Background:
Age: 20
Occupation: Junior biomed major
Height: Low 160s
Goal: 6-8cm
10 days until the surgery date. I won't be disclosing the location but this surgeon operates mainly on the spine, hip, knee, deformities, with limb discrepancy and CLL on the side. I firmly believe I'm in good hands. He requires physical therapy at his institution once the patient reaches 2-3c,. but he teaches us basic stretches before professional assistance.
One downside is my surgeon not performing ITB releases and recommending femur lengtheners to stop before 6cm. With a 20ga needle and some topical lidocaine, I will perform a modified 5-7mm anterior/posterior hemisection with medial piecrusting when I hit the 2cm mark. I do not have the tools or assistance for a Z-plasty so I will take the percutaneous route. Me and a couple buddies successfully performed a gynecomastia removal on a friend and I know to avoid the peroneal nerve and lateral circumflex descending artery. Most ITB releases are basic sectionings and not Z-plasties anyway.
DISCLAIMER: I do not advocate for anyone to replicate my decisions.
Quote from: jerrytheman on June 05, 2023, 12:18:18 PMSounds like Turkey. LON femur is a huge no no. and 8cm no ITB release is another bad thing (not as bad as LON femur ). Wishing you luck and will be in support of your journey.
Not Turkey, and thanks for the kind words. Feel free to use me as a guinea pig.
Quote from: TheDream on June 05, 2023, 12:37:19 PMWhy not just save up some more and then go to a doc that offers an ITB release?
To my knowledge it's a robbery paying several thousand for a soft-release tenotomy. It takes a couple minutes at most and I'm sacrificing a minor artery worst-case scenario. I already planned the lowest risk angle to insert the needle, it takes 1-1.5mm of skin and fat to reach the tendon on both sides.
Word of advice: be already doped on opioids the afternoon/night after the operation, do not wait to ask the nurses after the nerve block wears off. Waking up, I felt discomfort in my lower body and after several hours I got hit with a constant 6-7/10 pain even with a morphine drip. I yelled for a nurse and she gave me a 50mcg/hr transdermal patch. I teared up when the fentanyl started working.
On Day 5 the doctor ordered 1.5mm/day for 2 weeks and slowing down to 1/1.25mm depending on how I feel. He tells me some patients with very thick muscles resist the mechanism and need 2mm/day until their legs start to atrophy. He does not allow weightbearing since he is cautious about the screws coming loose, as corrective surgery isn't a solution because there won't be enough remaining bone to fixate. He also limits weightbearing until 8 weeks after the exfix removal and nailing, because the new supporting nails sometimes collapse.
Quote from: Stubborn Knucklehead on June 19, 2023, 11:30:10 AMDoing 1.5mm a day nearly killed me, I couldn’t possibly imagine doing 2mm a day and it being healthy. Any doctor who tells you to lengthen 2mm a day is not to be trusted. One guy at the clinic I am at did 2mm a day for some of his lengthening and now he has serious complications with the bone not filling in the hollow gap, and now he needs stem cells to regrow it. Highly advise against going above 1mm a day.
He did say the 2mm/d is an extreme example, and it's sustained only for about a week. It's used to prevent early union in young athletic patients that resist the initial distraction with their muscular legs. The bulk of the distraction phase is at 1mm per day and 0.75mm towards the end.
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