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[Mars]

Hello,

This forum as been very helpful for me, so I thought I'd share my experience.

I am from Oklahoma and 30 years old. I am about 171.5 cm tall and aiming to lengthen 4.5-5 cm. For details on the doctor and location I recommend reading Bohemia's diary since he was very comprehensive and everything he wrote has been accurate in my experience so far.

I had my surgery on March 1st, and so far the process has been uneventful. The main issue I had during the first couple days after the surgery was getting my epidural dosing correct. It was initially set too high, and I had a really uncomfortable feeling of partial numbness in my right leg. It initially scared me as a possible sign of nerve damage since I didn't realize the epidural could affect each leg differently, but once I lowered the epidural dose the numbness went away and I was still pain-free. The hardest thing during the first week was that first transfer from chair to toilet, which seems to be a common issue from the other diaries.

I'm currently at about 2 cm lengthened going at a rate of 0.81 mm per day. I don't think I've experienced anything I'd call pain so far, just a mild uncomfortable feeling I'd rate at 1 or 2 out of 10 in my legs during movement or weight bearing. Often, when I'm sitting in my wheelchair at my computer my legs feel completely normal until I try to move them. My knees feel stiff after waking up in the morning but it goes away after a few seconds of movement.

It has been a pretty boring experience so far, and I couldn't be happier for that. I'm guessing once I get into the 3-4 cm lengthening range I'll start to feel some tightness, but hopefully not. I've never been very flexible (can't touch toes when standing), but I did a lot of hamstring stretches in the three weeks leading up to the surgery.

So far I have no regrets with my decision to come here. Please let me know if you all have any questions, and I'll update this when I hit any milestones or have issues.

[Honore]

Goog for you... Why only so few cm? And was Dr Monegal not against both legs at the same time?

[Mars]

Goog for you... Why only so few cm? And was Dr Monegal not against both legs at the same time?

I have a few reasons for doing 5 cm: I want to walk unaided by the end of June, and it seems like the ideal amount for a great recovery based on everything I've seen on these forums. I think it's important to not get too greedy when doing this procedure, and I'd be very happy with 5 cm since I've seen the difference it makes and it is enough for me. Finally, I made photos of my proportions at 5 cm and 7.5 cm, and 5 cm looked good whereas 7.5 cm made my femurs look unnaturally long.

He does prefer one leg at a time, but he was fine doing bilateral for me. I don't have the option of taking two separate periods off from work, so I needed to get it all done at once.

[wishadream]

Hi Mars. I wish you all the best during the process and a fast recovery. Due to the fact that Dr Monegal offers the best price among doctors who are operating in well-developed countries, I have considered it for my first choice same as you. I will follow your dairy carefully. Although unfortunately, I am on saving money phase. I might consider to get a loan ... I am 172cm , which is very disappointing for me.

[myloginacct]

I have a few reasons for doing 5 cm: I want to walk unaided by the end of June, and it seems like the ideal amount for a great recovery based on everything I've seen on these forums. I think it's important to not get too greedy when doing this procedure, and I'd be very happy with 5 cm since I've seen the difference it makes and it is enough for me. Finally, I made photos of my proportions at 5 cm and 7.5 cm, and 5 cm looked good whereas 7.5 cm made my femurs look unnaturally long.

He does prefer one leg at a time, but he was fine doing bilateral for me. I don't have the option of taking two separate periods off from work, so I needed to get it all done at once.

Very good mindset.

176.5cm is an absolutely fine height, and choosing to play safe is just wise. I wish more prospective LLers were as sensible as you!

Best of luck with your journey.

[Bushguy]

hi Mars!
How much did you pay for the operation?
good luck with your recuperation !

[helloworld]

My advice:
1.Do more than 4.5 cm, otherwise you will regret it later. I would do no less than 5.5 cm.
2. I would soon slow the lengthening to 0.6 mm per day or even less, unless there is risk of preconsolidation.

