Week 7 of 12
Tomorrow will be the beginning of my 7th week since my surgery. The weekends are definitely hardest because there is no physical therapy. I had a lot of pain two nights ago and had no choice but to use one pill of the opioid. I didn’t use it last night though, and I plan to not use it as much as possible as to not ruin my tolerance for it when I need it to work. By the end of today I’ll have lengthened exactly 4.5cm so only 4 more cm to go to bring me to 9cm total. It’s getting harder and harder to walk without doing the wide stance “penguin walk” and at night my legs feel very weak. As long as I stay in bed most of the day, I don’t feel too much pain which is good. Just taking it one millimeter at a time right now and holding on until the real pain comes.
LON on Femur - 9cm goal height
7/6/23
I’m almost at the end of week 7 and as of today I have reached 5.5cm (counting my internal bonus). Over the past few days I have been lengthening 1.25mm a day in my left leg only because it was 1.5mm shorter than my right leg. If I continue this for just a few more days, both of my legs will be symmetrical and the doctor won’t need to do a shortening at the removal in order to match my legs. As to be expected the pain in my left leg has been much greater these past few days but I only need to continue this for a little longer in order to equalize them. I’ll include some photos. Overall, the pain has been bad but not completely agonizing which is good. I have refrained from using any opioids and my mobility is not atrocious. I can still walk with the walker, but it is a lot harder for me these days. I’m definitely counting the days until this is over.
Stubborn stupid question perhaps but if a lengthening discrepency occured in your left leg when you lengthened at a normal rate, will this not happen again, when you go back to the regular lengthening rate again?
Also, have you gotten an IT Band release? I’m thinking maybe it could be your left IT band being more firm causing the slower lengthening, but I’m no doctor, so take this at face value.
Quote from: TheDream on July 06, 2023, 08:07:12 PMStubborn stupid question perhaps but if a lengthening discrepency occured in your left leg when you lengthened at a normal rate, will this not happen again, when you go back to the regular lengthening rate again?
Also, have you gotten an IT Band release? I’m thinking maybe it could be your left IT band being more firm causing the slower lengthening, but I’m no doctor, so take this at face value.
I had an ITB release in my first surgery and I plan to have another at the removal surgery. I waited for a while before trying to correct this and my previous x-rays from the beginning all showed the same discrepancy so I decided it was okay to fix it. Also, if by the next x-Ray somehow my left is too long, I could always skip a rotation or two. But that’s an interesting point you make, but everyone at the clinic here has some discrepancy and 1-2mm isn’t much at all considering he broke my legs with tools by hand. So the doctor has pretty great precision.
Looks amazing! keep it up youre half way there!
7/14/23
I’ve just finished week 8 of 12, will be starting week 9 now. Everything has gotten so much harder now. As of today I’ll be 5.7cm (+0.6) so depending on when I stop, this will all be over in either 17 or 27 days. I really want to go for 9cm but my body is definitely starting to fall apart. The tendons behind my knees are starting to get very inflamed and so sensitive that it makes stretching impossible. I may have to start taking the opioids before physical therapy otherwise I fear I won’t be able to have an effective session and I’ll need to stop lengthening. The pain is getting worse each day and my ability to walk is definitely going out the door too. I can’t think too far ahead right now, I need to focus on reaching 8cm and if I’m able to I’ll try for 9cm. Otherwise, the journey may be coming to an end sooner than I wanted.
If you lengthened your bones by 90mm, are you 90mm taller or little less?
Quote from: Robert Adam on July 19, 2023, 08:51:28 AMIf you lengthened your bones by 90mm, are you 90mm taller or little less?
Should see the exact 9cm reflected in your height because unlike shoes that give you more height in the heel and less at the front (the slope leads to less effective height gain), lengthening the femurs is similar to standing on a box. But I will double check at the end of the procedure when I measure myself if I am actually the exact amount taller.
How flexible were you before the surgery? Did you do any exercises before?
Quote from: tomuszcek on July 21, 2023, 01:01:18 PMHow flexible were you before the surgery? Did you do any exercises before?
I was decently flexible. Sitting on the floor I could grab both of my feet relatively easily, and both my quad and hip flexor flexibility was good coming into this. Unfortunately, I’ve always had relatively tight IT bands but the doctor did an initial IT band release and will do one more at removal, so he said he is not concerned after my checkup today. I used to lift weights quite frequently which I strongly advise people considering this surgery to abstain from for at least half a year to a year out. The more muscle you have the worse pain you’ll be in.
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