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[Deads]

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.

So how long would you have to take it for before you start seeing the benefits? Do you know how much it speeds up the process. I would totally budget for it.

[DoingItForMe]

I ended up not taking Zometa, because the doctor refused to see me because I was 10 minutes late to the appointment for reasons that wasn't my fault. His next available appointment was in February. By that time, I'd be able to walk without crutches anyway. I could see another doctor with an earlier appointment date, but by the time I get the drug, I'd probably be able to walk anyway. I know this because I've been able to walk without aid already.

I don't have final approval by Dr. Paley for walking without aid, but he did say that I was almost fully healed on my left leg. I don't want to risk further muscle atrophy, which I think is detrimental to my well-being and health, so I'm going to risk breaking the nails to try to get some walking in my exercises. The Precice 2.1 nail is very well made, and it seems to be able to hold my weight on one leg even though it's only rated to hold 75 lbs. The thing is, I try to keep the weight as straight as possible. The rods are strongest when you put the weight lengthwise. It's weakest when you try to bend them. So I'm not going to try to put my weight on the rods at an angle. And the way to do that is to take shorter steps. The more your separate the legs, the more the weight is angled. The recommended consolidation posed by Precice's instruction manual is that the bone needs to be solid on at least 3 sides out of 4 sides of the rod, but I'm only solid on 2 out of 4 sides.

Anyway, I started walking without aid because I got really tired of sitting to shower. It's been 5 months since I was able to stand to shower, and a few days ago, I finally decided to just walk into my shower without aid because I didn't want to get my walker or crutches wet and slippery. At first I was very cautious and held onto any fixed object. But eventually I managed to just baby step my way into the shower. Now that I'm standing more, I can feel my legs feeling a bit more normal again. There's still pain in my legs but I'm hoping they'll go away as I get more and more exercise on my legs. I enjoy my standing showers now. The one thing they don't tell you about LL is that it gives you a greater appreciation of the things you normally would take for granted.

No pictures, sorry. As much as I want to, I value my privacy greatly. So here's a picture of someone else's mock up pic whose legs look similar to mine: http://i.imgur.com/Wj07rGx.jpg He's wearing underwear, so it's a bit less obvious. But if you picture the underwear in a V shape like a Speedo instead of boxer briefs, you can sort of see how the thighs look really long when you're fully nked. That's how I look like when I'm nked. My thighs seem to go on forever, but my tibs look short.

My inseam used to be 28" - no adult-sized jeans fit me well. It is now 31". I checked online, and it seems like 5'5" - 5'6" should have a 30" inseam, and 5'9" guys should have a 32.5" inseam. This is why my leg to torso ratio is just perfect now. It's just weird to see my knees lower than where I expect them to be or my tibs looking short and stubby still. With pants on, it look normal.

[chineseguy]

is it ok to swin while lengthening?         so that weight will not increase?   


to prevent muscle loss too

[DoingItForMe]

You can swim while lengthening. That's what I used to do for exercise when I was still lengthening. During consolidation, I swam for the first month, but then didn't swim much lately, because it's cold outside.

[DoingItForMe]

I've been exercising my legs more to the point where I'm feeling sore all around. The most pain I feel is on the head of the femur. It feels like the ends of the screws are cutting into my flesh. I don't know if that's really happening, but that's what it feels like. Anyway, the exercising is working. I am now able to up off my bed without any aids or using my arms. It's still very tough to do it, but at least I'm able to do it now. Exercising and walking around without aid is making me much happier. I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Fingers crossed that I don't bend my nails.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

I remember that feeling too, of it seeming like the ends of the screws/nails cutting into my flesh.  That wasn't really what was happening, though.

[DoingItForMe]

I remember that feeling too, of it seeming like the ends of the screws/nails cutting into my flesh.  That wasn't really what was happening, though.

It's just weak muscles, right? That's what I suspect, and it goes away, right?

[Medium Drink Of Water]

I don't know what causes the sensation, but I know I wasn't actually being ripped to shreds from within.

[doomsday]

My inseam used to be 28" - no adult-sized jeans fit me well. It is now 31". I checked online, and it seems like 5'5" - 5'6" should have a 30" inseam, and 5'9" guys should have a 32.5" inseam. This is why my leg to torso ratio is just perfect now. It's just weird to see my knees lower than where I expect them to be or my tibs looking short and stubby still. With pants on, it look normal.

