St. Petersburg Lengthening -- DISTRACTION COMPLETED

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Dr kulesh,

Discussion between doctors and patients are absolutely  private,

And should not be shared to public in any form.

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To Big Decision:

Dr. Kulesh did not identify the patient he discussed. 

Are you identifying yourself as the patient discussed above?

Even if you are acknowledging that Dr. Kulesh's comments are about you (Big Decision), you still have not actually identified yourself--you merely related comments to your anonymous moniker.

Moreover, under your anonymous moniker, you volunteered all sorts of personal information so you should hardly complain if other information is anonymously revealed because all such information is still anonymous.

Stated differently, if you want your medical information to be private; then, keep it private--don't post it on a public forum.  If you chose to publicly post your medical information anonymously (as you did); then, don't act surprised when other information is published anonymously.

Posting accurate information without identifying yourself is the point of an anonymous forum.  If Dr. Kulesh was addressing your case (without identifying you), was anything reported by Dr. Kulesh inaccurate?

Whether or not you are the patient discussed, I hope Dr. Kulesh's comments will help you and others.

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I do not usually respond to private messages because I am nobody's private resource for limb lengthening information and most private requests for information duplicate information posted or questions asked by others so if you have a question, please post it publicly.

I don't monitor this forum regularly (and planned to stop monitoring it all together); however, recent posts got me involved again.  Consequently, I noticed I have several messages--most have already been addressed but I want to take this opportunity to address the following part of a message:

"I noticed you stopped at 173 cm. How come?"

I want to address this topic because I note that some posters are writing things like "the limit for lengthening is 8 cm period."

There is no theoretical limit for leg lengthening.  Some children have successfully lengthened a limb by 30 cm.

There is a practical limit for lengthening and sometimes a mechanical limit for limb lengthening.

The mechanical limit arises because some internal devices can extend only 8 cm; ergo, some people incorrectly understand the physical limit to be 8 cm. 

Most surgeons advise that 10% lengthening is the safe limit.  That is, if the bone being lengthened is 80 cm; then, going to 88 cm is generally considered a safe goal. 

I lengthened about 23-25%.  Why did I stop?  First, I exceeded my goal.  Second, my body told me I pushed things as far as I could or should.  Third, while most surgeons don't get too bent out of shape about 15% lengthening; 25% is not 15%. 

As you distract, your body resists distraction and begins to complain.  When your body complains loudly about 1/4 mm distraction so that you can only complete 1/2 mm per day, you should seriously think about locking in the gains you've made and stop.

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Popping in to say hi, great updates! I believe we met; you liked your room cold, we tried to troubleshoot your phone line, and you gave me some chocolates.

Throwing in a fact nugget: peroneal nerves (e.g. nerves in the hands and feet) regenerate, takes anywhere from a few months to a year and a half. Stay strong, BD.

I'm not quite convinced that Dr. Kulesh registered and posted here. He's not a man of many words, I just doubt he'd spend all this time here.

P.S. -- I'm doing much better, I just don't feel like hanging out here since this is where I came to kill time during work before CLL. I have so many other fun things to do...

Edit: MAYBE it is Dr. Kulesh's account. If it is... I advise you to stay away! This is a wild place.

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Quote from: Android on August 04, 2019, 01:12:47 PMPopping in to say hi, great updates! I believe we met; you liked your room cold, we tried to troubleshoot your phone line, and you gave me some chocolates.

Throwing in a fact nugget: peroneal nerves (e.g. nerves in the hands and feet) regenerate, takes anywhere from a few months to a year and a half. Stay strong, BD.

I'm not quite convinced that Dr. Kulesh registered and posted here. He's not a man of many words, I just doubt he'd spend all this time here.

P.S. -- I'm doing much better, I just don't feel like hanging out here since this is where I came to kill time during work before CLL. I have so many other fun things to do...


great news !

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To Android:

Yes, we met as you described.  Your room was toward the end of the hall--mine was near the middle.  I am glad to hear you are doing well.  I hope you stayed in touch with the slender nurse--you two looked good together!

Dr. Kulesh did write the lengthy post above--apparently he was curious and had some time on his hands.  I know it is him because he and I talked about the forum while I was in Russia.  Last week he asked me for the forum address; then, sent me an e-mail to inform me that he wrote on the forum.

Like you, I cautioned him to be careful because folks on the forum can be vicious and the forum is full of trolls with agendas.

While I don't know his motivation or purpose for posting because I did not discuss these aspect with Dr. Kulesh, I surmise he was surprised by both misrepresentations and unrealistic expectations and wants to correct the record. 

I doubt he appreciates how challenging it can be to correct the record when anonymous trolls have unlimited time to craft a false narrative that supports their agenda.

This is getting a bit soapboxy so let me end by reiterating that it is good to hear from you (Android) and I wish you continued success.

I also continue to wish Big Decision continued healing and recovery.  I wrote before that Bid Decision might be proof that you can do lots of things against medical advice but still successfully lengthen (albeit very uncomfortably).

