SummaryAge: mid-30’s
Starting height: 165 cm or 5 ft 5 in
Finishing height: 172 cm or 5 ft 7 in
Method: Lengthen over nails
Lengthened: 6.8cm Tibia
Price: $18,000 USD
Country: Vietnam
Doctor: Dr. Quynh
Hi all,
I was lying awake at 3am and Googling how to become taller when I stumbled upon reddit user threeinchestaller’s thread about his leg lengthening experience in India. I was intrigued by the surgery and felt that this was something that I could do. This person’s personal story was quite moving and the following diary is my way of paying it forward to anyone who is thinking about leg lengthening.
2nd March – 5th March 2018
After months of research and trawling the internet forums for information, I decided that I would go ahead with the surgery and it was just a matter of deciding where. I ended up choosing Vietnam due to the price, the all-inclusive package and the positive patient diaries. As an Australian born Vietnamese or Viet kieu, I also knew that being able to speak the language would help with the overall experience. I reached out to the company’s contact Thao and he provided me with all the details via WeChat. I was travelling to Asia soon so I set up an initial consultation for mid-March.
15th March 2018
My flight to Vietnam arrived at 1pm and I was greeted at the airport by Hanh who is Thao’s assistant. I was taken to Tan Hung hospital in district 7 to complete a series of health checks that included a blood test, urine test, ECG, chest x-ray, legs x-ray and transmitted disease test which took about 1 hour to complete. Afterwards I visited the institute and met some of the patients staying there. The communication with the two Chinese patients was fairly short due to their limited English however both ladies seemed to be doing well with hardly any pain. I also met with an American patient who turned out to be ‘normythebear’ and he provided me with a lot more information about his time in Vietnam. He was very close to reaching his lengthening goal and was in a lot of pain but had no regrets.
17th March – 21st March 2018
I arrived home and gave it more thought. As the youngest child and shortest male in the house, growing up wasn’t easy and I didn’t know who or what to blame. Maybe it was because I was born 2 months premature, had bad genes or the fact that I didn’t play basketball like my eldest brother who is 175cm or 5 ft 9 in tall. But mostly I think it was because I had to carry a heavy back pack full of text books up and down a hill for my final 4 years of high school. Whatever the reason, I knew that it was holding back my dating life, my career and overall confidence and I now had an opportunity to change it. I bit the bullet and informed Thao that I would be going ahead with the surgery. After I sent through the deposit and booked my flight to return to Vietnam I knew that there was no turning back.
7th April
My surgery was set for the 8th of April so I arrived in Saigon on the 6th and enjoyed a bit of sight-seeing before it all began. I received a message at 8.30am advising that I should fast after 9am that day because the tests would be at 7pm. I was at a dental clinic having a replacement night guard made and didn’t have time to go eat something. I ended up fasting until 8pm that night and was annoyed that more notice wasn’t given. I also needed to shave my legs before the surgery and complete another round of tests which were the same as the initial tests and was a requirement for anesthesia and surgery preparation.
8th April 2018 - Day 1
My surgery was the fourth one of the day after 3 Japanese patients. I was wheeled to the surgery table on a gurney and the last thing I remember is my pants being pulled off before the anesthetic took effect. I woke up in the ICU hours later feeling disorientated and with very little feeling in my legs. I could see the outline of the metal frames poking up from under the blanket and tried but failed to lift my legs. My phone was left by my side after the surgery so I checked my messages before falling asleep again until 6am.
9th April – Day 2
The ICU became noisy at 7am as more staff arrived at work. I greeted my fellow patients however no one spoke any English. At 8am we were all taken up our rooms on the 9th floor. I met my carer aunty Thuy who would be looking after me for the next 2 weeks. My legs were aching so I tried to sleep for most of the day and woke up to eat the food that was delivered to the hospital. I was still hooked up to an IV and morphine drip and went to the toilet using a catheter. The movement in my legs was still fairly limited and my feet were placed up on pillows to help reduce the swelling.
11th April – Day 4
The catheter was removed today and I also took my first dump since having the surgery. I had to climb down onto a seat with a big hole in it and go into a container on the floor. As the smell of my own poo filled the room I felt the shame of having someone else wipe my bum because I couldn’t reach it. I was able to raise my legs slightly but still felt very weak. There was still an aching pain in my legs that worsened at night especially now that the morphine drip was removed.
