Hello all! I recently found out about this forum, and thought that my experience in Limb Lengthening thus far may be helpful to you guys. As the title implies, I am currently lengthening my femurs from surgery I had 3 weeks ago with Dr. Mahboubian in California. Here are the days I have written about so far:
My height was never really a concern when I was younger, I was always on the "shorter side" of the class but I was never the smallest, so I didn't think too much of it. But one day when I suddenly became height aware (somewhere during maturity I gues?) I knew there was something I had to do, and that I couldn't be short forever. I was mainly inspired to do Bilateral Femurs with Dr. Mahboubian from Femur2014's diary, with him seemingly making an actual full recovery. I also didn't have enough money for Paley (the "safest" option), but reading through his diary convinced me that it was worth getting it done soon with Dr. M rather than later with Dr. Paley.
I will not be giving out too many personal details because I want to remain as anonymous as possible, so unfortunately that means no stats or pictures that could reveal myself. I will say the following, however.
Age: 22
Height: 174. 8 cm (~5'9)
Goal: 182. 86 cm (~6'0) [+7. 6 cm]
Weight: 130 lbs
I know my height may not be short to a lot of you, but I have been around athletes my entire life (as I was one of them. . didn't continue in college though) and honestly being referred to as "the small one" made me a tad depressed. With that said, I realize these heights are "rounding" but hey, I highly doubt anyone will call me out for not being 6 ft at my new height when they don't call me out now for saying 5'9. I also realize I could add 8cm instead of 7. 6 (like femurs did), but after reading many, many posts throughout the years it seemed like going over 7. 6 cm was above the safe limit as far as athleticism is concerned. I also weighed around 145 lbs prior to surgery, however I stopped working out and getting heavier to make sure I didn't go over 150 lbs (the weight limit for precise) because I was gaining weight pretty quickly. Anyways, without further ado, here is my own diary!
Day 1 - 5/18/17
After what seemed like forever waiting in the hospital room, I was finally wheeled off to see Dr. M. I was admittedly a little nervous about it, but I just kept focusing on what my new height would look like after to keep me going. Upon saying hello to all the surgical staff, the next thing I knew I was out cold from anesthesia.
When I woke up I couldn't feel much, but immediately noticed I couldn't move/rotate my legs anymore! That was pretty scary. I don't remember much of this part because I was still coming off from the anesthesia, but I mainly remember all the staff walking in one by one to say the surgery was successful and they wish me the best. Most of that day was a blur, but I remember eating hospital meals, getting poked for blood drawings, getting squeezed for blood pressure etc. throughout the night. I was given pain meds through an IV, so that was keeping my pain at bay. Dr. M reassured me everything went well, but that there were many incisions in my leg muscles so it was crucial that I rest them today and start therapy the next day.
Day 2
This day technically starts somewhere around 3 am I think? It was very difficult to sleep through the night due to all the nurses checking up on me and making other commotion while walking through the hallways and such. I think the longest amount of sleep I could get was 2 hrs or so before I was woken up again for something. It got kind of annoying after a while for nurses to be coming in and waking me up, only to ask if I needed some water. My caretaker could have done that for me if I needed it! I tried to remember these people were just doing their job so I wouldn't get too frustrated.
Now this day was probably the hardest so far. My meds from the initial anesthesia were wearing off, so the pain came rushing in. It definitely hurt but not too bad, probably a 3 or 4 out of 10. What seriously hurt though was freaking PT. They came around 8 am, and I had never felt so much pain in my life just trying to stand up. Getting to the edge of the bed was hard enough, but actually pushing up to get on the walker was one of the hardest things I've ever done. We had to retry a few times due to the PT's pulling me up but me screaming No! and pushing back down. Eventually I made it up, but the pain continued through the entire walking process. I'm talking like 9-10 out of 10 for the whole duration, I was screaming so bad that nurses from the hallway had to check up on me.
After laying back down, I'm at the point where I'm regretting doing the surgery and telling myself my previous height was just fine and all that. I keep thinking I'm so stupid for willingly putting my body through all of this. These negative thoughts are soon interrupted by the arrival of Dr. M, who made me feel sooo much better. After recounting everything, he assured me I was doing great and every day would get easier and easier. He also told me I had already officially lengthened 1 mm, yay! The rest of the day wasn't nearly as difficult. The food tasted as bad as hospital food usually does, and the nurses still wouldn't let me sleep. The PT however got A LOT better, with the pain only being a 6-7 this time around. Dr. M took me off the IV pain meds and I switched to Norco, it was really weird falling asleep with it in my system but it sure did help the pain.
Day 3
Not a whole lot to say about this day, it was the day I got released! Dr. M saw me first thing in the morning, and he made me as happy as ever. However, he stretched me out much worse than the PT ever did, and I hadn't taken my pain meds yet. 7-8 pain levels came after he left, and that was truly a hard 30 mins to get through for the pills to kick in. PT came and it was the best I had ever done, pain was only a 2 or 3 and I was getting off the bed and walking no problem. I couldn't believe the difference only 1 day had done. Not much else happened that day, I had breakfast and lunch and PT came one more time (easy yet again), and that was pretty much it. All my blood tests checked out, and around 5 pm I was dressed and ready to go. It was somewhat difficult to transition from wheelchair to walker to car, but I managed it rather quickly and I was back in my hotel before I knew it. Getting me into my bed wasn't that bad, and after taking some more Norco I passed right on out. At this point, I also took Xeralta for blood thinning. I woke up a few times throughout the night randomly, due to being in a weird position or being too hot or needing more Norco etc, but after I went back to bed at 3 AM I had the best sleep I've had since before I checked in to the hospital. It was sooo much better sleeping without all the nurses and tests going on, I was so relieved.
Day 4
Not much to say here either, this is where I am now! I'm scheduled to see Dr. M next Friday so he can teach me how to lengthen using the machine. Pain is even better than it was in the hospital, probably due to a combination of me recovering more as well as being in a better atmosphere. I'm only taking 1 Norco now every 4-5 hours or so instead of 2! I can also finally pee again, I have actually been able to since yesterday but I forgot to mention that was a challenge. It's okay though, basically just nasty catheter stuff that no one wants to hear anyway! I'm eagerly awaiting the first time I can go No. 2, I haven't done that in a few days due to Norco causing constipation.
So that's it, I will mainly be chilling, stretching out, and playing video games till the next time I can see Dr. M. I realize I didn't include lots of details like where I live ornwhat stretches I did throughout the day, however I didn't think it was important (since most of that is already covered in other diaries in greater detail) but if anyone wants to know those questions feel free to ask and I will answer as best as possible. I mainly envision this diary as a once or twice a week update max, with my main focus on providing recovery details after surgery is fully done (before and after rod removal). I noticed that most people might post a few months after the end of consolidation/nail removal, but then stop before a full 100% recovery can be reported. I plan on not doing that, I would like to come back to you guys a year from now and really let you all know if I'm back to former athleticism or not. Will try to keep my diary updated as soon as anything major happens, thank you for reading!