[Mars]

Hi Mars. I wish you all the best during the process and a fast recovery. Due to the fact that Dr Monegal offers the best price among doctors who are operating in well-developed countries, I have considered it for my first choice same as you. I will follow your dairy carefully. Although unfortunately, I am on saving money phase. I might consider to get a loan ... I am 172cm , which is very disappointing for me.

Thank you. It took me years to save up for this, so just be patient and you'll get there too.

Very good mindset.

176.5cm is an absolutely fine height, and choosing to play safe is just wise. I wish more prospective LLers were as sensible as you!

Best of luck with your journey.

Thanks! I think it's easier for me to be sensible since I have a good starting height. Hopefully, my results will give another example of a good recovery at 5 cm, and it will help convince others to not lengthen too much.

hi Mars!
How much did you pay for the operation?
good luck with your recuperation !

36,300€ for the procedure and hospital stay. Thank you.

My advice:
1.Do more than 4.5 cm, otherwise you will regret it later. I would do no less than 5.5 cm.
2. I would soon slow the lengthening to 0.6 mm per day or even less, unless there is risk of preconsolidation.

Thank you for the advice. My first xray is in two days, so I will see my progress then. How much I lengthen and the rate will depend on the bone growth and how my soft tissues feel as I get close to 5 cm. My main goal is to walk unaided by the end of June, so if bone growth is good enough and proportions look fine, there is a slight chance I will go a little over 5 cm, but I will be very conservative when deciding.

[helloworld]

This is 4.5 cm:

----------------------------------------
                   4.5 cm
----------------------------------------

It is really not much! You invest so much money and pain int this little difference?
WHy not go for at least 5.5 cm?
 

[myloginacct]

This is 4.5 cm:

----------------------------------------
                   4.5 cm
----------------------------------------

It is really not much! You invest so much money and pain int this little difference?
WHy not go for at least 5.5 cm?

Because complications and problems increase the more you lengthen, specially the shorter your starting height is.

You need to detach your own experience when making these comments. You had a much taller starting height than basically every member on this board. 5cm for you isn't the same as 5cm for him.

But I do hope all goes so well for him that he can maybe opt to go over 5cm, feeling like he is still playing safe and having no major problems! However, as a mindset, I find his line of thinking to be wise: better safe than sorry, specially with a procedure like this. We shall see.

[doomsday]

Helloworld is right, if you do 4.5 cm you will regret it. I regret that I didnt do more and I still consider femurs. 6cm should be your goal. Also the guy defending 4.5cm is not a former LL patient. Me and Helloworld are. Just so you know

[myloginacct]

Helloworld is right, if you do 4.5 cm you will regret it. I regret that I didnt do more and I still consider femurs. 6cm should be your goal. Also the guy defending 4.5cm is not a former LL patient. Me and Helloworld are. Just so you know

Because this is a procedure that hasn't left people crippled ever. You don't know if it'd have happened to you with a few extra cms. I was also not defending any specific number, but playing safe. Since he is doing femurs, going up to 6cm should be relatively safe.

But it is his diary, and you guys are veterans, so I'll make this my last post in here.

[Mars]

This is 4.5 cm:

----------------------------------------
                   4.5 cm
----------------------------------------

It is really not much! You invest so much money and pain int this little difference?
WHy not go for at least 5.5 cm?
 

Helloworld is right, if you do 4.5 cm you will regret it. I regret that I didnt do more and I still consider femurs. 6cm should be your goal. Also the guy defending 4.5cm is not a former LL patient. Me and Helloworld are. Just so you know

Thanks for the advice. I return to work on July 2, and that is my absolute must walk unaided date since my job requires walking, so that sets the boundary on how much I lengthen. 5 cm is the goal, but if I can do a few more mm to 5.5 cm maybe I will. Let's be honest though, shoes themselves can account for a 1-3 cm difference depending on the shoe. I'm never going to notice a 5 mm difference in lengthening, so I don't see much reason to go for more than 5 cm unless I have no pain and my bone growth is great.

I'll make this my last post in here.

