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[Brb6ftTall]

Day 30

My first inch!! I'm still just a bit under 5'10, but I'm definitely closer than I've ever been compared to 5'9. Still have a little more than 2 inches to go, the extra 0.4cm in the end should make up for being a bit under every inch lol. But I'm so excited, 1 inch officially down!

Not much has changed as far as how I'm doing. PT has been great, it's probably my favorite part of the day. My left leg has definitely been getting stronger and catching up to the right, but it still has some ways to go. Whenever I try and stand, I can feel resistance in my left knee not wanting to straighten, so I have put conscious effort on it to be straight. The longer I walk and stand however, the quicker it goes away. And lately it's been going away quicker than normal, most likely from my PT progress. I've been getting pretty lazy with the stretches I'm supposed to be doing at home, but that's only because I've been feeling fine and feeling like I don't really need them.

I sent my X-Rays to Dr. M yesterday, and he replied within a couple of hours. He says my bone growth looks great and to stay at the same lengthening rate, so unfortunately I couldn't go back up to 4 sessions a day but it's definitely better than going less than 3. In conclusion, not really much to say here. I'm doing great so far guys, pain is mostly at a 0 throughout the day and my leg functions are getting easier and easier as my legs get stronger. Thank you all for reading so far, hopefully I'll have something more significant to report before my next half inch or so, but until then please feel free to ask questions!

[Brb6ftTall]

Day 45

40mm down!
That's 4cm/8cm, and I'm feeling great

I'm sure you guys are wondering how I got to be 4cm already even though you can't lengthen till a week post op.. well I'll tell you why, it's because my bone growth is going super fast again!

I sent my new X-Rays to Dr. M, and apparently the bone growth on my left leg is coming in "very strong," so strong that I have to move up to 4 sessions a day, 1.32mm a day for the next 2 weeks. My right leg was also coming in strong, but unfortunately not as strong as the left (not a bad thing, just means it was coming in normally lol). However, I'm also being allowed to switch to 4 sessions a day for my right one as well. When I send him my next X-Rays in 2 weeks, Dr. M will see if my right leg is keeping up with the lengthening, and if it is I can continue to do 4 sessions a day!

This is soooo great to me guys. Let me put it like this:

Originally, I was set to finish lengthening on August 11th.

Due to having initial fast bone growth, I had to move up to 4 sessions for a week, putting my new date at August 8th.

And now since I'll be doing this for 2 weeks, my new finish date has moved from August 8th to August 4th!

And the best part: If my bone growth still looks good in 2 weeks, I'll be able to move my date up even more and be able to finish in July instead of August.


So yeah, I'm ecstatic to say the least. Other than the great X-Ray news, everything else has been going fine. I still haven't been taking pain meds since week 3, and now I don't even take them before PT anymore. I literally go through the entire day, every day, with 0 pain meds and feel no pain. The only "pain" I have is sometimes stretching in PT, but really I personally wouldn't call that pain.. it just feels like a stretch to me lol. I really enjoy the exercise bike, the rest of the stuff is pretty general such as hamstring pull downs and quad extensions. The hardest thing they have me do is stand up and sit downs, they're really tough on my legs because of how much strength I lost. Keep in mind the only reason I can do this without assistance is because I'm under 140 lbs, for those of you above it please make sure your PT does not make you do this. Also, my left leg is still tough to straighten but it hasn't gotten any worse, just hasn't gotten much better. And I can also feel my right knee starting to stiffen as well, but it's no where near the left leg and still not hard, just takes some very minor effort whereas before it was effortless.

My appetite and sleep have been perfectly fine. I wish I could eat more, but it's just difficult eating more food when I'm not doing any physical activity to earn it, though I do get hungry after PT. My sleep has been perfect, I can sleep for 7 hours+ and only wake up when I feel like it. Though now I can technically only sleep 6 hours or less due to the lengthening every 6 hours, but I fall back asleep right after anyways no problem.

I can't remember how much detail I went into with sleep and pain and such before, but after this is over I do plan on giving a type of "week report" or a sort of general roadmap of my experience, so hopefully for the people who might think my posts are too long will still have some good info to read and others can have a good guideline to see where to be at week by week. As usual, I'll report back if anything major happens, but if not then I'll definitely post again in 2 weeks for my new X-Rays. Thank you for reading!

[TIBIKE200]

So now you are 179cm tall. Must be feeling great.

 How much are the 4cm noticable from your POV?

[Brb6ftTall]

So now you are 179cm tall. Must be feeling great.

 How much are the 4cm noticable from your POV?

Definitely great to have gotten this far. As far as being noticeable, unfortunately not really lol because I have yet to see any friends I can compare myself to. I am, however, noticing it's getting easier to reach my ceiling fan's switches so that's pretty cool.

