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[Raisin Bran]

Day 102 - LAST DAY!

Today is my last day of clicking. As I'm writing this, I have reached the apex of my journey, 10.44cm. As you can imagine, I am very glad to be finished. Although I've reached the top of the mountain, I have to deal with my descent down now. The recovery process will definitely be easier than the lengthening period, but there is still much work remaining.

Earlier in the afternoon, I had a 1hr physiotherapy session with Peter Woll. It was the last physio I will have during lengthening. I discussed my x-ray results with Peter, and he was surprised that I had more bone growth on the outer portion of the femur than the inner. Typically, patients will see a bone bridge on the inner portion of the leg because the muscles are more prevalent in this area. He even showed me some pictures of x-rays from previous patients on his phone as further evidence of this growth. Regardless, this was not an issue for my level of bone consolidation.

At the end of our session, I showed Peter the improvements I'd made in my right ITB. I could stand with both legs closed and straight, back straight, heels down, and shift my entire body weight onto each leg pretty well. He was a bit shocked at this dramatic change in my ITB during the lengthening phase, but I told him I had been working on this constantly. I did not do a specific exercise for the IT band, but I focused on lowering the left heel every time I would stand up, and balancing my weight evenly on each leg every time I would walk. On a negative note, I have developed a very slight lordosis in my lower back. It was imperceptible until Peter showed me in the mirror. However, it is there and can develop into a larger issue if it is ignored. This will be a new issue to focus on for the next few weeks.

According to Peter, I should be able to do physio training without the crutches in 3-4 weeks because of the 13mm nail and my current condition. I can't wait until my mobility is strong enough for me to put away the crutches. My long term plan is to stay in Germany for a full 3 months of recovery. I think 3 months should be more than enough time for me to regain my old form.

Since my lengthening phase has concluded, I will post less frequently in my diary now because my days will be less eventful. Instead of daily updates, I think I will post every 3 days, regarding my progress. Of course, I will always be available to answer any questions or requests within 24 hours. Feel free to reach out to me in this thread.

- Raisin Bran

[Raisin Bran]

Day 110

It's been 8 days since the conclusion of my clicking. Apologies for not updating my journal according to the writing timeline I had given. When nothing of consequence transpires over the course of many days, I suddenly lack the initiative to write another entry. However, as it's been more than a week now, I do have a few things of interest to write about.

Dr. Betz came for a visit to Elke's house last Friday, which was a few days after I had finished. He discussed the positive results of the x-ray with me. Everything he said was pretty much in line with my earlier statements about my x-ray in the last post: solid bone development, bridge formation in the inner leg, nails and screws in perfect condition, and equal lengths between the two legs. My initial femur-tibia percentage was an uncommon 86%, and my final percentage is 70%. Although 86% is closer to the average of 80% than 70% would be, my proportions look fine in my opinion and in the opinions of other people I have asked. As I've mentioned before, I wear all my pants at hip level, before and after surgery, so that definitely allows me to get away with the lower percentage.

As far as the other patients in the house, Dr. Betz met with each of them as well, and gave his points of praise and/or concern. The LL user, september14, was there too, but Dr. Betz had very little to say to him because of his very positive condition. He is a testament to the benefits of youth, exercise, and short-term human hibernation, lol.

The worst patient was this Asian girl (femurs) who was just completely delusional about her physical issues. Dr. Betz was very worried about her because she would only do exercises that she was already good at, such as quad or hamstring stretches, and avoided working on her major problem areas, such as the hip flexors and IT bands. At less than 3 cm, she had already developed a bad duck a**, wide legs, no bone growth, and much more. Just terrible. Even worse, she would not listen to the advice of current patients or professionals, like Dr. Betz and Peter. Her mindset is that she has all the time in the world to get better, on her own terms. She would say things like, "It's fine if I need 3 more years to walk normal." Fortunately, she left the house recently, so we don't have to see this walking tragedy ever again. I only mention her as a strong example of what not to do for future and current patients. Always listen to the advice of your doctors, trained professionals, and successful patients. Their combined knowledge is much greater than your own.

