Plzen's journey Precice II , bilateral femurs (South Africa, Dr. Birkholtz)

Edit Post

we need a big updaaaaaaaaaate

Edit Post

Update.
On Jan 13th my x-rays showed that I had lengthened 5.5cm, I wrote an update about it here in my diary on Jan 15th.
Fast forward to Jan 27th, when I had x-ray, I was given a bad news. My right leg remained at 5.5cm. My left leg was aroun 6.7cm.
Dr Birkholtz told me to stop lengthening my left leg. Start lengthening my right leg at 4mm/day (that was not the actual lengthening number, instead it was the attempted lengthening. Remember that at this point the right leg has not been lengthening at all for 2 weeks). I did that for 2 days, then per Dr Birkholtz instruction I lengthened 2mm/day. The plan was that if the right leg lengthening does not work, then we have to shorten left leg. Needless to say, I was worried.

Six days later, I had another x-ray. This time, my right leg had lengthened total of 11mm (in 6.5 days).
So Dr. Birkholtz told me to lengthened both legs at 1mm/day for 5 to 6 more days, and then stop.

I stopped lengthening on Feb 6th. I achieved about  7.2cm in both legs.
I Flew out of South Africa Feb 7th (visa was to expire on Feb 8th).
I had a long flight (17 hours), then 3 hours layover, then another 1.5 hour flight. During the long flight, I went to the bathroom twice. The airline had their own "wheelchair".
I was sitting in economy plus class and I was sitting in the first row after business class. There was a lot of room for my legs, because there was not seat in front of me. That helped my legs, but I was still having pain during the long flight. Going to the bathroom, and standing in the bathroom actually helped my leg pain.
Arrived home yesterday.
Happy to be home.

Edit Post

what as the reason your leg originally refused to lengthen past 5.5cm? was it because of premature consolidation? malfunction of the device? or muscles/soft tissue resisting? or other?

Edit Post

Not device malfunction or premature consolidation. It was suspected muscle resistance.

Edit Post

Did it hurt alot when you started lenghtening faster?

Edit Post

Quote from: Plzen on February 09, 2015, 12:14:46 PMNot device malfunction or premature consolidation. It was suspected muscle resistance.
Yea? Is this a common happening? Never heard of this before. I think it can't happen with Guichet/Betz nails because they mechanically click when distracted.

Edit Post

Hey Plzen,  sorry to hear about the bumpy road but 7+ cm - nice!!!  Are you happy with the end results so far? 

Edit Post

I have been trying to catch my sleep, also jet lag, so I was not giving as detailed answers.

Uppland,
My right leg used to be the "good" leg, little pain, good range of motion. But when I was lengthening it about 2mm/day. I had some pain, also range of motion got worse.

SAD,
I do not know how common it is, I did not ask my doctor. I will try to ask my doctor via email. It will be interesting if one of Dr. Paley's patients ask him about his opinion.
Remember in the beginning of my diary I was complaining of pain when when lengthening 1mm at single setting? After that, I switched to 0.25mm 4 times per day, and the pain went away.

After that, about once a week, I would lengthen each leg 0.5mm at one setting to make sure I had some pain, meaning my legs were lengthening. A few day before my Jan 13th x-ray, I lengthened 0.5mm both legs, left leg had pain, right leg no pain. I kept lengthening right leg, I lengthened 1.5mm(all at once), still no pain.

I went to the doctor's office the next day, saw Dr. Birkholtz partner. Had x-ray, I think in 3-4 days. X-ray showed both legs about the same length. Discussed with Dr. Birkholtz and he said that I should see him more often (weekly). I told the doctors about my concern for absolutely no pain in the right leg. The guys before me had less/?no pain with lengthening towards the end, so I thought (and hoped) that was the case with my right leg as well.
Then Jan 27 came, and as I wrote before,  found out that my right leg was not lengthening.

Edit Post

Afonso,
Thanks for stopping by. Before my surgery, I prepared myself mentally for much bumpier road.
So far I am happy with end results.

Edit Post

hey plzen,


hope your doing fine!

how is your mobility now? also, did you experience any unusual complaints? like how did your body respond to the procedure in general? for example: did you experience hair loss / grey hair, radical weight loss etc.?