Quote from: Growing Experience on September 09, 2022, 07:00:45 AMHi femurs2022,
Thanks for providing us with the latest update! Good to know that you've recovered well and you're able to work long hours while standing.
I believe you're at the 6th month mark (post op) right now. My question is - do you ever feel the nails or screws inside you? while walking up and down stairs, while sleeping on sides ?
Also, are you able to drive a car comfortably at this point?
You're welcome. I'm 5 months post op if I am counting correctly. I do not feel the nails/screws inside me. For a time I think I could feel the screws when I would lay on my side while sleeping but I haven't felt them in a few weeks. I don't feel them walking up or down the stairs. I would keep the nails/screws in indefinitely but I don't want to have any issues if I need an MRI someday. That said, I have no plans to get the nails out anytime soon. My femurs actually feel completely normal. It is just my lower legs (calves mainly) and feet that hurt sometimes (my feet feel fine if I wear supportive shoes). My back pain has mostly resolved thankfully.
I have been able to drive comfortably for at least 6 weeks.
precise 2.2 femurs w/ Dr. Assayag
I'm a little over 6 months post op so thought I would provide an update! I always wondered reading diaries when exactly a patient is able to walk and have it look and feel completely normal. I would say for me (keep in mind I only did 6 cm) it was exactly at the 6 month mark from surgery. My gait "looked" normal before that but it wasn't until 6 months post op that my legs and walking in general felt completely normal. Currently, I am able to walk as long as I want without my legs getting tired, I can walk and run up and down the stairs but sometimes hold the banister depending on what shoes I am wearing (I worry about slipping and breaking a nail). I'm able to run but it still feels and looks weird, I can sort of jump. I'm not really able to hop on one foot yet. I have no more back, leg, or foot pain. The only discomfort I have is sometimes my knees feel tight if I have been less active than usual. My range of motion is back to my baseline excluding my quads which are still somewhat tight. That said, I haven't done any sort of PT or stretching in over a month so I would likely have improvement in that if I would actually stretch.
A close friend asked me today if I would do the surgery again. I can't imagine ever being brave enough to go through this again (I can't even imagine even agreeing to have surgery to get the nails removed anytime soon). I don't think about my height at all anymore which was my goal so I guess you could say the surgery succeeded. Honestly, my life just feels completely normal and most of the time i forget I even did this.
Here is my 7ish months post op update!
I think the big change from 6 months post op is I can now run and it looks and feels normal most of the time. I don’t think I have any sort of physical limitations at this time. I can sprint and jump as well. I think it would be impossible to know I had any sort of procedure on my legs unless one were to look at x rays. My scars have mostly faded enough that I don’t think they are noticeable (my skin really doesn’t scar though, I had a bad burn on my hand that healed with minimal scarring and a large laceration on my leg that eventually healed without a scar).
I would say I’ve completely recovered excluding the fact that I do have some edema in my legs most of the time. It goes away when I have a day or 2 off from work but when I’m on my feet all day it comes back. It doesn’t bother me but it is something I notice.
People keep telling me I seem happier but I’m not 100% sure if it is related to the surgery or something else. It feels like doing this has taken a big weight off my shoulders. It’s also a weird feeling though because I don’t have any height dysphoria anymore and i cant really remember what it was like to have that so it feels totally crazy that I did this. Even though I know I had thought about it for a long time and had a really good reason to go forward with it.
Thank you for sharing
Quote from: femurs2022 on November 07, 2022, 09:53:34 AM
People keep telling me I seem happier but I’m not 100% sure if it is related to the surgery or something else. It feels like doing this has taken a big weight off my shoulders. It’s also a weird feeling though because I don’t have any height dysphoria anymore and i cant really remember what it was like to have that so it feels totally crazy that I did this. Even though I know I had thought about it for a long time and had a really good reason to go forward with it.
I got about two inches taller and I also feel a big weight is off of my shoulders, it feels great when I stand next to other adult men now. I'm still shorter but I feel alot better. I'm still lengthening a bit more but might stop soon
I'm thinking of doing precise 2.2 tibias with Dr. Giotikas then coming back to the United States and doing nail removal with Dr. Assayag in Baltimore. I heard that for nail removal, you have to recover for about a week. Where in Baltimore do you think you would stay if you did nail removal with Dr. Assayag?
I have some relatives a few hours drive from Baltimore that I might also be able to stay with but I'm not sure if it is better to stay in Baltimore when recovering from nail removal
Congratulations, Femurs2022! Thank you for sharing your experience!
As you posted, you flew back home when you were at Day +14 and +15, may I ask about the time required for visits/PT?
1. Did you need to come back to Baltimore frequently to check up with Dr. Assayage?
2. Do you have your PT in your local clinic? If so, do you feel confident about them compared to the PT who is more experienced with LL around Sinai?
3. How long do you have to do PT in the clinic every day/week for the six-month period?
My questions are mostly about time management for the six to eight-month course since my daily working hours are pretty long (WFH). I would appreciate any of your input!
Quote from: femurs2022 on April 14, 2022, 09:44:43 PMDays +14 and +15
I'm very grateful that I am home! ...
Quote from: Ceiling on November 12, 2022, 04:20:05 PMCongratulations, Femurs2022! Thank you for sharing your experience!
As you posted, you flew back home when you were at Day +14 and +15, may I ask about the time required for visits/PT?
1. Did you need to come back to Baltimore frequently to check up with Dr. Assayage?
2. Do you have your PT in your local clinic? If so, do you feel confident about them compared to the PT who is more experienced with LL around Sinai?
3. How long do you have to do PT in the clinic every day/week for the six-month period?
My questions are mostly about time management for the six to eight-month course since my daily working hours are pretty long (WFH). I would appreciate any of your input!
Thank you!
1. I had to go back to Baltimore every 2 weeks during the lengthening phase. Since I stopped lengthening I haven't had to go back and I just get x-rays locally.
2. Yeah I had PT locally. I thought my PT locally was not very helpful. But I had worked with a PT in Baltimore with a lot of experience with limb lengthening prior to returning home so I just made my own stretching schedule with the exercises he taught me. I did a minimum of 2 hours of PT a day on my own and went to the local clinic for PT 1-2x a week.
3. I stopped doing PT in the clinic as soon as I stopped lengthening so around 3 months post op.
I was able to work from home within 2-3 days post op. I wasn't super productive but I could get by. Basically anything that needed to get done got done but nothing else. I went back to work in person as soon as I was using crutches which was around 3 months post op and had no issues working >60 hours per week. I did have both the time and privacy at work though to do my 2 hours of daily stretching in small chunks of time while I was at work so I didn't need to stretch once I got home.
Thank you! Your answers are super helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to explain.
Was there ever a point during the surgery where you would say the pain was intolerable?
Hello, I just thought I would post another update 
I think I'm about 9.5 months post op right now from surgery. Other than being 6 cm longer my legs are 100% back to normal. Unless someone took an x-ray of my leg I don't think it would be possible to know I have had limb lengthening surgery. I've definitely gotten the last bit of flexibility back that I was missing in my quads. I've gone skiing twice so far this winter and it felt completely normal. I was sore each night but just the usual soreness. I didn't try anything crazy but I was able to keep up with my friends.
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