[axelf]

Nice.

What do you think about recovery? What does DR Mahboubian say about it? Will you be able to run fast again, what about the different biomechanics with longer femurs compared to tibias?

[Brb6ftTall]

Nice.

What do you think about recovery? What does DR Mahboubian say about it? Will you be able to run fast again, what about the different biomechanics with longer femurs compared to tibias?

I think I'm doing super well so far, obviously it's way too early to say but I feel like I'd be able to be athletic again just because of how well my legs feel. Dr. M says you can resume sports after 6 months post op.

I do think I'll be able to run fast again, the biomechanics will definitely be different but I mean there are people with naturally longer femurs that can still run and such. As long as you're still within a good ratio, I think you'd be fine but I won't know till I get there.

[biggerdreams]

I think I'm doing super well so far, obviously it's way too early to say but I feel like I'd be able to be athletic again just because of how well my legs feel. Dr. M says you can resume sports after 6 months post op.

I do think I'll be able to run fast again, the biomechanics will definitely be different but I mean there are people with naturally longer femurs that can still run and such. As long as you're still within a good ratio, I think you'd be fine but I won't know till I get there.

resume sports 6 months post op or post lengthening? or post consolidation?

[Brb6ftTall]

resume sports 6 months post op or post lengthening? or post consolidation?

Post op. 3 months lengthening (or less depending on how much you do/how fast you lengthen), 1 month (or less if bone heals faster) of consolidation, then 2 months to build up your strength and flexibility. So by month 6 you should be able to resume running and such again.

[biggerdreams]

Post op. 3 months lengthening (or less depending on how much you do/how fast you lengthen), 1 month (or less if bone heals faster) of consolidation, then 2 months to build up your strength and flexibility. So by month 6 you should be able to resume running and such again.

I think that's pretty optimistic but good news nonetheless!

[ctw]

Hey! Have a couple of questions

-How are the pain levels are this time? Still taking any pain meds?
-How are you getting around in terms of mobility at the moment?

[Brb6ftTall]

Hey! Have a couple of questions

-How are the pain levels are this time? Still taking any pain meds?
-How are you getting around in terms of mobility at the moment?

Pain = 0. Just some tightness. I stopped taking pain meds after the 2nd week.

Getting around is fine, the walker's not difficult at all and transferring to and from the wheelchair gets really easy once the initial pain from surgery is lowered.

[tinkerbell007]

Hi, thank you for your diary. Do you know if Dr.M accepts care credit financing? I'm saving up but if I could partially fund using care credit, I can go through the process sooner than later.

[Brb6ftTall]

Hi, thank you for your diary. Do you know if Dr.M accepts care credit financing? I'm saving up but if I could partially fund using care credit, I can go through the process sooner than later.

Yes, he does.

[Brb6ftTall]

Day 66

I wanted to update this a couple of days earlier, but there was a delay in getting my X-Rays to Dr. M. Anyways, here we go..

Unfortunately my right leg did not look like it could handle the increased lengthening of 4 times day/1.32mm per day. My left leg, however, still looks strong as ever. I was advised to keep lengthening the left at 4 times a day while dropping the right to 3 times a day. This is kind of inconvenient for me, but I'd rather follow Dr. M's advice than get complications in either leg. It will be a little weird having my left leg longer than my right, but since I'm so close to being done already the difference will be minimal.

Here's some pics for you guys!
http://imgur.com/a/tBoHF
Right on top, Left on bottom

Keep in mind though, the bad news of my right leg does NOT mean I'm doing "bad." 3 times a day is absolutely normal, "bad" would mean I have to do less than that. My left leg is just doing really good, and to me it's bad news that my right leg isn't also doing really good. Now my legs will be a few days apart in the end when they are finished lengthening.

Besides this though, everything else has been fine... currently at 6cm, I noticed I got tighter around 5.5cm or so but nothing painful, just a feeling that made me want to stretch more to reduce the tightness.

Here's my dilemma though guys: I've really been considering not going the full 8cm. There's several reasons for this.

First off, I'm worried about how I will perform after 8cm. I've seen great successes like ShyShy and others who were able to run and jump after a large amount of lengthening, but for some reason none of these people have ever went to 8cm. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but all the great success I've seen were all 7.5cm max (as in ShyShy's case), but never passed that. I don't know if 8 is just a bad number or not, but for me not seeing any 8cm patients with that kind of success makes me very cautious.

Second, I'm a little scared about how much more I can take, especially in my right leg. I know I haven't really felt any pain and I'm doing great right now at 6cm, but it's only going to get harder from here.. do I really want to push myself to the point where it gets hard? I think it would be great for me to just stop when I get really uncomfortable (with that amount hopefully being 7.5/7.6cm) rather than getting all the way to 8cm and being super tight. I just feel like the former will help me heal a lot faster if I'm still relatively fine, while the latter will not only take longer to recover from but will also take longer just to feel better.

