My lengthening journey with Dr Hoondong Lee

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Hang in there classical, You had some bad luck so far but you are handling it well with your positive attitude, i found it very hard to avoid depression during my lengthening phase, despite that everything went well and as expected for me.

I think you can only say for sure that the pin wont bend anymore is when you are done with the lengthening phase, some fixators have stronger pins than others though, but they all bend more or less before you are done lengthening. But i dont think your pins should be able to bend more than they already have, you should ask the doctor though to make sure since you have restricted time.

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Quote from: Classical on August 12, 2014, 01:12:43 AMLengthening after 4cm is definitely harder. After a long period of almost pain free days, my bone started to hurt occasionally, especially when I stand. It's still not bad, I am not taking pain meds. But I fully expect it to get worse as I lengthen approach 5cm.

@ShortyMcShort:At this point, I am still shooting for 5cm. Actually, my soft tissue is doing quite well, if i had more time to stay in Korea, I would be able to do more. Unfortunately, my time is quite limited as I have to get back to work soon. As for the guest house, yes, I would say maybe in a year also. In fact, I am very tempted to talk to Dr Lee and ask him of the possibilities for him to have his own private practice in the future.  That way, the price would drop significantly, and everything can be catered towards lengthening patients. Another thing, according to my friend who is also lengthening with Dr Lee that there is rumor that Dr Lee is in the process of making his own internal nail collaborating with a Swiss company. Let's see

I had an X-ray yesterday. After viewing my X-ray, Dr Lee informed me that my fibula is not growing well. Despite the fact I had stem cell therapy, my mom is cooking for me everyday, and I am taking all the necessary supplements, weight bearing all the time, I can't believe my bone still refuses to grow! This makes me believe that good bone growth is largely dependent on genetic genes.

Another thing that upset me is I found out I had lost half of my lengthening due to pin bend. For two weeks, I was turning 0.5mm/day, I only grew 4mm totally on my right leg.  I always thought that pin bend usually happens in the beginning of lengthening stage. Once the pin bends to a certainly degree with enough tension, pin bend stops. I have not had pin bend for more than a month, I can't believe it happened again.

LL is definitely a roller coaster ride. I just hope I can keep my spirit high and always be positive as this is the only way to keep me on the right track.

Just want to drop in that blood flow is a humungous improvement in bone growt. and being so sedentary you can eat all the vitamins and food you want your body is not using it.

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Quote from: Classical on August 12, 2014, 01:12:43 AMLengthening after 4cm is definitely harder. After a long period of almost pain free days, my bone started to hurt occasionally, especially when I stand. It's still not bad, I am not taking pain meds. But I fully expect it to get worse as I lengthen approach 5cm.

@ShortyMcShort:At this point, I am still shooting for 5cm. Actually, my soft tissue is doing quite well, if i had more time to stay in Korea, I would be able to do more. Unfortunately, my time is quite limited as I have to get back to work soon. As for the guest house, yes, I would say maybe in a year also. In fact, I am very tempted to talk to Dr Lee and ask him of the possibilities for him to have his own private practice in the future.  That way, the price would drop significantly, and everything can be catered towards lengthening patients. Another thing, according to my friend who is also lengthening with Dr Lee that there is rumor that Dr Lee is in the process of making his own internal nail collaborating with a Swiss company. Let's see

I had an X-ray yesterday. After viewing my X-ray, Dr Lee informed me that my fibula is not growing well. Despite the fact I had stem cell therapy, my mom is cooking for me everyday, and I am taking all the necessary supplements, weight bearing all the time, I can't believe my bone still refuses to grow! This makes me believe that good bone growth is largely dependent on genetic genes.

Another thing that upset me is I found out I had lost half of my lengthening due to pin bend. For two weeks, I was turning 0.5mm/day, I only grew 4mm totally on my right leg.  I always thought that pin bend usually happens in the beginning of lengthening stage. Once the pin bends to a certainly degree with enough tension, pin bend stops. I have not had pin bend for more than a month, I can't believe it happened again.

LL is definitely a roller coaster ride. I just hope I can keep my spirit high and always be positive as this is the only way to keep me on the right track.

Just want to drop in that blood flow is a humungous improvement in bone growt. and being so sedentary you can eat all the vitamins and food you want your body is not using it.

