Quote from: Camillo on October 15, 2016, 08:02:44 AMHi Whereintheworld, great to hear from you. How was it? How much did you do in term of cm? Did you have experience of any problem during the process of lengthening? Any suggestion for me? 
Right now I don't have much pain, but I guess it is because of painkillers. I am a bit afraid because I am leaving the hospital now so I will be in my apartment a couple of hours far from Milan. I guess I will manage it, yesterday I tried to walk and it seems I can, but of course it is a strange sensation.
The most boring part at the moment is sleeping because I have to wear dr. scholl shoes pulled from elastic to prevent the clubfoot. You have made the operation of the Achilles tendon or you've managed to avoid it?. How much did you walk during the day? How much physiotherapy did you do? How frequently did you tighten the bolts of the EF and how often in a week did you do the medication?
Thank you in advance.
Hey Camillo,
These first few days will be the toughest, at least they were for me mentally. The prospect of lengthening for 80-100 days may seem terrible, but it will go by faster than you can imagine.
As far as tightening the bolts, the rule of thumb is once a week, but if you go out and about through town, you may want to check the bolts when you get home. Honestly though, I moved around a lot and only once or twice was anything even remotely loose.
Walking will be a little weird, you might hear/feel little clicks and such- I probably messaged Dr. Pili 10 times during the first two weeks thinking I had broken something-everything was fine.
The blue shoes and the rubber band are by far the most difficult aspect of the entire process, but you'll get used to them.
*I reached 5cm (turned about 5.4 cm) without really any problems to speak of, other than a few times having a pin site get irritated or else a tingling sensation that came and went for a couple of days. After each time that I turned, I would stand against the wall and do the exercises, then I'd walk across my apartment for about 5-10 minutes- so that, 3 times a day.
Despite being satisfied with the 5cm gain, I decided to push my luck for 6. When I met with Pili last week, he said I was a little stiff, but that since I did not intend to lengthen any more, we could try physical therapy before yielding to the achilles lengthening surgery.
I tried to stay away from the painkillers and it wasn't really too hard- there were of course a few times were I was very uncomfortable, but I could manage it.
One piece of advice I will give you is to sleep with your legs straight (although elevated). I realized early on that it was MUCH easier to fall asleep at night when I had my knees bent, but as Dr. Pili explained to me last week, this is counterproductive to the stretching that needs to occur.
Sleep well tonight, you're in very good hands with Pili/Catagni