Also, my medication is almost finished. I still take the various painkillers and a blood thinner, but I have significantly lowered my intake since last week. Hopefully, when I have run out of meds, I will feel fine without their assistance. Of course, I still need my daily intake of calcium and magnesium, which I can buy without a prescription.

In terms of my current physical condition, I don't feel much different than during the lengthening phase. It has just been 8 days. Every few days, the areas of weakness in my legs changes and that does feel very strange. You get used to standing straight a certain way to leverage your weight on a part of your legs, and when things randomly change, that former area of strength suddenly feels stiff when you try to walk afterwards. This is more of a nuisance than an issue though. Today, when I woke up, my quad and hamstring muscles felt looser when I touched and massaged them. This is definitely an important development that I'd been hoping for. Also, the nerve sensitivity on the back of my right knee is mostly gone, which is a big relief in my everyday routine.

In conclusion, I'm feeling better and I can't wait to get back the parts of my function that I had lost in lengthening. I will try to write an update soon, but I don't want to promise a time frame. However, it should be more recent than this last 8 day hiatus. I appreciate everyone who reads my diary and hope that you continue to read and post.

- Raisin Bran

[Uppland]

Good luck Raisin, hopefully you can prove that 10CM is possible to do in one egment under the right circumstances.

[Metanoia]

Day 110



The worst patient was this Asian girl (femurs) who was just completely delusional about her physical issues. Dr. Betz was very worried about her because she would only do exercises that she was already good at, such as quad or hamstring stretches, and avoided working on her major problem areas, such as the hip flexors and IT bands. At less than 3 cm, she had already developed a bad duck a**, wide legs, no bone growth, and much more. Just terrible. Even worse, she would not listen to the advice of current patients or professionals, like Dr. Betz and Peter. Her mindset is that she has all the time in the world to get better, on her own terms. She would say things like, "It's fine if I need 3 more years to walk normal." Fortunately, she left the house recently, so we don't have to see this walking tragedy ever again. I only mention her as a strong example of what not to do for future and current patients. Always listen to the advice of your doctors, trained professionals, and successful patients. Their combined knowledge is much greater than your own.

Wow, so how come you know all those intimate details about this “bad patient”? Did Betz tell you in breach of his medical confidentiality? I remember him often badmouthing other patients in front of me. However you should abstain from respectlessly bashing other patients. It's disgusting.

[Raisin Bran]

Re: Uppland

Thanks Uppland, hope everything turns out well. There are actually 4 patients in our house, including myself, who have lengthened 10cm or more with the femurs. You already know my condition. If you looked through september14's diary, he's doing very well. The other patient is the one I mentioned earlier, who left to go home just 2 weeks after surgery, did not do any Physio at home, and returned a couple of weeks ago with little flexibility in his hip flexors and a bad duck a**. His condition is gradually improving, but it will take another month or two for him to get rid of this issue. The final guy is a removal patient, who had his nails taken out 2 days ago. Looking at his condition after 18 months with the 13mm nail, it is just amazing. He was actually running and weight training, before he came back for removal. It seems that doing 10cm in one segment is somewhat common for the femur patients of Dr. Betz.

Re: Metanoia

LOL, buddy, do you even read the entirety of my posts? She was staying at our house, so I was closely familiar with her habits and issues. I'm sure readers would like to know how it is possible for some patients to have a terrible lengthening and recovery period, and that is why I provide these anecdotes. Just sharing all positive success stories can be a bit boring and one-sided. I could care less about your vendetta against Dr. Betz, so please don't spam my diary again with your nonsense. If you are honestly disgusted with my entries, I should suggest something that might help: ignore them. Please and thank you.

[Metanoia]

I made it very clear that you would get flames if you lied about other patients. Therefore stop it and i'll leave you alone. How are you supposed to know about her exercises just because you live in the same guesthouse? Does she make the exercises in front if you? And you can immediately judge it? Your so-called diary is the most disingenuous ever.

[Raisin Bran]

Re: Metanoia

It's amazing that you know I must be lying. Regardless, if you live with another person in the same house for months and go to Physio together, you know all of their lengthening successes and failures intimately. Stop trying to second-guess everything I post bro, just worry about your own life.

