Hey everybody, long time lurker, first time poster. I've tried searching about recovery time but none really answered my question exactly.
My plans:
So I'm planning on going to (most likely) New Delhi at the end of March, and get my CLL done by Dr. Shah or Dhawan (currently decided on Dr. Shah because Dhawan only allows you to do 5cm with LON).
I begin school around the 20th in September. That gives me approximately 5.5 months to do CLL if I am able to begin the surgery ASAP.
I've read that LON/LATN is the fastest method and the one that fits my budget, so that is the only choice I'm currently considering.
I really want to get at 6cm done on my tibia. It's really important that I get back to school in September, but I also really, really want to get this surgery now. I will settle for 5cm if I must, but I really want 6.
Information:
I've read posts and articles about how people can recover as fast as 3 months (unlikely) and as slowly as a year, but the number the doctors keep posting is 6-7 months from the doctors. If it was 6 months on the dot, I could probably lie to the professors and say that I'm stuck in India for another 2 weeks or something.
But the Reddit post of the guy (3inchestaller) who got 7.5cm tibial lengthening recovered so fast: https://www.reddit.com/r/short/comments/1ugx1y/im_a_guy_who_just_completed_three_months_of_leg/
3inchestaller began in October and ended March (5 months) for 7.5cm assuming LON/LATN
LittleLiam began in September and ended in March (6 months) with LATN
Questions:
(When I say recover, I mean recover to a state where I am able to fly home and not need a doctor near me for checkups)
1) Is there a good chance possible to recover in 5 months after first LON surgery for 5 or 6cm if everything done properly (pressure, pt, diet, etc)?
2) Is it okay to return home very shortly after fixators have been removed?
3 a) For the people who have been to New Delhi, do I have to find special accommodation at hotels for first floor service, or would I be able to the elevator.
b) Would a translator, caretaker, or maid be necessary (I don't think I will be able to cook)?
c) This probably isn't true, but I've also heard that it was dangerous to stay in New Delhi if you aren't Indian or look Middle Eastern, is there any truth to this?
4) If I get x-rays taken in the US, can I have them sent to the CLL doctors so they can operate ASAP?
5) Is it dangerous to live in hotels/flats that cost less than $20/day?
6) Should I do hotel or flat, and which is cheaper?
Thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate your hard work around this forum MGoW. It was your diary that actually made me realize how this was actually possible 
.
Also I've decided to switch back to Dhawan because living in Mumbai is too expensive, and he seems like the most careful person in the world. Maybe I can convince him to let me do 5.5 or maybe even 6 hehe.
Anyways, I wanted to confirm if I'm completely sure how the LON/LATN procedure worked with the given assumption of time:
0. Consultation: take x-rays, talk about possibilities, schedule surgery.
(0-14 days)
1. First surgery: they break your leg, put in internal rod, nails and external fixators. Then lay in bed feeling bad.
(5-10 days)
2. Distraction phase: Slowly lengthen the internal rod until desired height
(50/60 days - 1mm a day for 5/6cm)
(67/80 days - .75mm a day for 5/6cm)*
Now this is the part that I'm confused about
3. They lock in the screws. Somehow. How? And they remove the external device.
(0 days?)
4. Consolidation phase: chill out until my bones are hard. Chill out meaning physical therapy, walks, micromanagement of nutrition, and the detailed documentation of my time LLing.
(
days)**
5. Once the bone is fully consolidated, nails are removed, then rest.
(7 days)
6. Go home
* Doctors usually say people should distract .67mm or .75mm a day, but so many people including MGoW distract at 1mm or higher.
** I don't know how I can get a average of the time it takes to consolidate because most of the LON diaries have Sarin and Sringari as their doctors, doctors like Dhawan and Shah don't operate like them.. I hope.
I have 168 days. Based on these calculations:
For 5cm, worst case scenario:
.75mm a day:
70d or 2m10d to consolidate
1mm a day:
87d or 12w3d or ~3m to consolidate
Is 2 month 10 days, or a little less than 3 months enough to consolidate 5cm?
Oh okay, that makes much more sense now.
So basically, when one is finished with distraction, then they no longer need any monitoring from the doctor (assuming he or she isn't doing anything risky).
When doctors say that it takes 6-7 months to heal, they are not including the consolidation phase then, right?
Another thing that bothers me about the recover is this-
Quote from: TRS on February 18, 2014, 11:18:25 AMJust wondering if LATN/LON is really worth lengthening with?
Especially if the risk of permanent knee pain is 30-50%.
From what I have read on this forum, people risk permanent knee pain regardless of how much they have lengthened
Is the risk actually 50%?
That sounds a little bit extreme based on the diaries I've read (disregarding the Sarin ones) have actually reported any long term pain.
Oh, so that is what he meant. I wouldn't mind if the knee pain was caused by use. Are there any cases of chronic knee pain where it would just be there all the time?
When you decide to have the pins set, do you just set the pins as soon as possible, or is there a waiting period?
Also, I know you're one of the lucky few who walked away with very little side effects, but I wanted to know if it's common for people like you who do as much as 7.5cm LON and return home as fast as 5 months, or does it require someone with very powerful regenerative abilities?
Man MGoW, you're like the best moderator for any forum I've ever been on. Definitely the most active and on point one.
Thanks to your help, I think I'm completely set on what I want to do now .
One last question though, hehe.
In DEM's LON diary, he was finished turning 5cm ~2.5 months into his trip
(he arrived on 5/6/13, began lengthening on 5/14/13 and lengthened 4.4cm on 7/4/13).
Assuming worst case in that he does .75cm per day, he would need 8 days to read 5cm. 5/6 to 7/12 is 69 days.
Let's assume that he is satisfied with the 5cm rather than the 7.5cm. Then, let's say he takes 3 days off to recover like he did in his diary. And finally the external fixator removal, followed by another 3 days rest before returning home leading for a total of 72 days.
I also calculated for him doing a minimum of .67mm/day successfully for the entire distraction phase, in that case, it would result in 81 days.
Is the briefness of this trip realistic, a trip of less than 3 months?
Do you think I should include more rest in here?
I would really like to go home ASAP (in reason), in the case where I have enough strength to use crutches to get on the plane to return home without damaging myself in the process.
Ah, thanks for the concern.
I reread DEM's diary, and I noticed that he actually did take a 6 week recovery period after taking the externals off.
Is the main purpose of the recovery period to check if anything went wrong so the patient can return to the doctor?
Any other timed resting period I should have besides this one?
I thought it was 1.5cm.
Also, I was wondering if this was a possibility:
Book flight for 5 months. Have surgery within the first 2 weeks, then stop distraction and have fixators removed 1 month before my flight.
Another thing that is on my mind is the removal of exfixes.
Will there be complications during this phase?
I'm imagining two opposing views on this.
First, I imagine the happy case, the one where you just limp around in your crutches and are happy that you've made it.
Then, I wonder if there could be anything as bad as what people experience right after surgery or during distraction. Things like extreme swelling, bad infections, misalignment, etc.
I've also read about how Sweden lost 3cm after the surgery. However, his signature still says 180cm. Is this an actual possibility?
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