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[KiloKAHN]

Congratulations on removing your frames. Life must be tremendously better now!
What is your local ortho's impression about Dr.Parihar's surgical skills and his work on your legs?

Everything feels so much better now. It's awesome to be able to sleep so easily and get in a bathtub with no hassle. I feel slight pain at times on some of the pin sites that haven't completely healed, and brief pangs of muscle pain on the calves, but I suspect those will subside in time.

My doc hasn't commented on what he's thought of Dr Parihar's technique, although he did say it's a good thing that I went to a prior fellow of Dr Paley. He did think that Dr Parihar was being too conservative in waiting to remove the frames, though. But because I don't have any misalignment, non-union, or x-legs, I'd say he did a good job.

Current ortho did his training with Dr Mark Brinker: http://drbrinker.com/mark-brinker-md/index.html

He's a surgeon I coincidentally had contacted a long time ago to see if he offers CLL, but his office responded that he doesn't.

[microman]

if I saw those scars on a person the only thing I could think of is maybe someone shot you at close range with a bb gun or something.

but yeah explaining the scars would be far too hard to do, especially since they exist only on your lower leg and are practically symmetrical to each other, which indicates it wont be an accident or something.

I think if you can get rid of the bottom scars, it would look 10x more normal, so maybe you just have to get rid of half of them.

[--]

Your legs look good KiloKhan.. scars will heal over time, and most of them will not be so visible in a month or so. Did you try walking after the frame removal? How was that experience?

[KiloKAHN]

if I saw those scars on a person the only thing I could think of is maybe someone shot you at close range with a bb gun or something.

but yeah explaining the scars would be far too hard to do, especially since they exist only on your lower leg and are practically symmetrical to each other, which indicates it wont be an accident or something.

I think if you can get rid of the bottom scars, it would look 10x more normal, so maybe you just have to get rid of half of them.

There's a cosmetic center that does scar removal nearby. I might drop in just to see what their prices are, but I'll wait and see how well these hide after healing for a while.

Your legs look good KiloKhan.. scars will heal over time, and most of them will not be so visible in a month or so. Did you try walking after the frame removal? How was that experience?

Thanks. I haven't tried walking unaided because my ortho told me to take it easy and put a little more weight on my left leg for now until later x-rays show some more healing in the right leg. But walking without the frames certainly feels much better and my legs feel very light. I received my frames back after they were disinfected and they're really heavy. Can't believe I was walking with those this whole time.

[--]

There's a cosmetic center that does scar removal nearby. I might drop in just to see what their prices are, but I'll wait and see how well these hide after healing for a while.

Thanks. I haven't tried walking unaided because my ortho told me to take it easy and put a little more weight on my left leg for now until later x-rays show some more healing in the right leg. But walking without the frames certainly feels much better and my legs feel very light. I received my frames back after they were disinfected and they're really heavy. Can't believe I was walking with those this whole time.

I will definitely opt for scar removal later, at least for that nasty fibula scar. Though other scars are hardly visible under the hair on my leg, the scar made for fibula is long, and easily recognizable. I love wearing shorts, and I do not want to be cautious about scars all my life. But some say laser scar removal also removes the hair around the scar, in that case we are drawing attention to the scar, highly counter productive. I hope it is not true.

Just waiting for the day when my frames will be off my legs. I spoke to one of the current patients of Dr.Dhawan who is in consolidation phase right now. She said my frames will become more heavy once they replace the struts with rods, after lengthening. Not sure how heavy they would be, my frame weight is comfortable right now, may be got used to them, but any more added weight will make them heavier for my legs.

[Uppland]

Your tibiae don't look very long at all Kilo. You wanna post a pick with your whole leg in it so we can see the femur/tibia difference?

[KiloKAHN]

Your tibiae don't look very long at all Kilo. You wanna post a pick with your whole leg in it so we can see the femur/tibia difference?

I'm not allowed to stand without the walking braces yet, so it'll be hard to see the difference between tibs and femurs clearly. Here's one of my legs while lying down though. That work?

[Uppland]

Mate your tibiae don't look too long at all, hard to say for sure but I think your biomechanics might be safe.

[microman]

wow your tibias must have been tiny before hand.

[theuprising]

Hello Kilo do you have measurements of your femur and tibia length?

[--]

The camera angle is making your femur look very long, and the tibia very short. That pic will not help in measuring your Tibia-Femur ratio. Instead, if you have a standing X-Ray, taken after lengthening, that should help. Alternately, a similar picture, if taken by some one else with camera directly above your knees, might give better results.

[KiloKAHN]

I'm going to need to find someone willing to take a pic of me in my underwear. Went to the ortho today and saw his assistant (ortho that I've been seeing now works at another clinic) to get my granulation tissue burned off and I was told that they don't do standing x-rays because the radiation is dangerous to your reproductive system. Have to ask my regular ortho when I see him in four weeks and request it once again. If they won't do it then I may have to find some other place where they won't object to it.

