as well as to endure pain and bad sleep.
For that it is important to see the light at the end of the tunel! For me I will be done with the lengthening in about 2 weeks and then just consolidate. For the unilateral patients they are going through the same bad time as me only to know that after one is finally done they still have to do another!

Speed
As far as I have understood, the total time of lengthening + recovery is decreased by increasing the lengthening speed. So if you extract at 2 mm a day you will have tight muscles and a big gap in your bone that takes a long time to recover. If you do 0.7 mm a day your muscles at the end of lengthening will already have adjusted and your bone gap will almost be consolidated so the total recovery time is not longer but maybe shorter!
And of course lengthening at 0.7 mm means you have much less pain!
On the other hand, I understand people that want to just get over with this process asap, which is possible if you both legs at the same time, but at a slow rate.

Work
Unilateral patients are supposed to be able to work while lengthening.
Personally, I think that this will be difficult unless you are able to sleep well during night which most patients are not.
On the other hand I am working from home office with a similar productivity as before, just not able to work from the office. Actually, I guess by now I even could work from the office, but as I need an afternoon nap, I work from home.

For all those reasons, from a patient experience I would advise bilateral lengthening.

Stop spamming, u posted this in 2 threads. BOTH DIARIES. Come one dude...

Because I believe this information is important, dude.
One diary is mine, the other diary is of my good friend, neighbor and fellow patient.

http://imgur.com/a/aFYSo
My x-rays.
Generally, I am happy with them.
There is good bone cloud but still not so much that I have to be worried about preconsolidation.
The only two things that worry me a bit are:
1. the outrgrowth of callus on the left leg
2. the slightly bend nail in the right leg

Auron's X-rays are better. These X-rays are to be worried. Bone is good. Other issues aren't good. You're right.