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Author Topic: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley  (Read 258702 times)

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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #155 on: November 24, 2015, 10:32:41 PM »

I forgot to mention that I hung out with a friend of mine who used to be taller than me. He noticed that I was taller. I asked him how tall he was, and he said 5' 10". I'm actually only about 5'9". But I looked about the same height as him, since I probably had thicker sole sneakers. Anyway, he thought that I was taller than him. He guessed that I was 5'11". I think this proves my point that a lot of people can't tell the difference between 1-2 inches. Even when it comes to celebrity heights, there are differing answers online, because it's hard to tell down to the inch how tall someone actually is just by looking at them. This helped with my height neurosis a lot, because 5'10" was my ideal height and goal. I can finally say without a doubt that I don't need any more height. I'm happy with what I have now.

Electric Wheelchairs
I mentioned in Iamready's journal about my electric wheelchair being a game changer, so I should probably mention that in my own journal as well in case someone only reads this one and not his. One of the things that people rarely mention in their journals is how useful an electric wheelchair is. Ever since I bought one, I use it everyday both during lengthening and during consolidation. It is much more convenient to be able to control the chair with one hand and use the other one to hold things or open doors. It's also foldable, so I can call an Uber and have them put it in their trunk. This means that I can go anywhere without needing someone to accompany me to push me around.

I went with one of the more expensive ones because of shipping time and features. The one I have has a long battery life. During day-to-day use, I only recharge maybe once every 2-3 weeks. It has a 10 hour battery life with a 3 mph speed limit. So that's about 30 miles in one charge.

This is the one I use that costs $2000 called Smart Chair:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EBXBC4K/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EBXBC4K&linkCode=as2&tag=lilefo-20&linkId=UBS36HE3JSS7JULD

The one I have is the cheapest and best reviewed one I can find for fold-able electric wheelchairs. All of them seem to be built similarly from China, so I doubt that it matters which brand you buy. Here's one that's $1400 called LiteRider that I saw someone else use. It needs to be disassembled to fit in a trunk, but it says that it's easy to disassemble. I asked that person how she liked it, and she said it worked great.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N501YSE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00N501YSE&linkCode=as2&tag=lilefo-20&linkId=P5WGG54NGU4C2BMO

The above two ones are very small and have 360 degree in motion. That's what I like about them. You can go almost anywhere a normal person can go without much trouble - except for stairs. The ones that I don't like are the ones where you have to back-up to make a 180 turn. It's very annoying in narrow aisles and hallways. These are the ones you find at Walmart and the loud beeping noises when you reverse is annoying to everyone around you. The one I have doesn't have a reverse beeping noise, because you rarely have to reverse in the first place. You just rotate 360 degrees in place, and then start going in the direction that you want. This also makes going through lines at the bank easy with their sharp 90 degree turns.

But if you rather save money rather than have the convenience of lightweight and 360 motion, here's a $670 electric wheelchair:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GPGKN4G/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00GPGKN4G&linkCode=as2&tag=lilefo-20&linkId=WNAUTYRO7VMGPTW5

Crutches
When I first used regular crutches, they were very uncomfortable to use and they hurt my palms and armpits. But then the PT team and other patients recommended that I grab myself a pair of Mobilegs Ultra:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005I5OP6M/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005I5OP6M&linkCode=as2&tag=lilefo-20&linkId=U52XE3CULK7MI537

They're much lighter than regular crutches, and feel much more comfortable. The arm pit rest are rubbery and spring loaded, so it feels comfortable to rest my body on my arm pits when I get tired. And the hand grips are ergonomic and conform with your hands. It feels natural to hold them. They also conveniently fit underneath my Smart Chair electric wheelchair.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2015, 10:54:55 PM by DoingItForMe »
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

Alu

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #156 on: November 24, 2015, 10:36:06 PM »

In terms of bone consolidation, where are you and how far until you can walk unaided? And how frequent is your contact with Paley or his staff during this process?

