Topic: Russia External (Read 3383 times)

Sleepisneverenough · « **on:** April 17, 2020, 07:43:05 PM »

Currently in the consolidation phase and getting very restless, so I decided to share my experience to kill some time and also to help people out there to make more informed decisions.

More about myself:
From the wealthiest SEA country
Under 40 years old (don't wish to be too specific for privacy reasons)
pure external tibia 3~3.3cm
pre-LL height is between 5.4" to 5.7" (don't wish to be too specific for privacy reasons)

I got the surgery done in Russia early Jan this year and returned back to my country after one week in the hospital. Prior to the surgery, I got in contact with the Russian surgeon and discussed my goals, date of surgery and whatnot over a span of about 6 months. I also made sure that my local orthopaedic has experience in ilizarov and is agreeable to seeing me during my lengthening phase as I knew I would not be able to stay in Russia for the entire lengthening phase due to visa issues and the medical system back in my country is excellent.

In case anyone is wondering, my country's public hospitals do not do LL for cosmetic reasons, one would have to go to a private hospital to get it done, which would cost close to 100k USD.

I started lengthening around 10 days after the surgery at a rate of 1mm per day at the most and some days around 0.5-0.75mm just to give my body some time to catch up. Infections are hard to clear despite frequent pin site cleaning and oral antibiotics, but my local ortho does not seem to be too concerned by the infection as long as they do not spread to the bone and pain is still tolerable. One thing that people have to be prepared for is the swelling of the feet and ankles, I did my own stretching and was a little too aggressive and thus injured my tendons around the lower part of the tibia.

Even though the frames are fully weight bearing as tolerable, walking isn't easy as I thought it would be. The frames are supporting the fractured bones, but affecting the skin, muscles and tendons. I only lengthened 3 cm, but already I am unable to achieve more than 90 degrees of dorsiflexion; could be due to swelling of the ankles as well.

According to the 2 cm per month rule, my bones should be consolidated enough to remove the frames by july. I will only be seeing my ortho again in early June and he will decide a course of action based on the x-rays by then, which would be to either leave the frames on all the way until a safe consolidation amount if he deems the bone growth rate as satisfactory, or set me up for an operation to remove the frames and put plates together with bone grafting. For the plates to work, a good amount of consolidation must still be present since they are not really weight bearing. He prefers plating over nailing due to the higher risk and difficulty in treating infection if it happens.

That's about it for now, feel free to ask some questions.

soitchi · « **Reply #1 on:** April 18, 2020, 05:10:02 AM »

So what is your goal?

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #2 on:** April 18, 2020, 05:34:39 AM »

Goal was initially 4 cm, but decided on 3 cm in the end as I just want to quickly get this over and done with. Achieved 3 cm and stopped lengthening in mid March.

Shortgunner · « **Reply #3 on:** April 18, 2020, 05:49:22 AM »

You are going through all this suffering of breaking your bones just to achieve a mere 3 cm ?

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #4 on:** April 18, 2020, 06:16:50 AM »

It's just 1 cm shy of my initial goal of 4 cm, and even then, my legs look so long now. This is enough to to close the gap with my brother as I'm now around the same height as him. Before this, it was definitely noticeable. People keep striving for value with this surgery, but the way I see it, every cm takes around 2 additional months of consolidation, coupled with the long recovery after removal of hardware, it's just too much time. Anyway, I don't have a specific height goal, just wanted to be a bit taller that's all.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #5 on:** May 09, 2020, 10:24:21 AM »

Ok so just a quick update, my local Ortho said he can remove the frames somewhere in June. He will decide on the spot during the operation whether the bones are strong enough to be left without support or to insert plates if he deems there is still some risk of fracture

Polvorón · « **Reply #6 on:** May 09, 2020, 01:44:43 PM »

Just two questions about habits: Did you smoke or drink alcohol before (weeks or months) doing LL? Thanks.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #7 on:** May 09, 2020, 03:29:08 PM »

I quite smoking years before I even knew about this procedure. As for alcohol, I used to drink like once a week before the surgery, but have completely ceased alcohol consumption temporarily during this recovery period.

