Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[EndGame]

It looks like you have not formed much bone yet. I'm actually slightly worried by your x-rays. Does Dr. Parihar feel growth is reasonable or on low end? There are many ways to boost bone growth you might consider. I'm rooting for you. I apologize if i seem like a hater. Don't want to cause you stress. I'm no doctor, so my view not to be trusted, but my x-rays and my buddies x-rays while lengthening had a lot more bone growth.

[ub40]

It looks like you have not formed much bone yet. I'm actually slightly worried by your x-rays. Does Dr. Parihar feel growth is reasonable or on low end? There are many ways to boost bone growth you might consider. I'm rooting for you. I apologize if i seem like a hater. Don't want to cause you stress. I'm no doctor, so my view not to be trusted, but my x-rays and my buddies x-rays while lengthening had a lot more bone growth.

He's at 70 days, I don't see anything wrong. I barely had any at that point either

[Penguinn]

It looks like you have not formed much bone yet. I'm actually slightly worried by your x-rays. Does Dr. Parihar feel growth is reasonable or on low end? There are many ways to boost bone growth you might consider. I'm rooting for you. I apologize if i seem like a hater. Don't want to cause you stress. I'm no doctor, so my view not to be trusted, but my x-rays and my buddies x-rays while lengthening had a lot more bone growth.

I didn't ask whether it was reasonable or low-end, but he didn't seem concerned so I'm leaving it to his opinion. I won't consider ways of boosting bone growth(besides simpler things like upping my calcium intake) unless I'm a few weeks into consolidation without noticeable callus.

[goldenegg]

hey penguinn, I'd ask dr. parihar just in case. your consolidation does seems really slow if you compare to some of the other precise diaries on here that have xrays. upping calcium may help and slowing down lengthening may help too, since you have like zero pre-consolidation risk and might have a long consolidation period ahead of you anyway. might be worth asking Doingitforme too what he thinks about your xrays since he did precise and had very slow consolidation too. I think dr. paley recommended him to slow down lengthening towards the end.

like endgame is saying, I don't mean to be critical either and I'm definitely not an expert. just wanna look out for a fellow LLer

[Penguinn]

hey penguinn, I'd ask dr. parihar just in case. your consolidation does seems really slow if you compare to some of the other precise diaries on here that have xrays. upping calcium may help and slowing down lengthening may help too, since you have like zero pre-consolidation risk and might have a long consolidation period ahead of you anyway. might be worth asking Doingitforme too what he thinks about your xrays since he did precise and had very slow consolidation too. I think dr. paley recommended him to slow down lengthening towards the end.

like endgame is saying, I don't mean to be critical either and I'm definitely not an expert. just wanna look out for a fellow LLer

Based on our last meeting, he didn't seem concerned about it. I assume if there was something to tell me, he would. We already decided I'd lengthen the next 1.3cms. However I've sent an email asking about it.

[The Kaiser]

He's at 70 days, I don't see anything wrong. I barely had any at that point either

so your surgery was smooth and you recovered fast? or not necessary?

[Penguinn]

Asked about non-union: http://imgur.com/zP3WDss

I've been avoiding weight bearing/standing as much as possible until 2 weeks ago and I have people to bring me stuff so I used the walker minimally. It's new information to me that standing promotes bone regenerate. I will be lengthening around another cm and then letting it consolidate.

[Iamready]

My advice is to start using the walker as much as possible. It will speed up your recovery  a lot.

[fauzdar65]

Hi Penguinn
I am a 22 yr old male from Delhi, India. I am planning to get unilateral lengthening done on my left leg which is shorter than the right by around 6 cm due to club foot(birth deformity of foot) related surgeries done in the past. The femur region of both legs are equal. All the difference lies in the tibial area.

I met with Dr Parihar 1 year back and he suggested the regular Ilizarov method and LON method but no mention of Precice. I am very much interested in this internal nail method although its a bit too costly for me ( under Rs 15lac is ideal for me). So i want this done only if it gives some major advantage in healing time,less complications etc. And does price reduce for me because i have only one leg to be done ?

If the lengthening is in the tibia and that too of 5-6 cm, do i really need to go for Precice?. Also if i go for femur lengthening i think my tibia:femur ratio will become different in both legs. Is that something that can cause problems? My reason of thinking about femur lengthening is that tibia region of my left leg is very weak due to club foot surgeries while everything above knee is normal.

I urgently want to discuss all this also with Dr Parihar. I am unable to contact him. Can you please PM me his email-id ?.
Good luck with your lengthening 

[Penguinn]

Hi Penguinn
I am a 22 yr old male from Delhi, India. I am planning to get unilateral lengthening done on my left leg which is shorter than the right by around 6 cm due to club foot(birth deformity of foot) related surgeries done in the past. The femur region of both legs are equal. All the difference lies in the tibial area.