Hey man, can you  tell us what your sitting height?

[Taller]

If it would have hypothetically been possible to do all 8CM safely on your tibiae, do you think that would have looked better?

For someone with an average femur:tibia ratio, would you say 5-6 CM looks better on tibiae or femurs?

[DoingItForMe]

If it would have hypothetically been possible to do all 8CM safely on your tibiae, do you think that would have looked better?

For someone with an average femur:tibia ratio, would you say 5-6 CM looks better on tibiae or femurs?

I don't recommend doing 8 cm on your tibia. That's unsafe and very very long process. The thigh seems to be more forgiving with the amount of soft tissue it can provide. The shins, not so much.

I'd say it looks better on femurs if you don't plan on getting nked. When I wear shorts or boxers, you can't really tell that my femurs are too long. If you did the same with tibia, they will notice that your tibs are oddly long while your femurs aren't. 5-6 cm on femurs is not bad. At 8 cm, it went a little beyond what looks normal. However, if you do plan on getting nked, then longer tibs might look better, but for safety, time, and financial reasons, I wouldn't recommend doing tibs over femurs.

Hey man, can you  tell us what your sitting height?

My guess would be that it's my height minus my inseam. So roughly 38".

[Taller]

Thanks for getting back to me. I guess what I meant to ask was:

For someone with an average femur:tibia ratio, would you say a 5-6 CM looks better on tibiae or femurs? In my case, my natural ratio looks as normal as can be, and I don't want more than 6CM. I can't decide which segment to lengthen.

[DoingItForMe]

Probably should do some mockups to find out. Without seeing mockups, I can't tell you because I don't know your current proportions.

[DoingItForMe]

Still been walking around without crutches and still have not broken my nails yet. My hip sway is starting to disappear as I get my strength back. The pain in my thighs are also almost gone. The only annoying pain now is this sore pain when I walk without crutches on the top of my left femur. I believe that it may be a muscular pain, because I don't have a similar pain on my right leg and my right leg is stronger than my left. It's the muscle responsible for being able to raise your legs up when you lie down sideways.

I reached my low point this week because I saw my ex again for the first time after she broke up me in the middle of my lengthening. She told me that getting the surgery was indeed part of the reason why she broke up with me. I was not exactly the most likable person when I was drugged up on opiates. She said that she preferred me when I was around her height. She's 5'5". Now she has to turn her head up to kiss me. It was a low point because a part of me wanted to be more attractive to her, and the surgery ended doing the opposite. She warned me several times that she liked me that way I was, but I thought that she would change her mind after seeing me taller and that she was only saying that stuff to make me feel better. This was not the case.

I only wrote this paragraph because I want to give hope to the guys out there who are only doing this to get girls. There are girls out there who prefer short guys. They're rare, but they do exist. And she was one of the most open minded and kind hearted person I know. I've had several long term relationships and in each time, my height was not that important. If I didn't suffer from height neurosis, I wouldn't have done this surgery. There wasn't anything I couldn't do while being short.

In other news, sex is a bit weird after lengthening 3 inches on the femurs. I tried several positions, and in each one where I was on top, things were different. My penis was always an inch or two too high because my femurs changed the angle of things. Nothing a few pillows couldn't fix, but dont expect sex to be as smooth as it used to be until you get used to your new height.

[Peaceout]

Hey how are you doing lately?I hope you dont have any problems btw that mockup is mine and my height is 7 cm over my wingspan there so i think you look better than that with 4 5 cm -ape index (and if i ever get LL someday i guess i wont pass 5 cm because of wingspan issues it worries me )
And great diary!

[DoingItForMe]

Hey how are you doing lately?I hope you dont have any problems btw that mockup is mine and my height is 7 cm over my wingspan there so i think you look better than that with 4 5 cm -ape index (and if i ever get LL someday i guess i wont pass 5 cm because of wingspan issues it worries me )
And great diary!

Thanks for asking. Walking around is a bit tough still. Hip sway is still evident, though it isn't as bad as when I first started. It's now possible for me to get through the day without crutches or aid. But walking is still awkward, because when I bring my leg forward, it feels like my muscles are getting too stiff and tight. I hope it's not because I lengthened too much. And I hope that my walking to return eventually. I don't mind being patient. But I just want to know if things will ever return back to normal again eventually. A lot of my life changed because this surgery, and not all is good or bad things.

