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Posted on Feb 18, 2018, 5:50 am
#71

Sure, since running into bigdreams at my office visit about 10 days ago, I've begun walking. I don't have duckass but my hips sway from side to side from the weak glutes so I'm walking like a penguin waddling.  I still use 1 crutch to traverse the stairs if there is no railing, cannot climb them on my own. I get tired quickly and my muscles hurt after walking but it's slowly improving.

I've also gone back to work and obviously people have noticed my weird swaying walk and asked what happened. I told them I had surgery to straighten my bowed legs and was bedridden for awhile and my legs are still recovering and regaining strength. This made perfect sense to them.  The height difference isn't really that noticeable as I used to wear 1 inch lifts and now I don't so not many people have noticed.  Some have commented that I have gotten skinnier and better looking while one did say that I seemed to have gotten taller. I think she was the only one who noticed since we were the same height prior. I told her the bowed leg surgery straightened my legs which gave me half an inch height increase, again this made perfect sense to her. 

Anyway looking forward to getting my life back together little by little. Thankfully I did not have any big complications except for nerve pain and knee contraction which both are now gone, just a slow consolidation.  I'm still short but not so ridiculously short, which is what I wanted to achieve. 

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Posted on Mar 3, 2018, 3:03 pm
#72

Hey, SLM. I hope you've been well.

Do you think you will also ever do tibias?

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Posted on Mar 3, 2018, 4:30 pm
#73

Yeah I'm doing well, hips sway is still there but has improved. Working again has made it tougher to recover quickly as i sit 8 hrs in front of a computer and am tired by the time I get home so I haven't been walking as much as I should.  2 people that were similar height to me have noted a difference.  Several women have complimented and said I look different and better. I said it was probably due to me getting skinnier and getting a trendy haircut. 

Will I ever do tibias? That's tough to say. Like I said I am still pretty short at 5ft 4inches now but I don't stick out like a sore thumb like prior to LL, well maybe I still do but not as much lol. Money is not an issue as I am fortunate to work in a field that compensates well but I am also not in my 20s anymore so am not that young. Another problem is I am skinny and have a small frame so going up another 2 inches will probably look weird unless I start lifting to fill out my body. But the upcoming Precises 3 and its ability to bear full weight looks really tempting ShortLivesMatter Internal Femurs w/ Dr. Rozbruch 8/22/17, I'll have to wait for some Precise 3 user experiences to come out before making a decision. 

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Posted on Mar 9, 2018, 12:40 am
#74

hey shortlives, hope you're well. i'm wondering if you think anything other than genetics / age contributed to slow consolidation. anything you would've done differently in regards to exercise or diet?

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Posted on Jul 27, 2018, 11:28 pm
#75

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a quick update. It's been about a year since my procedure. Dr Rozbruch truly did a magnificent job.  Everything is pretty much back to normal now, gait is normal, no more hip swaying. Running is still weird and slow but it's just something I need to work on more.  I am not as flexible as I was prior, again something I need to continue to work on.  Absolutely no pain, only minor discomfort when I sit with my legs crossed due to the nails still being in there.  The scars are still pretty evident and they are keloid, will have to consult with a plastic surgeon on how to remove them. 

So many people have commented that I look really different upon the first time seeing me again and I always credit it to my new hair style and me losing weight. I was rocking a buzzcut before and now have a pompadour which added like 2 extra inches lol so I steer the conversation to that direction and avoid suspicion.  The people alot taller than me has no idea tho, it's the people close to my previous height that seems to notice. 

Going from 5'1.5 to 5'4 is huge. I no longer stick out like a sore thumb.  But I still feel like my journey is not yet complete, which is why I am going back to have another consultation with Dr. Rozbruch about lengthening my tibia.  I am waiting for the STRYDE to be available and he said he should have it by September.  My plan is to take a month off from work for the procedure and then come back as I think Stryde patients can come off crutches after 3 weeks. Sure it'll be hell going to work and lengthening at the same time but I can't afford to take 5 months off again. Pain is only temporary... 

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Posted on Jul 28, 2018, 4:45 pm
#76

Quote from: ShortLivesMatter on July 27, 2018, 11:28:43 PMHey everyone, just wanted to give a quick update. It's been about a year since my procedure. Dr Rozbruch truly did a magnificent job.  Everything is pretty much back to normal now, gait is normal, no more hip swaying. Running is still weird and slow but it's just something I need to work on more.  I am not as flexible as I was prior, again something I need to continue to work on.  Absolutely no pain, only minor discomfort when I sit with my legs crossed due to the nails still being in there.  The scars are still pretty evident and they are keloid, will have to consult with a plastic surgeon on how to remove them. 