[KiloKAHN]

I will definitely opt for scar removal later, at least for that nasty fibula scar. Though other scars are hardly visible under the hair on my leg, the scar made for fibula is long, and easily recognizable. I love wearing shorts, and I do not want to be cautious about scars all my life. But some say laser scar removal also removes the hair around the scar, in that case we are drawing attention to the scar, highly counter productive. I hope it is not true.

Just waiting for the day when my frames will be off my legs. I spoke to one of the current patients of Dr.Dhawan who is in consolidation phase right now. She said my frames will become more heavy once they replace the struts with rods, after lengthening. Not sure how heavy they would be, my frame weight is comfortable right now, may be got used to them, but any more added weight will make them heavier for my legs.

The frames sure are heavier than you'd expect. I was shocked at how heavy the disassembled frames were in my hands after I got them back all disinfected.

I wouldn't worry too much about the fibula scars. My fibula osteotomy cuts were quite long, as you can see:
http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=634.msg12881#msg12881

But right now you can't even tell where the incision was made:
 

[Medium Drink Of Water]

I'm going to need to find someone willing to take a pic of me in my underwear. Went to the ortho today and saw his assistant (ortho that I've been seeing now works at another clinic) to get my granulation tissue burned off and I was told that they don't do standing x-rays because the radiation is dangerous to your reproductive system. Have to ask my regular ortho when I see him in four weeks and request it once again. If they won't do it then I may have to find some other place where they won't object to it.

LOL in Beijing they give you, no kidding, a small plastic bag with lead in it that you hold in front of your junk during the standing x-ray.

[--]

I'm going to need to find someone willing to take a pic of me in my underwear. Went to the ortho today and saw his assistant (ortho that I've been seeing now works at another clinic) to get my granulation tissue burned off and I was told that they don't do standing x-rays because the radiation is dangerous to your reproductive system. Have to ask my regular ortho when I see him in four weeks and request it once again. If they won't do it then I may have to find some other place where they won't object to it.

Don't worry about taking an X-Ray now. We are just curious to know specifics.. I would not put my manhood at stake to satisfy someone's curiosity.. LOL  But your proportions look very normal, I wouldn't worry about 1 cm here and there, hardly anyone will notice.

Your fibula scars are almost invisible. I couldn't find it even when I zoomed the picture. Great!!

[KiloKAHN]

In other news, today I graduated from using the walker to using crutches. My ankles now have enough flexibility where I can walk on my feet using the crutches without falling now, too. So much nicer to use and far less cumbersome and noisy. I'm hoping I can walk on my own soon after my appointment next month. The only thing stopping me from trying it out now is that I want to get an updated x-ray to see the most recent state of my bone healing first.

LOL in Beijing they give you, no kidding, a small plastic bag with lead in it that you hold in front of your junk during the standing x-ray.

Need to get myself a bag of lead. Check. 

Don't worry about taking an X-Ray now. We are just curious to know specifics.. I would not put my manhood at stake to satisfy someone's curiosity.. LOL  But your proportions look very normal, I wouldn't worry about 1 cm here and there, hardly anyone will notice.

Your fibula scars are almost invisible. I couldn't find it even when I zoomed the picture. Great!!

Yea well now I'm curious, haha. I might just pull out some measuring tape tonight just to have a rough estimate.

Yea the fibula cuts fading so well surprised me. For the other scars, my ortho's assistant said regularly massaging and rubbing them with vitamin E will make the scars fade quicker and the indentations rise up, so I'm going to head to the Vitamin Shoppe tonight since I don't have any vitamin E on me.

[--]

Yea the fibula cuts fading so well surprised me. For the other scars, my ortho's assistant said regularly massaging and rubbing them with vitamin E will make the scars fade quicker and the indentations rise up, so I'm going to head to the Vitamin Shoppe tonight since I don't have any vitamin E on me.

Did you do anything for the fibula cut to fade too?? Like vitamin E etc?

[KiloKAHN]

Nope, they just healed that way on their own.

[alex]

KiloKAHN

In your signature I see that you had your external frames on June 25, 2014 and Frames removed June 29, 2015.

You stayed a full year in the frames. How many cm did you length ?

[KiloKAHN]

I lengthened 6 cm. Maybe a little over by a couple mm. 

[alex]

I lengthened 6 cm. Maybe a little over by a couple mm.

But why this long time for 6 cm ? you had a problem with the new bone cells ?