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Its quite unprofessional to copy paste doctor's notes of a patient. A patient reporting complications faced is not justification for a doctor to paste the entire notes. The patient here didn't even blame the doctor, he was merely reporting his problems. He seems to have copy pasted that text without even summarising or paraphrasing or generalising it! This would probably not even be legally allowed in the USA but may be is fine in Russia.

Doctors being on patient forums is not exactly comforting. dr Kulesh should try to not spend time here.

Because of this incident I am quite sure this will be the last interaction of the patient he referred to here. I hope that was not the intended goal!

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Quote from: California2 on August 03, 2019, 04:30:38 PM
Stated differently, if you want your medical information to be private; then, keep it private--don't post it on a public forum.  If you chose to publicly post your medical information anonymously (as you did); then, don't act surprised when other information is published anonymously.


What an argument. What and how much someone posts about themselves publicly is entirely up to them. Other people don't have a right to append additional information!

For example, just because you choose to reveal that you are from California and are 50 years old that doesn't mean your doctor can pop in here and add that you are asthmatic and are an expert in lawn tennis. If someone you know IRL came here they would be more sure that it is you with the additional information known! Is this something you can comprehend?

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Quote from: California2 on August 03, 2019, 04:30:38 PMTo Big Decision:

Dr. Kulesh did not identify the patient he discussed. 

Are you identifying yourself as the patient discussed above?

Even if you are acknowledging that Dr. Kulesh's comments are about you (Big Decision), you still have not actually identified yourself--you merely related comments to your anonymous moniker.

Moreover, under your anonymous moniker, you volunteered all sorts of personal information so you should hardly complain if other information is anonymously revealed because all such information is still anonymous.

Stated differently, if you want your medical information to be private; then, keep it private--don't post it on a public forum.  If you chose to publicly post your medical information anonymously (as you did); then, don't act surprised when other information is published anonymously.

Posting accurate information without identifying yourself is the point of an anonymous forum.  If Dr. Kulesh was addressing your case (without identifying you), was anything reported by Dr. Kulesh inaccurate?

Whether or not you are the patient discussed, I hope Dr. Kulesh's comments will help you and others.

the state of this forum....

a "doctor" creates an account on a online forum to attack. totally unprofessional.
then the doctor proceeds to post patient logs.
doctors patient, big decision, finds it inappropriate that a surgeon can post such private things online.

Then here comes the 60 year old in-real-life loser, california2, to defend the surgeons actions. Like he was in some fking court.

To readers of this diary, if you havent already drawn a mental picture of what kind of sad pathetic loser california is, then i dont know.

Lets summarize:
- almost 60 year old guy, at this age who is supposed to have family, even grandchildren and wife, goes to russia to lengthen tibia 8cm+
- has hip implants
- leg looks deformed in all pictures
- masquarades on the forum as a successful LL outcome to give youngsters ill advices.

California if there is something called Karma you will have it coming you way pathetic loser. Get the fk off this forum and delete this diary unless you can actually prove you can ever jump or run again. You cant, you will never be able to do that.

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Again, I generally do not respond to personal messages because they tend to request information already posted; and, personal messages keep information away from others who have the same questions.

So, if you have a question of me, please post it openly.

From Gustavklimt: 

Q:  I noticed you swell a lot.  Are you feeling better now?

A:  Yes, my swelling is long gone.

Q:  How was your IT band. Because you lengthen quite a lot.

A:  The iliotibial band (IT band) is a tendon on the outer thigh that runs from the top of the pelvis (ilium) to the top of the tibia.  It helps keep your hips and knees stable.

Because the IT band is a tough and thick tendon, it sometimes is a problem in femur lengthening.  I lengthened my tibias--my IT band is not affected.

Q:  Regard to doing external is safer I wonder why is that?

A:  Purely external is known to be the safest form of leg lengthening--per my understanding, this is so mostly because it involves a single surgery and the surgeon has great control of the lengthening process and alignment.

It stands to reason that adding LON to external lengthening would undermine some of the control benefits of pure external lengthening.

LATN preserves all of the control but adds a second significant surgery which likely undermines some of the saftey benefits of pure external lengthening; however, I am aware of no good studies that compare the relative safety and effectiveness of external LON or LATN with internal lengthening.

From T:

Q:  The costs of LATN on both tibias and femurs, staying at hospital, staying at hotel/apartment for months and registering Visa cost you $22,000, am i right?

A:  Yes and no.  I lengthened only tibias by about 9 cm.  The approximate total cost of the procedure and all medically related costs was $15K.  All other costs including airfare, local transportation, meals & groceries, an apartment for 4 months, Visa, etc. was about $7K.

I continue to recover well.  Recovery has been a slow but steady process.  I am walking unassisted now and my local medical team anticipates they will stop following me after my next appointment in October.

Remember, the average "full" healing time is 2 months for every centimeter of lengthening so I should not expect to be fully recovered until March 2020 even though I may appear fully recovered before that time.