Age:30
Original height: 171
Goal: 5-6cm
Hey guys, gonna start a diary about my leg lengthening journey in Istanbul with Dr Halil Buldu. Trying to not overcomplicate things with lots of details but rather give you more of an idea of where I'm at and my thoughts about my experience. Not a typical writer so trying to keep it brief. I did appreciate all the diaries on the forum that I read which help me a lot with my decision, so this is my way to return the favour to future patients who are seeking out experience and surgeons.
Why I chose Dr Halil Buldu?
Liked the business idea (Packages) that they offered for a price I could afford. That includes pretty much everything and all you need to worry about is to prepare yourself mentally (obviously financially). I had contact with former patients and Sedat who answer all my questions and read heaps of diaries which convinced me to go there.
Wish me good luck!
Ps. Had my surgery the 25th of February.
Pre-surgery in Istanbul:
Landed in Istanbul 23rd of Feb and got picked up by a team member of Livelifetaller. Very kind guy but with limited English. He took me first to the hospital to get a blood test followed by an x-ray of my legs. I'm not gonna lie but, it was very fast and efficient and got done within an hour. He took me afterwards to the hotel which they booked for 2 nights including breakfast (at your own expense obvs) for a good price. Was meant to have a consultation with the doctor and Sedat the same day but got postponed to the day after.
The consultation was at the rehabilitation centre which is a newly renovated building and it looked really fresh. The consultation went well and met a part of the team, they were all lovely. I also met a couple of patients and had a little tour inside the facility. They got a gym, rehab centre and the lobby was divided into a cafeteria and entertainment space. Level one and up were rooms for all the patients consisting of 7 floors, everything being new and fresh (visit their Instagram to get a visual view of it).
Afterwards, we decided to go through with the surgery the very next day.
This has been my biggest concern so far guys. Haven't even posted anything about my surgery or post-surgery and yet people on this forum jump the gun because they heard one guy on the forum saying one thing. Really discouraging to really put in a good and honest diary about my experience with 3 replies not even giving you any sort of encouragement. I mean, may sound like a drama queen atm but I could literally do anything else than to share this story with you, one of the reasons why I've slightly distanced myself from this forum.
Advertising, well they put videos and pictures on Instagram and Youtube to show you how things are done. I've been a business owner myself and social media is perfect for a business to share what they doing and has to offer for a minimum cost. Even more trustworthy than a business that doesn't share anything. That is as much advertising they do, can barely say it is advertising. Can be compared to a restaurant's Instagram of them posting pictures and videos of their food, I feel like they just doing their job to its fullest.
Having 3 surgeries a day: have no idea how a patient knows how the doctor works every day. I can confidently say I knew that there was another patient having surgery the same day as me and it may have been a third one. Think rehab centre fits like 40 patients, so impossible to have 3 surgeries every day for cosmetic purposes or there would be 90 patients a month with that logic. Not saying I know the business but it is common sense. Also, I asked during my hospital stay (was there for 4 days) if there were any new patients coming in and there were none since I was there. The majority of patients are doing the package, so you have 90 days post-op to stay at their rehab centre. Even though 3 surgeries were conducted each day it is not an unusual amount of surgeries since my partner's dad is a surgeon as well and I know how that work works. But I guess 3 surgeries have happened in one day and that it happens occasionally, but again, have no idea how he operates on a daily basis.
Regards to how much you can lengthen: In my consultation, I asked how much I could gain with Tibias since I wanted to gain around 6 cm. The doctor said 6 cm is a fair and possible amount to gain to be considered safe ( obviously depends on the individual), he did not recommend going much above that. So I don't know, I know some people here gone above 8 cm on Femurs and have had a good outcome but again there are patients here that have done Femur and stopped at 5.5cm and felt that is enough. So it is an individual thing but I personally would not go above the considered "safe zones". I mean, I've seen Dr Donghoon Lee in South Korea who is famous for being one of the best in Asia and seen people getting 7 cm on Tibias and have had an amazing post-op life. Better set your mind to something realistic rather than hoping to gain something above those parameters, but I did not get that experience that the doctor tried to max your height out which I would consider very bad for his reputation.
I have gained +3cm now, so far so good but I am still considering if I should post more for you guys since you don't seem remotely interested in what I have to share while I'm also spending a fair amount of my own time on something people ain't appreciating. I mean, it is up to you at the end of the day if you like the doctor or not. Not trying to promote anything but if you guys let your guard down and listen to what people have to share maybe your choices of choosing the right surgeons would be easier.
Well with that all said (after typing for more than an hour) just feedback to you guys as well from a writer's perspective, take it or leave it just me trying to make things better.
Thank you Thankscience, I am taking blood thinner every day, it is very important according to the doctor.
Will continue to post thank you MRJames. Unfortunately, we're living in a world with lots of doubts.
Quote from: PerfectBody on March 25, 2022, 01:58:42 PMOne Piece, thank you for your diary. Congratulations on the transformation brother, we were the same height and now we will be the same height again! Please keep your head high, this is not an easy procedure. You're very brave for doing this. I've done Femurs, and I am looking to do Tibias next, sometime this summer.
Could you tell me about your pain levels after surgery, and how long did it take for it to subside? How is the everyday pain levels? And how is your walking? I knew some people doing tibias could walk just fine without crutches around 3-5cm.
For me pain was the hardest thing to overcome when doing Femurs.