16th April – Day 9
I started to get into a routine of doing leg raises after every meal and was feeling a lot better. My carer and I grew close as we shared stories about each other’s families. I didn’t tell any of my friends or family that I was going to Vietnam to have the surgery because I knew they would try to stop me or be worried the whole time. I made up a story about going to Thailand to teach English instead and found out later that a lot of the patients here also do not let their families know about the surgery. I am glad that I had no major post-surgery complications but my left foot was pointing further outwards than my right foot. The doctor assured me that this was not a big issue and would monitor it over the next few weeks.
17th April – Day 10
Today I gained a bit of freedom from my hospital bed and was able to use a wheelchair for the first time. It was a good feeling being able to leave my room and roll around the 9th floor. I liked to go and look out the window at the river and the ships passing by. The increased mobility also meant that I was able to go to the toilet on my own.
20th April – Day 13
My belongings were packed up and my carer and I moved to the institute and into my new room on the first floor. The institute is on the same road as the hospital and made subsequent trips to the hospital very easy. Hanh came down after lunch and showed me how to lengthen the rods on my frames. I was given a spanner and just needed to turn 3 nuts by one face on each leg every few hours. I was advised that 4.5 turns would be equal to 1mm of lengthening and I started a journal and schedule that started from 7am in the morning until 11pm at night.
22nd April – Day 15
The thin walls at the hospital often meant that I would be woken up by visitors in the next room or a TV that was turned up too loud. But this was nothing compared to the roosters that started crowing at 3am over at the institute. My room was very close to the neighboring houses and people would often play their music early on the weekends, sing karaoke into the night or just yell and scream at each other. The setup in my room was good though. I had my own bathroom and toilet and everything was easily accessible using my wheelchair. The meals were also good and brought down to my room every day. My carer left after staying with me for 2 nights to make sure I was settled in.
26th April – Day 19
After nearly a week of lengthening I noticed that one of the rods did not appear to be turning. I messaged Thao and requested an x-ray to see if I was still on track and the result was 4mm. I was expecting at least 6mm so this was a little disappointing. Thao helped me by changing the rod and it started working correctly like the others.
29th April – Day 22
I was initially surprised when I was told that I would be lengthening on my own as I thought it would be better left to a professional to ensure it was done correctly. So when they told me I would need to change my own bandages I was shocked as I was accustomed to having my bandages changed by the nurses at the hospitals. Hanh briefly showed me how to apply the bandages and iodine solution and left me with enough supplies for a few bandage changes. She said it was important not to get dust and water into the pin sites as this will result in an infection and cause larger scars to form. I remember thinking if it was so important then it shouldn’t be left for patients to do on their own.
4th May – Day 27
Today’s x-ray showed 10mm on my left leg and 11mm on my right one. I was happy with this result as it was fairly close to my expectation of 12mm. Up until this point I had been lengthening 4 and a half times per day but due to the fact that I had no pain at all, I decided to lengthen 5 times a day to slightly increase my lengthening rate.
5th May – Day 28
I started to go up to the 4th floor to have dinner and socialized with the other patients using Google translate. I mainly asked them where they were from, their starting height and how much they wanted to lengthen. The Chinese patients were very close and would often talk and laugh together. I was also lucky because I was able to make friends with the only other English speaking person here; a Vietnamese American patient who was staying in the room next to mine. I returned to my room that night to the smell of leaking gas. Thao came down to have a look and organized for a contractor to inspect it the next day.
7th May – Day 30
My physiotherapy sessions started today and were 45 minutes long and held twice a week. The first session just covered basic stretching and movement techniques to reduce the atrophy of my leg muscles during the lengthening process. My legs were already going to be thinner due to the lengthening so I tried to stretch and do leg raises as often as I could. My legs hurt a lot more at night and this messed up my sleeping schedule. I started to stay awake until morning and would sleep after breakfast for an hour or so, then I would wake up for lunch and sleep again after that. Since the surgery, the most I was able to sleep was 5 hours a night and was averaging about 3-4 hours per day.