Feel free to post more. The more to talk to the better, since it's quite boring here.


Update: I had my first xray and it's looking great. The lengthening is on track and the slanted breaks are facilitating faster bone growth.

[myloginacct]

Feel free to post more. The more to talk to the better, since it's quite boring here.

You are right - I'll just drop the other subject. The recovery of people who lengthen less than usual greatly interests me, as that is my goal too. I'll keep paying close attention to your journal.

Update: I had my first xray and it's looking great. The lengthening is on track and the slanted breaks are facilitating faster bone growth.

Great to hear it's going well. Cheers for providing the x-rays pics too.

[Bushguy]

hi mars!
hope you are good,
 thoose x rays, i dont know anything about them but,  is normal that break?, i thought that they should be   straight, anyway keep us informed mate.

[Jim_dabarber]

Helloworld is right, if you do 4.5 cm you will regret it. I regret that I didnt do more and I still consider femurs. 6cm should be your goal. Also the guy defending 4.5cm is not a former LL patient. Me and Helloworld are. Just so you know

This makes me laugh. I think Mars is making a good choice by being conservative with his lengthening. 4.5cm is a big difference regardless especially at your starting height of 170 cm. Unless your trying to look unproportional i wouldnt go above that on femurs. Its true long femurs are more common but too long will look ridiculous. Unless your thinking of lengthening your tibias i would just be content with 4.5cm on femurs and end up with a height of 175cm and be able to regain close to full physical pre/op level. Im personally doing 4cm on tibias and 5cm on femurs cross lengthening and i can tell you that my femur has recovered really good. Ive managed to get 145 degree rom and other than weak quads and hamstrings i feel really good about the length ive achieved. Im sure once im able to weightbear and start hitting the gym up ill be near pre/op level. Dont get stuck in the numbers game. At your height 4.5 cm and 5.5cm wount make much difference but it can effect your recovery so be smart.

[Body Builder]

Anything less than 5cm in LL is a waste of time and money.
Especially with internal femurs, most people could do at least 6cm without much problems.
Maybe for someone 1.80 a 4.5 cm gain will make some change but a guy that tall doesnt even need LL!
For an 1.70 man, being 1.74 won't change much things and he will see it some months after he finish lengthening.

So no, 4.5cm for internal femurs are not much and wont make any significant change to an 1.70 man but anyway, I respect your choice.
After all, I've seen much more crazy thing here like almost 1.80 men who want to do 2 LLs to add 7cm totally and some crazy   like this.
But if I were you, I wouldnt stop before 6cm if I didnt had any major complications.

[Mars]

It looks like it'll be a compromise. One of my legs is about 5 mm longer than the other, so I will lengthen 5 cm and 5.5 cm. Both sides win 

hi mars!
hope you are good,
 thoose x rays, i dont know anything about them but,  is normal that break?, i thought that they should be   straight, anyway keep us informed mate.

It's not normal, but it happens. You can see the straight lines where the break was intended, but my bones decided to do something a little different.

[Bushguy]

Its  his decission, we have to respect it, we can give him advice but in the end its his time, money and body.
In my opinion i would aim to 6 cm and if no major problems to 7cm but you have to decide man...
Good luck!

[wishadream]

Hi Mars. I personally think going to full 8cm is the best option. You can always get another job. But this is the last time you probably go for this surgery. Offcourse if you see your body condition is tolerating. But stopping the process because of the career, I don't think is a good idea. Especially such a one-lifetime chance. But finally, it is your body and choice. We all wish you the best result and recovery and happiness in future. Now my question: Have you seen this presentation: by Paley about femur lengthening?
The crucial part, which can be relevant to you, or anybody who wants to do femur lengthening, is the last part, about cutting IT band, which apparently can avoid having duck ass complication even when somebody lengthens to 8cm. Can you please ask Dr Monegal idea about cutting IT band?