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I am at 5cm now. Yesterday I went to see Dr Lee and got X-ray to check on my alignment. Good news, my legs are completely straight  Still, no ballerina foot, and my knees and ankles has good ROM, no pain in either places. Pin bend seems to be in control, I only lost 1mm out of 10mm in the last two weeks.

Since my flight back home is on Sep 20, Dr Lee scheduled my second surgery to take off my fixture on Sep 5. He instructed me to turn till next Tuesday, then I will officially end my lengthening phase. This is my last week of lengthening, I am really hoping to squeeze in some extra mms

My experience with Dr Lee had been more than excellent! So far throughout my lengthening phase,  I have no ballerina foot, no pin infection, no pain in my knees and ankles, and my incision scars are no tiny that it's almost invisible, and my legs are 100% straight according to the X-ray.  The only complications I had was skin allergy with surgical glue, and muscle cramp, which were easily fixed within a week, and none of which were caused by the doctor.  I can say that the reason why I had such a smooth lengthening journey is mainly due to Dr Lee's world first class surgical skill and professionalism towards his patients. Also, I would like to mention that his assistant Ms Han has been extremely helpful. I feel guilty for asking for help from her almost all the time, from ordering take outs to letter for my mother's Korean visa. She has been so patient and kind. My experience here would have been very different without her. All in all, I highly recommend Dr Lee to anyone who is interested in doing LL surgery.

I will update after my 2nd surgery.

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Excellent news, Classical. Glad that your experience has been great overall and that Dr Lee lived up to his reputation. Are you going to post your final x-rays later?

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It's been a long time since I last updated my condition. I did my frame removal surgery on Sep 5, and got back to the States on Sep 11th. Things have been going very well since I got back. I lengthened 6cm in total, and can drive and walk with aid, incisions are also healing very well. Dr Lee decided to give me another stem cell therapy during the 2nd surgery on top of the one i received during the first surgery to aid with my bone growth, which is super kind of him. My scars look very minimal even now. again thanks to Dr Lee. I think with time, they will fade very nicely. I just did my first xray one month post frame removal surgery. I am waiting to hear from Dr Lee and get permission to see if i can start walking without aid. I will try to upload a picture of my tibia with current scar formation and my most recent x-ray.

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Good to hear Classical, hows your knees? Any discomfort or knee pain now post removal?

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Quote from: ShortyMcShort on October 06, 2014, 04:32:05 AMGood to hear Classical, hows your knees? Any discomfort or knee pain now post removal?
Hi how r u my knees feel great. Honestly I have never felt any discomfort with my knees even during lengthening. Now, my knees can bend the same as before LL. I think Dr Lee must have done a fantastic job inserting the nails into my knees consider how painless and comfortable I feel.

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Nice, so you can kneel down on a hard surface and feel no pain? If so thats great.
And please post some more pictures of your scars when you're ready, Dr Lee patients tend to have better looking scars than say China so Im curious to see yours if its not a bother.

Do you know how much in total you spent thus far? If you could give a rough outline of how much you spent it'd be great. Also would be ok with doing a walking video? Just film the bottom area and not upper area like chest, face, etc necessary. Im still sceptical about the Dr Lee videos on Youtube and their time frames so would like to see how you're walking atm with your given timeline   
Thanks

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Quote from: ShortyMcShort on October 06, 2014, 07:56:42 AMNice, so you can kneel down on a hard surface and feel no pain? If so thats great.
And please post some more pictures of your scars when you're ready, Dr Lee patients tend to have better looking scars than say China so Im curious to see yours if its not a bother.

Do you know how much in total you spent thus far? If you could give a rough outline of how much you spent it'd be great. Also would be ok with doing a walking video? Just film the bottom area and not upper area like chest, face, etc necessary. Im still sceptical about the Dr Lee videos on Youtube and their time frames so would like to see how you're walking atm with your given timeline   
Thanks

Sure, I will post more pictures of my scars and walking video. Yesterday, I got permission from Dr Lee to start walking without aid slowly. It's really seems like a miracle today that I am already walking around my house without the walker. At first I was a bit skeptical as I have been always using aid, but once I tried a few steps, I realized its really not that bad. What a difference it makes when I can walk without walker! I no longer have to ask my parents to hand me everything. Of course, I still walk like a zombie, but I am sure in a month time, my walk will be much better. And yes, I can knee down on a hard surface and feel no pain.