I met with Dr Parihar 1 year back and he suggested the regular Ilizarov method and LON method but no mention of Precice. I am very much interested in this internal nail method although its a bit too costly for me ( under Rs 15lac is ideal for me). So i want this done only if it gives some major advantage in healing time,less complications etc. And does price reduce for me because i have only one leg to be done ?

If the lengthening is in the tibia and that too of 5-6 cm, do i really need to go for Precice?. Also if i go for femur lengthening i think my tibia:femur ratio will become different in both legs. Is that something that can cause problems? My reason of thinking about femur lengthening is that tibia region of my left leg is very weak due to club foot surgeries while everything above knee is normal.

I urgently want to discuss all this also with Dr Parihar. I am unable to contact him. Can you please PM me his email-id ?.
Good luck with your lengthening 

PM'd

I wouldn't recommend Precice to you. Nailing the tibia is harder and can cause more complications, which is why they leave the nailing for the femur. You can definitely lengthen 5-6cms on your tibia. What segment you will lengthen will depend on what Parihar says after checking your leg out and see if the tibia is doable. I'll take a guess and say he'll try to fix any existing problems and try to lengthen the tibia. If you can lengthen even 4.5cms you should be good- Dr. Parihar has told me "a 2cm discrepancy in the legs is the point where a patient can decide whether to fix it or not". Below that you can live with and above that means it should be fixed. So after lengthening that much your discrepancy will be minimal.

I imagine having a different femur:tibia ratio in both legs makes walking and quite a few activities weird since the knees are at different places.

And yes, the Precice nail price will be halved for you since it's only one nail. The surgical cost should also be half, but I'm not sure.

[Lubak]

I doubt you are going to listen to my advice and this is probably a waste of time. If I were you Penguinn, I would stop lengthening at 6.5cm. The reason why is that nobody on the planet is going to notice that extra 1cm that will take you to 7.5cm. It's not going to make any difference at all in your life, and will dramatically increase your recovery time and potential for complications.

Stop now and be happy with the length you have. It's simply not worth the risk to have that meaningless 1cm more of height. You can always go back for more on your tibias once you heal up and get used to your new proportions. Always better to play it safe when it comes to LL, than to chase centimeters or try to achieve the goal you set out before your surgery. In the end 1cm more of height is pointless when you already have 6.5cm.

[Penguinn]

I doubt you are going to listen to my advice and this is probably a waste of time. If I were you Penguinn, I would stop lengthening at 6.5cm. The reason why is that nobody on the planet is going to notice that extra 1cm that will take you to 7.5cm. It's not going to make any difference at all in your life, and will dramatically increase your recovery time and potential for complications.

Stop now and be happy with the length you have. It's simply not worth the risk to have that meaningless 1cm more of height. You can always go back for more on your tibias once you heal up and get used to your new proportions. Always better to play it safe when it comes to LL, than to chase centimeters or try to achieve the goal you set out before your surgery. In the end 1cm more of height is pointless when you already have 6.5cm.

Honestly, I see no reason to stop. Things are still painless for me, as of 6.6cms(6.45 if you believe the Precice machine). I get 8 hours of sleep. If I had a lot of pain and couldn't work my muscles during physio I would have stopped. I think it's the age, because Morrisette and Asian123 who are also very young did 3" on their tibias, with externals and seem to be doing fine. My doctor, who's already cautious and prefers function over length, has given me the green signal. My proportions won't look noticeably off with the extra cm. Aside from slight knee bending on the right, which hasn't gotten worse over the past few weeks, I'm fine.

1cm isn't meaningless; it's almost half an inch. Also, going back for more on my tibias isn't that easy. It's not like ordering a second helping at a restaurant. This process takes a lot of time, effort and money and I honestly can't be arsed do it again. Worst case scenario, I'd settle for what I have. I agree that 6.5cms is a life changing gain. But again, I'm listening to my body and I haven't seen any significant indicators of needing to cut my goal short.

[guichethope]

i'm 100 % with you bro !!!! Good luck hope you're fine and your scars are ok . 

[caioOo8900]

How are you Penguinn? All right? How many mm already got? Good luck

[Penguinn]

How are you Penguinn? All right? How many mm already got? Good luck

My lengthening is done. Somewhere around 7.35 according to the machine's measurement. However, I was told that during lengthening my left leg fell 2mm behind. Now my right leg was naturally 2mm shorter so my legs are equal. Depending on the amount lengthened, which I will know on Monday, I'll lengthen a bit more or stay consolidating.

[onemorefoot]

Probably this has been the painless experience I have read with Precice, not even Paley has had patients with almost 0 pain. I dont know if age was the main factor or that the doctor is very careful( your operation was completed in 10 hours). I am jealous .

