If you read my diary, you know that I went through the same thing: watching as all my fellow patients did better than me in the beginning. The best advice I can give you is that it's all about the end result years from now. Be patient and recover at your body's own pace. I ended up catching up to a lot of people and even doing better than them in the end.
Hi, hope you are feeling better by now. I am also doing my lengthening right now in Korea. Since I had my surgery on May 26th, I still remember the day I had my surgery vividly. Definitely being in so much pain and sleepless night is a lot of suffering, but just know that everyday you are getting stronger and better! This is what the forum is for, we are all here to support each other to get through this hard process together 
As for progress, everybody's physical is unique, therefore reacts differently towards the same procedure. Just like what Medium said, he started way behind others, and ended better than the rest. I am currently on the same boat as you, way behind... The only thing we can do is be patient and work with our own body. I'm rooting for you 
hi guys!
thanks for the messages, and sorry for not posting for a while.. it has been hard to find some time of my own to read the replies and update the diary..
i wake up feeling good on sunday (the day of discharging form the hospital), but later i had a visit of Dr. Guichet, he was disappointed that i haven't done the 7 clicks i was supposed to do at 7 a.m. .. he did them himself on my legs, i was trying to offer reasonable arguments for him to take easy on my legs, but he seem to be in a hurry and was always saying me to relax my muscles.. but i was everything but relaxed, and all hospital must have eared me screaming as he quickly made the 7 clicks on my legs.. i knew that he knew what he was doing, but it was very painfully and scary..
later we had a very nice and quick ride to the flat
a future patient that we meet during the preparation in the Isokinetic Center visited us before and offer to give us a ride, and on sunday he even brought another friend to help..
Caribe made lots of accidental clicks in the trip, i had exactly the opposite problem, i wasn't able to click the all day, i was suppose to have made trials of clicking during my stay in the hospital, but i was very uncomfortable with the idea of doing it on my own and afraid of injury myself..
even before the future patient and his friend leave, our helper arrived, so we didn't got to stay on our own on sunday..
we rented a one room flat very close to isokinetic, and we are sleeping in the huge living room .. its very spacious and i think we were very lucky to get this flat..
on monday i wake up again feeling good, Serge arrived in the morning and helped with breakfast, before starting the training, i explained my situation, i was 21 clicks behind the plan, and he very patiently explained what i had to do to click, and let me do it on my own.. the left leg was scary but unpainfull, but the right leg was very difficult to click, we need several minutes of trials to get the first click and the position to click was very painful, we continued and took about 40 minutes to make 15 clicks.. and decided to recover the rest of the clicks in other sessions.. then we started biking and doing flexibility exercises..
Serge brought us a pizza for lunch and we continued training in the afternoon with a waking trip to the ATM (350 mts away..) unfortunately it was too far away and we gave up midway in front of a little caffé.. we decided to have a coke and go back to the flat
at night without serge, i couldn't click again.. just a few in the left, but nothing on the right..
tuesday we had Serge again for training.. another time, very patiently he helped me click just by advising me.. and i recover some part of my delay in clicking.. that day at night finally i clicked on my own..
wednesday it was our first day in the Isokinetic center we went by taxi and Serge decided to came with us in this first trip.. we were a bit late, and i'm very slow at clicking, so i had to make my morning clicks at the isokinetic center, they were not supportive on this, and the only thing they did was give me a private room to do it..
we trained bike, flexibility exercises, and had electro stimulation of our muscles and a massage in the end.. it was exhausting but satisfying. we came back at lunch time..
about my recovery, for now every day i seem to be a little better, i'm even catching up with Caribe on some things..
i now have a little more resistance than Caribe on waking on the walker, he still has a lot more flexibility than me.., but lately he has having more pain than me and using more painkillers, last night i sleep well (only wake up 2 or 3 times), but he had a hard time to sleep, and he even decided to cycle in the middle of the night to try to help.. i didn't even wake up with him cycling..
my feeling now that the worst days ware gone is that i'm very satisfied with the surgery, my x-rays look very good, and i feel that i'm recovering every day.. i must admit that i was lucky by having my surgery with the presence of Serge in Milan, he has been very important specially for me..