11th May – Day 34
After 3 weeks of lengthening my legs with hardly any pain, I was still able to straighten out my legs when I lay down. The doctor made one of his weekly visits and advised me to put my feet up on pillows because my feet were swollen. Although I had done this many times before, my knees felt very stiff after 1 hour. I removed the pillows immediately but the damage had already been done. My knees were locked up and it now hurt when I straightened out my leg. I regretted following the doctor’s advice because my swollen feet weren’t causing any issues or pain and now I’ve messed up my knees instead. The physiotherapist tried to loosen them up by massaging the joint but this didn’t really help.
18th May – Day 41
I think for most patients as soon as the frames are on and the lengthening process begins, we are all counting down the days until we hit our goal and finally get to remove the frames. My initial goal was 8cm which I later reduced to 7.5cm and then further to 7cm. I heard that some patients needed to stop lengthening for a few days due to the severe pain but was determined not to stop as this would drag out my lengthening time. However I started to experience sharp nerve pain in both my legs which forced me to stop lengthening for a day.
19th May – Day 42
The nerve pain went away and I started lengthening again in the morning. X-rays were taken every 2 weeks and my left leg was 23mm and my right leg was 24mm. I was finally seeing some progress and was about a third of the way through lengthening. However my knees were still sore, I was still getting very little sleep and the leaking gas smell had turned into the smell of sewerage that would waft up every few hours or so. The food menu was also changed due to Chinese patients complaining about some of the Vietnamese food that they didn’t like and it was becoming hard to stay positive.
3rd June – Day 57
After many days of changing my own bandages, like many of the other patients here, I too had a pinsite infection. I was given some antibiotics and the bandage would need to be changed daily instead of every 5 days. The movement in my right leg was reduced as it was a lot sorer due to the infection but it cleared up in a few days.
8th June – Day 62
Before coming to Vietnam, I had suffered a back injury that lasted for nearly 2 and a half months and was lucky enough to make a full recovery 2 weeks before having the surgery. However the mattress in my room was causing me to have back pain. I didn’t want it to worsen so I informed Thao who organized the purchase of a new mattress and topper which helped a lot.
9th June – Day 63
Today was the worst day of my lengthening experience thus far. After 50 days of lengthening I was taken to hospital for a routine x-ray and was informed there was an error with the pinsites on my frames and the previous x-rays. Thinner pinsites were used for our batch of patients and caused bending which resulted in a reduced rate of lengthening. However this was changed to 4-5mm for the patients after us. The hospital also had issues with their x-rays so all previous measurements were incorrect. X-rays were now taken with a 10cm metal ruler for scaling purposes and my actual length was left foot 35mm and right foot 37mm. I was frustrated because this meant that I had lost almost 2 weeks of time lengthening.
12th June - Day 66
The institute hired a full-time nurse who would now be responsible for changing all patient bandages and perform daily health checks. This was a welcome change because another one of my pinsites had become infected and she helped me with the daily bandage change.
20th June – Day 74
Due to the inaccuracy of the x-rays there was a change in hospitals from Tan Hung hospital to FV hospital. I was taken in the company car which was a lot harder to get in and out of when compared to the previous trips to Tan Hung by ambulance. I was taken for a CT scan and the results showed that my left leg was 50mm and my right leg was 52mm. I was lengthening at a rate of 1.2mm per day and felt that I was back on track with only a few more weeks to go.
27th June – Day 81
The pain in my legs became increasingly worse over the past week with every turn of the rod. I couldn’t lie down on my bed anymore because this would cause a searing pain in both my feet that made it feel as though they were on fire. I ended up having to spend all day and night in my wheelchair and slept leaning up against the wall. I wasn’t getting much sleep during the day and the nights felt longer due to the pain.
1st July – Day 85
I was dangerously close to reaching my pain threshold but still continued to lengthen with the same amount of turns per day. However my second CT scan showed that my left foot was 62mm my right foot was 63mm indicating a decreased lengthening rate. I was in a lot of pain but wanted to hold out for just another week so that I could reach my target of 7cm which I had already lowered twice from 8cm.
4th July – Day 88
The sleep and pain medication were no longer having any effect on me and for the past few days I started to get this sharp stabbing pain that I felt deep in my bones. The pain became more frequent and intense to the point where it was no longer bearable. After 75 days of lengthening and nearly 3 months of very little sleep, I was physically and mentally drained and had to tap out. I notified Thao who immediately scheduled a final CT scan, x-ray and my frame removal surgery.
