Hi,
I had tibia lengthening surgery with Dr. Rozbruch on early July and just started lengthening today. To my surprise, the pain on Tibias post surgery were that bad at all, i only used one 5.5mm oxy 2 days post surgery. But after that I had another oxy in 6 hours and continue to use since I had to have pt session. I stayed at hospital for 4 days, for the first three days I didn’t rest well because of the Ac was set on extreme cold, thank god a nurse helped me to turn it on heat. Then I had 8 hours sleep that night. My legs were hooked up on this bending machine, it was used one and a half hour per leg per day.
I was awake during my surgery as I believe less sedation would be less harmful to my body. They used spinal block for anesthesia so I could feel my upper body during the surgery. The surgery took four hours and Dr. Rozbruch did cosmetic stitches so my wounds are very small. He corrected my lightly bowleg a bit. Overall, this tibia surgery was a huge success, I was able to get on long flight right after I get discharged from the hospital.
When I lay down and have ice bags over my tibias my pain level is around 0, it’s just stiff if I don’t move my legs every 2 hours. The problem is I can’t walk more than 4 steps while using the walker mainly because I’m afraid precise nail would break as it’s not full weight bearing. And it hurt so bad when I tried to walk since I don’t want to take any pain medicine if I don’t have to at this point. When I sit on the edge of bed my legs fall down, they hurt a lot for first few mins and I can feel them being swollen but actually they look fine, my foot were pretty swollen from the long flight though, it went away after I elevated my legs after I got home.
Tibia lengthening with Dr. Rozbruch
Thx. It was nothing actually.
I did some research on possible early arthritis caused by inserting rods through knee, only found few papers related. Conclusion is that there are risks involved in which surgeon’s skill is an essential part. I ended up choosing precice2.2 because it hurts less than external fixator and internal method seems to be a more advanced development.
I will monitor my knee condition from now on to ensure if early arthritis become reality early intervention will be applied immediately. It’s the most I can do as I have to make compromise for my ends.
I have lengthened 3+mm and constantly felt my skin being stretched. Right foot falls more than left, it was like this since surgery. Currently I’m on 0.02mm x 4 per day, I’m thinking to buy an electric wheelchair so I could have more mobility when outside. Didn’t take oxy or Tylenol because pain has been manageable. Had really bad spasms two times, latter one lasted more than one hour, couldn’t move or do anything to help so I just waited it to go away. Cant have ice bags on tibias often as it may cause spasms.
Swelling has gone completely even if I dangle my legs more than one hour it’s not coming back.
My goal is to reach maximum lengthening that my tibias can handle without leaving long term side effect. Anyone lengthened more than 7cm on tibias and turned out fine?
Just wanna update my current situation. Throughout the lengthening process, pain level is quite low, i would rate 0/10 for most of time. I was able to achieve 6.3cm for left tibia and 6.5 for right one (to make up the discrepancy from last femur lengthening). I could have lengthen pass 7 for sure but I have developed foot drop due to lack of pt exercise, now I’m still working on this issue. Every morning foot drop is obvious and by night time it’s almost flat, but it keeps coming back every next day. Even with foot drop I’m able to walk without any aid, if I control my pace I look completely normal, it’s just two months past my lengthening. Walking long distance does make my feet hurt though.
Dr. Rozbruch is the most professional doctor I have met, he gives the impression like a college professor. His skillset and HSS experience are top in the field.
Only problem now is that I’m self pay and the hospital bill is over 170k not including anesthesia cost (Dr. Rozbruch’s fee has been paid before surgery). I thought total cost is fixed as 125k.
Hi i just got rods moved and everything went well, doctor Rozbruch corrected right heel problem with a cut on calf, was in pain for about two weeks when walking but now it’s all good. Left leg had no pain at all (didn’t do anything on calf), the stitches were handled during the surgery so great to the extent that there may not be scars later on, just one thing, I didn’t remove monocryl stitches po-op this time so when i push i can feel them underneath the skin. Also great news Doctor Rozbruch helped me with negotiating with management so hospital fees was lower to 80k, which i was told prior to surgery, i paid it and its such a relief.
I did all my surgeries at HSS awake, used as less anesthesia as possible, only the last one that new anesthesia doctor injected too much, 30ml, it was 4ml with combination with another injection (just a bit more) i checked. So not so happy with this, but its nothing compared to the harm if done with general anesthesia.
I highly recommend Dr. Rozbruch, he is the most professional doctor I have met, graduated from IVY, top in the class and have been the best in his practice field.
Be prepare to flight back home the second day after getting rods removed, the same day would not be enough.
Hope you all have safe surgery.
And I lengthened 6.3 and 6.5, was done intentionally to correct uneven lengthening on femurs. I do regret didn’t do pt often to get to 8cm, so take mine as a lesson, when you do get this surgery, do pt as much as possible and get 8cm.
I’m thinking to get arms lengthened once i can cover my loss on stocks….really damned that i invested more than i can lose and didn’t get a close look on that. Anyways, if anyone has done arms please let me know how it went, I believe for upper arm precice is an option but for forearm only external. Would it affect the flexibility for hands movement later on?
And I didn’t take most of the medicines after discharged from hospital, thought they wouldn’t be necessary although I bought them all cost my hundreds, do regret that, no use at all. Unless you are flying no need to take, to my experience, not medical advice, maybe because I’m young I’m recovered really easily, bones healed great, still can’t run though, but I’m not really athletic type prior to surgery, so can’t tell the difference.
I do feel not as healthy as i was prior to all these surgeries, but my mom said this due to diet irregularly, almost no exercise and poor sleep (I’m stressed), if you can rest well eat well and be in happy steady mood all the time, I don’t think this surgery will harm your health too much, although body repair does need cells to work heavily and it costs life I remember, you can make it up by other aspects perhaps, if not, i mean its the cost, i will have to take it.
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