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[zantac20]

How is it going @helloword ? I'm really looking forward to your videoblog

@notimportant have you something against Fitbone? You wrote only negativ comments.
I have the feeling you are an employee of Nuvasive / Precice.

Don't feed the troll, that's all I'm gonna say.

[helloworld]

Thanks for your message!
Going well!
I am lengthening at 0.55 - 0.65 mm per day, and that reduces that pain level a lot.
For example, today I have taken only half a Paracetamol and feel no pain.

I have heared that this actually does not slow down the process, "process" being the total time of:
1. operation and hospital
2. lengthening
3. recovery
What I mean is that if you do lengthening in 1 month then recovery will take 5 months and if you do lengthening in 3 months recoveru will take only 3 month, with the total time depending on many factors but not the rate of clicking.

I will post the videos, but I have to get my face blurred first. Hope to get this done soon.

[zantac20]

Thanks for your message!
Going well!
I am lengthening at 0.55 - 0.65 mm per day, and that reduces that pain level a lot.
For example, today I have taken only half a Paracetamol and feel no pain.

I have heared that this actually does not slow down the process, "process" being the total time of:
1. operation and hospital
2. lengthening
3. recovery
What I mean is that if you do lengthening in 1 month then recovery will take 5 months and if you do lengthening in 3 months recoveru will take only 3 month, with the total time depending on many factors but not the rate of clicking.

I will post the videos, but I have to get my face blurred first. Hope to get this done soon.

Sounds great. I also think that when I have my surgery (most probably with fitbone too) I will lengthen slowly and not force my body.

Nice to hear your are doing fine

[notimportant]

I'm not attacking Fitbone. I'm stating the obvious. Fitbone nails fail much more than they say. We have Helloworld, Musicmaker, the American guy...

[zantac20]

I'm not attacking Fitbone. I'm stating the obvious. Fitbone nails fail much more than they say. We have Helloworld, Musicmaker, the American guy...

You may be right, but I wouldnt asume MM had a nail failure, as far as I know she had an accident.

And Cooper's case seems more like he lost his trust on the doctor.

anyway, dr. Monegal seems very caring and friendly. There is no perfect doctor (I'm sure even Paley had bad cases) but as long as the doctor really cares about the patient and is willing to fix the possible issues, he will have my approval.

Fitbone is a german nail right? German people usually only make high quality products

[helloworld]

Wittenstein has been around for over 60 years, is valued at almost 1 billion USD, is a European company (SE) with headquarters in Germany and has several thousand employees around the globe.
Fitbone is only a small division within Wittenstein, that as far as I understand resulted from the medical doctor/engineer Baumgart and Wittenstein.

[helloworld]

Here are my x-rays from today:
http://imgur.com/a/fd5Bo

[Auron]

Here are my x-rays from today:
http://imgur.com/a/fd5Bo

Show off!

[notimportant]

There were several implant malfunctions in Musicmaker's case like in Helloworld's. It's well documented in the forum. Accident was another complication but implants failed without any accident. I don't know the details about the failure of the American guy but this guy had many complications too.
Helloworld's cloud is very good IMHO

[helloworld]

Notimportant: thanks for your positive opinion :-)

There are 4 forces at play in determining success:
1. Patient
2. Surgeon
3. Implant
4. Luck

In my particular case I would assume doctor and patient (me) did everything correct and it was mainly bad luck and implant.
I think in many cases it is patient fault, like lengthening too fast, not following recovery program, smoking, wrong nutrition, putting too much weight on implant too quickly.

But no surgeon nor implant is perfect, so combined with bad luck, we can all have complications. I had one, but I would say a small one, as I am now doing very well.

I decided that Internal LL, Monegal, Barcelona and Fitbone was the best combination at the time and would still take that decision today.

[helloworld]

When I say bad luck and implant, were the cause for me to have to get a replacement implant, I actually would not say that the implant manufacturer was at fault. In fact, I think the company has done everything correctly to assure the best quality and 100% functioning. But there is always the element of luck and nothing is 100%.
So I would not say that the implant manufacturer was at fault, but I would say that in my cases the failure falls within their area of responsibility.

[onemorefoot]

Does Monegal recommends you to walk with a walker too or you are just in wheelchair??? Which would be the protocol if the patient is overweighted?

[helloworld]

The protocol is:
5 days bed only in hospital
from 5 days stand up and sit in chair
one week in wheelchair only in rehab
after 2 weeks walk between bars
shortly after use the bike
once stiches removed and wounds healed use the pool
once x-ray show some bone growth, you can use walker (so I started using walker after my x-rays last week, 7 weeks after operation)
I weight 80 kg. The more you weigh, the more careful you have to be.