Good update, glad things are going well.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #157 on: November 24, 2015, 11:04:46 PM »

In terms of bone consolidation, where are you and how far until you can walk unaided? And how frequent is your contact with Paley or his staff during this process?

Good update, glad things are going well.
The last I did an x-ray and heard from Dr. Paley was a month ago. And he said that if my progress continues, I had about 1 month left in my left leg and undetermined time for the right leg. This means that I should be okay to walk next week on my left leg if my x-rays next week come back great. Dr. Paley was actually surprised by the improvement in bone consolidation last month. It was probably because I drank a lot of milk, used an Exogen 4000+ machine, and took extra calcium/vitamin D supplements.

I took a few baby steps without crutches lately to see if I could still walk, and it looked like it was possible. Another patient who did only 7.5 cm on his femurs and did his surgery a month earlier than me was walking a few weeks ago. When I saw his x-rays, he had a big fat rounded piece of bone where his gap used to be. It looked twice as thick as the rest of femurs. However, it still looked lighter colored than the rest of his femur. This means that the bone is chalky and not solidified yet. But it symbolizes bone union, and supports enough in combination with his internal nail to support his entire weight. Probably in 12-18 months, it'd be solidified and he'd be able to take out his rod.

I get an x-ray once a month, and contact Dr. Paley directly by email with my x-rays. He responds within the same day or the next day - usually very early in the morning or sometime around dinner time.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

yagen

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #158 on: November 26, 2015, 04:10:38 PM »


DoingitForMe,

Are you planing a new surgery in order to gain 2 cms more in the famur?
Is it possible to break the famur again? how long do you need to consolidate the previous broken?

Many Thanks
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #159 on: November 26, 2015, 08:15:40 PM »

DoingitForMe,

Are you planing a new surgery in order to gain 2 cms more in the famur?
Is it possible to break the famur again? how long do you need to consolidate the previous broken?

Many Thanks
No, I don't plan on doing anymore surgery except to remove the nails inside of me. After going through what I went through, I don't want to do it again. It was worth it when I was gaining 3.1 inches and going from short to normal height. But it's not worth it to just go 2 cm more.

It's possible to break the femur again and then go through the whole process again. You have to wait until your femur consolidates first, though. And you probably risk losing a lot of your athleticism for it, because your soft tissues are already stretched to its limits. At that point, it probably is more worth it to just do your tibias. The precice nails in me already reached its maximum capacity at 8 cm. So if I want 2 cm more, I'd have to get a whole new nail.

Generally it takes 2-3 months after you stop lengthening to consolidate enough and be able to walk again. To fully consolidate and be able to remove the nail, it takes 12-18 months.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

yagen

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #160 on: November 27, 2015, 07:50:03 AM »


Thank you DoingItForMe

I didnt´t understand why do you want yo do just 2 cm.

Are you thinking in tibias or after the experience of this surgery is enough for you?
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #161 on: November 27, 2015, 07:55:14 AM »

Thank you DoingItForMe

I didnt´t understand why do you want yo do just 2 cm.

Are you thinking in tibias or after the experience of this surgery is enough for you?
I never planned on doing 2 cm more. You might be thinking of YellowSpike. I'm happy at where I am right now.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #162 on: November 30, 2015, 02:45:39 AM »

