Dear readers,
allow me to share my experience with the LL surgery I have underwent in early November 2022 in Vietnam under Dr. Quynh. I have done LON on tibias and successfully lengthened 7cm (the exact height gain was actually 7,28cm, as per the last CT scan).
Despite this forum offering a plethora of useful info, I often found some of the journals here to be all over the place or drowning important details, the threads being polluted by off topic discussions and, if you spend a while reading the posts here, you will find many of the posters to be mentally challenged. However, I still believe this forum to be the best source of LL information and that most of the readers here are still just reasonable people, and so, I will attempt to make this entry throughout, easy to read and objective. If there is something I omit, you can find it in a detailed journal that I kept, which I will link below. Unlike this post, that journal is full of my subjective thoughts and unnecessary additional info. But I take it some people might find it useful reading into the little details. After all, a large stressor about this surgery is the unknown. Perhaps lifting the veil a little bit can ease a few minds.
DAY TO DAY JOURNAL LINK:
https://files.catbox.moe/rrau22.pdfI have decided to make this forum post only after being done with the entire procedure in order to give a complete, throughout and unfragmented report. For this purpose, I consider being done as being able to walk unassisted.
• male | 27yo | 170cm → 177cm | LON tibias
• Dr. Quynh | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | Nam Sai Gon International (hospital)
• standard room package | 21,600 USD all included (
price from 11/2022. Might be different now)
• surgery on 12.11.2022 | frame removal on 16.03.2023 | walking unassisted from 07/2023
• lean, athletic build and good flexibility prior to surgery; despite that, I still struggled with tightness in the higher centimetres
• developed slight ballerina feet and knee bending towards the end. Knee bending went away very swiftly, ballerina persisted and required diligent stretching and walking to overcome
DISCLAIMER7cm on tibias is a lot and the risk of complications is exponentially higher than in the 5cm surrounding range. Please only decide for this much if your doctor approves it and you are content with undertaking that risk. Just because I got lucky and got to 7cm without bigger issues doesn’t mean others might. There are people who got fked up with way less centimetres lengthened. The reasons I went for this much were (i) doctor approved 7cm as my max safe limit when assessing my initial x-ray, (ii) I was very flexible prior to the surgery and had faith in my ability to recover flexibility after the lengthening, and, most importantly, (iii) during the first surgery, they discovered my bones to be abnormally hard, which made me confident in the ability of my bones to take this much. And I suppose I could add (iv), my risk tolerance is somewhat high.
SurgeryFor everything surrounding my surgery and the following days, I have nothing but praise. The Nam Sai Gon International hospital is modern, clean and professional. I understand that Vietnam is not considered a first world country, but the hospital certainly is on a first world level, as is the care within. You go through all sorts of tests first – blood, urine, heart, etc. – to make sure you can safely have the surgery. On surgery day, all the way up to the operating table, the assistants are there with you should you need anything. Upon waking up, I recall no pain at all, being able to move my feet and not even feeling dizzy or anything. All I felt was some discomfort in my feet for a little while, but that’s about it. In the few days I spent in the hospital room, I don’t recall any pain, even when the epidural ran out. I could sleep ok. Overall, I felt good and strong and all the initial exercises went really smoothly. Even the first walk. During your stay in the hospital, the nurses are there often for various tasks, especially the first three days, such as IV change or taking your pressure, so your condition is closely monitored. And, of course, there is a caretaker lady in the hospital room with you 24/7. Or you could always call one of the assistants. The point is, the entire time around surgery and for the hospital stay, I felt like I was in the care of people who knew what they were doing. You stay in the hospital for about a week.
PainEveryone’s experience and pain tolerance is different, keep that in mind. In the beginning, I was told by the assistants that from their patients experiences, the amount and timing of pain can be vastly different.
Despite pain itself being one of the most talked about topics here, there is a number of other things that might prove to be an equally daunting challenge. For example, the constant low amount of discomfort that is ever present can be debilitating over time. Subtle nerve spasms in a tiny area in your foot, despite not being painful, can completely rob you of sleep. Compounding fatigue can sap your strength like nothing else during the last millimetres. I think I experienced a plethora of different kinds of pains and discomforts. There is pain that you can push through with willpower. There is pain you cant. Pain that disarms you, pain that bothers you. Pain that cuts, pain that stings. Pain that takes your physical strength, pain that takes your mental strength. My point is, don’t treat the reported pain levels one-sidedly, as in “I can handle 5/10 pain for a month, Ill be fine”. Because it downplays the diversity of hardships you might potentially experience.
In summary, I experienced all sorts of pains and all sorts of discomfortable feelings. Despite what I wrote, if I really, absolutely had to rate it all with a number, I could summarize my overall pain number as around 6-7/10 for the entire experience. One thing I would like to emphasize – I went into this thinking that the pain would gradually build up and basically be the worst by the end. Not true for me. Rather, it was up and down. One day could be great, next three awful. But if I had to pinpoint the pain peak, it would be around 4-5cm.
Don’t worry though. You have painkillers, should you need them. And of course, you can always talk to the assistants/nurse if you feel like you need different meds or anything else. There is always a way. And, in my experience, there is a huge improvement in your comfort and sleep if you slow down your lengthening, even more so once you stop completely.
AccommodationThe best part of the package they offer is the accommodation, food and constant care that is all within the package price.
The standard rooms are medium sized rooms with a large bed. You can ask for anything extra, you can bring anything extra you want – my neighbour brought a ps5, a guy in a different apartment brought his entire gaming pc. Personally, I didn’t bring much aside from clothes and a laptop and it was completely enough for me. They provide all the medical necessities for lengthening – vitamins, painkillers, walker, etc.
In the main room of the apartment, a caretaker lives. They contract old ladies who each stay for however long they want – I believe two of ours stayed over a month, others for a few weeks. They bring you meals, do your laundry, clean your room daily and assist you whenever you need it. I would say they understand their role and don’t bother you unnecessarily and are very nice overall. I could open my door from the bed so I could call on them from there, but my neighbours just called them on the phone whenever they needed them to come for something.
You get three meals per day, usually with a balanced meat/carbs/vegetables ratio. Theres fresh fruit pretty often.
Six days a week, a nurse comes in to change your bandages + clean your wounds and legs + disinfect the pin sites. She takes a picture of every single one of your pin sites every time and if there is anything, anything at all about your legs that would require addressing, it is addressed and solved. I cannot stress enough how great this is. This brings the infection risk to a minimum, which, as I understand, is the main concern with external LON. Besides, the nurse herself is great and helpful.
Also six days a week, physiotherapy. Takes about an hour, mixing exercises, stretches and assisted stretches, finished with a walk. Gets harder every day.
Overall, I believe the accommodation has everything you might need during your lengthening, they have the system set out pretty well. The only responsibility you are left with is your lengthening, exercising and wearing the anti-ballerina shoes. Which seems easy enough but gets harder as your fortitude wains.
(pic with a timestamp, hopefully the link works. Cant figure out why the preview shows it sideways):
Anyways, I wish to help anyone who chooses to undertake this procedure to the best of my abilities with the limited experience I have with it. Feel free to pm me. Or, if you find yourself in Prague, Id be happy to meet up.
I will make another post in a few months or so.
Author
Topic: LON Tibias 7cm | Dr. Quynh | 11/2022 | Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (Read 2422 times)