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[Cooper]

Boys and Girls,
I have decided to go to Pretoria for surgery. I could not believe how close I was about to select other doctor. This was not easy decision, agonizing over this for few months. Lost the motivation and hardly focus on anything...work, sports etc.  Believe or not I was calling Dr. M's office for surgery date just yesterday. One PM from Amatan (thanks Amatan) and Dr. B gracious posting to the forum aid to the decision.

My surgery is booked for June 4th. I am most likely to stay for entire lengthening period and insert titanium for faster consolidation and mobility. I may opt for second tibia surgery. Dr. B and I decided on wait and see approach.  I am planning to work remotely from Pretoria. I will have to see how that will pan out. If the telecommute does not work than I might come back after femur and do tibia later.

I been researching over this almost two years. I profiled almost all the best LL doctors and exchanged email with almost all around the world. I communicated to Dr. Rozbruch (consulted), Dr. Paley (email), Dr. M (consulted), Dr. Jamal, Dr. Lee, Dr. Guichet, Dr. Salemah and obviously Dr. Franz.  You can see I went around the globe on quest to find LL doctor that suits my  requirement  . I was determined to do this but was not sure when, where and how. The Korea Precise issue put me on hold for sometime as well  .

Now I made up my mind, thank goodness! I will be focusing next few months on stretching and following Precise diary to gain some perspective and what not. If you anyone wants to chat, ping me on Skype @ cooperlengthening.

Best wishes,
Cooper

[Polycrates.]

Splendid! You two certainly are pioneers. Hopefully the tremendous spirit you've displayed in taking the leap we've all be waiting for ingratiates Dr Birkholtz with current and future members of the community. Hopefully you are but two of what shall become a great many patients of Dr Birkholtz, finally providing another solid option in the mid-tier price range.

[Disobedient]

it's good to see a diary of one of Dr.Birkholtz's patient ..He seems to be very qualify dr,,
this forum started to witness more of successful diaries (Dr. Paley, Barinov, Rozburch, and now Birkholtz) rather than Indian doctors,..

all the best both of you cooper and the rising shorty


 

[shawty]

So jelly. Best of luck! Dr. B seems like an excellent choice. I'm excited to see your outcome. I might consider him myself down the road

[KiloKAHN]

Aw shucks, I kind of wanted to be the first Dr Birkholtz patient after finding him 

Lol.

Congrats, Cooper. Hope your lengthening is a great success.

[Cooper]

Splendid! You two certainly are pioneers. Hopefully the tremendous spirit you've displayed in taking the leap we've all be waiting for ingratiates Dr Birkholtz with current and future members of the community. Hopefully you are but two of what shall become a great many patients of Dr Birkholtz, finally providing another solid option in the mid-tier price range.

I have no doubt we will have successful outcome. The lack of diary makes lot of LLers hesitant to go with any doctors. I will be like jungle with dr. Mitkovic. Me probably the first patient from this forum. I do feel obligated to provide as accurate and clear picture of my journey so I can pave the way for future LLers with another great possibility with a great doctor.

[Cooper]

it's good to see a diary of one of Dr.Birkholtz's patient ..He seems to be very qualify dr,,
this forum started to witness more of successful diaries (Dr. Paley, Barinov, Rozburch, and now Birkholtz) rather than Indian doctors,..

all the best both of you cooper and the rising shorty

Thank you disobedient. Please be obedient and follow my diary closely I will need lot of strength and support from you guyz.

[Cooper]

Aw shucks, I kind of wanted to be the first Dr Birkholtz patient after finding him 

Lol.

Congrats, Cooper. Hope your lengthening is a great success.

Thanks bro. You can still beat me if you schedule before May   

[Cooper]

So jelly. Best of luck! Dr. B seems like an excellent choice. I'm excited to see your outcome. I might consider him myself down the road

Thanks shawty. May be you can see him in person since you live in Dallas area. I might come down to meet him. But I will have lot going on my final week of departure. Not sure If I can make it.

[Gichelu]

Hope it goes well and thanks for being the first Birkholtz patient. But bro why are you also posting this on old forum ? I know it's your diary and you can do what you want but Sysop was talking smack about this forum and saying Birkholtz isn't even a real doctor so writing a Birkholtz diary on old forum  isn't the best thing. Its not personal against you or anything but I think it would be best if Birkholtz diaries are exclusive to this site for a little while since this place found him and supported him whereas the other one just badmouthed him and wouldn't even accept Dr Franz as a member.

