6 cm rush with Dr. Sarin
The Decision:-
I came to know about Dr. Sarin from the internet. He was practically the first name that came up on Goggle when I searched “Best Limb Lengthening surgery in India”. I was always conscious about my height but was unsure at first whether I should go for a surgery to increase my height. One fine day, I decided that I should atleast discuss the merits and demerits of the Surgery with a proper Doctor, going through with the surgery was a matter of choice which I would make later. So, I came to Delhi in the last week of December, 2014, met Dr. Sarin at his Gurgaon Clinic and 15 minutes into talking with him I had made my decision. Dr . Sarin patiently answered my every question in detail so as to how the surgery would be done and how long I would take to recover. He was also kind enough to take me in his own car to the Guest House where all his patients are. I spoke to one of them, a boy, whose frames had just been taken off. All being said and done, I was pretty content about everything as I walked out of his clinic that my legs were in safe hands.
The Surgery:-
My surgery for scheduled for 10th February. Dr. Sarin told me to come to Gurgaon by 7th. I did as told by him, landed in Delhi on 7th and went straight to his clinic. It was just a 2 minute meeting with the doctor. He confirmed whether I was sure that I want the surgery to be performed. I said yes and that was it. He sent me to the Guest House in Gurgaon where all his patients are, where I anxiously waited for the “The Day”. He sent a guy to me on 9th morning, who took me to this hospital in Delhi called Sri Balaji Medical Institute in Paschim Vihar, New Delhi. This guy helped me fill all the forms for admission in the Hospital and I was allotted a private room on the second floor. I waited all day for the day to end. I was a little afraid too, as I had not told anybody at home about my surgery. They took me blood for performing various blood tests, checked my blood pressure and sugar levels to see whether everything was normal. At night I was given a sleeping pill by the nurse so that I could get a good night’s sleep. They woke me up next morning at 7 a.m, gave me a green robe to wear for the Operation theatre. At last came a stretcher, on which I was laid and they took me to a room adjacent to the O.T. After a while Dr. Sarin came to check on me to see everything was in order and I was ok. Few minutes later I was taken to the O.T, there they induced a needle in my lower spine and within seconds I couldn’t feel my legs. They were so numb. I put a sort of oxygen mask on me, and I was told to breathe, and that is all I can remember. I woke up 4 hours later say around 12 p.m., I realised they were taking me back to my room on a stretcher. I still had no sensation in my legs. They put a saline, it was glucose or maybe a painkiller or an antibiotic, I had no idea. I slept through the whole afternoon. At night they gave me soup to drink. I was dizzy, but was able to attend a few phone calls. The next 3 days in that hospital were very uneventful and boring. I was just lying down on my back, not able to turn, was given regular meals from the next day, breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. Time was difficult to kill as even the T.V of my room was not working. So I spent most of time sleeping or texting people on Watsapp. 3 days post-surgery, on the 13th, Dr.Sarin sent the same guy to fetch me. He prepared the discharge papers and filled the feedback forms. I told him that the nurses allotted to me were horrible, under- skilled and the hospital was under-staffed as well. He was kind enough to write that all down in feedback section. We even complained that the television was not working. After that, they took me to the ground floor on a wheel chair, where a cab was waiting for me at the entrance of the Hospital. As a sat in the car I was very happy that I finally did it, that my height would finally increase now and all my dreams are going to come true. There was no pain whatsoever. I enjoyed the 1 hour drive back to our Guest House in Gurgaon. Once we reached, they lifted me and put me in my bed. This guy who came to drop and pick me up, and helped me with all the hospital formalities, I later came to know that he is my physiotherapist. And that was that! It was a matter of 8 days now, when I was supposed to rest and then I could go ahead with my lengthening.
The Lengthening Phase:-
Within 2 days, I had made a best friend in the Guest House. I will address him by the name “Rahul” here after. Rahul was a 21- year old guy who had lengthened 8 cm and his frames were off by the last week of December. He educated me about all the precautions that I must take during the Lengthening phase. The most important and serious advice he gave me was not to touch any of the blood clots near the pins that were induced in my legs. He himself has scratched a pin on his left leg and had a severe pin cut during his time, so he warned me not to repeat his mistakes. He also told me not to fold my legs while sleeping which I did follow honestly for a few days at least. The first few days were a walk in the park, there was no pain, even if sometimes there was this slightest of pain, I would have this painkiller called Ultracet, and the pain would vanish instantly. I was also given a course of antibiotics and pills that help in digestion for a the first week. I was very active after the bandages on my frames were removed after 3 days of bringing me to the Guest House. I used to transfer myself on a chair with wheels all by myself and travel to Rahul’s room every day. We use to watch movies and order take outs each night. It was fun. Rahul was a pretty lazy guy, he use to trouble the physiotherapist every evening by resisting and refusing to do all exercises. Me, Rahul and our physiotherapist had become real good friends within no time. Physiotherapy sessions were fun, we used to have a lot of laughs over discussions and common topics of interest.
I was allowed to increase 1.5 mm/ day for 10 days by Dr. Sarin. Sometimes it used to pain a little but then again I had these painkillers to put me at ease. My first X-ray was taken after 10 days and left leg showed an increase of 1.7 cm and right leg had increased by 1.8 mm. I was really happy with this development. Maybe the excess millimetres were because of the gap that might have been formed after they broke my bones during the surgery. Say around 3mm wide. That night I gave a party that my first X-ray was normal and the bones had not joined back, which can happen in 1 in a 100 cases, if you’re unlucky. I was told that it had happened with a previous patient of Dr. Sarin. Poor girl had to undergo another surgery where her bones was broken yet again at a different place.
