Tiktok | Limb Lengthening Diary Betzbone '24

Hey guys,

only one day left until my Limb Lengthening Surgery. When I was doing a lot of reasearch (since nearly a year now) i found that Diaries are really helpful so as a thank you to all the diary writers, i will post my Diary here and on Tiktok

@mission170cm

So what happened before surgery:
3 weeks ago I met with the doctor in person. He explained to me the differences of the common Limb Lengthening Devices like LON and Precice. They did a simulation of me how I would look with longer tibias and femurs. The surgeon appared to me very professional. At the beginning I was thinking of LON in Turkey and after this conversation i am really glad i did not do it. At limb lengthening you take to risks in my opinion. First the surgery, second the process. In turkey 90% of the people i saw have a duckass after completing lengthening. That is because of too fast lengthening. I mean with LON you want to be finished as soon as possible because people can see the device and you cant sleep on your side so on and so forth. With internal nails you can lengthen at a slower rate and dont get duckass, so you dont have to still work months to get it away instead of focusing on your regeneration. I think I am starting to write a lot lol

So I packed my stuff, like a heating pad, massage pistol, and went my way.

Today I get my blood checked and tomorrow in the morning i have  my surgery. I will keep you guys updated. If you have any questions or suggestions just let me now. If you want to keep on track with me leave me a follow on tiktok or check here.

Why shouldnt I?

QuoteCan you tell us about your accommodations, costs, and who if anyone you'll have with you post-surgery?

Of course. If you pay your operation it will include 4 days hospital and stay and 10 days hotel stay where you also will get physio. You can pay more and stay here to get more physio if you have the possiblities for that. I will Not because of time aspect (work)

The other costs will really depend on you. I did my first meetup with the doctor end of june. So I booked a hotel for one night here (around 120€ for 3 people). Afterwards I came here again this Monday and had 2 nights Hotel booked. This time I paid 300€, again 3 people. Here are very good Hotels in the near of dr becker. I couldnt really find a good Hotel in a walkable distance from the hospital for my parents to stay nearby.

What they also suggested me to buy is tiger balm and a heating pad. Loose and comfy clothing and things you probably have at home. Oh and electrolites. I pretty much think thats it. Of course there are always these little things so you should get a Financial Puffer for that. Oh and after your 2 weeks stay here you should find a physio at your place if you go Home again. 2-3 times a week (so you can calculate cost accordingly)

Quote Good luck brother , keep us updated! Im having the surgery at becker in 2 months , so i Will be following you. I dont understand German though, cant you do subtitles in your TikTok for non german speakers?

Thank you. I will Check How i can do that   sooooo until tomorrow i am hyped

Hey guys its me again. Sorry for the late reply. I had to keep all my relatives updated haha.

Day 0 (Operation): I was operated very early in the morning at around 8 and was awake again at 11 o'clock. It was my first time in an operation so everything was new for me. I went in happy and came out really happy. Did not feel much pain. Actually didn't even feel my legs haha because of anaesthesia. They showed me some excersises that I should do and everything went fine. After around 4 hours of operation I even could stand on my legs for a few seconds. Could do it really long because anesthesia kicked in again and my eyes started to black out. So I laid in bed the whole day actually. I had a button I could press, so pain killers will be injected to my body. I used it once this day. At night I did not use the button or the strong opioids they gave me, because the pain was not too bad. It hurt of course but it felt more like a sore muscle to me. And the places where the doc went in only hurt when touching.

Day 1: This day I woke up and my legs felt stiff. I thought like how should I walk like this. Then doing exercise, it loosened up again. When the doc came we walked a few steps together with crutches. It gets better every step I do. Everything goes really well so far and I am really glad to choose Dr Becker. I will keep you guys updated. Maybe later I will post a video on TikTok how I am walking right now.

Hey guys!! Sorry for the Late reply i am not too often at this forum. If you have questions feel free to ask on tiktok.

Its around 12 Days now After Operation and i feel really well. Can walk with crutches comfortably. I get around 1500 steps daily. Pain is okay. Its more like ups and downs. But also the downs arent toooo worse. You can go through it. Stretching take a loooot of time (i am doing around 2hours in total per day) and i feel like its barely enough Right now. Probably will have to increase it in the Future.

Right now I am still in Freiburg and met 5 other patients already. They are doing good all in all also. Its good to have someone also going through this - and it doesnt get Voting. At the Moment I am so glad to be able to do it here. I really cant Imagine the pain with lengthening 1mm per day.

I am also able to walk a few steps without crutches but i Look Like a Penguin hahahaha still walking with crutches 90% of the time.

I posted a few Videos on tiktok. I am currently at 7.9cm. You can Check my videos on tiktok how i walk and my xrays. There is no real Update because there isnt a big Change. Walking without crutches gets better every day.

I can do everything you could do on crutches. That means going to the cinema, shows, going for a walk. I can drive my car with Automatic transmission (didnt try manual because it gets exhausting fast). I spend some time outside but do the stretches always at home. But These are all the things i could do already after the rehab. But now they are easier.