10cmOnTibiaOrGTFO · « **Reply #8 on:** May 23, 2020, 09:05:52 AM »

Lol you are an idiot. You go through all this and the money to do what can be achieved wearing slightly thicker shoes

mangoman · « **Reply #9 on:** May 23, 2020, 09:59:12 AM »

Quote from: 10cmOnTibiaOrGTFO on May 23, 2020, 09:05:52 AM

Lol you are an idiot. You go through all this and the money to do what can be achieved wearing slightly thicker shoes

And you should stop insulting people.

Polvorón · « **Reply #10 on:** May 23, 2020, 01:34:47 PM »

Quote from: 10cmOnTibiaOrGTFO on May 23, 2020, 09:05:52 AM

Lol you are an idiot. You go through all this and the money to do what can be achieved wearing slightly thicker shoes

It's his body and his life. Maybe you don't understand it, but he knows his life and his body better than you.

Also, people who do this, sometimes don't want just to look taller, they want to be taller.
Thicker shoes don't change your body, CLL does.

My interest in CLL is because I want to have a tall body, I want to feel that, and shoe lifts are not enough for me, since they are not part of my body.

10cmOnTibiaOrGTFO · « **Reply #11 on:** May 23, 2020, 05:07:09 PM »

"Hopping to become 185 cm from 173 cm"

this is a good goal i respect you if you do it. 12cm its amazing.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #12 on:** May 24, 2020, 09:13:52 AM »

Spot on, Polvoro. I may also wear 1-2 cm lifts after CLL. I feel like a happier person and can already see the difference in height when standing close to my friends and family even though it's just 3.3 cm.

Achondroplasia2011 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 26, 2020, 05:25:39 AM »

Can i know the Doctor, and how much you spent for the whole.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #14 on:** May 26, 2020, 05:32:11 AM »

Hi Achondroplasia2011,

I PMed you.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #15 on:** May 26, 2020, 05:44:54 AM »

One thing I learned is to never overdo physio and walking. Soft tissue tear is more painful than any of the pain directly associated with wearing the frames and they take longer to heal as well.

I pushed myself to walk up a long stretch of pavement with a slight slope upwards, thinking it would help to improve my ankle's flexibility. Boy was I wrong, this damaged my tendon. I have since accepted that my ankle flexibility will continue to remain as such for as long as the frames are on, since the pins and wires inevitably have to go through your muscles and this sort of of inhibits range of motion.

My ortho said ROM will get better after frame removal and that the wires and pins cutting through muscles to reach the tibia is nothing to worry about, since the damage they cause to the soft tissues are negligible and definitely not enough to cause a complete rupture of the soft tissues.

Koharu · « **Reply #16 on:** May 27, 2020, 04:50:21 AM »

Could I please know which doctor you went with? I am considering either Russian or Indian doctor myself. Also would it be correct to say for 3cm you have to stay in Russia for about 7.5 months?

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #17 on:** May 27, 2020, 06:37:37 AM »

I have PMed you the doctor. Only stayed there for a week.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #18 on:** May 31, 2020, 11:04:51 AM »

So I recently noticed that my left tibia has a slight protrusion, is this normal? What can be done to correct this? It is not causing any pain or discomfort at the moment. I will only be seeing my ortho in two weeks' time.

https://imgur.com/a/j88AApA

Polvorón · « **Reply #19 on:** May 31, 2020, 08:48:12 PM »

Quote from: Sleepisneverenough on May 31, 2020, 11:04:51 AM

So I recently noticed that my left tibia has a slight protrusion, is this normal? What can be done to correct this? It is not causing any pain or discomfort at the moment. I will only be seeing my ortho in two weeks' time.

