Hey RB, sounds good mate! Nice that you run your own business. Money needs to keep flowing I can imagine haha 
I am also curious, did you already drive car? Or are you planning to try anytime soon?
Quote from: LittleLA on April 21, 2021, 05:41:29 PMHey RB, awesome thread appreciate the intel.
Quick questions: why did you decide to stay in Germany for so long instead of just going home right after the 10 days in the hospital? Also, was 10 days a requirement or could you leave sooner if you’d like?
Hey man,
I decided to stay in Germany for 4 weeks as I wanted to be a bit more healed/recovered before flying back home since I had a long-haul flight and knew I would be going into forced quarantine. If I flew at 10 days I would have been in too much pain from the initial surgery to fly.
You can leave as soon as you understand how to click properly, I stayed 10 days just to be safe, but you can even stay up to 14 days if you want.
Quote from: maxnl050 on April 21, 2021, 07:09:15 PMHey RB, sounds good mate! Nice that you run your own business. Money needs to keep flowing I can imagine haha
I am also curious, did you already drive car? Or are you planning to try anytime soon?
Haha yeah gotta recover that money lost from the surgery cost
I haven't tried to drive yet but I feel I could easily drive so when I get out of quarantine on Sunday I will try and drive during the week and report back how it is.
Quote from: RB on April 20, 2021, 04:10:34 PMIt's hard to describe but now that I am 6 weeks post surgery, it sort of feels like constant discomfort in the form of sore legs rather than pain. There are times when I will have some sharp pain in a particular area of the leg that feels like a painful cramp or when the medication wears off, but for the most part after the surgical pains are gone, it's more so the constant discomfort that wears on you mentally. But there is rarely acute pain.
Thanks mate!
-Walking without crutches is doable but only for small distances due to a tight IT band and weak/atrophied glutes. I am going to work more on my unassisted walk when I am out of quarantine but right now it has sort of regressed and is still very penguin like so I use crutches majority of the time. I flew home and it was a very tough flight because of how far I had to fly home lol but I got there in the end.
-In Germany I did a combination of professional PT and my own PT. Now that I am home I plan to do professional PT 2/3 times per week and the rest on my own.
-I have just resumed working remotely again from quarantine. I work in business/sales for a large company and run my own business on the side. It's doable to work remotely but my focus has been really poor due to the medication and constant discomfort.
-There would be additional costs if the complication required additional surgery so barring an additional surgery everything is included in the original price.
Hey RB! I've been reading your story and I'm wondering how was your experience with Dr. Betz in general? Would you say he's actually that good as people say?
Thanks for the reply RB!
One more question: why are you only doing 3” instead of 4-5” as Betz allows each nail to go up to 4.92”. Do you think maybe you’ll change ur mind as you get closer to the original lengthening goal?
Quote from: Eye2eyepls on April 22, 2021, 11:02:46 PMHey RB! I've been reading your story and I'm wondering how was your experience with Dr. Betz in general? Would you say he's actually that good as people say?
Hey mate,
My experience with Betz so far has been great. He's very thorough and is always available to answer questions via phone/WhatsApp now that I am back home. People on this forum have mixed opinions / experiences with Betz but for me so far he has been awesome. At the end of the day he is one of the most experienced LL surgeons in the world so you would be in good hands with him.
Quote from: LittleLA on April 23, 2021, 04:57:03 AMThanks for the reply RB!
One more question: why are you only doing 3” instead of 4-5” as Betz allows each nail to go up to 4.92”. Do you think maybe you’ll change ur mind as you get closer to the original lengthening goal?
Doing 4-5" on one segment would simply be too risky in my opinion in terms of complications and would look a bit weird proportion wise. 3 inches is a huge visual gain so I hope I can even get to that. Even Betz advised not to exceed 9/10cm despite the nail being able to go to 12.5cm. At this stage, I won't go above 8cm.
Hi RB, good luck on your journey. Wish you the best. If possible, please look at your messages, I would like to ask you a few questions.
Hey RB.
How's it going mate? Long time no update. Is everything okay?
- Also, how is your pain and flexibility so far?
- Do you do stretches on your own?
- How many times in a day and for how long do you do the stretches?
I presume you must be somewhere around 5 cm by now!
Eagerly waiting for you progress update 
Quote from: chasing_higher_dream on May 03, 2021, 07:20:09 PMHey RB.
How's it going mate? Long time no update. Is everything okay?
- Also, how is your pain and flexibility so far?
- Do you do stretches on your own?
- How many times in a day and for how long do you do the stretches?
I presume you must be somewhere around 5 cm by now!
Eagerly waiting for you progress update
Hey man,
I’m doing well! I’m at about 4.6cm as I slowed down clicking to 15 per day but I will provide an update at 5cm. Overall going well but been quite busy with work and lengthening that I haven’t updated.
-I don’t have much pain anymore apart from some slight nerve pain in the right shin which I am taking pregabalin for. It has helped slightly.
-I am doing stretches on my own but am starting PT again tomorrow for these last few cm’s.
-I stretch 3 times per day and do 2/3 stretches per muscles group each time, holding them for 30-40 seconds each and quite intense of a stretch.
Will provide another update in a few days
62 days post-surgery - 5.05cm taller
Hey guys,
Apologies for the lack of an update, been so busy with lengthening and work and the days just sort of blend into one.
I have officially hit the 5cm mark! It took a while longer as I slowed down to 15 clicks per day (0.78mm) somewhere after 3.5cm but it turned out to be a great decision as I have less discomfort and tightness. It will take longer to reach my goal but I'm ok with that if it means an easier process.