It feels good to be average height. I went to the mall yesterday in my crutches to try to work out my legs and to shop for longer pants - all my old ones don't fit anymore. I plan on walking without crutches some time within the next 30 days or so, so I thought it'd be a good time to start gaining back my legs muscles. First of all, it's very very tiring to walk around in crutches. I think I only walked like 1/4 mile before I got winded. Back then I could walk for miles. Secondly, wow. It's a completely different feel when you're 5'9" vs 5'6". I don't tower over people like a 6' guy would. But I do see people who used to be taller than me now shorter than me. Half the males are now shorter than me. Almost all girls not wearing heels are now shorter than me. And even the ones wearing heels are shorter than me. I'm very very happy that I'm 3" taller. It changed my mindset. No longer am I cursing myself for being born with short genetics - something I have no control over. Being short no longer crosses my mind. It doesn't matter that I'm still 1" shorter than the average white US male. I can't tell that I am. If I ever feel like being taller than average, I just have to put on my 4 cm shoe lifts. But I don't find them necessary anymore. I can walk around without shoe lifts and feel fine about it. Anyway, I'm very very happy with the results. I'm just getting very sick of being disabled. It hurt a lot when I walked yesterday, because my knees were weak and so were my gluts. When I went home, I had aches all over my legs. I don't even know if the pain would be permanent - though, I highly doubt that it is. But not knowing makes me question my decision to do LL. If I had pain for the rest of my life in my legs, would I still have gotten LL? I probably wouldn't have.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

theuprising

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #163 on: November 30, 2015, 03:56:15 AM »

I've read from a couple of doctors that when you lengths femurs you don't get the entire lengthening amount due to angle of the bone or something like that. Are you 175cm all day or do you drop below?
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Deads

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #164 on: November 30, 2015, 05:18:37 AM »

I've read from a couple of doctors that when you lengths femurs you don't get the entire lengthening amount due to angle of the bone or something like that. Are you 175cm all day or do you drop below?

Im curious to know Paleys take on this.. To me I've always thought it wouldn't matter because the bone was always at a slight angle and produced your natural height. It's still connected to the hip and knee so you would think a 5cm gap is a 5cm gap. All the people that have lengthened that I have read about, have gained the height that they lengthened....... Yet it also makes sense on a mathematical level that you wouldn't gain as much height as you lengthened.. Would be good to have this put to bed once and for all by the worlds leading surgeon in this area.
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Deads

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #165 on: November 30, 2015, 05:20:39 AM »

Btw DIFM,

I'm 5"6 and it was truely cool reading about your experience at 5"9 at the mall. It's the way I envisioned it.

I feel very lucky to be 5"6 and have the opportunity to be within the lengthening range that will put me at average height.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #166 on: November 30, 2015, 06:12:18 AM »

I've read from a couple of doctors that when you lengths femurs you don't get the entire lengthening amount due to angle of the bone or something like that. Are you 175cm all day or do you drop below?
Sure, if you want to get that technical about it. The angle of my femur is 4.5 degrees - checked on Photoshop. If the longest side of the triangle is 8 cm, and two of the angles are 4.5 degrees and 90 degrees, what's the length of the 2nd longest side - meaning the actual height gained? Answer: 7.98 cm. That's .2 mm difference. So, you're kind of splitting hairs here. I mean, literally, that's like the width of two human hairs.

I'm not 175 cm all day, I'd assume. 175 cm is my morning height. I don't know my night height. I don't have the height measuring machine like they have at the doctor's office.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

theuprising

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #167 on: November 30, 2015, 06:30:03 AM »

Sure, if you want to get that technical about it. The angle of my femur is 4.5 degrees - checked on Photoshop. If the longest side of the triangle is 8 cm, and two of the angles are 4.5 degrees and 90 degrees, what's the length of the 2nd longest side - meaning the actual height gained? Answer: 7.98 cm. That's .2 mm difference. So, you're kind of splitting hairs here. I mean, literally, that's like the width of two human hairs.

I'm not 175 cm all day, I'd assume. 175 cm is my morning height. I don't know my night height. I don't have the height measuring machine like they have at the doctor's office.

Wow just asking a question don't rage on me. yellowspike mentioned he got 0.5cm less so I was just curious. Most people usually use mid day height as well.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #168 on: November 30, 2015, 06:40:47 AM »

Btw DIFM,

I'm 5"6 and it was truely cool reading about your experience at 5"9 at the mall. It's the way I envisioned it.