There are some negative things too. I cant sit too much because i feel like my muscles start to hurt. My mobility Right now isnt of course like pre op and everything is a lot more exhausting. There is a lot of times where it feels just uncomfortable especially after i reached 7cm. Like laying or turning in bed can sometimes feel  just not comfortable.

But the pain meds are doing the work. I noticed if i sleep without taking my pain meds i only Sleep for a few Hours. But if i Take them i can easily sleep 10 Hours because life with broken legs is really exhausting. However all in all i am really satisfied with my decision. There is just 1-2 months left to finish lengthening depending on where I will stop.

No I went home after 2 weeks rehab. And didn’t visit again. But I have meetings every 3 weeks with the Physio team of dr Becker and I get xrays every 6 weeks. You can check my first xray on my tiktok account.

My walking with crutches is since a few weeks after the surgery very good. It looks like nothing happened. Walking without crutches now (15 weeks After surgery) is pretty good but i still have a swing on my walk. I guess its because of weak side muscles that have to adapt now and get stronger.

I have to admit since the last few day i walk more and more without crutches. For example if i go out to eat and Drive there i leave the crutches inside because i don’t Walk much. If i Go to bigger or crowded places i take them with me. Because they are a Signal to others that i am „disabled“ and also its less exhausting than Walking without crutches.

My goal is still 12cm Right now actually like in the beginning, but still thinking if i Maybe stop at 10cm. I reached 8cm today and i am very happy. My condition is very good. I feel Like its mentally more challenging than physically. Especially now when the weather outside is Cold and i am home a lot. And the days get a bit too similair for me. My Morning Routine Looks like this:

waking up, stretching (45min), clicking (7min), stretching(45min)

So there is no more spontanenous Trips really or Planning for the Morning. I mean i can tweak a bit around, but don’t want to do the clicking too late. Thinking about tibia in the future but its very expensive so idk right now. I want to finish this first, than i will look further into it.

Everything went like the doctor said actually. Also now i understand why they told me the lengthening isnt the big Problem, the bigger Problem is time. Because its Been nearly 4 months. Lengthening itself isnt that bad, also the stretching and so on. But it is so time Consuming and i want to turn back to normal (not stretching hours a day, Starting with a 2 hour routine a day and so on, less exhausting walking, longer sitting and so on)

Actually i could talk about it for hours. There should be a Podcast on this Forum or the abilitiy to Upload Audios haha

If you have any detailed questions just ask i don’t want to shower you with too much unrelated talking (or writing)

Right now I am working fully from home. I started like 4 weeks after surgery to work. I have to admit my ability to concentrate isn’t as good as before and I think I don’t have the sharpness in thinking right now. But I totally blame the medication especially the pain meds. They make tired and hard to think sometimes. I can choose myself how I do the working hours from home just need to get the fixed hours per week done, so that makes it a lot easier to get work done and when the meds make you tired just give up and sleep, because that will power is sometimes needed somewhere else.

I stretch daily around 90min - 120min. But that’s just the netto stretching time. If you add the „just a bit of podcast until the next stretch“ or the position changes it can add up real fast. For me in actual time it takes around 135min - 180min. But that depends on how motivated I am and how I slept lol.

Yes 8cm is a huge difference and I feel it a lot. I feel it every time I stand to other people I know, standing next to a car or also just these simple things at the supermarket when looking for the highest row. I think the difference from going to very short to just short or near to normal is huge step and improvement of quality in life. Now it’s not that 90% of the people are bigger than you and you can totally feel it. It’s such a good and nice feeling I really can’t describe it. I started at 157 and I am currently at around 165. I am really glad I did this surgery and were brave enough to go through this.

Dr Becker does a really really good job. I am glad I choose him. Also the after care is great. I can always ask questions, if I need something they do their best to help me. The check up on me. How the process goes, flexibility, pain and so on, on fixed dates (every 3 weeks) and on random occasions. And there were times I used that offer of course. There is also an app for the stretches to save your progress, and also you can see your statistics how tall you are when and so on. So it’s like 10/10 how everyone should do it. So I can totally recommend him. But I have to say, it’s still a big process. You have to imagine they break your legs and put a metal rod in, then you stretch your legs out. Every muscles, nerve, skin and so on is stretched. So the process will contain pain and patience. And if you „fight“ with these things, the least thing you want to fight is that you are not able to walk during lengthening and loose your all day life and environment (for me that would be a really big mental challenge). I mean try it out, stay in bed 3 days without walking… and the possibility of non-union because you are not bearing weight on your leg, which is needed for bone growth. That were the reasons I did it with dr Becker and also choose a weight bearing nail. Totally recommend him, if I do tibia I’ll go 100% with him again.

I am glad it helps you! It took me 136 Days for 9.34cm (not finished yet). Thats Average 0.69mm a day. Currently I am at 0.5mm lengthening a day so if you do the math it would be 60 days left until 12,36cm. I am not sure too if I will do 12cm or not. It depends on the recommendation of dr Becker. If he days it’s Fine I will do the 12cm. I wouldnt say its hard or anything physically like pain or anything. But its been a long time and recovery will take even more time too…