Thank bro, it is a life-changing procedure. Pain level right after surgery for me was painful. The first and second day was the worst, The third day I think was when it started to get better. Everyday pain level is not bad so far but again, I'm using painkillers daily which helps me through the days. I am Walking with crutches and can take steps without them, but don't recommend walking without crutches even if you could, not gonna risk falling down breaking something because I can walk without crutches. It is all about balance. Pain hasn't been the hardest yet, but I've heard when you reach 4-4.5 cm and up, is when the real challenge starts.
Day 1-4: The operation day and hospital stay
Got picked up from my hotel and was taken to the hospital. Did not like that I wasn't told that I was going to the hospital right away since my surgery time was meant to be around 1 o'clock and I found myself in the car on my way there like 8am. The communication could have been better. I arrived at the hospital and a couple of hours later I was in surgery. Woke up in my room with pain and a couple of LLT team members checking on me to see if everything was all right before leaving. Not gonna lie but the pain was there, they gave me painkillers and it got better for a while until the pain got back. Really lonely times, recommend you not to go there alone if you can, or at least the first couple of weeks have someone by your side. Because it is mentally challenging and you can't do much by yourself. I found hospital staff not very friendly and barely anyone could speak English that well.
The second day we tried to walk, manage to walk around 15 meters and boy it was painful. The very same night I really got depressed asking myself why I did this to myself but tried to stay positive. Not gonna lie but was almost willing to give up. Luckily I remembered I read another person's diary a while back who felt the exact same way and really had regretted the first few days after surgery but revealed at the end of his/her journey that it was worth it and that it would be mentally challenging at the start. The doctor came by checking on me and told me the surgery went well and showed me the x-rays that he said looked really good.
The rest of the hospital stay was okay and I was already looking forward to leaving the hospital to go to the rehab centre. Food wasn't great but anything during that time was ok, I did have an appetite and everything tastes decent when you're hungry.
Day 4-7
Finally left the hospital and arrived at the rehabilitation centre. Got a great welcoming and got a beautiful room on level 2. The Head nurse made sure that everything was set up for me since I was unable to pretty much do anything. She helped me unpack clothes and other necessities for my stay until I could do things myself. She made sure to create an account for me to do the online ordering for food deliveries and grocery shopping. Also, got plenty of contact numbers for different things. They also do have an in-room dining menu which is very convenient with like 22 food items.
The physio and PT are included in the package price and it is divided evenly through the week with Sunday being a rest day. So there are 3 PT sessions and 3 Physio sessions each week.
The first week was very difficult for me, very hard to bend my knees and walk without feeling a lot of pain. Ended up peeing in water bottles at night because it was just hard to get out of bed and just go pee when I had access to empty water bottles. They recommended me to drink lots of water to reduce the swelling in my legs and have that blood circulation going, so lots after water bottles got emptied and filled up 
I got a prescription for 3 different painkillers for use during my days, also got a stomach protecting medicine to take every day before breakfast.
Blood thinner was the first week in a syringe form which the nurses help to inject while I also got an oral blood thinner medicine for use after the first week.
The lengthening commenced 7 days after surgery, so in my case 4th of March. Used a wrench key to turn 90 degrees every 6 hours (4 times a day) to lengthen my legs, so everyday I got 1mm taller.
14th of March - First X-rays after lengthening
Today was the 10th day of my lengthening, meaning that I have achieved 1cm by myself. So my total distraction since my surgery was 2.1cm on my right leg and 2.2cm on my left leg including the gap they left after breaking my legs. I can't upload any picture of my X-ray here but my bone healing was good on my left leg and slightly better on my right leg. So far everything is good, sleep is not the best averaging around 2-3 hours a day.
Pain comes and goes but it is still manageable and doesn't impact much. However, sleeping is difficult, when falling asleep I sleep for like half an hour waking up to stiff legs and it gets really hard to return to sleep (very frustrating and it drives me crazy). This is very normal but if you are thinking about doing surgery, expect really bad and sometimes sleepless nights (if you're doing LON). I've heard that Precise patients sleep much better and people that had their removal got way better sleep than they had with the fixators on.
Up to date - 27th March
Today is a good day, finally got good sleep even though I woke up every hour being stiff. Every time I wake up the stiffness is there, so I usually walk it off like back and forth in the room before returning back to sleep. I guess I got around 6-7 hours sleep in total which is really good compared to my previous week where one hour of sleep was my average. My lengthening should have reached around 3.3-3.4 cm on both legs, I can say reaching closer to 3 cm was when it started to get a little more challenging for me. New pain areas popped up and one, in particular, stuck out which was very painful lasted 30 min, had to put my leg in one position (slightly bent) to reduce the pain. That pain level was like 9/10 and fortunately, that was the only time it occurred. Things are good so far and I hope it doesn't get much worse. Think I'm having an x-ray on Tuesday and hopefully it will show good bone healing and 3.5cm in growth but I am not gonna jinx it.
My physiotherapist says everything looks good so far when it comes to my physio, bending etc. But again, the hard times are yet to come, especially when I'm exceeding 4-4.5 cm. I will put my goal at 6 cm for now but will decide if I wanna continue to lengthen when I reach 5cm. If my body says no more lengthening at 5cm I will stop for sure.
Can walk without crutches but prefer to use them since I'm afraid if I fall, I could be up for some serious complications. Better be safe than sorry.
I am starting to meet up with more patients at the rehab centre, really friendly peeps here and pleasant to exchange experiences with each other. Really puts away the depressions we have of being all alone in our rooms. Things I thought only I experience seems to be common which eases my mind and worries.
Have a good day guys.
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