After this, I was allowed to increase only 1 mm/ day. They had strictly told me to do this if I wanted healthy growth in my legs. I blindly followed what they said as I was really cautious about this entire surgery episode I did not want anything to go wrong. I will now quickly jump 30 days, as nothing significant happened during this time. To be very honest I did not realise how time flew during this phase. Physiotherapy was a little discomforting sometimes, stretching and all, but once it was over, everything was back to normal. It was time for my 2nd X-ray. I had promised everybody that if the gap in the bones showed more than 4.5 cms in the x-ray, I would throw another party! They told me that it was highly unlikely that so much increase would happen during such a short time, as the muscles also show some resistance and contraction towards the lengthening, as we are going against the nature. So I was told not to keep my hopes so high, as the bones and muscles do not respond 100% towards the lengthening, and there is always some loss in desired height, due to the internal pull. We went through with the X-ray, and what do you know! Left leg showed 4.8 mm and right leg showed 4.8 mm…!!! I was on top of the world! Within 40 days I had grown by 4.5 cms. It was like a miracle for me. We came back from the hospital and I ordered Pizza and beverages for everybody as promised. I was so happy that I treated the Guest house staff as well. It was just a matter of 10-15 days now and I was through with the Lengthening. But as they say, all good things come to an end. One fine morning, when only 8 mm were left for completing my desired 6cms, I woke up with horrible pain in the left upper pin of my right leg. The next few days till the removal of frames, were Hell! They said it was a pin cut. It kept on getting worse day by day. Even for a pretty active and flexible guy like me, it was a nightmare. I couldn’t move my right leg freely. I had to stop my daily exercises, even the physiotherapy, as it caused tremendous pain. Even the painkillers and muscle relaxers were ineffective at this particular time. I just wanted to kill these 7- 8 days, and I did not stop my lengthening. I kept increasing 1mm/ day, even in the leg which had the pin cut. The left leg I used to increase 1.5mm/ day, for 6 days, to even out the difference in height. Finally they took me for the 3rd and Final x-ray. I was not even able to straighten my legs on the X ray table. Somehow they took my X-ray, and I was glad that the left leg showed 5.9 mm and the other one which had the pin cut showed 6.1 mm. We fixed the date for the surgery 2 days later and the O.T was booked.
The worst part was yet to come. On the day of the surgery, as we are told not to eat or drink anything the previous night, I took a painkiller that morning without having water. I just gulped it somehow as the pain was unbearable. The journey to the hospital was terrible. I felt like puking the entire time in the cab, I tried to but all in vain. To add to the misery, legs were also aching severely. I just told myself to hang in there, as all this would be over within a few hours. But, I had no idea; more agony was yet to come. We reached the Hospital at around 9:30 a.m., I was allotted a semi private room this time as there was no Private room available. There, I was lying down in discomfort, waiting for them to call me to the O.T. I could not even rest as the semi-private room patients kept on watching the T.V on a very high volume. Every minute was difficult to pass by, as the pain was increasing steadily. Finally, at 12 p.m they sent a stretcher for me, I quickly transferred myself upon it and they took me to the O.T. I was getting very impatient and just wanted it to get over with. I couldn’t even straighten my legs for them to measure and confirm my actual increase in height on the X-ray screen. They somehow managed to do it. I heard of the guy in the O.T, that both legs were 6 cms, which was music to my ears. They called Dr, Sarin from the phone in the O.T, told him what was showing on the X-ray screen and that they had measured the increase in height to be 6 cms for both legs. Dr. Sarin told them to insert that needle that they do near the lower spine. They put some very cold liquid on my lower back, and then I felt a prick, and in 2 seconds I felt relaxed. Both my legs were numb and could comfortably lie down on the Table for them to carry on with my surgery. As far I as remember I was half conscious during this surgery, unlike the previous one, where I don’t remember anything. After one hour or so, I was awakened and in my senses, and they were taking me back to my room. After a few hours, thankfully, I was shifted to a private room. My suffering was still not over. Around 6 p.m I started to have unbearable pain in my right leg. I begged the nurse to give me more painkillers through the saline or through injections. But she said, there is a limit to the dosage that she can give me, as it effects the liver badly and she has to stick to her routine chart of dosage. The entire night I was awake, suffering, moaning in pain. There was no one with me in my room, as I had not told my family about this surgery. This was arguably the worst night of my life. I also had to vomit a few times at night as I accidently ate some solid food in the evening. The next morning I was desperately waiting for them to discharge me. The pain was somewhat tolerable at his time. I tried to get some rest, but the hospital cleaners kept on coming in my room every 10 mins or so and disturbing my sleep. This was very irritating. At 3 p.m, my physiotherapist came to pick me up and I was really relieved to see him. He got the paperwork ready for the discharge, and took me downstairs where the cab was waiting for me, I was very elated to see Rahul, who had also come to receive me. He was waiting in the cab for me, all this while. Pain, was not an issue now, I was just content that I had grown 6 cms , that people would never call me a short person anymore. I was happy and satisfied that the difficult part was over. We even ate ice-cream on our way back to our Gurgaon guest house.
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Topic: 6 cm rush with Dr.Sarin (Read 8327 times)