Was there a point where you felt everything became harder during the lengthening, like above a certain centimeter?
I may lower my lengthening goals after seeing so many of the problems people have here.
0-2 cm = Extremely painful (required medication routinely)
2-5 cm = Relatively easier but still painful
5-6 = Thigh muscles started getting tighter, especially quads. Physio involving quads was a complete torture.
So overall the "middle" phase of the LL process was relatively easier. Low lengthening goals is a smart choice.
I hate the fact that a lot of past LL'ers leave the forum and never return... In the diaries you see after the surgery they talk about losing a lot of athletic ability and feeling some form of leg pain, but then they leave and never come back to tell you if it was resolved. I've yet to hear one glowing, positive review of this whole thing.. Yeah there was Virtruvian man or whatever but he honestly seemed way too friendly with Paley...
There is always a negative, and it seems like there always will be, no matter internal, external, top doctor, low doctor, etc... You just can't mess with the biomechanics of the legs so harshly and expect to be fine.
I'm going into it fully expecting the worse, I expect to move like a damn grandpa-young Forrest Gump (when he had to wear those braces) for the rest of my life and probably will be incapable of walking more than 10 miles a day without feeling pain, that's probably going to be the reality. As long as I don't feel constant knee pain at all times (even without walking, just resting), that's fine. That's my biggest concert.
I think alot of them just move on with their lives and don't like to think about height and LL in general. I'll be honest but I do think that being in LL forums will further fuel height neurosis, even after successful CLL surgeries. I, for example, would be considered average on the global height scale, yet reading some of the topics will bring back insecurities. So yeah most LL veterans just move on and don't look back at where they started from. However I do understand your point of prospective CLL patients being frustrated of never hearing from the veterans, I was in that exact same situation as you. Some veterans may also choose not to continue posting on forums due to negative outcomes and fear of repercussions from doctors and members.
For me, I have mixed emotions with the CLL outcome so far. That 6cm has boost my confidence tremendously, despite still being below average in my country. A boost in self esteem has made me feel and appear better. No longer wearing those uncomfortable shoe inserts and walking barefeet is now possible without too much thoughts into height. However the negative consequence so far is the pain that is associated with the left leg and the possibility of being arthritis or some other chronic condition that maybe due to CLL itself. Medication does settle the pain so I do see a bit of positive there, but risk of the pain increasing over time and requiring stronger medication dose or medication no longer working is extremely disconcerting.
I can't understamd why you are so pessimistic.
Nail removal is not a hard surgery and yes it will be painful for a few days but after about a months you'll be completely painless and better than you are now.
And finally, if your bone alignment is good and taken in mind that you havent lengthened too much, oremature arthritis is not very possible, but yes, we risk a bigger danger than a normal person who never did LL.
But I think you should become more optimist. Never thinking about height again and never suffer from social drawbacks that short men face (which are small to huge the shorter you are) is more important for me than risking premature arthritis some time which still can be fixed in a major degree.
I hope your surgery will be successful and move on thinking more positive..
Thanks Bodybuilder for the encouraging post and the well wishes! Yeah I try to be positive and I'm hoping that the nail removal itself would decrease or remove the pain altogether. But I'll admit that news of some underlying chronic condition like arthritis is what's getting me upset, and perhaps assuming that it's arthritis is making me prepared for the worst case scenario. Otherwise I'm really happy for my new height and the boost in esteem.