So many people have commented that I look really different upon the first time seeing me again and I always credit it to my new hair style and me losing weight. I was rocking a buzzcut before and now have a pompadour which added like 2 extra inches lol so I steer the conversation to that direction and avoid suspicion.  The people alot taller than me has no idea tho, it's the people close to my previous height that seems to notice. 

Going from 5'1.5 to 5'4 is huge. I no longer stick out like a sore thumb.  But I still feel like my journey is not yet complete, which is why I am going back to have another consultation with Dr. Rozbruch about lengthening my tibia.  I am waiting for the STRYDE to be available and he said he should have it by September.  My plan is to take a month off from work for the procedure and then come back as I think Stryde patients can come off crutches after 3 weeks. Sure it'll be hell going to work and lengthening at the same time but I can't afford to take 5 months off again. Pain is only temporary...

Just a quick FYI:

If they are truly keloids and not hypertrophic scars, research seems to indicate cryotherapy alongside surgical intervention is the best method of removing keloidal scars. Simply cutting it out during a surgical intervention, without cryo or laser therapy, just makes the keloids come back and in even bigger size than before, in most cases.

Glad to hear you're also not having any pain, either. From what Microbe and some others wrote here, things should feel even better after nail removal.

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Posted on Jul 29, 2018, 11:33 am
#77

Hi SLM,

Did you drive between your home and the Dr's office or you had someone else drive you?

Would you say you could manage on your own during lengthening?


DO you use a walker or wheelchair when you get to HSS?

How is the wait in the lobby?

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Posted on Jul 29, 2018, 3:01 pm
#78

Quote from: myloginacc on July 28, 2018, 04:45:21 PMJust a quick FYI:

If they are truly keloids and not hypertrophic scars, research seems to indicate cryotherapy alongside surgical intervention is the best method of removing keloidal scars. Simply cutting it out during a surgical intervention, without cryo or laser therapy, just makes the keloids come back and in even bigger size than before, in most cases.

Glad to hear you're also not having any pain, either. From what Microbe and some others wrote here, things should feel even better after nail removal.

Thanks for the info, yeah they might not be keloid and just hypertrophic scars.

@Troma  I had someone drive me but you can drive yourself. I moved back in with my parents during lengthening and had them take care of me, you can survive on your own but you definitely need a caretaker the first week.  To get to HSS i used a wheelchair as the walk from the parking garage to the office can be busy and difficult.  The wait at the office is pretty standard, you check in, they send you to do xrays, once that's done, you come back and they let you wait some more until Dr. Rozbruch comes sees you. 

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Posted on Aug 1, 2018, 11:22 am
#79

hello shortlive,

I am 34 years old male. 82 kg. Athletic.

I scheduled a surgery for right femur lengthening with the same Dr. at the end of this month (Precise nail).
My right leg is shorter than my left leg by 10 mm. I used to modify all my shoes for the last 10 years to be able to walk and run with back pain free and i want to get rid of this noticeable and tiring solution. i will start a thread later with the details but the question is: From ur experience, do u think that lengthening by such a small amount would result the same issues that u have talked about ? (nerve pain, stiffness, or any others ...). Please advise.

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Posted on Aug 10, 2018, 9:27 pm
#80

Quote from: Hamza on August 01, 2018, 11:22:04 AMhello shortlive,

I am 34 years old male. 82 kg. Athletic.

I scheduled a surgery for right femur lengthening with the same Dr. at the end of this month (Precise nail).
My right leg is shorter than my left leg by 10 mm. I used to modify all my shoes for the last 10 years to be able to walk and run with back pain free and i want to get rid of this noticeable and tiring solution. i will start a thread later with the details but the question is: From ur experience, do u think that lengthening by such a small amount would result the same issues that u have talked about ? (nerve pain, stiffness, or any others ...). Please advise.

Nah you should be fine, I only started experiencing nerve pain and stiffness after 3cm of lengthening and they went away after I was done with lengthening.  Best of luck!

So I just had another consultation with Dr. Rozbruch about lengthening my tibia and fixing my bowed legs. He said he could do them at the same time which was music to my ears since I had always thought you could not do them at the same time internally.  He said we could aim for 5cm of lengthening and then possibly more depending on how I hold up and that straightening the tibia would give me an additional .6-.7cm of length.  Dr Paley had said it would give me about .8cm so about the same ballpark.  I asked if Stryde was available and if I could use it.  He said right now only the 11.5mm nail is available and that is too big for my bones so I would have to wait until the 9mm nail comes out, this surprised me as I did not know there was a 9mm nail, I thought the smallest one was 10mm. Anyway the important thing is I will have to wait for the smallest STRYDE nail which really sucks, I was all ready to go for round 2.   

Oh and someone had asked for pics of the scars, so here they are and they are not pretty. But I am asian and prone to scarring so whatever, will need to get them fixed later.  Also be warned you might experience temporary blindness due to the whitness of my legs lol.

https://imgur.com/a/TnhawIo

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