5th July – Day 89
The day of frame removal is often celebrated by many patients but for me it only represented my failure to endure pain and not reaching my goal. I was disappointed that my final scans showed a result of 68mm in both legs. I couldn’t remember anything about the surgery itself but as soon as I woke up in ICU, I was wheeled up to my room on the 9th floor. I was in a lot of pain and my feet and legs were swollen. The doctor advised of raising them up on pillows but I wasn’t going to do that again because even raising my feet up caused that burning skin pain from before.
7th July – Day 91
I wasn’t feeling well enough to go home the day after my surgery so I ended up staying an extra night in the hospital. I returned to the institute to the familiar sight of my room and to the smell of sewerage that had plagued me for the past 3 months. There was a new ceiling fan installed in my room but it didn’t help with the problem.
15th July – Day 99
I had my stitches removed yesterday and started my physiotherapy sessions again today. My therapist helped me to adjust my walker and I stood for first time however it was at a very weird angle due to my ballerina feet and bent leg. I was only able to push down a little bit on my feet and was supporting most of my weight with my arms. The focus of the session was to help loosen my stiff knee and straighten my leg which was locked at almost a 90 degree angle from all the time I spent in the wheelchair.
23rd July – Day 107
I was delivered a pair of shoe insoles a few days ago and used them while standing. They helped with the ballerina feet but my knees were still bent so I tried sleeping on my back with my legs straightened out. Most of my pain was now gone and I just focused on stretching my legs and doing leg bending exercises to help loosen up my knee.
1st August – Day 116
My efforts over the past week has paid off and I can now stand up straight with my walker. The insoles I ordered came with three pieces and I am only using two of them. I can maintain my balance for around 30 seconds before my ankles and feet become too sore. It seems like it took forever to straighten out my leg but I do feel like I am making some progress.
5th August – Day 120
I am walking comfortably with the walker but cannot go very far because my feet starts hurting. I have been getting stomach pain at night and ended up going to the hospital for a checkup. Hanh helped by going with me and buying the medicine the doctor prescribed. After a few days I was feeling a lot better.
14th August – Day 129
The smell in my room was still there even after 4 attempts of trying to fix it. The maintenance at the institute is organized by one of the ladies here and the contractors that are hired seem to be incompetent and often smoke in the room. I saw the building lady in the dining room on the 4th floor and she asked me if there was still a smell in the room. After I replied yes she had the nerve to say that maybe I was just imagining it. She came down to inspect the room and was quite dismissive about it again stating that she can’t smell anything which explains why the issue still remains unresolved.
15th August – Day 130
During my physiotherapy session I practiced using crutches for the first time. I was getting better at maintaining my balance so I found the crutches easy to use. I was still using two pieces of insole and tried to keep my back straight when walking. The physiotherapist told me to focus on my form by not dragging my feet or having an outward motion when I walk. I also practiced standing for longer periods at a time to try to reduce my ballerina feet.
21st August – Day 136
I found out that my cousin was visiting from Australia so I ended up spilling the beans and telling her about my surgery. She was quite shocked but promised not to tell my family. It was such a big relief letting her and my uncle and aunty know. She visited me and brought a bunch of Tim Tams and Shapes which I have missed from home. I had my first official outing and went to her house and enjoyed a nice home cooked meal. I also ended up spending the night away from the institute.
22nd August – Day 137
After I mentioned the sewerage smell in my room to my family over dinner, my uncle went and bought a few supplies to try to help me fix it. He came over with my cousin and they moved my bed to the side and found a small drainage pipe that was exposed. It took him 5 minutes to cover it up and after 116 days of dealing with that incompetent building lady the smell was gone.
25th August – Day 140
My physiotherapist was taking time off work to prepare for his upcoming wedding so this meant I would need to go to the physiotherapy clinic located 900m down the road. This turned out to be quite a good experience because I was able to train with different therapists who all had their own style and methods. The session started off by warming up the leg muscles with heat packs which was followed by deep tissue massage. This really helped loosen me up and allowed me to walk a lot further than usual.