[helloworld]

Bilateral vs unilateral lengthening

My surgeon, Dr. Monegal, prefers unilateral lengthening and I am sure there a good reasons for that. However, after having gone through bilateral procedures and having shared experience with many unilateral patients, I very glad I did bilateral and wanna tell you why:

Mobility
A unilateral patient is supposed to be more mobile as he as one “normal” leg. However, I have not seen a big difference between me and unilateral patients:
Neither of us can walk normally.
I am faster in a wheelchair than they are on crutches.
I have been able to stand up early on, which is actually easier for me as my legs are equal length.
I am able to swim, to bike, to walk with arm support.
Many exercises seem to be easier for me as I have both legs in the same conditions.

Pain
A bilateral patient is supposed to have twice the pain. I think the opposite is true. Comparing pain levels it seems that mine are the same or lower to unilateral patients. My explanation is that pain is a signal of the body that something is wrong. Having 2 legs broken instead of 1 does not make that signal stronger. In fact, I believe it is easier for your brain to accept the condition as normal and thus stop the pain, as your brain does not have a “normal” leg to compare to, while a bilateral patient always knows what a normal leg should feel like and that this is different from the broken leg.

Mindset
You need a lot of determination to do everything you can as a patient to speed up recovery as well as to endure pain and bad sleep.
For that it is important to see the light at the end of the tunel! For me I will be done with the lengthening in about 2 weeks and then just consolidate. For the unilateral patients they are going through the same bad time as me only to know that after one is finally done they still have to do another!

Speed
As far as I have understood, the total time of lengthening + recovery is decreased by increasing the lengthening speed. So if you extract at 2 mm a day you will have tight muscles and a big gap in your bone that takes a long time to recover. If you do 0.7 mm a day your muscles at the end of lengthening will already have adjusted and your bone gap will almost be consolidated so the total recovery time is not longer but maybe shorter!
And of course lengthening at 0.7 mm means you have much less pain!
On the other hand, I understand people that want to just get over with this process asap, which is possible if you both legs at the same time, but at a slow rate.

Work
Unilateral patients are supposed to be able to work while lengthening.
Personally, I think that this will be difficult unless you are able to sleep well during night which most patients are not.
On the other hand I am working from home office with a similar productivity as before, just not able to work from the office. Actually, I guess by now I even could work from the office, but as I need an afternoon nap, I work from home.

For all those reasons, from a patient experience I would advise bilateral lengthening.

[BiggestProblem]

Stop spamming, u posted this in 2 threads. BOTH DIARIES. Come one dude...

[helloworld]

Because I believe this information is important, dude.
One diary is mine, the other diary is of my good friend, neighbor and fellow patient.

[helloworld]

http://imgur.com/a/aFYSo
My x-rays.
Generally, I am happy with them.
There is good bone cloud but still not so much that I have to be worried about preconsolidation.
The only two things that worry me a bit are:
1. the outrgrowth of callus on the left leg
2. the slightly bend nail in the right leg

[notimportant]

Auron's X-rays are better. These X-rays are to be worried. Bone is good. Other issues aren't good. You're right.

[helloworld]

Auron's X-rays are better. These X-rays are to be worried. Bone is good. Other issues aren't good. You're right.

Thanks for feedback!
What would be most worrying to you?

[zantac20]

What is the doctor saying about these x-rays?
They seem fine to me, but I don't really know

[helloworld]

He is saying fine!
 BUt that I should be careful with putting on weight (I weigh 80 kg), so screw does not bent further and that the callus outgrowth is not worrying as the bone will reform.
He also said that bone formation is fast enough, to potentially preconsolidate, should I not lengthen at least 0.7 mm per day.
I am currently at 4.3 cm and want to get to 5.5 cm, so less than 20 days left.

[zantac20]

He is saying fine!
 BUt that I should be careful with putting on weight (I weigh 80 kg), so screw does not bent further and that the callus outgrowth is not worrying as the bone will reform.
He also said that bone formation is fast enough, to potentially preconsolidate, should I not lengthen at least 0.7 mm per day.
I am currently at 4.3 cm and want to get to 5.5 cm, so less than 20 days left.

Thanks for answering. You are very near. Good luck!

[helloworld]

Thanks for your wishes!

[helloworld]

hello world,
sorry for not updating more regularly.
Everything is going fine!

I left the MIC, the recovery residence in Barcelona, 3 weeks ago and now live very close to my office and to my gym.
So I go to my office every day and work there the whole day interrupted just by me going to the gym twice a day, which is next door.
Thus, I feel I have returned to normal life.

I just have to constantly use a walking frame. But in fact, this does not bother me, as I got one with wheels : https://www.amazon.es/Aidapt-VP178-Andador-de-aluminio/dp/B002NPSKWA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1488148637&sr=8-2&keywords=walking+frame
That allows me walk at normal speed. The only pain is on my triceps as I am constantly leaning forward and thus putting the majority of my weight on the frame, to keep it off my legs.