I must have the Winter blues or something, because I'm feeling a bit depressed after seeing my ex. It'll probably be the last time I see her for a long time - maybe forever. Hard to imagine that when I've been with her for many years now. I feel a bit better now, though, since my last entry. I'm looking up hotels and airline tickets for me to get out of my house and travel. That's one of the things I miss about not being able to walk without aid. I miss traveling and seeing new things. Staying at home all day for months is just too boring, even though I have a lot of entertainment at home.

Maybe it's just my case, but I'm getting really tired of things not being normal. The breakup and the lack of being able to walk normally is just getting to me sometimes. I'm supposed to get an x-ray in about a week, which would let me know if I can walk yet. I have doubts that Dr. Paley will give me the okay to walk next week, since my right leg's growth has been slow. My left leg is probably finished consolidating, though. All the patients I know from Paley are able to walk already. They ended a bit earlier than I did and lengthened to 7 cm only, but they're also younger than me. A part of me wish I did this when I was much younger. That's probably the only regret I have right now. Unless there are any permanent pains or I'm unable to walk normally again, then I'd have that to regret as well.

[ota457]

Just read through your entire diary and I want to thank you for posting one of the most thorough accounts of this procedure I've ever read. Also, congrats on your new height!

I'm considering doing the same surgery with Dr. Paley and one of my big concerns that few others seem to share is the scarring. Will these scars be something that your going to have to explain to every person who sees you nked for the rest of your life? Say you got married, do you think they're going to be noticeable enough where you would eventually have to explain to your wife what they are?

[DoingItForMe]

Just read through your entire diary and I want to thank you for posting one of the most thorough accounts of this procedure I've ever read. Also, congrats on your new height!

I'm considering doing the same surgery with Dr. Paley and one of my big concerns that few others seem to share is the scarring. Will these scars be something that your going to have to explain to every person who sees you nked for the rest of your life? Say you got married, do you think they're going to be noticeable enough where you would eventually have to explain to your wife what they are?

Just say the scars are from breaking your femurs and then they inserted titanium rods to heal you. You can get laser scar removal if you don't like it that much. Scars aren't a big worry for me. I have scars in other places and they all became flesh colored eventually.

[goldenegg]

I miss traveling and seeing new things. Staying at home all day for months is just too boring, even though I have a lot of entertainment at home.

Maybe it's just my case, but I'm getting really tired of things not being normal. The breakup and the lack of being able to walk normally is just getting to me sometimes. I'm supposed to get an x-ray in about a week, which would let me know if I can walk yet. I have doubts that Dr. Paley will give me the okay to walk next week, since my right leg's growth has been slow. My left leg is probably finished consolidating, though. All the patients I know from Paley are able to walk already.

Not being able to walk for so long and staying home all the time would take a mental toll on anyone.  I know the feeling too since a number of patients who had their surgeries after me were walking well before me because of my awful consolidation.  recovery has really challenged my patience at times and it's hard to keep positive for so long.  Stay strong man. 

[DoingItForMe]

Has there been any cases of a LL who had permanent pain in their legs? It's been 6 months after surgery, and I'm still feeling pain in my legs. I'm starting to think I'm one of the unlucky ones. Sigh.

[theuprising]

Has there been any cases of a LL who had permanent pain in their legs? It's been 6 months after surgery, and I'm still feeling pain in my legs. I'm starting to think I'm one of the unlucky ones. Sigh.

Yes, numbers are hard to come by as I've only read about it in those who posted diaries. Typically it was in the knees due to either tibial nailing or from femurs being too long (ratio going outside 56:44) putting pressure on the joint. E.g taller from old forum.

OT when you had Lasik did you have the one where they cut the flap or not? Did they mention anything about regression after the surgery.

[DoingItForMe]

Yes, numbers are hard to come by as I've only read about it in those who posted diaries. Typically it was in the knees due to either tibial nailing or from femurs being too long (ratio going outside 56:44) putting pressure on the joint. E.g taller from old forum.

OT when you had Lasik did you have the one where they cut the flap or not? Did they mention anything about regression after the surgery.

Fortunately, it's not knee pain. But I feel a soreness in various muscles and tendons on my legs. Probably because of muscle atrophy. But I'm getting worried that it'll be permanent, because I haven't noticed much progress in pain levels even though I've been walking without crutches for 2-3 weeks now. I also developed a popping noise on my right leg as I walk. It's the same noise for when you crack your knuckles or elbows. Anyway, I also wonder if it's because I haven't gotten the okay to walk without crutches yet. Perhaps it's because I'm not fully consolidated yet.

