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[Chris]

February 10th, 2017


It's 10 days after surgery now, so I went to my local hospital and had some x-rays taken:





I indeed have two more cracks in my right shin. Still don't understand what happened to me during surgery
But it could explain the higher pain and much more swelling I've been having.
Dr. Deepak has already lengthened my legs by 4-5mm.
Tomorrow, I will start lengthening at 2x 0.5mm per day.

Edit:
I can stand and slowly walk using a walker. Walking unaided is impossible. When I want to go outside, I have to use a wheelchair.
I've been having a lot of foot swelling, especially in my right one.
I have to take blood thinners once a day.

[egocentrical]

Hopefully the shin cracks don't prove to much of an issue - did you fly to Indira Gandhi airport? Doesn't look to far from the hospital - looking to get my passport sorted for March and go out that way for a consultation

[doomsday]

The hospital bill was very close to 7000 EUR (~6500Euros was estimated). I needed additional intensive care and drugs, so it's justified.
I'll have to pay again for locking the nails and removal of the fixators.

Great to hear that everything is going well. I consolidating at the moment since I was doing 4 cm with ilizarov only. Ill give you some advice since you might need it:
1. make sure you keep you feet at 90 degree with bandages or exercise band. I had Ilizarov frame to tie them on but I'm sure you will be able to figure something out. When you do that keep you slippers on or some kind of shoes that let you skin breath and have firm insole to keep the whole feet straight. Wear it even at night! If you do that ballerina foot should not be a problem.
2. Dont do 1mm per day. You're bone can handle that but not the tendons and muscle in your legs. If you go slower the rest of the leg can adjust better( I made mistake of doing 1mm per day and later i regretted that!)
3. Walk and stand as much as you can but be extremely cautious(if you fall and break a leg you're in big trouble!)
4. At the beginning dont pomp yourself with calcium and vitamin D. You do not want  pre consolidation.
5. Take vitamin C and garlic in capsules to avoid infection. 90% of people get an infection but if you got antibiotics you will be fine. Its important to keep a strong immune system.
6. Keep positive and make sure you dont watch depressing movies( I made that mistake as well ;P )
7. Do not underestimate LL. I know you want 4.5 cm or less but you still can get severe ballerina foot or club foot.
8. Be very careful about taking advice from ppl that never got through LL but fell like they are experts because they stay in the forum 24h a day
9 if you want to sleep on you side put a pillow between your legs.

I guess that most of those things you probably know or should know. If you got questions let me know. Stay safe.

[Chris]

Hopefully the shin cracks don't prove to much of an issue - did you fly to Indira Gandhi airport? Doesn't look to far from the hospital - looking to get my passport sorted for March and go out that way for a consultation

According to my doctors at home, the "cracks" in my right leg might have been made to reduce pressure when they put the nail in.
Yes, Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). Its very close to the ISIC. 

Great to hear that everything is going well. I consolidating at the moment since I was doing 4 cm with ilizarov only. Ill give you some advice since you might need it:
1. make sure you keep you feet at 90 degree with bandages or exercise band. I had Ilizarov frame to tie them on but I'm sure you will be able to figure something out. When you do that keep you slippers on or some kind of shoes that let you skin breath and have firm insole to keep the whole feet straight. Wear it even at night! If you do that ballerina foot should not be a problem.
2. Dont do 1mm per day. You're bone can handle that but not the tendons and muscle in your legs. If you go slower the rest of the leg can adjust better( I made mistake of doing 1mm per day and later i regretted that!)
3. Walk and stand as much as you can but be extremely cautious(if you fall and break a leg you're in big trouble!)
4. At the beginning dont pomp yourself with calcium and vitamin D. You do not want  pre consolidation.
5. Take vitamin C and garlic in capsules to avoid infection. 90% of people get an infection but if you got antibiotics you will be fine. Its important to keep a strong immune system.
6. Keep positive and make sure you dont watch depressing movies( I made that mistake as well ;P )
7. Do not underestimate LL. I know you want 4.5 cm or less but you still can get severe ballerina foot or club foot.
8. Be very careful about taking advice from ppl that never got through LL but fell like they are experts because they stay in the forum 24h a day
9 if you want to sleep on you side put a pillow between your legs.

I guess that most of those things you probably know or should know. If you got questions let me know. Stay safe.

Thank you, Doomsday, I appreciate it 
Out of curiosity, you once wrote that you did 5cm, then 4,5cm and now it's 4cm. What happened?




