Hey everyone! First of all, I want to thank 6ftsoon and ShortLivesMatter for documenting their LL experience with Dr. Rozbruch, it made preparing for my own surgery much easier.
So I am a 30 year old who just had LL with Dr. Rozbruch in NYC Dec 20th. I wanted to have this surgery since I was in college, but at the time external fixators made the process seem brutal. Now with internal devices (and plenty of time to save money for this) I felt that I could take on this challenge and burden in life.
I had my consultation with Dr. Rozbruch in October and his psychiatrist in November and was approved for the surgery in December. I also had a consultation with Dr. Paley back in December 2015, but I wasn’t sold at the time.
The few days before surgery were some of the scariest and anxious days of my life. I knew I was making this great big decision for me that I thought was best, but you can’t help but think about all the what ifs, especially with an elective procedure. At the end of the day, I knew I would regret not going through with this for the rest of my life, and the fact that I had done so much research and had acted to optimize my living situation gave me some sense of ease. Although I have family and friends, I really can’t imagine asking other for help post-surgery, so I wanted to be as independent as possible. To prepare I got a $600 ultra-light wheelchair that had quick release wheels and a folding back that I could use to easily transfer into a car by myself, and I got an ADA compliant first floor apartment on a six month lease with lower countertops, wide doors and a walk-in shower. A little overkill maybe, but I planned as if I would be a paraplegic for a few months.
On the day of surgery, I checked into the hospital on the first floor on an ipad and they direct you to the fourth floor where you are prepped for surgery. I had a surgical assistant shave my legs, a few nurse check my history and vitals, an anesthesiologist describe the sedation and spinal epidural and finally, the legend Rozbruch came in to calm me and discuss some final details about the operation. Before you know it, I was sedated and wheeled off into the OR and next thing you know you’re waking up in recovery!
When I woke up, I had no feelings in my legs and there was a CPM device hooked to my right foot (doing passive extension of the knee up to 90 degrees). I spent the next few hours just being thankful to be alive. The anesthiologist came in to see me and I told him how surprised I was that there was no pain and he told me he had used an extended release numbing agent that numbed my lower body for the next eight hours. Eventually when the feeling came back to my legs and I could wiggle my toes, the nurse cleared me to move rooms from recovery. The pain was minimal, 2-3 out of 10, when feeling re-emerged. The next day, the epidural was removed but the pain was still only a 3 out of 10. I just watched tv most of this day, did some stretches and Dr. Rozbruch came by to tell me the operation was a complete success. What a relief! I also stopped taking oxycodone on this day, bc it was messing with my head and I value being able to think clearly. Even without oxycodone, the pain was only a 2-3 out of 10.
The third day, the dressings were removed and I was cleared by PT to use a wheelchair/walker for mobility. Even without painkillers, I managed to pass PT. I think this says a lot about Dr. Rozbruch surgical prowess or my tolerance for pain (likely the former). I will say this though, my legs were extremely stiff. To move around I had to use my arms to guide my legs to where I wanted to go, and I move extremely slowly. Scooching around bed was a pain and I could not do leg raises. I hear that this is mostly post-surgical swelling and inflammation and will certainly improve in the coming weeks.
The most painful part of the process so far was the drive home from NY (2-3 hour drive). For all future-LLs with Rozbruch, try to stay in NYC for a week or two before taking a long road trip. My ass was on fire and pain shot up to a 7 out of 10. Again, I wasn’t on oxycodone and maybe that would have helped. When I got to my apartment, I was so desperate to stop the pain, I tried to find the painkillers (I picked up my prescription from the local CVS in NYC), but it wasn’t there! I called the CVS irate, but they said the hospital never called in a prescription for that. Although HSS in NYC is a good hospital, it’s far from perfect. I had to call the physician on call (it was a Saturday) who had to investigate the incidence and it turns out the nurse at the hospital failed to call it in. The on-call physician forwarded my prescription to a local pharmacy near me and I had a friend pick it up. By the time I had a narcotic in my hand, the pain had subsided so I decided not to take it. I’m proud to say I stopped taking oral painkillers on day 1 post-op with Dr. Rozbruch!
I am now day 5 and just started lengthening today, first session by myself. Pain is maybe a 2 out of 10 but there is a lot of stiffness. My only complaint is I can’t scooch around bed and lift my legs as easily as I thought I would be able to. I hope it becomes easier after a few weeks as the post-surgical swelling subsides. I’m in good spirits and excited to see where this goes. I really don’t know how much I want to lengthen, min I would accept is 5 cm but obviously I would prefer 8 cm, but I may end up settling between 6 and 7 cm.
Again, I’m early on this journey, and plenty of issues and complications can come up, so I hope and pray things go as smoothly as they have so far. I wish the best to all former, current and future LLs.
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Topic: LL with Dr Rozbruch 2017-2018 (Read 13902 times)