[Alittletooshort]

Hey Bran,
Could you post a picture of your current proportions or will you post one in the future? I´d be highly interested in how you look after such a large amount of lengthening.
Cheers!

[ThePotatoRage]

Hey Bran,
My name is Ilay, I'm 15 years old and 1.63cm (done growing...)
I've read all of your comments, and I would be happy if you'd let me talk to you personally. Phone call would be best. My Email address is: ilayron8@gmail.com
I'm interested in a surgery at Dr.Betz's, but I'm very concerned about the healing process, pain and gaining back my full abilities from before the LL.
This is my story by the way: http://www.reddit.com/r/short/comments/32bj59/being_short_for_life_is_new_for_me/
Since then I've learned a lot about the surgery and got more used to the "short for life" thing, since It's been almost 2 months after I've been told I won't grow any taller anymore.

Thanks a lot (:

[KiloKAHN]

I made it very clear that you would get flames if you lied about other patients. Therefore stop it and i'll leave you alone.

Or you can leave Raisin Bran's thread alone because flaming is against forum rules:
http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=1007.0

Major Violations(will result in a warning or immediate ban depending on severity)

1) Insulting/Name Calling/Hostility toward another member (ie. retard, piece of s**t, mentally ill).   This include instigating/provoking another member into hostility.

Minor Violations (will result in warning if repeated)

8 )  Taking a thread off topic

Do not derail threads with posts that are not related to the topic of the discussion. Either find/create another more relevant thread or send a private message if you want to discuss something off topic with people contributing to the thread.

9) Getting into an heated argument with someone

Similar to taking a thread off topic, if you are getting into a heated argument with someone in a thread, start a private conversation with that person so you do not take the thread off topic.

I said before that you're free to voice your dissatisfaction with Dr Betz on the forum, but do so outside of Raisin Bran's thread. Accusing Raisin Bran of lying is also unfair. You're not there to share his experience with him. 

[Sweden]

Congratulations on reaching 10cm!!

Please post a picture of you standing up. Just cover your face with a Tshirt or something.

[greatheight]

So mean people over here... 

[Raisin Bran]

Re: KiloKAHN

Appreciate the support and the clarification of forum rules.

Re: Sweden, Alittletooshort

Appreciate the warm regards from both of you. In terms of photos of my current condition and proportions, I have been going back and forth the last few days on whether I should post or not, due to worries about being recognized by anyone that I am familiar with. As I've mentioned before, no family members, friends, or acquaintances know that I've done this surgery. However, I finally decided that I will provide some pictures of my lower body proportions. I'll definitely try to post them on my diary later this week.

Re: greatheight

Yes, there are. Can't let them phase you though.

[Raisin Bran]

Day 115

Hey, it's been 5 days since my last post, so let me update on my recent happenings. I've finished taking my painkiller prescriptions (Mydocalm, Tramadol) and my blood thinner (Xarelto). I should also mention that I stopped taking a third painkiller (Novalgin) about 6-7 weeks ago, and returned my remaining boxes to the pharmacy for a full refund. My supply of magnesium and calcium has also been exhausted, but I purchased a combination calcium/magnesium supplement that includes a proper daily intake of each. Dr. Betz said that they were a fine replacement for the original supplements that I'd been taking and they were only €5 at the drug store for a 6 week supply.

Since removing painkillers, my leg muscles have been more tense and fatigued daily, especially right after a physiotherapy session and the morning after the session. Peter Woll has definitely increased the intensity of our stretches and exercises since I've stopped clicking. I think I will start drinking a slow-acting casein protein shake every night now. I purchased a few KGs of high-grade casein prior to the surgery, in anticipation of this recovery period. I think this is the perfect time to start giving my leg muscles some extra fuel.

Late last week, I almost caught a fever/cold. I had a bad headache for 2 days and starting getting other early symptoms all through the weekend. Fortunately, it passed on Sunday night, leaving me with a small cold sore/fever blister. It's remarkable to get something like this in mid-May, but it's been quite cold in Wadern (Germany) lately. However, this had a terrible effect on my last 2 physio sessions this past week. According to Peter, it's the worst condition he'd seen me in since we started. I persevered through the combined 2 hours and we did not reduce the intensity, but I was just physically worn down after each session.