I feel very lucky to be 5"6 and have the opportunity to be within the lengthening range that will put me at average height.
Yea, the feeling is great, man. I wear some thick soled sneakers, so I'm closer to 5'10" than 5'9" with shoes on. And let me tell that it feels awesome to not have every male look down on you in the literal sense. I also now get to see how a 5'10" would view a 5'5" or 5'6" guy. And... I have to say, I get it. I get why tall guys discriminate against short males. Short males just look less intimidating.

Also, I see how it's so unfair it is for short guys to try to get girls. Even though I'm in crutches, girls talk to me more than when I was 5'6". Oh man, the difference is so significant. It reminds me of the difference between when a girl doesn't know I'm a millionaire and when they find out. Girls are just more chatty and interested in getting to know me more. Now that I'm average height and a millionaire as well, it's like playing the dating game on easy mode. Now I just need to get jacked up again. Muscle atrophy sucks when you're not allowed to go to the gym for half a year. The only muscle group I think that stayed the same or got bigger are my shoulders and traps, because of all the crutch/walker walking I had to do.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #169 on: November 30, 2015, 06:46:13 AM »

Wow just asking a question don't rage on me. yellowspike mentioned he got 0.5cm less so I was just curious. Most people usually use mid day height as well.
You misjudged my tone of voice if you thought I was raging.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #170 on: November 30, 2015, 06:54:14 AM »

Wow just asking a question don't rage on me. yellowspike mentioned he got 0.5cm less so I was just curious. Most people usually use mid day height as well.
I'm going to go by what Dr. Paley told me: When lengthening, you lose about 1 mm every 2 weeks. So if Yellowspike lengthened for 10 weeks (7 cm), he lost about 0.5 cm. And the reason is because the machine for lengthening is not 100%. However, Dr. Paley made sure that I got the full 8 cm, because I used the machine for 8.5+ cm of lengthening, just to make sure I squeezed every last bit of the rod. Finally, Dr. Paley uses the X-Rays to measure each femur up to the nearest mm. And he confirmed with me that I got the full 8 cm after 85-90 days of lengthening. I also knew that I reached the limits of the nail inside me, because I heard a clicking noise during the last few lengthening turns. That clicking noise as Dr. Paley told me is the sound of the clutch preventing the nail from turning further.

Anyway, I did the math, and you really only lose 2 mm out of the 8 cm due to the angle of your femur.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

theuprising

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #171 on: November 30, 2015, 07:55:47 AM »

Interesting info it's good to read those in depth answers. Do you own a measuring tape? Typically height decreases 1.5cm from morning till evening and personally I've found that to be the case.
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Deads

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #172 on: November 30, 2015, 01:20:07 PM »

Yea, the feeling is great, man. I wear some thick soled sneakers, so I'm closer to 5'10" than 5'9" with shoes on. And let me tell that it feels awesome to not have every male look down on you in the literal sense. I also now get to see how a 5'10" would view a 5'5" or 5'6" guy. And... I have to say, I get it. I get why tall guys discriminate against short males. Short males just look less intimidating.

Also, I see how it's so unfair it is for short guys to try to get girls. Even though I'm in crutches, girls talk to me more than when I was 5'6". Oh man, the difference is so significant. It reminds me of the difference between when a girl doesn't know I'm a millionaire and when they find out. Girls are just more chatty and interested in getting to know me more. Now that I'm average height and a millionaire as well, it's like playing the dating game on easy mode. Now I just need to get jacked up again. Muscle atrophy sucks when you're not allowed to go to the gym for half a year. The only muscle group I think that stayed the same or got bigger are my shoulders and traps, because of all the crutch/walker walking I had to do.

You can work out your upper body though right?? I can't go that long with out training.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #173 on: November 30, 2015, 11:02:53 PM »

Interesting info it's good to read those in depth answers. Do you own a measuring tape? Typically height decreases 1.5cm from morning till evening and personally I've found that to be the case.
I do own a measuring tape. But I don't care enough to measure. I'm not caught up in the numbers game. I just know that I'm no longer considered short, which is a great feeling.