Quote from: G-Man on July 06, 2014, 06:43:59 AMYou lost the sensitivity right, not your feet fingers? 
Did he say why and if it will come back?
Quote from: antoky on July 06, 2014, 10:01:55 AMSorry for your foot!
Is this problem related to the lenghtening Guichet gave you during your surgery?
How much did he lenghten your thigh?
I wish you well.
hi G-Man and antoky!
luckily Dr. Guichet didn't chop off my fingers during surgery!! 
he said that it happened during surgery when my body was turned by the side and the nerve was pressed upon.. he said it will come back slowly.. i wrongly understood that i would click slowly.. but he later explained that i have to click at the normal 21 clicks/day rate and he was referring to the recovery of the sensibility..
the good news is that at least since yesterday i don't feel the fingers so strange anymore, so i think i already recover at least most of the sensibility..
Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on July 06, 2014, 05:51:41 PMIf you read my diary, you know that I went through the same thing: watching as all my fellow patients did better than me in the beginning. The best advice I can give you is that it's all about the end result years from now. Be patient and recover at your body's own pace. I ended up catching up to a lot of people and even doing better than them in the end.
thanks for the message MDoW! your diary is inspiring and helps understand that recovery is full of ups and downs... Dr. Guichet will be operating several patients in a short period.. we were the first and will be the ones the other people will be looking at.. so i will also have as a motivation the need to inspire the recovery of the other guys..
Quote from: Classical on July 07, 2014, 09:01:46 AMHi, hope you are feeling better by now. I am also doing my lengthening right now in Korea. Since I had my surgery on May 26th, I still remember the day I had my surgery vividly. Definitely being in so much pain and sleepless night is a lot of suffering, but just know that everyday you are getting stronger and better! This is what the forum is for, we are all here to support each other to get through this hard process together
As for progress, everybody's physical is unique, therefore reacts differently towards the same procedure. Just like what Medium said, he started way behind others, and ended better than the rest. I am currently on the same boat as you, way behind... The only thing we can do is be patient and work with our own body. I'm rooting for you
thanks Classical! i'm also rooting for you.. i notice clear the way i'm getting stronger and better every day! and that feels great!
The clicking sounds pretty painful and scary 
But it's good that you're recovering well and overall happy with your surgery.
Übermensch, thank you for your detailed update.
I am to be operated, if all goes well, by the start of the upcoming December: I live alone, so I have to make every aspect of my recovery as well planned as possible: so, how can one sit and stand up, without breaking the screws? How do you do this,
Übermensch, right now? How do you get up from the bed?
I know these are questions to be put directly to Guichet himself, but I am asking you who are living the real thing...
What weight can one bring in safety (I weigh 71 Kg, and you?), i.e. shopping bag?...some people say that walking would break the screws (maybe the Betz people) while I heard Guichet advicing to walk as much as possible: how are you behaving? What are the actual Guichet's policies about walking with his new nail?
We all would appreciate your answers!
We all cheer for you!
hi guys!
its 3:00 a.m. in Milano, i'm around 2 weeks post-surgery and i'm at 2,5 cm taller.. that's one third of my goal, but i will only be clicking at the 21 clicks a day rate until monday, so the next 2,5 cm will take a lot longer to make..