[KiloKAHN]

No. Dr Parihar is just very careful about when to remove the fixator so you avoid bone bending or re-fracture. This is what he says about it:

A month too late is better than a day too early. This is a useful thing to remember at a time when even the most cooperative patient is usually becoming impatient for the frame to be removed. The ability of the regenerate for unprotected weight bearing must be ensured prior to taking off the frame. The x-rays must show at least three cortices; i.e. out of four cortices (anterior, posterior, medial and lateral) in AP & lateral projections, at least three should be fully ossified, with a sharp outline of the cortical bone. Finally before actually removing the frame the patient may be administered a 'stress test'. in which all the uprights connecting the proximal and distal segments of bone are disconnected and the patient asked to use the limb in a functional manner (weight bearing for the lower limb and functional activities for the upper limb). If the patient is able to do this the frame can then be removed with confidence.

http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=22.msg166#msg166

[Wintersleep]

Hi Kilo, I haven't posted before but I have read your diary from the start and I really appreciate it. It is the most useful Indian diary by a mile particularly the part where you posted about all the different doctors you met.

I have a question that I think I remember you answering but I want to see if your view has changed and that is why did you not opt for LON? I will be lengthening in India (maybe with Parihar) and I intend on LON so I can get out of frames in 3-4 months (I'm only doing 5cm). And also did you ever regret not going LON?

All the best with your recovery dude

[KiloKAHN]

Hi Kilo, I haven't posted before but I have read your diary from the start and I really appreciate it. It is the most useful Indian diary by a mile particularly the part where you posted about all the different doctors you met.

I have a question that I think I remember you answering but I want to see if your view has changed and that is why did you not opt for LON? I will be lengthening in India (maybe with Parihar) and I intend on LON so I can get out of frames in 3-4 months (I'm only doing 5cm). And also did you ever regret not going LON?

All the best with your recovery dude

Hi, thanks Wintersleep.

As for why I didn't do LON, the risk of permanent knee pain was brought up on this forum and a doctor who offered CLL said something along the lines of "50% of people who get LON have knee pain after the procedure, and 25% of those 50% end up with chronic knee pain." MDOW also posted that he had discomfort in his knees, so I wanted to avoid it if possible.

When I consulted with Dr Dhawan and Dr Parihar, both admitted that knee pain is a possibility with LON, but Dr Parihar said that as of yet none of his patients have complained to him about knee pain. He said that either LON or externals would be appropriate and it was up to me to decide. When I pushed him for an answer though on what he thinks is better for recovery, he leaned very slightly toward exfix only.

MDOW did say his knees have been feeling better, and others who had nails put in have said that they have no knee issues. Also, being in external frames for an entire year was a total pain. So if I were to have started my journey to India now and was more realistic beforehand about how long I'd have to wear the Ilizarov frames, I'd probably opt for LON.

On the other hand, now that the cages are off I never have to worry about getting the nails taken out later and it was less trauma overall on my body, so that's one benefit of externals. I will say though that if I wasn't self-employed with a desk job, no way could I have survived with exfix only. It just takes far too long to recover and most people can't survive a year on no income.

[Arch]

Why haven't you chosen Dr Naveen Talwar (Rocklands Hospital)?

[KiloKAHN]

Why haven't you chosen Dr Naveen Talwar (Rocklands Hospital)?

Leg lengthening wasn't the surgeon's primary interest and I wanted to get my leg lengthening done by someone who does it as his specialty.

[Arch]

Is it possible to go to India with Tourist Visa and let it extend with with the help of the hospital?

[KiloKAHN]

Is it possible to go to India with Tourist Visa and let it extend with with the help of the hospital?

That may be possible but I was told by one hospital that they would prefer I come on a medical visa because coming on a tourist one and extending it can be a pain. Getting a medical visa isn't hard for India at all though.

[Arch]

Can you tell me what you needed for the Medical Visa?

I just don't want to go to my local doctor telling i'm going to do this surgery ;d

I have on how to get a visum but it was way to complicated

[KiloKAHN]

Can you tell me what you needed for the Medical Visa?

I just don't want to go to my local doctor telling i'm going to do this surgery ;d

I have on how to get a visum but it was way to complicated

You need a note from your GP, which can simply say that you're not prohibited from getting the surgery. Then you just submit that with the other documents you would need. The steps can be found here: http://www.in.ckgs.us/visa/type-of-visa/medical-visa.crapml

It's not a comfortable discussion, but you probably should tell your local doctor before you go to India. You should be up to date on vaccines before you enter the country anyway.

[KiloKAHN]

Had my first height measurement since before surgery (didnt get measured after lengthening in India because I had equinus that prevented me from standing with my feet neutral).

At 1:50 pm I'm exactly 170 cm. I was just at 164 cm before the surgery so it looks like I didn't lose any of the height gained after frame removal.

Nice relief as the whole subsidence loss thing was always a nagging concern of mine at the back of my head.