Posted on Apr 24, 2014, 4:15 am
#1
Good Morning
I was operated on last summer for a cosmetic bifemoral lengthening of 7 cms by Dr GUICHET.
I want to share with you what I experienced, as it was a long personal way which finally ended very well.
I am also an orthopedist resident. Dr GUICHET has already operated on many surgeons but I was the first orthopedist.
Background: I was a 30 years old woman, my height was 156.5 cms and I had this project since I am a teenager. Despite the years the feeling that I should be taller never disappeared and I considered my life ruined by my height. It is so difficult to explain it to our family, friends, colleagues. Nobody can understand. The only key is motivation.
When I decided to go , the first step was to choose the surgeon. I was aware that it is a risky surgery, I know the different procedures and I can see in my daily practice the outcome of different methods. NO WAY I had an external fixator, patients have poor outcome and many complications: infection, pseudarthrosis, nerve damage, ossification is much longer, awful scares and I needed to recovered my job in a reasonable time.
You can visited many surgeons’ websites but the true results are in studies you can find on the international database for physicians: NCBI
By this way I concluded that I should meet Dr GUICHET. As he created his own nail, commonly used in hospital, he should be the most experienced surgeon in this procedure. Other surgeons use his nail, but he invented it! Moreover he has his own method to improve a great ossification (growth factor, keeps periost,...)
When I met him, he explained me everything before, during, and after surgery. What kind of results I could expected, his different methods to improve the outcome and it really made sense. (It is a medical language but I can answer to all questions about procedures)
I started my personal training 6 months before surgery, I really was not a sportive so I finished it in Milan 3 weeks before surgery. This point is very important to recover faster, I eventually explain why.
Day of surgery: Few days before I was really scared. I was thinking that if something happened I could loose everything: my job, my health,…
When I went back to my room, I only thought: you did it. One hour and half after surgery I biked 20 minutes!
Day 2&3 are uncomfortable, you experienced that you need somebody else for everything, you walk with a walker but you already are taller (1cm during the surgery). You immediately start to click and some exercices to maintain your mobilities.
Day 3: go back to home. I found how much pain medication I needed, this is important. You have the two legs broken, it’s quite painful. But according to your motivation and the good painkillers you’re fine. Morphin is unuseful, level 2 (tramadol, codein) are enough.
Lengthening lasted 63 days, I stayed in Milan 6 weeks and I finished by myself.
Walk: I kept my walker 10 days then I used crutches during all lengthening.
Rehab:Every days I went to rehab in Isokinetic in Milan. They check everything, and you can see other patients it helps you to stay in good spirits to share your daily life.
Clicks: A lot a patients are scared by clicks, it is a wrong idea, the key is to find your most comfortable position. I did by myself during the whole lengthening except between day 19 and 29 where I started ossification and my somebody else helped me. I never spent more than 16 minutes for both side.
Pain: As I said before, you have pain, but you can control it with pain medication. I used some each time I needed because you need to move and to do exercices. The second month I barely took level 1 painkiller, you mainly feel stiff, not real pain.
Another thing is you feel quite tired. Fatigue bored me more than pain during lengthening.
3 days after end of lengthening I started to walk, the first days you walk like a baby. One month after I drove.
I kept a strange walking during 2 months more and I went back to slow activities the fifth month. The sixth month I started to run and went back to my real activities few days later.
After 8 months, I completely forget what happened, I am like before: I recovered 100%. I realized my dream….
I was operated on last summer for a cosmetic bifemoral lengthening of 7 cms by Dr GUICHET.
I want to share with you what I experienced, as it was a long personal way which finally ended very well.
I am also an orthopedist resident. Dr GUICHET has already operated on many surgeons but I was the first orthopedist.
Background: I was a 30 years old woman, my height was 156.5 cms and I had this project since I am a teenager. Despite the years the feeling that I should be taller never disappeared and I considered my life ruined by my height. It is so difficult to explain it to our family, friends, colleagues. Nobody can understand. The only key is motivation.
When I decided to go , the first step was to choose the surgeon. I was aware that it is a risky surgery, I know the different procedures and I can see in my daily practice the outcome of different methods. NO WAY I had an external fixator, patients have poor outcome and many complications: infection, pseudarthrosis, nerve damage, ossification is much longer, awful scares and I needed to recovered my job in a reasonable time.
You can visited many surgeons’ websites but the true results are in studies you can find on the international database for physicians: NCBI
By this way I concluded that I should meet Dr GUICHET. As he created his own nail, commonly used in hospital, he should be the most experienced surgeon in this procedure. Other surgeons use his nail, but he invented it! Moreover he has his own method to improve a great ossification (growth factor, keeps periost,...)
When I met him, he explained me everything before, during, and after surgery. What kind of results I could expected, his different methods to improve the outcome and it really made sense. (It is a medical language but I can answer to all questions about procedures)
I started my personal training 6 months before surgery, I really was not a sportive so I finished it in Milan 3 weeks before surgery. This point is very important to recover faster, I eventually explain why.
Day of surgery: Few days before I was really scared. I was thinking that if something happened I could loose everything: my job, my health,…
When I went back to my room, I only thought: you did it. One hour and half after surgery I biked 20 minutes!
Day 2&3 are uncomfortable, you experienced that you need somebody else for everything, you walk with a walker but you already are taller (1cm during the surgery). You immediately start to click and some exercices to maintain your mobilities.
Day 3: go back to home. I found how much pain medication I needed, this is important. You have the two legs broken, it’s quite painful. But according to your motivation and the good painkillers you’re fine. Morphin is unuseful, level 2 (tramadol, codein) are enough.
Lengthening lasted 63 days, I stayed in Milan 6 weeks and I finished by myself.
Walk: I kept my walker 10 days then I used crutches during all lengthening.
Rehab:Every days I went to rehab in Isokinetic in Milan. They check everything, and you can see other patients it helps you to stay in good spirits to share your daily life.
Clicks: A lot a patients are scared by clicks, it is a wrong idea, the key is to find your most comfortable position. I did by myself during the whole lengthening except between day 19 and 29 where I started ossification and my somebody else helped me. I never spent more than 16 minutes for both side.
Pain: As I said before, you have pain, but you can control it with pain medication. I used some each time I needed because you need to move and to do exercices. The second month I barely took level 1 painkiller, you mainly feel stiff, not real pain.
Another thing is you feel quite tired. Fatigue bored me more than pain during lengthening.
3 days after end of lengthening I started to walk, the first days you walk like a baby. One month after I drove.
I kept a strange walking during 2 months more and I went back to slow activities the fifth month. The sixth month I started to run and went back to my real activities few days later.
After 8 months, I completely forget what happened, I am like before: I recovered 100%. I realized my dream….
Why would you say pre-operative training is so important?