Lastly, and most importantly, I truly do want to start getting back to my life. I miss hanging out with my friends, family, and girlfriend. I miss going to the gym, I miss running outside and I miss being able to just go out in public like normal. I'm definitely not saying I'm at my limit and need to be back in public like right away next month or something, but the longer I lengthen the longer the recovery will take.. and that compounding time is really starting to take its toll on me. Is the 4mm difference between 7.6cm and 8cm even worth it anymore? I'm starting to think little things like my hair can easily make up for that difference. I really just want to stop lengthening already and start recovering.. once I can walk I can at least look like I'm normal, but in the walker everyone will clearly know something's wrong.


I'll definitely be thinking a lot about this over these last 3 weeks, and I'll make sure to listen to my body as the ultimate deciding factor. But I'd like to know what you guys think, please chime in as much as you can and let me know if stopping at 7.6cm rather than 8cm would be worth it. Thank you for reading!

[llendpoint]

Your upper body will shrink when you get older, so you will technically not stay 6 feet anyway. But you can stay solid 5'11 forever if you finish with this, and probably still look and be closer to 6 feet than 5'11.

[Brb6ftTall]

Your upper body will shrink when you get older, so you will technically not stay 6 feet anyway. But you can stay solid 5'11 forever if you finish with this, and probably still look and be closer to 6 feet than 5'11.

So what's your vote then? 7.6cm or 8cm?

[Heightseeker77]

Go for 8cm. Be the first one ever! Make history! I believe in you!

[llendpoint]

So what's your vote then? 7.6cm or 8cm?

7.6 cm, if you feel it becomes a strain on your body.

[Jack1066]

0.4 cm is nothing. Go for whatever is easier. Especially don't risk your health over 0.4 cm!

[TIBIKE200]

You are 180.5cm now.. If I would have been you I would have stopped.. Than again, I am not you. Yo uare overthinking those 0.4cm as if they are a huge difference.


 Btw, I wouldn't consider shyshy's case as being a legitimate case.

[Body Builder]

So what's your vote then? 7.6cm or 8cm?

7.84 is my vote. 

[llendpoint]

I noticed that people who use feet and inches to measure want to hit certain marks. Hitting 180 cm is enough for people who use centimeters, but not for people who look at it as being just below 6 feet.

So... move somewhere where people use centimeters 

[biggerdreams]

0.4 cm is nothing. Go for whatever is easier. Especially don't risk your health over 0.4 cm!

Agree, no one is ever going to bust out a tape measure to see exactly how tall you are. Health and recovery are more important.

[LLSouthAmerica]

Day 66

I wanted to update this a couple of days earlier, but there was a delay in getting my X-Rays to Dr. M. Anyways, here we go..

Unfortunately my right leg did not look like it could handle the increased lengthening of 4 times day/1.32mm per day. My left leg, however, still looks strong as ever. I was advised to keep lengthening the left at 4 times a day while dropping the right to 3 times a day. This is kind of inconvenient for me, but I'd rather follow Dr. M's advice than get complications in either leg. It will be a little weird having my left leg longer than my right, but since I'm so close to being done already the difference will be minimal.

Here's some pics for you guys!
http://imgur.com/a/tBoHF
Right on top, Left on bottom

Keep in mind though, the bad news of my right leg does NOT mean I'm doing "bad." 3 times a day is absolutely normal, "bad" would mean I have to do less than that. My left leg is just doing really good, and to me it's bad news that my right leg isn't also doing really good. Now my legs will be a few days apart in the end when they are finished lengthening.

Besides this though, everything else has been fine... currently at 6cm, I noticed I got tighter around 5.5cm or so but nothing painful, just a feeling that made me want to stretch more to reduce the tightness.

Here's my dilemma though guys: I've really been considering not going the full 8cm. There's several reasons for this.

First off, I'm worried about how I will perform after 8cm. I've seen great successes like ShyShy and others who were able to run and jump after a large amount of lengthening, but for some reason none of these people have ever went to 8cm. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but all the great success I've seen were all 7.5cm max (as in ShyShy's case), but never passed that. I don't know if 8 is just a bad number or not, but for me not seeing any 8cm patients with that kind of success makes me very cautious.

Second, I'm a little scared about how much more I can take, especially in my right leg. I know I haven't really felt any pain and I'm doing great right now at 6cm, but it's only going to get harder from here.. do I really want to push myself to the point where it gets hard? I think it would be great for me to just stop when I get really uncomfortable (with that amount hopefully being 7.5/7.6cm) rather than getting all the way to 8cm and being super tight. I just feel like the former will help me heal a lot faster if I'm still relatively fine, while the latter will not only take longer to recover from but will also take longer just to feel better.