February 16th, 2017

I was at my local hospital today and they had some bad news for me.

My left foot is twisted inwards.
At the ISIC, they told me it was because of swelling and that it would go away on its own.
But now my doctors at home have told me, that Dr. Deepak's team twisted the lower part of my tibia slightly and locked it with the fixator, hence the bad foot agle.

Now I will have to stay at 1mm per day as long as my body can bear it and I won't take calcium anymore.
My goal is to be done as quickly as possible and the callus formed in the end has to be as soft as possible, so that they can make a correction in my left leg when they lock the nails
If it doesn't work, they will have to break my left leg again after lengthening.

The other problem that I've been having is that I have no idea how much I will be able to lengthen.
The rail on my left leg is long enough for 4.5cm, but I wanted to do 5cm, because my left tibia is 5mm shorter than my right one.
This was discussed several times, written down and perfectly clear to everyone involved, and yet, only the rail on the right leg supports >5cm

The main components of both monorail devices (the distraction screws) have only 40mm written on it instead of >45mm.
And to make it even worse, I tested the replacement kit that I got and I could only turn the screw to precisely 35mm!

A reputable hospital and professional staff, and yet, I have run into two really stupid complications.

I hate my life

[doomsday]

According to my doctors at home, the "cracks" in my right leg might have been made to reduce pressure when they put the nail in.
Yes, Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). Its very close to the ISIC. 

Thank you, Doomsday, I appreciate it 
Out of curiosity, you once wrote that you did 5cm, then 4,5cm and now it's 4cm. What happened?




February 16th, 2017

I was at my local hospital today and they had some bad news for me.

My left foot is twisted inwards.
At the ISIC, they told me it was because of swelling and that it would go away on its own.
But now my doctors at home have told me, that Dr. Deepak's team twisted the lower part of my tibia slightly and locked it with the fixator, hence the bad foot agle.

Now I will have to stay at 1mm per day as long as my body can bear it and I won't take calcium anymore.
My goal is to be done as quickly as possible and the callus formed in the end has to be as soft as possible, so that they can make a correction in my left leg when they lock the nails
If it doesn't work, they will have to break my left leg again after lengthening.

The other problem that I've been having is that I have no idea how much I will be able to lengthen.
The rail on my left leg is long enough for 4.5cm, but I wanted to do 5cm, because my left tibia is 5mm shorter than my right one.
This was discussed several times, written down and perfectly clear to everyone involved, and yet, only the rail on the right leg supports >5cm

The main components of both monorail devices (the distraction screws) have only 40mm written on it instead of >45mm.
And to make it even worse, I tested the replacement kit that I got and I could only turn the screw to precisely 35mm!

A reputable hospital and professional staff, and yet, I have run into two really stupid complications.

I hate my life

After distraction my doc confirmed 5 cm, then i moved to the Uk and i had misalignment in both legs. Partially my legs were consolidated so the correction could be only done through compression in the right direction. Basically my doc messed me up and NHS in the UK made my legs as they should be. The good thing is that I have no ballering or a keen pain etc so not the end of the world. I will be definitely doing my femurs.
BTW. I looked up monorail with combination of a nail and the scars look terrible. Better look it up too

[Chris]

After distraction my doc confirmed 5 cm, then i moved to the Uk and i had misalignment in both legs. Partially my legs were consolidated so the correction could be only done through compression in the right direction. Basically my doc messed me up and NHS in the UK made my legs as they should be. The good thing is that I have no ballering or a keen pain etc so not the end of the world. I will be definitely doing my femurs.
BTW. I looked up monorail with combination of a nail and the scars look terrible. Better look it up too

Oh, sorry to hear that. But I think 4cm is still worth it.
That's why I want to do 4,5cm btw. The 5mm are my buffer or insurance against some loss.

Yes, the scars from monorail LON are somewhat terrible. But hey, you haven't really lived without scares
And many ladies find scars intriguing or even sexy on men.
Also, when I'm done with everything I can still go to a dermatologist for an hour or so and have some fun with the CO2-Laser

[TIBIKE200]

with who did you do your LL doomsday?

[Auron]

As someone who has done 4.8cm and has previously been a 4cm, it's totally worth it.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Is it just me or do the doctors as ISIC seem pretty imcompetent? No offense, but they apparently messed up your foot angle and gave you a rail that's not long enough for your desired length?! What's up with that I ask myself.