Caribe is snoring not very distant from me.. the reason i'm awake at this moment is only because i wanted to click around this time my last 7 clicks of the day.. me and Caribe today had training in the morning in the Isokinetic center with consultation with Dr. Boldrini, and training in the afternoon with Serge at a gym close to the center, so between these trainings i didn't had the time to click at the beginning of the afternoon. i only manage to make my 7 clicks at 20:00.. because my right leg is still very, very hard to click, it is painful and i have to take time to recover after each click.. Caribe itself says that one of these days i will have a knee problem from the contortion i have to make to click that leg.. 
i decided to give my body some time before the night clicks and delayed my clicking till this time..
serge want us to train everyday with him at the gym, and Isokinetic want us to train almost every day with them at the center.. this makes a crazy routine of taxis from one place to another.. luckily we are living very close to the center so taxis are cheap and we try to share the taxi with more limb lenghtenrs with the same program to make it even cheaper..
but this is actually a blunder to my plan for limb lenghtening in Milano.. my plan was to start being autonomous at around 2 weeks after surgery, and it would mean to don't have an helper at the flat anymore and start doing the first trips by subway.. the helper helped us for the last day today, from tomorrow on we will have to take care of our food, our laundry, the cleaning, etc.. it will not be easy, and with a program like the one we are following its close to impossible.. .. so i think i will be skipping some trainings.. i will probably alternate daily between Isokinetic and Serge.. i don't know how Guichet will react to this decision but otherwise it will be impossible for me.. Caribe on the other hand wants to do everything by the book, so we will probably continue training like a mad man..
about using the subway.. it still looks very far away.. the walker is either very, very slow if you move your legs in a waking fashion or very, very tiring if you just jump like a frog with it.. so i don't think the walker will be compatible with subways... about crunches...i only did yet a few steps with crunches.. i have o train at home, but with no one to help me and no time because of this impossible routine i didn't manage to train crunches a single day..
financially, i spent already a lot more than what i was planing.. mainly because i wasn't expecting the training with serge when i arrive in Milano (more 3k euro).. but a lot of things turned out to be more costly than expected, like the helper, the food, etc.. taxis were actually cheaper than i was expecting (as we are very close to the center, we pay around 20 eur/day to go to the isokinetic, and around 25 eur/day to go to the gym of serge), but unfortunately, for a long time, i found it very difficult to not use taxis.. so it will end up more expensive than what i was expecting..
i found myself thinking how much easier and cheaper it would have been to have done Betz instead.. well, i will never know..
tomorrow i will have my first every 15 days x-ray, and the day after tomorrow a consultation with Dr. Guichet with the x-rays..
well.. its time to click...
Quote from: antoky on July 11, 2014, 01:11:15 PMÜbermensch, thank you for your detailed update.
I am to be operated, if all goes well, by the start of the upcoming December: I live alone, so I have to make every aspect of my recovery as well planned as possible: so, how can one sit and stand up, without breaking the screws? How do you do this,
Übermensch, right now? How do you get up from the bed?
I know these are questions to be put directly to Guichet himself, but I am asking you who are living the real thing...
What weight can one bring in safety (I weigh 71 Kg, and you?), i.e. shopping bag?...some people say that walking would break the screws (maybe the Betz people) while I heard Guichet advicing to walk as much as possible: how are you behaving? What are the actual Guichet's policies about walking with his new nail?
We all would appreciate your answers!
We all cheer for you!
hi antoky!
thanks for the questions.. i'm glad to answer..
you do seating and standing up from the first day of operation.. you need a special walker that has 2 pairs of hand holders one in top and one a little bellow, like the walker used by leechlet..
for standing up you:
1) seat on the bed with legs out of the bed and move your ass the closest possible to the side of the bed,
2) put the walker on the side of the bed and grab the hand holders below;
3) pull your body up, preferentially lifting the full height of your body with your hands;
4) stand with your legs straight in the floor, bending your torso to the front;
5) let your height go back to your legs;
6) raise your torso and change your hands form the hand holder below to the hand holders on top;
for going back to bed, you:
1) get the closets possible to the bed with the walker;
2) bend your torso to the front and hold the hand holders below;
3) pull your body up, preferentially lifting the full height of your body with your hands;
4) let your legs slide to the front and sit with your ass in the side of the bed;
5) use your arms to pull your body up to get yourself into bed;
notice that moving in the bed, you should use only your arms and not your legs to lift your ass up..