Lastly, and most importantly, I truly do want to start getting back to my life. I miss hanging out with my friends, family, and girlfriend. I miss going to the gym, I miss running outside and I miss being able to just go out in public like normal. I'm definitely not saying I'm at my limit and need to be back in public like right away next month or something, but the longer I lengthen the longer the recovery will take.. and that compounding time is really starting to take its toll on me. Is the 4mm difference between 7.6cm and 8cm even worth it anymore? I'm starting to think little things like my hair can easily make up for that difference. I really just want to stop lengthening already and start recovering.. once I can walk I can at least look like I'm normal, but in the walker everyone will clearly know something's wrong.


I'll definitely be thinking a lot about this over these last 3 weeks, and I'll make sure to listen to my body as the ultimate deciding factor. But I'd like to know what you guys think, please chime in as much as you can and let me know if stopping at 7.6cm rather than 8cm would be worth it. Thank you for reading!

I feel you man! I felt exactly the same during the lengthening, the longing for home and being able to move again, the little things in life that I had never appreciated before. The only thing I can say to you, stop for the right reasons (physical, medical, not psychological) because if you stop too early you might regret it and you can't ever go back in time to go the extra cm. But then again, realise that 1 cm is a lot in terms of recovery and stiffness. I wouldn't go further than 7 cm but every body is different. Do know however that there are a lot of details that you just can't know at the time, you don't know how long recovery will take you in particular. 181 cm is a great height already!

[Brb6ftTall]

Thanks for all of your input guys! I would love to be the "first person" to get to 8cm and fully recover my athletic ability, but the thing is if I go for it and fail, it's not like "Oh well, I tried.." and move on.. I will be like that for the rest of my life! I don't know if that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Moving my right leg down to 0.99mm per day from 1.32mm per day really helped in these past 2 days. And for some reason, my legs at 6.4cm feel a lot looser and stronger than they did around 5cm when they got tight. It was as if once I pushed passed 6cm, it got easier and my legs loosened up.. it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but hey I'm not complaining!

Based on everyone's input and how I feel already, I think I'm going to stop at 7.5/7.6cm. The reason I've said "7.5/7.6" at times is because my goal is 7.6, since 3 inches is technically 7.62cm which is closer to 7.6 than 7.5.. but if my body is not feeling well then I'd gladly take 7.5cm instead. I don't see myself stopping at anything lower than 7.5 though, unless I'm having major complications.

I'll make the final call about going to 8cm or not when I get there, but for now I'm just gonna focus on getting to 7.6cm and then measuring my height and judging whether or not the extra 4mm is worth it.

Thank you all for reading and contributing! I truly appreciate it.

Btw, I wouldn't consider shyshy's case as being a legitimate case.

Why not? Was he disproven or something?

[drvbmc]

Hey 6fs, congrats on your successful lengthening.  I am wondering if Dr. R allows patients to go to their home city during the distraction phase once he knows things are progressing smoothly?

I saw that Dr. Mahboubian allows patients to do so, which is why I ask the question.

[drvbmc]

Sorry - wrong post - was intended for the Rozbruch diary.

[LAGrowin]

Hello Brb6ftTall,

Hoping that you're well and consolidating without issue.  Congratulations on a smooth journey to a new height!

How are you feeling?    Can't wait to be where you are soon through Dr. M.

All the best!

[Brb6ftTall]

Hello everyone. Just wanted to say i’m alive. Loving my new height. I’m still not able to run yet, I can jog on the treadmill but it’s very very weird. I’m also unable to squat because of how bad my form is, not sure if I can work past this or not but I’m not worried about it too much right now.

I also apologize to anyone who sent me a PM and I didn’t answer. Honestly I now see why people randomly stop posting, once you’re up and moving after LL you honestly don’t want anything to do with it anymore. Or at least I did. I just wanted to move on in my life and not worry about something that seemed so far away now.

But I digress. My main goal is still the same, I created this diary with the intention of reporting to you all after surgery to add to the data of recovery. I’m sorry I wasn’t posting more or answering questions, but truthfully that wasn’t what my diary or original intentions were meant for. I’ll post back once I can run again, maybe next month? Not sure if i’ll Ever be able to squat but I will post if I do. Thank you all for reading.

[TIBIKE200]

How much did you lengthen in the end?

 Btw, I think you can forget to squat normally... Proportions wont allow that...

[Brb6ftTall]

How much did you lengthen in the end?

 Btw, I think you can forget to squat normally... Proportions wont allow that...

I stopped at 7.6cm. I don’t regret not going to 8cm.

I looked up videos of squatting with longer femurs, some of the tips in that help but yeah it might just be that I’m not meant to do squats. I’m uncertain what I should be doing to replace squats though.