Hi Yellowspike
How's the walking now? How long have you been using the crutches?
I'm getting nervous as I'm close to my procedure with Dr Guichet
Quote from: MAN-OF-STEEL on February 20, 2015, 07:38:15 PMHi Yellowspike
How's the walking now? How long have you been using the crutches?
I'm getting nervous as I'm close to my procedure with Dr Guichet
Hey man! I've been on crutches since about 2 weeks post-op...so since early January. I get around on crutches just fine, including up and downstairs. Now that I just finished clicking yesterday (I decided to push myself a little further to 6.75cm), I'm hoping it's not a million years until I can start to get rid of the crutches (and the residual pain).
Don't be nervous. Dr. Guichet is awesome. Yeah, you'll have a few rough days after the surgery, but then it's mostly manageable. I'm not sure what your body type and flexibility are like, but for me, the bad pain didn't really start until around the 5cm mark. That last 1.75cm was a war for me. It may not be at all for you. If it weren't for work/time constraints and nerve pain (the worst pain EVER), I might have pushed on to 7cm+...but I'm VERY happy with my gain, and I'm ready to start recovering now, for real.
If there's one piece of advice I can gave prospective LL'ers (especially ones that go with Dr. Guichet)...GIVE YOUR ALL FOR PHYSICAL THERAPY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN FROM DAY ONE! As the weeks go on, and you lengthen more and more, and your flexibility decrease and the pain increases...you won't be able to give as much. So trust me...the harder you work early on (I worked hard, but could have done a bit more in terms of maintaining flexibility, in retrospect), the better you'll be at the end of your lengthening.
Best of luck to you and I will follow your story! Send me a PM if you'd like, I'm wondering if I've already met you lol. I will keep my diary updated as I start to (hopefully) remove the crutches within the next few days/weeks. So happy to FINALLY be done (truly, this time) with clicking.
Quote from: ItsMyLife on February 18, 2015, 05:57:31 AMThis is so confusing. Why would the click file be more accurate than X-rays?? I mean, I would trust Dr G but what is the reason? Could you ask him? Just wondering, Im sure he has a good reason for it.... Im quite concerned now. Because my X-rays say 4cm when I last took them and I thought it was what I was gonna get 
Don't worry about this too much. I think the 1cm discrepancy I experienced had to do with the program the radiologists in my case used to measure my gain. In my case, they were always estimating 1cm ahead of the click file, which with Dr. Guichet, is gospel (not the radiologist estimates). He insists that the click file (so long as you keep track of all your clicks from day one) is the most accurate measure of your true gain (in my case, 6.75cm).
I don't know what it is. Maybe it's being home (even though it's been two weeks) and being crippled. Maybe it's that I finished clicking to 6.75cm, and now I'm not "growing" anymore (and semi-wondering if I shoulda did more despite the excruciating pain I was in). Maybe I'm scared to return to my office job in a few weeks (though I'll start working from home this week). But man, I am like...super depressed.
I think I'm overwhelmed because I have SO much that I want to do, but I just can't do it because I'm still on these f#cking crutches. I want to get back to the gym (I need to get my ass back), I want to be dating/hooking up with girls (I miss sex big time), I want to get a new job so I can be earning more money to recoup what I spent on this (especially since I got my master's degree going on two years this summer - hope that's not an issue when I start to look this spring), I gotta do my taxes, file a million insurance claims for all the x-rays/tests I did throughout LL (they'll reimburse that, but not the surgery itself)....I'm just really overwhelmed.
I want my life back. I'm tired of the pain...I'm tired of not being able to bend my knees. I'm tired of my muscles being tight as boulders. I'm tired of having piriformis syndrome and not being able to do anything about it without clicking accidentally...I'm tired of having to do all these exercises (though I've been doing them less and focusing mainly on walking with crutches, biking when I can, and stretching).
I hate what LL did to me (except make me not a midget). I want this all to end.
Ok...end of my rant...lol. I just have no one else to really talk to about this. I have to be strong for my family since a parent is sick so I can't vent much to them.
im sorry to hear all this... its just a long process. well at least 1) u did internals, so u don't have frames for that long. im gonna have frames till December 2) u did with a good doc, so thing shd go for the better eventually 3) you reached close to your target height and 4) you are the hardworking kind, I can tell, so u shd have a good recovery
everything has its flipside.
Quote from: ItsMyLife on February 22, 2015, 11:56:19 PMim sorry to hear all this... its just a long process. well at least 1) u did internals, so u don't have frames for that long. im gonna have frames till December 2) u did with a good doc, so thing shd go for the better eventually 3) you reached close to your target height and 4) you are the hardworking kind, I can tell, so u shd have a good recovery
everything has its flipside.
I appreciate this very much. Thank you.
I am a hardworking person...but I'm really tired of working so hard. As I said, I'm doing less (especially now that I'll be working from home starting mid this week), but I'm still making sure I get out every day to walk on my crutches to help with bone ossification. I'm just tired of being crippled.
Dr. Guichet is an excellent surgeon indeed, and he has been very reassuring to me that all my issues will go away with time (pain, muscle tightness, etc.). I'm just worried and somewhat jealous that some people are able to do so much and get 8cm with no pain or side effects, and although my goal was always 6.5-7cm (and I got right in the middle of that at 6.75), I would have gone for a bit more if things were different. But safety first.
When I stand up now and put my legs together, my right leg has a hard time being fully straightened, and this bothers me. I think it's a combination of piriformis syndrome (which can be fixed) and muscle tightness, but it still worries me.
I was just venting because (as we all know), LL is such a damn hard and sucky ass process.
hey man, its just a bad day for you , its normal when you are in pain and recovering, in a few time you will be walking and doing all those things that you want to do with your new height and happy with your new life.
Quote from: KirP1 on February 23, 2015, 12:13:54 AMhey man, its just a bad day for you , its normal when you are in pain and recovering, in a few time you will be walking and doing all those things that you want to do with your new height and happy with your new life.
Thanks bro. I hope so. It just seems sorta impossible that I'll recover from all this, in a way.
Quote from: YellowSpike on February 23, 2015, 12:18:21 AMThanks bro. I hope so. It just seems sorta impossible that I'll recover from all this, in a way.
only give it time bro
Quote from: KirP1 on February 23, 2015, 12:22:03 AMonly give it time bro
Thanks KirP1!
I'm also very slightly annoyed at stopping at 6.75cm...but it's made a HUGE difference. I just get angry/jealous at all the people on here who do more (and they're already taller than me and/or didn't need LL to begin with, in my opinion), but I keep trying to remind myself that I've had a lot of pain, and 5'8" (which was always my goal, and I got it) isn't bad at all. I just know that I would never do a second LL, and I don't want any regrets. I don't think another half inch is the end of the world, I'm just very hard on myself and always want the best for myself. But as I said earlier...safety first. The last few clicks were really starting to hurt, I've had bad knee pain, numbness...a lot of reasons to stop, and my gain is pretty solid and pretty much my goal from day one.
People on here also talk about femurs not gaining all the height you gain, but I kinda feel like I may be an exception somewhat. My femurs/legs looks almost perfectly straight when I look in the mirror standing up, and I was bow-legged before the surgery. I kinda tower over my dad now, who used to have a half-inch on me. So I guess I shouldn't be ambivalent about stopping now...
Man I'm just a mess of PMS-like emotions today. LOL 
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