Dr. Guichet will give you a follow-up book with pictures of the standing up and siting down procedures..
the golden rule is that you never bear weight on your femur if they are not in a straight position, because the nail is very strong bearing height vertically, but horizontally its easy to bend the nail .. its easy to understand, its like trying to snap a wood stick by pushing it down vertically to the floor or trying to snap the same wood stick by bending it with the two hands.. it will easily break by bending it.. but it will be hard to break just by pushing it to the floor..
i weighted 70kg before operation, now i'm at 68kgs.. i actually didn't yet made shopping, but i'm confident i can take some kgs in a backpack.. i will actually have to do it because we will not have a helper anymore from today one..
Caribe topped at 74kgs but since then he lost some weight also..
Dr. Guichet wants you to walk a lot.. as long as you walk the way they teach you how to do it, you will be fine.. i did 900 meters of walking on the walker in the frog style the other day.. my hands and my arm are still a bit sore because of that day!!
Übermensch : "The golden rule is that you never bear weight on your femur if they are not in a straight position, because the nail is very strong bearing height vertically, but horizontally its easy to bend the nail .. its easy to understand, its like trying to snap a wood stick by pushing it down vertically to the floor or trying to snap the same wood stick by bending it with the two hands.. it will easily break by bending it.. but it will be hard to break just by pushing it to the floor.."
Thanks a lot ofr your great anwers, evertything is clear now
How in the earth don't Serge and dr Boldrini get along in peace and in harmony? Why one of us has to choose among one of them? Do they compete with each other to gain patients?!?...maybe I am misunderstanding somotehing...or not?
I hope your cliquettage is going to be easier and easier.
guys!
its 2:00 in Milano, the silly reason I'm awake is because i run out of paracetamol.. the only drug that works with me.. i will ask Caribe to borrow me but he is having such a nice sleep that i will wait a little longer.. he had a really ruff night yesterday.. a diarrhea keep him awake all night and we was in very bad shape today morning..
i'm at 3,6 cm now.. its almost half of my goal, it was very fast until now.. but since the beginning of the week, i'm clicking at only 15 clicks a day, so the next 3,6 cm will take much longer time to achieve..
last week i had my first 15 days x-rays and consultation with Dr. Guichet.. looking at the x-rays and comparing with Caribe i had less bone cloud in my gap.. but Dr. Guichet saw pre consolidation happening (??).. so he just took matters in his own hands and made me 21 clicks on the consultation room to put me away from the risk of pre consolidation... i had a really bad time during those clicks.. Dr. Guichet clearly knows the perfect movement to make to click, but he is not gentle..
the next days, miraculously clicking on the right became much less painful and hard.. but it only lasted the weekend and clicking on the right started to became gradually more difficult after that weekend..
the current status of clicking is:
clicking in the left leg is as easy as clicking can be, you just let your leg fall and it clicks gracefully..
clicking on the right leg is awful just to see.. first the leg must be bend at chinese circus levels and after that i have to rotate my torso countering the movement of the leg and simultaneously hold my leg down with my palm.. usually only the last 2 or 3 clicks on the right can be made in succession, in the first clicks i have to stop at each click to recover from pain.. fortunately the level of pain is now lower that in the beginning..
Dr. Guichet also complained on the consultation that i'm not exercising as much as he requires.. its true.. exercises are painful to me and take a long time, and i just can't find the time to do all the series requested.. i do as much as i can, and it has been enough until now because my flexibility is in normal levels for 2/3 weeks after surgery.. i promised Dr. Guichet to increase the amount of exercise, but until now i actually didn't manage to increase it.. mainly because its still painful and takes a long time, but also because since last weekend i have a snapping sound happening every time i do a hip flexion on my right leg.. according to Stefano from the Isokinetic it is a normal thing that results from the stretching of the tendons and muscles on my glut area.. but unfortunately there isn't much i can do about it, i will have to listen to this snap during hip flexion until the end of my lengthening phase..
also Dr. Guichet forbid me of using the walker on the walking fashion that i mentioned in the last post.. he says it wears the clicking mechanism and i should jump instead.. this is a bumper because my hands and my right shoulder are in really bad shape from jumping on the walker and and using in the walking fashion was so more easy on the hands..