[yyes]

Is it just me or do the doctors as ISIC seem pretty imcompetent? No offense, but they apparently messed up your foot angle and gave you a rail that's not long enough for your desired length?! What's up with that I ask myself.

I didnt want to be the first to say this but he seems to have been going through a lot of issues. I mean the price is cheap but at what price physically?

[Chris]

Is it just me or do the doctors as ISIC seem pretty imcompetent? No offense, but they apparently messed up your foot angle and gave you a rail that's not long enough for your desired length?! What's up with that I ask myself.

They messed up my foot angle, yes. But I wouldn't go so far and call them incompetent.
I think it was an accident and could have happened with any doctor, even if I would have gone to an expensive surgeon where I live.
I still recommend them, but I want everyone to know that things can happen.

What really pisses me off are the distraction screws, because now I have to get my hands on longer ones before the time runs out.
I got a replacement kit (because they care about their patients) and even I didn't notice the bold letters saying 40MM. It's even written on the screws installed.
So ridiculously stupid from all of us 

Let's see how they react to this first, I'm gonna contact them on WhatsApp tomorrow and send them an email with pictures.

[doomsday]

with who did you do your LL doomsday?

non of the Doc from this or the old forum.
Ive been in touch with Dr Kulesh and Solomin and I really regret i didnt decide to go with them. Biggest mistake ever.

[egocentrical]

What size distraction screws do you need then?  s confusing, I'm using your diary to plan my trip - I'm hoping once my passport comes back and it's valid I can go down mid March for consultation and have surgery near end of March.

[Chris]

What size distraction screws do you need then? craps confusing, I'm using your diary to plan my trip - I'm hoping once my passport comes back and it's valid I can go down mid March for consultation and have surgery near end of March.

I need 50mm distraction screws. The rail on my left leg is only long enough for 45mm. But it seems that I can glide with the component which is pressing the pins to the rail over the edge by 5mm without compromising the stability of the fixator. I suddenly I had this wild idea this morning when I was looking at my fixators, now I'm hopeful 
I will upload some pictures of the device.


International patients have shorter waiting periods, if they agree to make you taller, your first consultation with Dr. Deepak and the surgery will most likely be only a couple of days apart. Make sure that you can pay the estimated bill as quickly as possible. International money transfers can take quite long. The Statebank of India is kinda slow and the Billing Office can't get a confirmation from their own bank whenever they need to.
When the estimated bill says e.g. 450.000 INR, transfer 500.000 INR so that you won't have to worry about transferring additional money while you are wounded.
And make sure to have a credit card with heigh enough limit. I'm a university student with only a part-time job and so my limit wasn't that high to begin with. So I went to my bank and asked them to up my limit for 1-2 months.

[egocentrical]

Did you go to your bank before hand to say you were wanting to transfer money? or - how did you actually go through that? the main part for me is actually getting everything sorted for surgery and not the surgery itself. I want to only spend like 2 weeks - 3 weeks max before going home.

How much have you lengthened so far since surgery and how you coping at the moment?

[Chris]

Did you go to your bank before hand to say you were wanting to transfer money? or - how did you actually go through that? the main part for me is actually getting everything sorted for surgery and not the surgery itself. I want to only spend like 2 weeks - 3 weeks max before going home.

How much have you lengthened so far since surgery and how you coping at the moment?

I was quite naive when I first went to Delhi, thinking transferring money to India would be as quick as between European countries.
After my consultation with Dr. Deepak, I contacted my parents and gave them the okay to go to my bank on my behalf.
Then a lot of stuff happened which I already have written about in my diary.
I ended up flying home and losing 7 weeks of my precious time due to a legal fight with my bank, slow money transaction, holidays, bureaucracy and also the response time of the ISIC's Billing Office (I had to kindly push them several times).

My advise: transfer money using the ICICI Bank. It's the same bank the ISIC uses for credit card billings.
They promise quick transfers and they give you a tracking number. This number can help the Billing Office to confirm your payment hassle-free.
Or maybe there is a branch of the State Bank of India in you country. This could work too.
Just try to avoid transferring money to India from your regular bank account.
There are many travel websites also discussing this problem.
A third way could be to ask your banker to raise your credit card limit to let's say 10.000 [whatever you currency is] for just one month.
There would be no risk for them if they see you having enough money on your account. And there is Prepaid-Visa.
I hope that was helpful.