28th August – Day 143
After 3 days at the clinic I was making good progress and practiced walking with the crutches with no insoles in. My left heel is closer to the ground than my right one so I end up putting more weight on the stronger leg when I walk making my left knee hurt more. Today I tried distributing the weight more evenly across both legs and both my knees ending up hurting. This was ok because it means that my form is improving and I am reducing the risk of my left knee being overworked.
4th September – Day 150
At the institute we have our sheets changed and clothes washed twice a week and our rooms are cleaned daily but the biggest complaint from patients is often about the food. Today they tried to address this problem by introducing a new menu where patients could now choose from 3 different meals for lunch and dinner. I weighed myself at the clinic and was tipping the scales at over 69 kgs. All the weight that I had lost after the first surgery had been piled back on thanks to a healthier appetite and the fact that I was averaging 7 hours of sleep a night. The problem is that it went straight to my gut and being top heavy does make it harder to walk.
6th September – Day 152
I had my moon landing moment at the clinic today and took my first few steps without using the crutches. My ballerina feet is still not gone so I have one insole piece left in my shoes. The left leg is still stronger than my right so I walk with a slight limp. I am trying to work on keeping my back straight, my stomach out and my ass in. The clinic also has a leg machine and I do leg raises and leg tucks to try to strengthen my weak knees.
15th September – Day 161
I have made several trips outside of the institute by myself to organize my visa extension and have also met up with friends for a bite. Today I enjoyed an outing with a good friend at a nearby shopping center. I did a lot of walking around on the crutches, used the escalators and even managed to try on some new clothes. It felt good to be out and doing normal everyday things that I would be doing back home. I extended my stay and will be at the institute for 1 more month and then will be renting an apartment in district 1 for 2 months before returning home for Christmas.
19th September – Day 165
This is the first part of my diary which I will now end here. The second part will cover my continued rehabilitation both here in Vietnam and back home in Australia and my nail removal surgery. Below are the links to the pictures I took along the way and the contact details of the institute in Vietnam. If you’ve made it this far thanks for stopping by and I hope I was able to help.
Cheers.
Pictures & VideosPictures:
External frames
https://i.imgur.com/pYELnH8.jpgShoes that helped with reducing ballerina feet
https://i.imgur.com/kw0UA8K.jpgHospital stay and legs fully bandaged after frame removal surgery
https://i.imgur.com/7lb3A1b.jpgScars 5 months after surgery
https://i.imgur.com/UrHxUTK.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/V5jgAB0.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/j8B1kFx.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/h2SjouR.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/BPAGA2L.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/8LumTZP.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/43wMN4a.jpgInitial X-ray
https://i.imgur.com/f8oaimN.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/tjiPX5h.jpgLengthening X-rays
L4mm R4mm
https://i.imgur.com/l4kbzbd.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/Ee00lfV.jpgL10mm R11mm
https://i.imgur.com/4Z16v9j.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/OZzmEZ7.jpgL23mm R24mm
https://i.imgur.com/K1sB51r.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/3Wosdps.jpgL35mm R37mm
https://i.imgur.com/u0UAuyQ.jpgL62mm R63mm
https://i.imgur.com/qGsBfWF.jpgCT scans - progress + final
L50.1mm R52.2mm
https://i.imgur.com/owNIJX0.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/NSxgNZE.jpgL6.83cm R6.79cm
https://i.imgur.com/EOIzUtj.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/A9zXusW.jpgLegs & knees after 6 months
https://i.imgur.com/8CzPMeD.jpgVideos:
Walking with crutches
https://i.imgur.com/IJMYBtw.mp4Walking without crutches
https://i.imgur.com/pwUO52X.mp4Walking up stairs
https://i.imgur.com/3WYbCCw.mp4Walking down stairs
https://i.imgur.com/ox5yKCd.mp4The above videos were taken at 6 months after surgery
Limb Lengthening VietnamContact details:
LINE/WeChat: thao_369
Whatsapp/Viber/Zalo: +84987777706
Email: limblengthconsultant@yahoo.com
P.S Just getting around to posting the diary now as I've been quite busy which is also why I won't have time to read any comments or reply to any questions.
Take care until next time.
Author
Topic: LL in Vietnam - Dr Quynh (Vol. 1 of 2) (Read 3624 times)