You can work out your upper body though right?? I can't go that long with out training.
You can, though getting around in a gym with crutches is difficult. I do dips on my walker, even though they told me not to. My upper body strength is fine. My friends even noticed that my upper body looks bigger. My legs are really weak, though. I have trouble even getting up off my bed with just my legs. I have to push up with my arms to get off the bed.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

bigdreams55

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #174 on: December 02, 2015, 03:33:10 AM »

Thanks for keeping this journal and glad to hear of your progress! I just had my consultation with Dr. Paley today, I'll include more in my own journal I will start soon, but I had a few questions for you.

1.) Did you/are you having to deal with isolation/loneliness? I don't think I want to involve friends/family because they would not be supportive, do you think its possible to go through LL mostly by yourself with just a caretaker at the beginning?

2.)Do you think it would be better to have this surgery when Paley's office is busiest (summer vs winter)? If one chooses the winter, you may be able to get more attention from the Drs, but at the cost of less CLLs to spend time with...

I can imagine you might be eager to put all this behind you and never look back and it sounds like you are happy with your decision to go through with this so far.



DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #175 on: December 02, 2015, 04:20:40 AM »

Heard back from Dr. Paley after he received my 2-month post-op x-rays. He said that my left legs almost fully healed, but my right one is still slowly healing. I doubt that I will be able to walk this year without crutches. That sucks. That means that my recovery time will be 3+ months after I stopped lengthening. From the lack of response I get when I ask him what my expected healing time would be, it sounds like I will not be walking for another 2 months (4 months total consolidation time). This would put me towards the slowest ones to consolidate when the range is from 1 month to 5 months. Judging by the x-rays, it looks like my left leg will be done healing by the end of the year (3 month total consolidation). But the right leg is really really slow to heal. After a whole month, I think it only got 1 mm thicker in the gap. I'm going to go ahead and get the Zometa injection next week to try to speed up the process. It's going to cost me over $1,000 to get it, but if a $1,000 will save me a whole month of consolidation, then it's worth it.

My x-rays only cost around $150 each time without insurance, if anyone's curious. It costs several hundred when you do it with Dr. Paley.

Thanks for keeping this journal and glad to hear of your progress! I just had my consultation with Dr. Paley today, I'll include more in my own journal I will start soon, but I had a few questions for you.

1.) Did you/are you having to deal with isolation/loneliness? I don't think I want to involve friends/family because they would not be supportive, do you think its possible to go through LL mostly by yourself with just a caretaker at the beginning?

2.)Do you think it would be better to have this surgery when Paley's office is busiest (summer vs winter)? If one chooses the winter, you may be able to get more attention from the Drs, but at the cost of less CLLs to spend time with...

I can imagine you might be eager to put all this behind you and never look back and it sounds like you are happy with your decision to go through with this so far.
1) It helps a lot to have friends/family around to take care of you instead of a caretaker. Not all caretakers are that great. But it's possible to only have a caretaker in the beginning. You don't have trouble with isolation and loneliness if you hang out with the other patients. There will always be other patients staying at the nearby hotels.

2) The time you spend with the doctors will be at most 15-30 minutes per 2 weeks anyway. They're not going to give you more attention than you need despite how busy the offices are. So no, I don't think it makes a difference.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

Deads

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #176 on: December 02, 2015, 02:24:50 PM »

Zometa injection???
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #177 on: December 02, 2015, 09:38:22 PM »