[Franz]

Hiya,

Congratulations on the decision guys. Thanks for your trust.
We need to set a couple of ground rules. I think two golden rules should apply:
1) You need to be absolutely honest about the experience. Good or bad.
2) This is my last post in your personal diary for fear of creating bias. You should feel free to post whatever you want, without fear that this might somehow compromise your care.
Good luck and I am looking forward to meeting you and getting the adventure underway.

[Cooper]

Hiya,

Congratulations on the decision guys. Thanks for your trust.
We need to set a couple of ground rules. I think two golden rules should apply:
1) You need to be absolutely honest about the experience. Good or bad.
2) This is my last post in your personal diary for fear of creating bias. You should feel free to post whatever you want, without fear that this might somehow compromise your care.
Good luck and I am looking forward to meeting you and getting the adventure underway.

Thank you dr. Franz. I would not mind you dropping by. I will try to be unbiased and provide the LL coomunity a real life experience. Honesty is my best policy, an old adage but had worked great deal in my career and in business.  Looking forward to WORKING with you on this project !

[Cooper]

Hope it goes well and thanks for being the first Birkholtz patient. But bro why are you also posting this on old forum ? I know it's your diary and you can do what you want but Sysop was talking smack about this forum and saying Birkholtz isn't even a real doctor so writing a Birkholtz diary on old forum  isn't the best thing. Its not personal against you or anything but I think it would be best if Birkholtz diaries are exclusive to this site for a little while since this place found him and supported him whereas the other one just badmouthed him and wouldn't even accept Dr Franz as a member.

Hey Gichelu,
I understand your concern. I thought about that right before posting, questioned myself should even bother posting anything in old forum . I was member of that forum for two years. Learned a great deal about patient real life experience, LL techniques and doctors et cetera. I could really graduate with distinction if there was a LL test

I believe in my heart I owe to the LL community. Remember there are six thousands members in old forum  possibly looking for good doctor. May be my experience will help them in some way and above all they will come to know this great doctor.

I do feel home on this forum and promise this will be my primary. Hope this make sense.

THANKS LL Forum for bringing this doctor to the forum. I would not know damn thing had I not checked out this forum. For that I am deeply grateful.

Cheers!!

[Hanna84]

Hey Gichelu,
I understand your concern. I thought about that right before posting, questioned myself should even bother posting anything in old forum . I was member of that forum for two years. Learned a great deal about patient real life experience, LL techniques and doctors et cetera. I could really graduate with distinction if there was a LL test

I believe in my heart I owe to the LL community. Remember there are six thousands members in old forum  possibly looking for good doctor. May be my experience will help them in some way and above all they will come to know this great doctor.

I do feel home on this forum and promise this will be my primary. Hope this make sense.

THANKS LL Forum for bringing this doctor to the forum. I would not know damn thing had I not checked out this forum. For that I am deeply grateful.

Cheers!!

I think that's a wise attitude. It's more important to provide information than being involved in this conflict of the two forums.
Good luck with your journey! 

[Cooper]

I think that's a wise attitude. It's more important to provide information than being involved in this conflict of the two forums.
Good luck with your journey! 

Thank you Hanna. I admired your 9cm. You are a brave soul.

[Hanna84]

Thank you. 
What is your goal?

[Cooper]

I am shooting for 6.5cm on femur and 5cm in tibia. In total 11.5.

[BilateralDamage]

Cooper congrats!!!  I'm so excited to see Dr. B finally get the recognition he deserves.  I think your diary is going to go tremendously well, and will convince a lot of others to go to him too (maybe even me for when I do my tibiae!)

Keep in mind, the internet in SA isn't the best (actually ranked 130th in the world) so you should try investing in a 3G dongle, which allows for pay-as-you-go data.  You should also contact the guesthouse you're staying at to figure out what their connection speeds are and if there's any chance of you increasing them (if it's at a measly 1 mb/s).

[Cooper]

Cooper congrats!!!  I'm so excited to see Dr. B finally get the recognition he deserves.  I think your diary is going to go tremendously well, and will convince a lot of others to go to him too (maybe even me for when I do my tibiae!)

Keep in mind, the internet in SA isn't the best (actually ranked 130th in the world) so you should try investing in a 3G dongle, which allows for pay-as-you-go data.  You should also contact the guesthouse you're staying at to figure out what their connection speeds are and if there's any chance of you increasing them (if it's at a measly 1 mb/s).

Hey BD,
Thanks man. I am worried about the Internet. I am not planning to work much for first two weeks. I will check with Piña if I can get wifi hot spot with faster Internet and what speed guest house carries. It says four star and I am believing that comes with good connection.

I think he is a great option with world class facility and modern IM nail. He wrote me email today saying I made a good decision. That was really comforting. Since I am the first bilateral precise patient there is always that sense of anxiety. Over all I am pretty confident and time will tell.

