I guess I should start by addressing my physical proportions:
height:~179.5cm
wingspan:~190.0cm
femur:~45.7cm
tibia:~43.2cm
First of all, know this- I am in my early twenties, witnessed the first significant changes of the internet, and in regards to this particular forum, have actually read the things most of you have written, for well over a total two years now. Still, I choose to not be active on any forums, nor do I choose to spend my time on the web, so this is my first and likely only post. However, I feel reluctant to neglect the opportunity of listening to some of your opinions right now, since very soon, I will need to take a large step in my young adult life; this step is relevant to the the subject of this forum.
I want to pursue stature lengthening through the care of Dr. Dror Paley and his team in St. Mary's Orthopedic Center in Florida. Currently, I have a scheduled consultation appointment for early May 2017.
My reasons are simple to the world, but complex to my mind. I very much believe I suffer with dysphoria from the physical aspect, but in terms of my mental health regarding other aspects of my life, I have a comfortable amount of clarity; or at the very least, I don't feel any particular desire or need to go out of my way to alter any other aspect of my life in hopes to correct anything. For further clarity, I should mention that in the two years of growing desire to pursue this, I have looked to psychological support and now security exams to determine whether there is any form of severe body dysmorphic disorder, but have come short of finding a simple mental health solution (though I feel every person should incorporate mental health fitness into their daily lives!). Honestly, overall, I am fairly content with my place in my life, but I do feel strongly that this procedure, if done without long term complications, could relieve me of my real physical dysphoria.
A little bit of background -I was a competitive athlete my whole life and I am content with withdrawing from the highest levels of fitness from here on out in my life (so as long as I could maintain at least 85 to 90% of my athletic abiltity). I was fortunate with the way I was raised -my body throughout my life so far has easily adapted to several sports, with the most recent being mountain biking. Cumulatively, I have suffered several significant injuries, ranging from broken bones to dislocations, to muscle tears, to fractures, or deep bone bruises. Comparatively, I always found my pain tolerance, flexibility, and recovery much stronger than most of my peers, growing up.
Still, I fear this surgery. My hope is to request Dr. Dror Paley for his suggestions, but if this was euphoria, and I could ask for anything I want, I would want to be 6'0.5" to 6'2". I truly do not have a number in the end, but to save the trouble of dealing with questions or concerns regarding the premise behind my desire to be within this range, I'll stop this part of the conversation here. I won't really be willing to address my reasoning much further for why. The question I was hoping to introduce, however, is:
Under the care of Dr. Paley, what are my odds of accomplishing a full (or close to full) recovery, from a 4cm to 6cm precise 2.2 bilateral lengthening within the femurs? Please consider the following things that one of Dr. Paley's assistants told me:
-Overall, with resolved complications, Dr. Paley has a 100% success rate with the precise 2 femur lengthening
-the reason why complications arose in some of the patients was due to misdirection from Dr. Paley's suggestion, either during distraction phases or consolidations phases
-most of the concerns arising throughout the limb lengthening community are from patients undergoing the limb lengthening procedures from less experienced doctors.
Finally, please note that I have no hope of pursuing something in which the harm outweighs my wellbeing, and this realization is subjective and only accurate through my knowledge, so please refrain from believing your way is the only way.
Kind regards,
kool1818
I don't need to justify myself to you. or some guy named big daddy. the question I put up was regarding something else. if you have something regarding the particular question, I would love to hear it.
no. I'm so sorry
standards are subjective. I think it's cool that you're expressing your ideal standards, but they might not be mine. Thank you for helping to answer my question.
682, i appreciate your response. I would like to ask for further help from you. Honestly man, I'm going to share my understanding of this procedure with you, in a way influenced by how I want it to go for myself. This will be your opportunity -and anyone elses- to find flaws or approvals in my logic.
1) Limb lengthening suggestions under the care of Dr. Dror Paley:
-under 5cm is theoretically low risk. I may opt of 6cm depending on the doctor and his team's suggestions.
-5cm to 6cm is at least two months of distraction, for which I am willing to stay in Florida for.
-consolidation could be done at home, for which I have a orthopedic surgeon from Stanford Hospital to cover for, be it x-rays, weekly checkups, or the three to four hospital PT sessions a week for rehabilitation.
-5 days of PT during distraction are required. Learning from old forum diaries, -along with the 5 hospital PT sessions- doing stretching sessions and 1-3 hour pool PT daily during distraction and consolidation is what I plan for myself.
-the Paley team recommends silica for vitamin D3 and calcium. I plan to stick to their prescriptions, while also supplementing my distraction phase and consolidation phase with a CPAP machine for sleep, and for the consolidation phase, I plan to supplement the silica in particular with the exogen stimulator.
-per the paley team's suggestion, I should be able to walk close to 6 months post operation. I plan to start up mild yoga at that point, in addition to the continued three to four stretching/PT sessions per week at Stanford hospital. My hope is to start reincorporating deep tissue massaging back into my life two to three weeks following the approval to walk again.
2) Could massage therapy be potentially detrimental due to the screws or other precise parts still being within my legs?
3)The most valuable part of this whole situation is obviously my longevity and physical ability. I appreciate you emphasizing the reality of the short term immobility; however, 5-6 months of immobility to overwhelm a dysphoria permanently is to me an appropriate trade off. However, sacrificing significant physical ability in my athletism two years post operation is not reasonable for me. Understand that I do not trust most patients on this forum over the opinion of doctors, but I also recognize doctors' bias favoring the procedure, so I feel reluctant to believe anyone but my own body. I feel if I lengthen conservatively, withstand prolonged PT continuously while still giving my body recovery periods, and do this for at least one to two years, then I can get back to some degree of my current athleticism. Going from personal experiences, my broken ankle and my broken wrist are both stronger than the opposing body parts. I do recognize the concept of stretched muscles, but muscles regrow and tear -I've experienced that as well. I feel if I can help stimulate repair to my stretched muscles, that I will be able to withhold a solid recovery. In regards to the ratio or femurs to tibias, I will not be willing to surpass 6cm. Currently, I favor 5cm, but even 5cm might cause too much of a difference in the ratio, and from a functional standpoint, I can recognize how a close to 10cm longer femur than tibia could severely affect functionality. Overall, in regards to my hopes of recovering, do you think I am delusional?
yourspaceboyfriend, why would you feel compelled to shoot yourself? I worry you might be in harms way. If it was said humorously, then know you are and will never be allowed to fk with my life, nor could you ever compare yourself to me or anyone else -be the best version of yourself. To some of the others who seem so full of negativity, stop building a pedestal of standards to conform to. You'll always get disappointed if you go into something with expectations. Follow your heart, use your logic to navigate through what you feel is right or wrong, listen faintly to everyone, but closely to yourself. This world is full of disgusting people, and this forum post is an example of it -I posted a question specific to my health, but a large turnout was a crowd too focused on manipulative behavior, wanting to control the standards of what is right or wrong. Ignore people like them. This is my one and only message to people needing support to follow their goals -people will attempt to dissuade you your whole life. don't let them. don't give them any reason to keep their hatred alive in front of you.
682, I plan to ask the paley team what they feel about a 4cm to 5cm lengthening in the femur. Again, it was really cool of you to share your thoughts.
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