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[Uppland]

I know there are countless posts like this but in light of recent complications (programdude and crimsontide) I'd like to renew the discussion.

First of all, could some of the veterans tell us how the months after consolidation went, some have said this is an even bigger process than surgery+lengthening, is that true?

Second, could we talk a bit of how common these kinds of complications that, for example, programdude experiences really are and how severe?

Finally, I would personally like to know if it is at all realistic to do a somewhat modest amount (5CM) and be able to more or less forget about the fact 2 years later?

My own goal is simply to reach a decent height and then move on with my life.

Thanks everyone.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

I like to tell people that the end of the lengthening phase is when LL begins, not when it ends.  When I first left the hospital, I could barely balance myself enough to use a walker.  I had to lean way forward and put my whole body weight on the walker in order to avoid falling backwards.  It took me two hours to walk around the block, which is normally a 10-15 minute journey.  I spent about two months needing the walker to get around before I was able to graduate to crutches.

I spent another two months needing crutches to get around.  At about the four month mark, I was finally able to ditch the crutches, but my walking was still really, really slow.  Stairs (especially going down) continued to give me a really hard time.  It was easier to walk backwards down stairs than forwards.

It was about 6-8 months after leaving the hospital before I had regained enough strength and flexibility to walk somewhat normally.

I've never heard of someone having their leg snap after the rods were removed until it happened to programdude.  Either his bone wasn't consolidated enough when the nails were removed, or his muscles just created too much tension for the bone to handle.  The former seems more likely, but I'm hesitant to think that a doctor of Rozbruch's caliber would make such a mistake.  So it remains a mystery.

To answer your final question, I think 3 years after lengthening or 2 years after nail removal is a good rule of thumb for being truly finished with LL.  Your results, of course, may vary.

[KiloKAHN]

My left leg seems 90% normal and my right is lagging behind. I still have muscle tightness that's not all the way resolved almost a year after the lengthening is complete. At the end of August my right achilles tendon became inflamed from tightness in the ankles and I had to go back to using a brace for a while until it resolved. Haven't yet tried to run either. PT makes a huge difference in recovery speed, imo, because even with a ton of walking it seemed like I had hit a plateau until I introduced PT that included intense stretching exercises into my day to day activities.

Recovery is a lot more difficult than the lengthening period itself, imo, because unlike with the distraction phrase you can't physically see progress every day and it's something you notice gradually. You may even have a number of setbacks that seem to delay your progress and make you discouraged.

[Nightwish]

Do people think recovery would have been easier if legs were operated on at separate times?

[Ozymandias]

Do people think recovery would have been easier if legs were operated on at separate times?

I also want to ask this question. I was a bit skeptical about two stage procedures but I'm becoming more and more convinced about their pros.

[Uppland]

I like to tell people that the end of the lengthening phase is when LL begins, not when it ends.  When I first left the hospital, I could barely balance myself enough to use a walker.  I had to lean way forward and put my whole body weight on the walker in order to avoid falling backwards.  It took me two hours to walk around the block, which is normally a 10-15 minute journey.  I spent about two months needing the walker to get around before I was able to graduate to crutches.

I spent another two months needing crutches to get around.  At about the four month mark, I was finally able to ditch the crutches, but my walking was still really, really slow.  Stairs (especially going down) continued to give me a really hard time.  It was easier to walk backwards down stairs than forwards.

It was about 6-8 months after leaving the hospital before I had regained enough strength and flexibility to walk somewhat normally.

I've never heard of someone having their leg snap after the rods were removed until it happened to programdude.  Either his bone wasn't consolidated enough when the nails were removed, or his muscles just created too much tension for the bone to handle.  The former seems more likely, but I'm hesitant to think that a doctor of Rozbruch's caliber would make such a mistake.  So it remains a mystery.

To answer your final question, I think 3 years after lengthening or 2 years after nail removal is a good rule of thumb for being truly finished with LL.  Your results, of course, may vary.

Thanks, how much of each day would have to be dedicated to physical therapy during the recovery phase?

[programdude]

I was lead to believe 6 months post op to acceptable recovery, one year to full. This was wildly inaccurate.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Do people think recovery would have been easier if legs were operated on at separate times?

Having one good leg the whole time will make things so much easier.  No wheelchairs, no walkers, you can hop somewhere if you need to.  Too bad the extra money and time involved make that not an option for most people.

Thanks, how much of each day would have to be dedicated to physical therapy during the recovery phase?

The more, the better.  Sometimes I took two two-hour walks a day.  Most of what I did during the first six months after coming back from China was walk, rest, repeat.  I could easily sleep 12 hours a night plus take a nap during the day.  I was a full time LL-recoverer.  Recovery would've been much harder and taken a lot longer if I'd had a job to go to at the time.