I will be posting and loading lots of pictures. Hope the Internet will handle that much bottleneck. I will be checking with you as we are riding the journey around the same time. The LL community can observe two Precise patient with two completely different doctors.

How you feeling now about your upcoming surgery?

Best

[ChrisIsaak]

Good luck Cooper! 

[Cooper]

Good luck Cooper! 

Thanks bro. Watched your video and loved your flexibility. I think you are doing really well.

[ChrisIsaak]

Thanks bro. Watched your video and loved your flexibility. I think you are doing really well.

Thanks bro! I started walking with the walker today. I'll post a walking video soon. I can't believe things are going so well, hope the same goes for you. Did you ask Dr.Birkholtz about walking with Precice? Will you be using a walker, or a wheelchair? Sorry if you've already written about it, I didn't have the time to check the previous page.

[Cooper]

No problem. I have not checked on that. I am trying to figure out on logistic now. I will make sure to follow up on that. I need to know that anyway.i am hoping he will let me walk in walker. I am about 150 pound just enough to precise weight bearing limit.

[NBW]

all the best, cooper!

[Cooper]

Dr.b advice me to take multi vitamins 6 weeks in advance. Also asked to focus on stretching the quads specially the rictus femoris muscle. He says this is the one that gives "duck ass".

He will evaluate my ITB and may do limited release.

[BilateralDamage]

How you feeling now about your upcoming surgery?

It's hard to put into words, but I feel as antsy as someone who's been told that he doesn't have to be short the rest of his life and there's a cure waiting for him.   It's all I can think about now!  I want the next 2 months to just hurry up already so I can get the surgery, lengthen, consolidate, and recover.  But the impatience isn't a good thing since there's many many months ahead of me, which is why I'm trying to relax more.

I feel very prepared, physically, mentally, and financially so I'm not nervous at all.  There will probably be a lot of road bumps, so I'm not overly optimistic either.  My only concern right now is having someone stay with me for the first 2 weeks after surgery.  My girlfriend might not be able to fly out to Florida with me and I haven't told anyone else that I'm doing this, so I may need to hire a caretaker.

If you don't mind Cooper, could you tell us a little about yourself?  How old are you, your height, and why you're doing LL?  We all love reading each other's stories

[mediocre]

Hi Cooper,

All the best brother!

I'll be in Pretoria next month for consultation with Dr Franz. Obviously your diary will influence in a huge way my decision for LL, probably next year.

[Cooper]

Hey Medicore,
If you are going to be there,  can you please take some pictures of hospitals and surroundings?

That will give me some piece of mind.

Thanks

[Cooper]

If you don't mind Cooper, could you tell us a little about yourself?  How old are you, your height, and why you're doing LL?  We all love reading each other's stories

I am feeling different (mixed emotions) lately now I have picked the LL doctor. Just like you antsy and most time happy the dream of getting taller is within the reach.

I am in my late 30s, 160CM and Asian descent, I don't want to disclose the origin. I was always the "small guy" since the early school till now. Most of the time the smallest guy in the class room from secondary school through college. It really bothered me but no solution so I have to SUCK it. I saw the Dr. Paley TV clip on LL and that actuate my desire of getting taller. I have been reading lot of diaries virtually from all the best doctor since last 2 years. I think of this every day.

Unfortunately no diary from Dr. Franz and this somewhat concerns me to tell you the truth. But his respond to the question on this forum, the youtube clip of Trevor, the fact the US doctor did fellowship under him....all those compounded and made me believe he is a good doctor. I hope I will not regret this.

I am doing LL to boost my confidence. I am pretty successful guy and own a small company. The height always concerns me when I am doing the presentation especially with new people. Most of the guy and even girls in US are taller than me. I think I fall into 5 percentile category. That probably speaks of itself why I want this badly and not one but in two segments.

edit on user's request.

[alps]

Hey Cooper,
Can you tell me what you went through in your 20s and 30s.
Has your height complex gotten worse through the years?

I'm 21, and don't have any *real* responsibilities in life except for studying and getting a good job. My parents still take care of me.
Maybe after you grow older and you have to deal with other problems more that you don't get to worry about height as much? And perhaps people don't openly make fun of you since it's a more mature crowd you hang out with. That's what I had thought.

Also if I may ask, are you married? Do you have children?

Hopefully I'll get the surgery really soon, but it's good to know what's in store for me otherwise.

[Cooper]

Dr. Blirkholtz will let me use walker. I will have some mobility and will not be completely wheel chair bound  He will let me use hospital extra office for work. What more can I ask

He is training 2 American, an Australian and 2 South American doctor this week. I may be doing Skype with him but his schedule is very tight. Let me know if anyone has any question.