As for your question about Lasik, it was the one where they cut the flap. I think they called it CustomVue or CustomWave or something like that. It gave me better than 20/20 vision. It was like 20/15 or 15/20, which is about a 25% improvement over 20/20. I highly recommend Lasik, where I don't really recommend LL as much due to all the problems I've seen various people having, including myself now. It sucks because I had a pretty complication-free lengthening, but this pain in my legs is really bugging me.

[patientdad]

Why would you walk without crutches without being given the ok?  That does not make sense to me.

[alps]

I'm a noob, but yeah, my understanding is that if your bones haven't consolidated yet, you're far from being completely recovered.

[alps]

if you are ok with it, can you post x-rays?

[DoingItForMe]

Why would you walk without crutches without being given the ok?  That does not make sense to me.

Because I'm afraid of muscle atrophy and permanently weakening my leg muscles. I also heard that using your legs will speed up the bone consolidation because it promotes blood circulation, which is responsible for bone growth. I did not intend to walk without crutches at first. I started off just wanting to stand in the shower without crutches. But then I noticed that I was okay when I took baby steps. I also found that I was extremely weak and that caused pain in my thighs. Doing the exercises did get rid of the thigh pain from when I wake up. But the pain on the top of my femurs where the screws are, still haven't gone away.. So to get some more leg exercises, I did baby steps every once in a while first with crutches. Then slowly I placed less and less weight on my crutches. And finally I took the crutches off altogether. My left leg should be done consolidating by now. Only my right leg is slow. But it also already has bone union.

The kind of pain I feel is like a soreness from working out too much. Perhaps what I'm doing is stupid and wrong. But I do think that muscle atrophy is now my greatest concern. The precice nails have been doing great so far of not breaking or bending. I will post X-rays when Paley gives me the okay to walk. Then I'll show you the X-rays in like a chronological order to show the progress.

[Peaceout]

where I don't really recommend LL as much due to all the problems I've seen various people having, including myself now. It sucks because I had a pretty complication-free lengthening, but this pain in my legs is really bugging me.

You really don't? I mean is it seriously not worth the new height ? :/

[patientdad]

You really don't? I mean is it seriously not worth the new height ? :/

My son thinks it is well worth it.  He is now walking, but has the hip sway so many people talk about.  It should be pretty close to normal in a month or two, I believe.  He did not have any complications, so it turned out great.

[DoingItForMe]

You really don't? I mean is it seriously not worth the new height ? :/

I think you misunderstood what I said. I said I highly recommend Lasik. I don't highly recommend LL but that doesn't mean that I don't recommend it. I recommend it, but I dont highly recommend it. If LL were as cheap and easy and complication-free as Lasik, I'd recommend LL to anyone who wants to be taller. But if you factor in all the sacrifices, I'd say that LL should be a last resort and should not be treated very casually.

I also recommend LL if you're young (teens to late 20s). I tend to see the people who are 30+ who have more problems with it, including myself, who is almost 30 now. The young ones seem to cope with LL much better, and I'd even go as far as saying that I somewhat highly recommend it. But once you're close to and past 30, I'd have to say that you really really must want it before I recommend it. And when I say want it, I mean that you suffer in mental anguish by the fact that you're short. You look in the mirror and hate the way you look. And the diaries are recommended reading before making a decision. Because what we go through, most likely you will go through the same pain and mental torture. Everyone may think that they'd get lucky be one of the problem-free ones. But from all the diaries I've read, it's seems like a majority of people have one problem or another.

Patientdad, does your son have pain in his legs when he has hip sway? I know that hip sway is leg weakness, so I'm wondering if it includes pain or soreness like mine does.

[patientdad]

No, he does not mention pain.  His doctor seemed to be pleased that he did not experience pain when the lengthening was finished.  But, I think you are right - the younger you are when you get LL, the less likely you are to have complications.  He had it before his 19th birthday.

[DoingItForMe]

No, he does not mention pain.  His doctor seemed to be pleased that he did not experience pain when the lengthening was finished.  But, I think you are right - the younger you are when you get LL, the less likely you are to have complications.  He had it before his 19th birthday.

But his legs are weak right? And yea, the only patient I know who didn't suffer any pain was 17. Everyone else who was 28-35 all had some pain.