[helloworld]

I would do more but slowly, as I think 4 cm in 1 month is more dangerous than 6 cm in 4 months.
Also, when I was 60% done with lengthening, I started going to the office normally, and during work breaks I would take my lengthening device to do some clicks.

Important to remember: You cannot accelerate recovery by lengthening faster. In fact the opposite is true. THE SLOWER YOU LENGTHEN THE FASTER YOUR OVERALL RECOVERY.

[wishadream]

Hi HelloWorld. May I ask if you have done the IT band cut surgery? Do you know what is Dr Monegal idea about it? May I know how much you lengthen and if you had duck ass complication?

[Mars]

Hi Mars. I personally think going to full 8cm is the best option. You can always get another job. But this is the last time you probably go for this surgery. Offcourse if you see your body condition is tolerating. But stopping the process because of the career, I don't think is a good idea. Especially such a one-lifetime chance. But finally, it is your body and choice. We all wish you the best result and recovery and happiness in future. Now my question:
The crucial part, which can be relevant to you, or anybody who wants to do femur lengthening, is the last part, about cutting IT band, which apparently can avoid having duck ass complication even when somebody lengthens to 8cm. Can you please ask Dr Monegal idea about cutting IT band?

I will lengthen my shorter leg up to 6 cm and my longer leg up to 5.5 cm, but no more. I have read too many diaries on here from people who did 8 cm and had many problems and a very long recovery, and it is not worth it to me. I asked Dr. Monegal after my surgery about IT band release since he did a release on my adductor muscles, and it is something he sometimes does depending on how tight the IT bands feel and the lengthening goal.

[Mars]

I would do more but slowly, as I think 4 cm in 1 month is more dangerous than 6 cm in 4 months.
Also, when I was 60% done with lengthening, I started going to the office normally, and during work breaks I would take my lengthening device to do some clicks.

Important to remember: You cannot accelerate recovery by lengthening faster. In fact the opposite is true. THE SLOWER YOU LENGTHEN THE FASTER YOUR OVERALL RECOVERY.

I am at about 3 cm now, and still no pain. I agree that slower lengthening is better. I was lengthening my shorter leg at 0.99 mm/day and my longer leg at 0.81 mm/day, but now I will reduce to 0.81 mm/day and 0.69 mm/day, respectively. It will only add a few more days to my lengthening and hopefully help with the tightness that's slowly building up. I should finish lengthening on May 19 for total gains of 5.3 cm and 5.9 cm.

[Andy]

Hi Mars, I wish everything is still going well with your recovery. Could you please help me when you find a little spare time, I did like to ask you how much does  physio, medications and accommodation cost in Spain? Many thanks indeed. I wish you very best of luck.

[Mars]

Hi Mars, I wish everything is still going well with your recovery. Could you please help me when you find a little spare time, I did like to ask you how much does  physio, medications and accommodation cost in Spain? Many thanks indeed. I wish you very best of luck.

Physio is 30€ per session, and I'll do about 20 of them during my time here.
Accommodation is 1380€ per month, which does not include food.
Medications have cost me about 115€ so far, and about 100€ of that was 20 days of heparin shots. The rest are inexpensive.

[Bushguy]

Hi Mars how are you?
Any updates

[Mars]

Hi Mars how are you?
Any updates

Hey, I am doing well and currently at 3.5 cm. In the past couple days it has become noticeably harder to lock my knees straight. I've started working on this by having my legs out with my feet resting on the edge of the bed while I'm in my wheelchair, and putting a belt across my knees with a kettlebell weight attached underneath to pull my knees down and straighten them. Also, I'm starting to have more frequent mild aches in my legs, but nothing serious since I haven't even needed to take pain medication in the past couple days.

Less than a month of lengthening to go for 5.5 cm!

[Bushguy]

Wow keep on it dude!

[Ry2010]

Hello mars,

How long did you have to stay in the hospital and I'm Barcelona?

[lurker1]

Hey Mars, How did you go about scheduling the surgery? I don't see Dr. Monegal listed on the Clinica Diagonal website and don't know who to contact.