Caribe is getting pro on the crunches.. apart for some troubles getting up from chairs or from the cab, he is really getting comfortable with them and using them every day now.. i on the other hand, didn't yet got comfortable.. i see it as too dangerous, but i know i have to get on crunches if i want to be more mobile.. i will continue training at the flat until i get more comfortable with them..
the day before yesterday we went with Serge to the swimming pool for the first time.. not such a nice new experience as i was expecting form the descriptions of other limb lenghteners.., it was very far away from our flat, the weather was bad, and after i had to change all the dressing of my scars..
the pain now is very manageable.. i don't need painkillers during the day for a long time now.. but i still use them at night except for a few nights that i didn't felt the need for them..
now, more than pain, what bothers me and Caribe is the feeling of constant compression of the legs as a result of the stretching of the muscles.. its hard to sleep with that feeling, you just feel like you need to move your legs all the time.. so the way i deal with this is: i do exercises (biking) to transform the feeling in pain, and then use painkillers to deal with the pain.. at least this worked for me a couple of nights..
Quote from: antoky on July 17, 2014, 12:43:59 PMHow in the earth don't Serge and dr Boldrini get along in peace and in harmony? Why one of us has to choose among one of them? Do they compete with each other to gain patients?!?...maybe I am misunderstanding somotehing...or not?
antoky!
thanks for support! we don't choose Serge or Isokinetic.. we are required to attend both, Isokinetic in the morning and Serge in the afternoon.. this is a new thing introduced by Dr. Guichet under the argument that Serge would complement the Isokinetic training with exercises more focused on recovering our mobility and autonomy..
my take on this is that Serge is very good and i love to workout with him.. he teaches a lot of useful things and make us do different exercises and and different things all the days.. Isokinetic is the same thing every day.. I just seat on the table and know what exercises i have to do, its the same every day with few variations..
the problem for me is that doing Isokinetic and Serge in the same day means to leave the flat at 8:50 in the morning, came back at lunch time, and arrive again in the flat at 20.00 in the afternoon.. we came back exhausted and with little time.. we are without helper, so we have a hard time to cook, do laundry, etc.. Serge is supposed to give us autonomy but what is happening is that we are less autonomous because we don't have the time and energy to do anything at home..
my financial plan was not to have a helper every day of lengthening, it is just too expensive.. so i had to find a way of compromising.. i decided to go one day to Isokinetic (although is boring, they do things that Serge does not do, like electric stimulation of the muscles and massages) and another to Serge.. this is a very personal position.. Caribe does not agree and wants to follow Dr. Guichet recommendation.. the other patients are also going to Isokinetic and Serge in the same day.. i would do it also if i had a chance to do it.. unfortunately in my case i have to compromise.. but i feel i will be alright.. other patients in Marseille only with Serge and in Milano only with Isokinetic did very well.. there is no reason why i will not do well if i train a bit in the flat also..
i didn't actually share my position on this with Dr. Guichet.. i'm making excuses to not go to Serge every day..
well Caribe is awake.. i gonna borrow paracetamol from him, and try to sleep..
Of course there are bumps in the process but dude! You are 3.6cm taller!
You must see a difference when you stand up? Must feel cool!
Thank you so much, Übermensch, for finding the time to answer us and to keep on with your great diary.
Dr Guichet is not answering my e-mails, since Saturday the 12th of July (i re-send it two days ago, just in case) I am wondering if he is doing like a picking-and-choosing thing among all the letters he continuously receives from all over the world: if this is the case, I would opt for dr Betz in the end.
We are all with you, dear friend!
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