Lately, I've been walking short distances without my crutches again. The walking is a work-in-progress, but it's getting more normal everyday. The difference in height between the left leg and the right leg, due to IT band tightness, has especially improved. I can walk without a slight drop on my left side now, and when I stand straight with my legs closed, I can get both heels down with almost equal weight on each. Trying to do this before would require a lot of effort. Also, I have been working on moving my shoulders and torso more as I walk, so I don't look as stiff as I did when walking with crutches.

Anyway, I haven't had much else happen these past 5 days. The best time I had though was probably watching the Golovkin boxing match on HBO Sunday night. I think that match got me pumped up enough to kick the fever out of my system. LOL.

I'll update again later this week, and hopefully, have some pictures of my proportions as well. Thanks for the reads and responses.

- Raisin Bran

[KiloKAHN]

That's great you're able to walk. Feels much better than being bed ridden even if walking is difficult.

So I take it that Dr Betz doesn't perform an IT release? My surgeon doesn't like doing IT releases most of the time and I hear that Dr Guichet is the same way, despite Dr Paley insisting that everyone should get one when lengthening femurs.

[Raisin Bran]

Re: KiloKAHN

Thanks bro, I read through your diary recently and in a kind of selfish way, it made me appreciate my own improving condition even more. I came into this with a lot of self-discipline, but I think I would've gone insane if I had a longer process of recovery since no one knows about my surgery. Probably would've had to exile myself to another country for years. It's great to see how much you've progressed though, from the earlier days post-surgery.

As for the IT band release, I forgot to mention this in my diary, but Dr. Betz talked about this at my consultation last year. He mentioned that typically, patients develop much tightness in the ITBs during lengthening and that proper physiotherapy will help resolve this. Then, he told me that some other lengthening doctors decide to alter the bands during surgery, but he chooses to avoid this because he believes that it can lead to an unnatural function during recovery. He prefers to have patients work through their IT band issues through stretching and exercise. Also, Peter Woll talked to me about the releases maybe 6-8 weeks ago during a session. To paraphrase him to the best of my abilities, he said that the function of patients can be quite compromised after the releases. Although a patient would not have the tightness in their ITBs, they could have to worry about the opposite problem: unstable legs, from the knees to the hips, that cause a weakened gait. So, if a ITB release patient has such a condition, they would have to work with physiotherapy on resolving those issues instead. In my opinion, I'd take the tight IT band over loose/limp IT band. However, I'm just making this judgement from the advice of others and my own IT band experiences.

- Raisin Bran

[maximize]

Why didn't you go with Guichet since his nail is better at weight bearing?

[Raisin Bran]

Day 325

Hello, I just wanted to post back on my diary after a significant period of time had passed, and I did not really have anything notable to write about. Regardless of that, my experience in this 210 day period has been good, but also very ordinary. I have been working, traveling, and exercising. Just moving on with an ordinary life. My biggest mistake in this recovery period has been not practicing yoga or low-impact pilates. Doing either one of them would have greatly benefitted my overall lower-body flexibility. For exercise, I have been doing low-impact cardio, plyometrics, and weight training. The keyword here, of course, is low-impact. It's always important to be safe, as Peter Woll loves to say. Personally, in terms of physical performance, my sprinting (running) is back, but still extremely lacking. I only feel comfortable for 15-20 minutes. Side-to-side lateral movement is really great for less than a 1 year after the procedure. I have even been shooting some hoops (basketball).

My bone growth has been developing nicely. I will be getting some new x-rays in a few weeks, and I'll try to figure out a way to scan it into my computer. If anyone has any questions, I'll try to post a few times a week, hopefully.

- Raisin Bran

[goldenegg]

However, I finally decided that I will provide some pictures of my lower body proportions. I'll definitely try to post them on my diary later this week.

I'll update again later this week, and hopefully, have some pictures of my proportions as well. Thanks for the reads and responses.

any updates on your pictures?  very curious to see your proportions considering how much you lengthened