Also, since about 3 weeks I have not taken any pain medication but still have for the most part been able to sleep without interruption.

The last x rays were great. Good bone consolodation and the screw that seems a little bit bend 3 weeks before did not get any worse, so no problem.

I did notice though the the gap in the x-rays was substanstially less than what I had predicted from recording and counting all the clicks I made. According to my clicks it should have been more than 6 cm, while in fact it was less than 5 cm! And when I measure my height I only notice an increase of 4 cm, maximum 4.5 cm. Thus I am lengthening for 2.5 more weeks to get 1 more additional cm of heigh gain and will then stop.

At the beginning I expected lengthening to take 2 months and now it will be 4 months! However, as my daily routine returned to normal and I get normal sleep and normal work hours, I do not care about this very much.

While still lengthening I am already recovering muscle strength; over the last 3 weeks I have already been able to almost double the weight that my legs are able to lift, and at several machines for leg workout I am already at the maximum weight.

[Datum]

So its true what I read about Fitbone not accurate

[yagen]

Helloworld,

Maybe your femur is in preconsolidation phase, because it a lot of time 3,5 month for 4,5 cms, and for that reason the fitbone have enough power to move the bone and the engine turn around his axis. Try to put in Doctor Mode, it is more powerfull

See the topic of Krp1, he preconsolidated about 7 cms, other patients arround 6,5 cms in 90 days.

Good luck buddy.

[helloworld]

Yagan, thanks for the advice!
You might be read about preconsolidation, or at least sufficient bone cloud to make it difficult for the screws to do the full 0.03 mm.
In fact, it happended several times that I could her some noise of the screw, but no full turn and no counting on the device. In those case I did exactly as you advised, I turned to doctor mode and did like 10 rapid turns, and speeded up the lengthening process, so to avoid preconsolidation. But once I get all clicks to to work without a problem, I slow down the lengthening again.

So you could see, that I am lengthening at a slow speed, just enough to avoid consolidation. This is because lengthening at a slow speed is much more comfortable, seem to follow the natural growth process more naturally, and I was scared to click to fast, having been aware that a patient, I think the name being "American guy", lengthened at 2mm per day and caused nerve damage.

[KrP1]

Yagan, thanks for the advice!
You might be read about preconsolidation, or at least sufficient bone cloud to make it difficult for the screws to do the full 0.03 mm.
In fact, it happended several times that I could her some noise of the screw, but no full turn and no counting on the device. In those case I did exactly as you advised, I turned to doctor mode and did like 10 rapid turns, and speeded up the lengthening process, so to avoid preconsolidation. But once I get all clicks to to work without a problem, I slow down the lengthening again.

So you could see, that I am lengthening at a slow speed, just enough to avoid consolidation. This is because lengthening at a slow speed is much more comfortable, seem to follow the natural growth process more naturally, and I was scared to click to fast, having been aware that a patient, I think the name being "American guy", lengthened at 2mm per day and caused nerve damage.

If you are doing your lengthening at less than 1mm per day and you have good consolidation . Speed It Up now. And in doctor Mode like yagen told you. You are probably lengthening at a lower rate than what you think.its very easy to preconsolidate.

[helloworld]

OK! I got the message. I will speed up.
There should only be 2 weeks left anyway, for me to reach my goal. But as I already got a dense bone cloud, I will follow your, Yagan's, and Dr. Monegal's advice and speed up.

However, my physiotherapist, Claudio, said that preconsolidation is almost impossible to happen, more likely is too little bone formation, which is why I might have underestimated the risk.

[TIBIKE200]

OK! I got the message. I will speed up.
There should only be 2 weeks left anyway, for me to reach my goal. But as I already got a dense bone cloud, I will follow your, Yagan's, and Dr. Monegal's advice and speed up.

However, my physiotherapist, Claudio, said that preconsolidation is almost impossible to happen, more likely is too little bone formation, which is why I might have underestimated the risk.

Pre-consolidation is a very real "risk" when you lengthening the femurs... Much more than the tibias (because of greater blood supply). That's why docs usually say 1mm a day for femurs... It's because they consolidate much faster than tibs (usually)

[notimportant]

OK! I got the message. I will speed up.
There should only be 2 weeks left anyway, for me to reach my goal. But as I already got a dense bone cloud, I will follow your, Yagan's, and Dr. Monegal's advice and speed up.

However, my physiotherapist, Claudio, said that preconsolidation is almost impossible to happen, more likely is too little bone formation, which is why I might have underestimated the risk.

Your what? You shouldn't listen to that guy. He has no clue. He is not a physiotherapist. Didn't you know? The doctors from Clinica Diagonal told Cooper he wasn't and some patients checked the internet and the data of the Collegio de Fisioterapetuas and he is illegal and he also hurt some patients according to one expatient. Prove me I'm not right.