Zometa injection???
It's a drug that they inject into you. It's meant for treating osteoporosis and reducing the risk of hip fractures in certain patients. But Dr. Paley said that it'd be useful for me as well. The way it works is that it prevents the body from reabsorbing the bone back into the blood stream. The way people's bones work is that bones are constantly being absorbed into the blood and then rebuilt again. This slows down consolidation, because you lose bone as you're growing bone. By stopping the body from absorbing the bone back into the blood, then you only grow bone without losing any. Therefore, the consolidation is sped up. I put off the drug not because of the $1,000+ price tag, but because I'm worried about putting more drugs into me that could potentially have serious side effects. The risk of serious side effects of Zometa are very low, though. Most likely I'll just end up with flu-like symptoms for a day or two. The only serious side effect is permanent jaw pain. But those cases usually only happen to cancer patients who take the drug long term, and also to people who have dental surgery after taking the drug.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

Chocolate Milk

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #178 on: December 03, 2015, 07:48:09 AM »

does it feel weird having longer femurs while your tibias are not longer? How do you look sitting down?
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #179 on: December 05, 2015, 05:54:52 AM »

I want to update you guys and let you know that my flexibility is still increasing to my surprise. The gains are slower now than before, but I am still getting more and more flexible. I am now able to touch the entire length of my thighs and shins together. Before I could only touch the sole of my foot to my thigh, and even then, it felt painful. Now when I bend my legs all the way, they just feel uncomfortable rather than painful. My hope is that eventually, it will feel comfortable again to bend my legs all the way. This would mean that I'd be able to squat all the way down comfortably. I have no reason to believe that I will not achieve that after a month or two.

does it feel weird having longer femurs while your tibias are not longer? How do you look sitting down?
Not weird at all. My thighs used to look short and stumpy when I looked down as I was sitting. They look normal now - like how I imagine a thigh should look like. Nobody has ever commented that I look weird sitting - not even by family members who know I got LL. As long as you're not slouching, you'll look fine sitting down.

By wearing certain clothes, you can change the illusion of your proportions a bit. For example, you can lower your pants a bit so that your legs don't appear as long. And you can wear thick soled shoes and maybe even shoe lifts so that your tibias appear longer to match your longer femurs. Having said that, I don't look weird at all. I looked weird with short legs before the surgery. But now I look normal.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #180 on: December 10, 2015, 10:39:59 AM »

So I finally decided to look at the full length mirror while nked, and it's quite obvious that I got LL. My femurs look much much longer than before. But my tibs stayed the same. My torso is pretty long to begin with and so were my arms. So my whole body now looks like a normal person, except for my tibs. So if you were to take a picture of me and don't include my feet, I look like a tall guy 5'11" guy. My Tibs are the only part of me that look oddly short. They look like they've been cut off about 2" too short. I've noticed this before I had the surgery that my tibs looked short and stubby, but now it's even more pronounced after LL. But during surgery, I had a 0.8 tib to femur ratio, which Paley said is quite normal. Now I almost have to wear shoes lifts to make my tibs look proportional. My knees are way below where you'd think they should be when I'm nked.

I don't mind wearing 1" shoe lifts and 1" soled sneakers. I look like 5'11" when I do - which is my ideal height. Feels great to be that tall. This changed my mental state so much. I've been walking around my house lately to try to build back my leg muscles and it feels great that almost everything is now shorter. It really makes you feel tall when the sink is much lower than you remember it, and you can reach things now that you couldn't reach before.

I think my thigh muscles have been in pain because of tightness and how weak my legs are now. There's not much I can do about the tightness, because that just takes time. But I can work on my leg muscles. This is good preparation for when I can walk again. Every patient seems to have some kind of hip swaying when they first walk without aid. One patient said that he got rid of it after 2 weeks of walking. Speaking of which, I've been putting less weight on my walker/crutches to the point where it's almost none, and I'm able to walk just fine. I'm glad that I'm not crippled and can walk! That's a huge relief off my shoulders.