Things have been more or less positive since my last update, especially since getting out of quarantine and clicking has now become totally painless to the point where I don't even have to warm up my muscles anymore. I prefer to do 7 clicks in the morning and 8 clicks in the afternoon as it results in less tightness and aching afterwards and the fact that it is now painless makes it easy to click at anytime without extensive muscle stretching and warming up.
The negatives: it hasn't all been smooth sailing and one of the more annoying issues I am dealing with is nerve pain/numbness in the right shin. It isn't all that bad yet but the numbness is quite annoying and I will occasionally get burning sensations/pains throughout the day/night. I have started taking pregabalin for it (generic version of Lyrica) and I'm not sure if it is working yet as they say it can take up to 2 weeks to take effect. The wide legs are still there but they have come in quite significantly when using the crutches. When walking unassisted they are still quite wide but since I was able to bring them in on the crutches, I am confident that the more I walk unassisted, the sooner they will close in. Unfortunately I have also developed slight duck ass due to tight hips and weak glutes. It isn't extreme or very noticeable yet but it's definitely there so I am working with my physio to combat that. Sleep is also slightly better but there are nights when I struggle to get more than 4-5 hours still.
Sometimes the mental side of things can get to you and you feel like stopping but whenever that happens I remember my struggles of being short and how much I hated it and it helps me push on. LL is such a tough, constantly changing process that you will have days where you feel great and can't believe you are getting taller and then you have days where you ask yourself why you are putting yourself through this which is why it is so important to keep visualising the end goal.
The good news is that apart from the nerve pains, I have no other pains and the only thing reminding me that I have done LL is the muscle weakness and tightness. I know that things will get tighter as I complete this next cm and reach 6 but I am excited to push on and hit my goal of 7. I am now really starting to notice the height increase as I am noticeably taller than my gf and dad (I was the same height as both prior to surgery) and I generally just feel taller when walking around. I am confident I will notice it even more when I resolve the wide legs and duck ass. At this point I am unsure if I will go past 7 as that will result in a quicker and better recovery than going to 8 but I will decide when I get there. 7cm still gets me to 170cm which is crazy to even think about. I can't believe in less than 2cm I will be 5'7. It truly is a lifetime dream coming true but I know I still have a lot of work to get there and in recovery.
Here is my x-ray from about 3.9/4cm. Dr. Betz said everything looks great and that bone formation is looking strong.
https://ibb.co/2SZMQ2M
As always, feel free to ask any questions!
Quote from: RB on May 11, 2021, 07:18:48 AM62 days post-surgery - 5.05cm taller
Hey guys,
Apologies for the lack of an update, been so busy with lengthening and work and the days just sort of blend into one.
I have officially hit the 5cm mark! It took a while longer as I slowed down to 15 clicks per day (0.78mm) somewhere after 3.5cm but it turned out to be a great decision as I have less discomfort and tightness. It will take longer to reach my goal but I'm ok with that if it means an easier process.
Things have been more or less positive since my last update, especially since getting out of quarantine and clicking has now become totally painless to the point where I don't even have to warm up my muscles anymore. I prefer to do 7 clicks in the morning and 8 clicks in the afternoon as it results in less tightness and aching afterwards and the fact that it is now painless makes it easy to click at anytime without extensive muscle stretching and warming up.
The negatives: it hasn't all been smooth sailing and one of the more annoying issues I am dealing with is nerve pain/numbness in the right shin. It isn't all that bad yet but the numbness is quite annoying and I will occasionally get burning sensations/pains throughout the day/night. I have started taking pregabalin for it (generic version of Lyrica) and I'm not sure if it is working yet as they say it can take up to 2 weeks to take effect. The wide legs are still there but they have come in quite significantly when using the crutches. When walking unassisted they are still quite wide but since I was able to bring them in on the crutches, I am confident that the more I walk unassisted, the sooner they will close in. Unfortunately I have also developed slight duck ass due to tight hips and weak glutes. It isn't extreme or very noticeable yet but it's definitely there so I am working with my physio to combat that. Sleep is also slightly better but there are nights when I struggle to get more than 4-5 hours still.
Sometimes the mental side of things can get to you and you feel like stopping but whenever that happens I remember my struggles of being short and how much I hated it and it helps me push on. LL is such a tough, constantly changing process that you will have days where you feel great and can't believe you are getting taller and then you have days where you ask yourself why you are putting yourself through this which is why it is so important to keep visualising the end goal.
The good news is that apart from the nerve pains, I have no other pains and the only thing reminding me that I have done LL is the muscle weakness and tightness. I know that things will get tighter as I complete this next cm and reach 6 but I am excited to push on and hit my goal of 7. I am now really starting to notice the height increase as I am noticeably taller than my gf and dad (I was the same height as both prior to surgery) and I generally just feel taller when walking around. I am confident I will notice it even more when I resolve the wide legs and duck ass. At this point I am unsure if I will go past 7 as that will result in a quicker and better recovery than going to 8 but I will decide when I get there. 7cm still gets me to 170cm which is crazy to even think about. I can't believe in less than 2cm I will be 5'7. It truly is a lifetime dream coming true but I know I still have a lot of work to get there and in recovery.
Here is my x-ray from about 3.9/4cm. Dr. Betz said everything looks great and that bone formation is looking strong.
https://ibb.co/2SZMQ2M
As always, feel free to ask any questions!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Huge achievement, especially considering that you have travelled across the globe, spent two weeks quarantined and are working while going through this. Respect and well done!
Also, what you said above is so true, and not just for the lengthening process itself but for everything that comes before that as well, such as the periods when one has to save up for it, when loved ones question our intentions or when the fears begin to creep in before the surgery. It's always important to remember why we're doing this.
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