I should be at 1,2cm right now. After surgery, I woke up 5mm taller, because team Deepak had already lengthened my legs a bit
About 2,5 weeks later, I still have a lot of bruises and my legs are a bit stiff. Pain has been 1/10 when lying around and 2/10 after walking or doing exercises.
Following Tbike's advise, I have stopped taking Ibuprofen. I have a prescription for Tilidin now.
Despite my joint stiffens, I'm quite flexible actually once I have warmed up. My legs are 1cm longer and I can still reach and touch the floor with my palms (not just the fingertips) 

[0184946]

A update from chris yess 
So sorry to hear you going through issues, perhaps when your in your consolidating period and able to eat proper vitamins and nutrients the crack in your shin will heal up.
However this makes me suspicious about Dr. Deepak.
When are you planning on stopping from turning 1mm/a day? Reducing it a bit will make the pain significantly less

[Chris]

A update from chris yess 
So sorry to hear you going through issues, perhaps when your in your consolidating period and able to eat proper vitamins and nutrients the crack in your shin will heal up.
However this makes me suspicious about Dr. Deepak.
When are you planning on stopping from turning 1mm/a day? Reducing it a bit will make the pain significantly less

Haha, you're welcome
My doctors at home have told me that the "cracks" could have been made to reduce pressure in my right leg while putting the nail in.
Like I've mentioned in my diary somewhere, my bone canals were extremely tight, so it makes sense for now.

Dr. Deepak does not work alone. It's a team of four actually and Dr. Deepak is the chief. They stick together most of the time, do consultations together, operate on you together, look after their patients together, they even went to the cinema together after coming to look after me on a Saturday
The big advantage is that there are four brains at work for the price of one doctor, but it might also lead to some confusion every now and then if the communication is not working properly.

I'm not planning to stop turning 1mm per day for now. I don't have pain from lengthening; it's totally pain free even.
My pain still comes from the surgery, because it was a hefty one and my body didn't like it at all.
But it's slowly getting better and better and I hope to be pain-free by the end of next week.



 

[egocentrical]

How often are you stretching etc a day? You said you plan to do femurs - LON too? I want to do LON femurs for 8CM if that's even possible (as in if the equipment supports that length), pains not an issue for me, I've felt horrible amounts of pain for a period of my life I can pretty much zone it out - then with some small lifts nothing crazy - id be at 174-175 and happy.

[1683131665]

Hi Chris
Can you tell me the wingspan?

[Chris]

How often are you stretching etc a day? You said you plan to do femurs - LON too? I want to do LON femurs for 8CM if that's even possible (as in if the equipment supports that length), pains not an issue for me, I've felt horrible amounts of pain for a period of my life I can pretty much zone it out - then with some small lifts nothing crazy - id be at 174-175 and happy.

I'm stretching two time a day, but there will be more sessions depending on how much I have lengthened.
I will do external LON on femurs next year if I don't have any other option. But I really hope that Dr. M. will have his affordable internal nails available for us by then.

The rail fixation system from Pitkar available to the ISIC supports up to 10cm.
But don't get any wild ideas now, I wouldn't do more than 6cm on femur if I were you.

Hi Chris
Can you tell me the wingspan?

Height: 161cm (evening) 163 (morning)
Wingspan: 162cm

[egocentrical]

that's good to hear! Well my femurs are quite stubby compared to my tibias, i think it was from when i was young i would spend countless hours on the computer kneeling so my femurs were stunted. 8cm is just a goal because it wouldn't look out of place and it means that i can still wear lifts and my tibias would look prop and i would be around 174 max 175 with shoes and 172/3 without which is plenty for me - but yeah you're right, i would only go for 8cm if everything was going smoothly my realistic goal is 6.5/7 as i want to be just above 170 but ideally i have this fixation on 172.

do you feel that you're not experiencing much pain because you're not over doing the stretching or that you feel comfortable in your environment and it's less stressful so you spend less time thinking about it. How is your weight bearing during the lengthening phase and how is your flexibility?

[Chris]

do you feel that you're not experiencing much pain because you're not over doing the stretching or that you feel comfortable in your environment and it's less stressful so you spend less time thinking about it. How is your weight bearing during the lengthening phase and how is your flexibility?