https://imgur.com/a/j88AApA

It seems that it is the bone callus, it will stay here for a while, and then it will be reabsorbed by the body leaving the original shape of the bone.
Note: I am not a doctor.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #20 on:** June 01, 2020, 07:06:52 AM »

Thanks for your input Polvoron, makes sense to me. Guess I can only wait and see how it goes for now.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #21 on:** June 01, 2020, 11:28:50 AM »

Ok so I tried walking without walkers yesterday with the belief that I gotta start pushing myself if I am to recover and go back to my pre-LL life in the next two to three months, because after all, I'm quite close to removal of frames which should happen somewhere in June. Woke up this morning in pain around my outer knee on right leg and my soft tissue damage on my left leg/ankle seemed to have worsen after getting better in the past few days. Currently on NSAID painkiller and feeling at peace.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #22 on:** July 02, 2020, 04:46:26 AM »

Hi everyone,

Just got nails and was discharged from hospital a few days back. I am permitted to 100% weight bearing since the nails are strong enough and my bones were already somewhat hard before inserting the nails. Currently walking with walkers and knees are still quite swollen with a bit of aching pain. All in all, feeling good and optimistic on my recovery. I target to walk unaided somewhere in August.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #23 on:** July 10, 2020, 02:01:34 PM »

10 days post nailing, have been walking on walker/crutches since day 3. Stopped using NSAID at the thought of slowing down bone healing, only on paracetamol now. Never expected the pain and discomfort to be so much more than when the external fixators were put on. The pain I'm currently experiencing is kinda hard to describe, no sharp pains, but I get persistent dull chilly aching pains at parts of my tibia. There is still considerable swelling, especially along and knees and the entire tibia, perhaps because of the reaming. I notice that the pain seems to get more annoying when it is cold. The locking screws at the top of the IM nail is painful on touch, maybe because my skin is very thin.

Anyone who has gone through IM nailing of the tibias care to share your experience post nailing? PT is very painful, knees are swollen stiff, making PT much dreaded.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #24 on:** August 07, 2020, 09:12:59 AM »

Update

Hi, thought I'd give an update. It's been 5, almost 6 weeks post nailing, I can waddle around at home without assistive devices, no more swelling and pain. Wounds have all healed fine. Working on my physio everyday and currently have around 3-5 degrees of dorsiflexion and full knee ROM.

Arrogance · « **Reply #25 on:** August 12, 2020, 05:26:45 PM »

Idealy, pure externals would be the safest method, but it's long and painful. However every patient experiences pain differently. How did you find it? I mean, before inserting the nails

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #26 on:** August 14, 2020, 06:57:04 AM »

Was supposed to do pure externals, but my doctor said my bone healing is slow so he suggested nailing and I agreed with him. There was no pain with external fixators, but a lot of inconvenience in daily life; getting dressed, keeping the wounds clean, controlling the infection to make sure they don't worsen, ankle flexibility impaired and they are very heavy. Did not realize how heavy they were until I got them removed and carried them on my hands.

Sleepisneverenough · « **Reply #27 on:** December 09, 2020, 12:10:17 PM »

UPDATE

Hi everyone, pardon my lack of updates. I don't visit this forum as often anymore as I am recovering well and have moved on from this experience. Back to work as usual and my gait is fine now without any pain when walking. I still require conscious effort in climbing down stairs though, but I noticed that even this has gotten better ever since I resumed my isometric exercises that target my glutes and quads which I only do once a week, 10 sets of two reps each for straight leg raises and squats (got lazy to keep up with physio about a month after my nailing), and believe that it will only get better as long I am consistent in my rehab.

It has been half a year since nailing, I can jog and jump slightly, but extra must be taken as I slowly regain confidence in doing these activities. Will visit my local ortho again early next year to discuss getting the nails removed since I am still young with a long way to go and would like bring my legs back to closer to pre-LL surgery condition, so that I can travel the world with ease, once countries open up their borders for leisure travel again.

Limb Lengthening Forum

Author Topic: Russia External (Read 3383 times)