If you care about proportions when you're nked, don't do 8 cm on only one segment. I have to admit that it doesn't look good. It looks weird to have freakishly disproportionate legs. Good thing it's not the norm to go outside nked. I can wear shoe lifts and lower my pants/shorts a bit to fix the proportions. If I cared about my proportions when nked, I probably would have done 5-6 cm in femurs and 4-5 cm in tibs instead. That would probably make me look the most proportional and normal. It would also probably reduce the loss in athleticism and tightness in my legs. I don't care about the disproportion, though, because it gives me an excuse to wear shoe lifts. And now I look normal wearing them.

I can get my tibs lengthened to fix all this and never have to wear lifts again. But I don't think it's worth it. My height neurosis is already gone. I don't want to waste another half a year of my life on this stuff again and risk having permanent pain.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

Deads

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #181 on: December 10, 2015, 01:23:24 PM »

"Good thing it's not the norm to go outside nked"

Haha yeah. I don't think you should worry too much about the proportion of your legs.. You wear clothes 99% of your life so it's fine. Also, you sound like your recovery is slowly coming to fruition and you are happy. That's all that matters.
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Ozymandias

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #182 on: December 10, 2015, 02:22:44 PM »

If you care about proportions when you're nked, don't do 8 cm on only one segment. I have to admit that it doesn't look good. It looks weird to have freakishly disproportionate legs. Good thing it's not the norm to go outside nked. I can wear shoe lifts and lower my pants/shorts a bit to fix the proportions. If I cared about my proportions when nked, I probably would have done 5-6 cm in femurs and 4-5 cm in tibs instead. That would probably make me look the most proportional and normal. It would also probably reduce the loss in athleticism and tightness in my legs. I don't care about the disproportion, though, because it gives me an excuse to wear shoe lifts. And now I look normal wearing them.

Like someone said before: "don't let your height neurosis turn into proportion neurosis". Even nked, I don't think people will notice your long femurs, and, even if they do, they won't give any importance. And no one will think you did LL unless you have huge scars (which I think is not the case with internals)

I don't want to ask this but as a potential LL patient I have to... does the penis look smaller after lengthening the femurs...?  ;D

It's interesting your observation that long femurs can be "balanced" using lifts. IMO that's another point for femurs in the "should I lengthen femurs or tibias?" question. The length of the lower section of the legs can be "increased" with tricks like heels or soles, but there is no way to lengthen the upper section except for LL.

Congrats on your almost finished LL journey!  :)
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Alu

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #183 on: December 10, 2015, 08:44:49 PM »

Going along the whole proportion discussion DIFM, I myself am more worried about leg to body proportion rather then just tibia to femurs considering I'm planning on doing 4+4 (which for many would seem like a hard pressed goal considering the fact that I'm going to have to experience a month of agony, but considering the better risk management and recovery I'm deadest on that goal).

You said you already had a longer torso to begin with, so how would you say you look when you tuck in your shirt as if you're wearing more formal attire? My all time biggest worry with LL isn't the possible complications that might arise, but that I come out looking weirder then most people. Also do you have any body measurements that could provide a reference as to your current proportions; Sitting height or True Inseam? 

Lastly, and I'm sure I asked you this before, but are you willing to provide pictures of your current proportions? Obviously covering your face and everything cause privacy is still 100% important.
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Iamready

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #184 on: December 10, 2015, 08:48:14 PM »

well if you want an honest answer you can send me a pic. underwear of course and i'll give a brutally honest answer.
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Alu

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #185 on: December 10, 2015, 08:59:48 PM »

well if you want an honest answer you can send me a pic. underwear of course and i'll give a brutally honest answer.

Are you referring to me or DIFM? Either way I'd be willing to post mock ups one day but for now I feel like I rather focus on getting much fitter and working on my weight before I tackle my height (not obese just a bit fat around the sides is all lol).

Also funny enough that you posted here because I was also going to ask you about what you think in regards to proportions since you're aiming, in a relatively safe way, pretty high in terms of gain. Any insight into this subjective discussion would be appreciated.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2015, 10:21:33 PM by Alu »
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