I still have some pain from the surgery. The lengthening itself doesn't hurt at 1mm per day. Stretching and some muscle training twice a day (15mins per session) seems to be enough for me.
To be at home definitely helps not to think about LL or pain that often. I might not look like it, but I had strong legs and I was VERY flexible and I think that I still profit from it.
But it will stop sooner or later, no doubt about it and then I will slow down from 2x 0.5mm per day to 3x 0.25mm per day and increase my training.
Like I said in my diary, my monorail fixators are fully weight-bearing. I can stand and slowly walk using a walker. Walking unaided in impossible. If I want to go outside, I have to use a wheelchair.

[Chris]

February 19th, 2017 - Removing the Stitches


It's 19 days after surgery and I'm at 13-14mm.
Rate of lengthening: 2x 0.5mm per day

Still some pain and swelling from the surgery, especially when I stand for more than 30 seconds.
Then I can feel where the pins are and pressure builds up in my legs which quickly leads to more swelling in my feet.
Lengthening itself still doesn't hurt at all and I still profit from my very good flexibility.

I was supposed to have my stitches removed with my doctor next Tuesday.
But I'm cheap, so I had decided to save the money and to do it on my own today.
It turned out to be quiet easy, but it took me like 2 yours to get rid of all those small and sometimes really tight knots everywhere.
I had to slightly cut trough my skin several times to even get to the sutures so I could clip them 
But it's done now and I like the result. No reason to pay an expensive doctor

When changing the bandages, I also took the chance to take some photos of my scarred legs for those who might be interested:





Left leg (knee, tibia, fibula):


Right leg (knee, tibia, fibula):


I also noticed some pin cutting on my right knee, but it isn't much and it doesn't hurt:

[Body Builder]

I've done LL with orthofix monorails too my friend.
I can assure you that after 2-3 cm lengthening they are not weight bearable so be careful with standing, even with a walker.
I started to walk with monorails and a walker only after about 1.5 month I stop lengthening.
Of course you could start walking almost after finishing lengthening because you did LON while I did external only, but for now be very careful.

Also, I see that your fibulas have a huge cut and I am almost sure that there will be a non alignment between their sides. What did your doctor told you about that and why he didn't to a small cut like in tibias and hold tibia and fibula with a screw to let them lengthen the same?
I am very curious about your doctors decision for your fibulas and I would like to know the reason for doing that.

[682]

   

I've done LL with orthofix monorails too my friend.
I can assure you that after 2-3 cm lengthening they are not weight bearable so be careful with standing, even with a walker.
I started to walk with monorails and a walker only after about 1.5 month I stop lengthening.
Of course you could start walking almost after finishing lengthening because you did LON while I did external only, but for now be very careful.

Also, I see that your fibulas have a huge cut and I am almost sure that there will be a non alignment between their sides. What did your doctor told you about that and why he didn't to a small cut like in tibias and hold tibia and fibula with a screw to let them lengthen the same?
I am very curious about your doctors decision for your fibulas and I would like to know the reason for doing that.

Hey Body Builder, would I be correct in assuming this is the same person from the 'other' forum with the same name? If so, great to have you here man. It would be awesome if you could post a thread describing a quick overview of your lengthening, complications, where you are now etc. I'm sure people would love to read it.

[Body Builder]

   
Hey Body Builder, would I be correct in assuming this is the same person from the 'other' forum with the same name? If so, great to have you here man. It would be awesome if you could post a thread describing a quick overview of your lengthening, complications, where you are now etc. I'm sure people would love to read it.

Yes, I am the same person.
And yes I'd like to write about my current condition, even more because in the next months I'll have a new surgery to have both my achilles tendons shortened and fix a minor misalignment I have in my right tibia that may cause premature arthritis and must be fixed.

I hope a moderator could help me about where is the most suitable topic to write about my current condition and my upcoming surgery because I don't want to hijack threads of fellow LL'ers.

[YourSpaceBoyfriend]

Patients Experiences category should be fine

[0184946]

At 14mm you only have approx 30 more days till you reach your goal and the fixator is off  the swelling should go down soon no biggie. I'm concerned about the pain  ur experiencing while standing for a prolonged amount of time because standing is vital for good recovery but ur only doing 4.5cm so you should be fine. Nice warrior scars too.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Well my femurs are quite stubby compared to my tibias, i think it was from when i was young i would spend countless hours on the computer kneeling so my femurs were stunted.

I don't think that's possible mate.

[egocentrical]

I'm just taking a guess - I have no idea if it actually would do anything.