[guichethope]

Happy for you bro wish you the best for your recovery and your futur life . Enjoy 

[Bander72]

Lucky bastard I wish a external with parihar will be easy for me but I know that wont be the case

[onemorefoot]

Bander, LON is an option, the time in frames is 1/3 from conventional external fixation.

[fujitora]

@Penguinn - Congratulations man. You pulled it off.

[Penguinn]

Thank you I think I have 2mm left though. I hope I can walk unaided at least sometime in Feb.

[Bander72]

Bander, LON is an option, the time in frames is 1/3 from conventional external fixation.

That is what I am going to do but I doubt it will be as comfortable experience as his was. And I will probably be 25 by then not too young or old. I wonder how I will fare.

[onemorefoot]

I continue wondering myself if is really possible sleeping with external frames.

[Mtall]

Lengthening done, and till now, it has been an almost painless experience.
Bro, can you do us all a favour: Ask Dr. Parihar, in his honest opinion, taking into consideration all facts, what does he think is the reason for your almost painless experience? Maybe we can emulate it, like if its due to flexibility or something like that?

Secondly, towards the end of the lengthening phase, did you increase your intake of painkillers?

[Penguinn]

Lengthening done, and till now, it has been an almost painless experience.
Bro, can you do us all a favour: Ask Dr. Parihar, in his honest opinion, taking into consideration all facts, what does he think is the reason for your almost painless experience? Maybe we can emulate it, like if its due to flexibility or something like that?

Secondly, towards the end of the lengthening phase, did you increase your intake of painkillers?

I'll ask him at our next meeting. You said he told you Precice was the reason, but I think age plays a bigger role, because older Precice patients have had pain whereas young external patients have had smooth experiences. Or a combination of both. I was somewhat flexible(I could touch all my fingers to the ground while keeping my knees straight) but certainly not a gymnast. My pain tolerance isn't above average either.

No, I haven't taken painkillers for as long as I can remember. Most of my aches were/are during physio, I was a cool cucumber sitting still and playing video games.

As of now, my knee bending issue is slightly better and I'll post the X-Rays from Monday when I get them. Callus has improved a bit too. My left leg's achilles tendon area feels tender during some exercises and my quads feel very slightly tight in some situations for 2 seconds before I work it off. I'm happy with where I'm at.

[Mtall]

Hey Penguinn. Can you give us an update on your consolidation and any visits to Dr. Parihar that you might have had?
 
And, compared to the lengthening phase, what all do you find different now?

[Penguinn]

Hey Penguinn. Can you give us an update on your consolidation and any visits to Dr. Parihar that you might have had?
 
And, compared to the lengthening phase, what all do you find different now?

I got last time's X-Rays but not the 19th December ones. I've been lazy with posting updates but I'll get to it.
-I've lengthened 7.3 apparently, so I'll do an mm or 2 more. The machine reached it's limit(it was manually set as 14. and we'll have to reset it first.
-I fixed my knee bending issue, but I have a bit of duck ass. I think it's taking my total height a cm down. I'm lying on my stomach for an hour every day. I have all the time in the world to get rid of it, so I'm not too concerned. Muscle strength and flexibility is decent.
-Callus has improved and for further improvement, I was told to stand more and walk around with the walker a little.
-I do my physio routine once a day instead of twice, which might slow my muscle strengthening. Admittedly I've gotten lazy.
-I can honestly say my pain is 0/10 right now, aside from my left achilles tendon area which is tender sometimes while moving and exercising. That's from resting my leg on it for too long.
-Sleep's still good, but it's impossible to have absolutely deep, lost in the abyss sleep without waking up for a single second throughout, probably until I'm consolidated and 100%.
-The biggest difference is obviously the height. I don't think about it anymore and my mind still hasn't fully adjusted to being taller.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Hey, I've heard that a couple of lengtheners experienced that the amount they lengthened doesn't translate eqally to the amount they became taller. For example, they lengthened 7 cms but only grew 5 cms in height. Did you experience the same? Best regards.

[Penguinn]

Yeah, I was measured as 2cm shorter than I should be because when it was done, my knee bending and hip took away my height- also it was done with a book against a wall in an unreliable fashion. I was accurately measured before the surgery in multiple clinics so I've no doubts what height I am.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Yeah, I was measured as 2cm shorter than I should be because when it was done, my knee bending and hip took away my height- also it was done with a book against a wall in an unreliable fashion. I was accurately measured before the surgery in multiple clinics so I've no doubts what height I am.

But these issues were only temporary, so when you fully recover, the amount you lengthened should be equal to the amount you will gain, or not?

[Penguinn]

But these issues were only temporary, so when you fully recover, the amount you lengthened should be equal to the amount you will gain, or not?

Yeah, of course.