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[Tomhard]

Hey jfk, may I ask you how long you needed to recover your tibia to walking like normal?

[jfk]

Hey jfk, may I ask you how long you needed to recover your tibia to walking like normal?

Hi, 10 months from operation to walking normal.

[jfk]

So I had my consultation with Dr. Betz:

- First you get measured (height, wingspan...)
- then you pay 500 euros
- Then they take x-Rays
- Then they simulate the new height and show you
- Then you talk to current patients
- Then you talk to Dr. Betz and he answers any questions you have

Everything went fine. I have planned my operation for 25th of October.
Dr. Betz recommends 10 cm for me.

[Tomhard]

which nail diameter will you get ?

[jfk]

which nail diameter will you get ?

It looks like he will use 13 mm. But he will decide finally during the operation.

[jfk]

1.4 cm

So I had my operation on 25th of October 2019. First day was hard with pain and low blood pressure. Second and third day was much better. I started clicking on 30th October and reached 1.4 cm today (5 mm initial operation gap).

Clicking: I do 20 clicks a day. Clicking is a little difficult. The first day my roommate who did 12 cm on femurs with Dr. Betz did the clicking for me. That helped me a lot to see how I have to bend my legs to get the click (every leg is different). After that I did it myself. It took me about 45 minutes for clicking. I am down to 25 minutes now. They say it gets better in time. Before clicking I take a painkiller, get on the bike for 10 minutes to loosen up the soft tissues.

Costs: about 52 000 € for the operation (medication and staying in clinic) plus 600 Euros for medication (for whole lengthening phase) plus 550 Euros for consultation plus flight costs (for me little because I came by train).

Clinic: Is very nice, you get to choose from different foods. It is clean and very comfortable. People are very nice. Sisters are a bit annoying as they wake you up every hour because they want to measure your blood pressure, or there is someone coming for cleaning etc. They could reduce this. But that is just a sidenote.

Doctor: Dr. Betz comes in almost every day (also on weekends) and responds also quickly via Whatsapp. Is very nice, helpful and an expert in his area.

Pain: Well is there most of the time, but is handable with pain medication. It is not a sharp pain, but a pulsing moderate pain. Still hard to fall asleep with that pain. I get 5-7 hours of sleep though.

Walking: First day could not walk. Second day used the walker. Third day used crutches. On tenth day I walked without crutches. Pretty normal walking. I try to keep it up but it is hard due to lengthening and pain.

So far it is a good experience. It is not easy but far from impossible.

[Polski]

Wow walking after 10 days. I also planing to do my surgery by Dr.betz. What do you think is a realistic time to go back to work in office or sth.

[atron]

good job man،my consutlation  is on 15th november and surgery on 18th novamber , maybe can see u there .good luck

[jfk]

Wow walking after 10 days. I also planing to do my surgery by Dr.betz. What do you think is a realistic time to go back to work in office or sth.

I think it is possible to go back to work after 2-3 weeks. My former roommate has just done that. You should just not sit but stand during work. Much sitting will cause a lot of stiffness and pain. Also driving after 2 weeks is possible. But I would recommend to do home office for at least 6 weeks after operation (that is what i will do).But if you are really want to go to work after 2 weeks it is definitely possible. Dont forget to use crutches when your outside. If you fall you could break a screw or nail...

[jfk]

good job man،my consutlation  is on 15th november and surgery on 18th novamber , maybe can see u there .good luck

Thank you and good luck for you too!

[jfk]

1.5 cm

With femur lengthening I see three main obstacles:

1. Duckass

You have to stretch your quadriceps from day two after operation. This is probably the hardest enemy you will face. I work on it as much as I can. It is very hard to get rid of duckass I have been told.

2. Wide legs

You have to stretch your IT bands from day two after surgery. I am at 1.5 cm and already have problems to not walk with wide legs. The IT bands are already very stiff.

3. Penguin walking

You will notice that if you walk without crutches that the upper body sways to the left and right. To avoid that you have to walk as much as you can without crutches and focus on not swaying. This will put a lot of pressure on some muscles. But if you work hard it is possible to avoid. You just have to work on it.

[jfk]

Physiotherapy:

Physiotherapy at the clinic is crap. It is only half an hour a day (not on weekends and national holidays) and you do just 2 exercises per leg. This is really bad. If you just rely on clinic physiotherapy you will struggle. In my opinion you have to do a lot of stretching by yourself.

In my tibia lengthening I made the mistake to walk 90 percent of the time and stretching 10 percent. That resulted in big problems later on. Now I do 90 percent stretching, 10 percent walking. Stretching is much more important than walking (in the lengthening phase).

[atron]

do u know how much is the Elke house for each night and what things contain?

[PANDA:BEAR..]

Physiotherapy:

Physiotherapy at the clinic is crap. It is only half an hour a day (not on weekends and national holidays) and you do just 2 exercises per leg. This is really bad. If you just rely on clinic physiotherapy you will struggle. In my opinion you have to do a lot of stretching by yourself.

In my tibia lengthening I made the mistake to walk 90 percent of the time and stretching 10 percent. That resulted in big problems later on. Now I do 90 percent stretching, 10 percent walking. Stretching is much more important than walking (in the lengthening phase).

What resulted big problems after doing 90 percent walking and 10 percent stretching?

[jfk]

What resulted big problems after doing 90 percent walking and 10 percent stretching?

I had knee bending and ballerina foot because I did not enough stretching.

[jfk]

do u know how much is the Elke house for each night and what things contain?

It is 80 Euros per day, 3 meals a day and a room is included. I have not been there, so for more details just contact Dr. Betz Email address.
I think this is too expensive.

[Siegfried]

Awesome jfk, Keep up the good work and keep us update:)

[Canon]

Any update?

[jfk]

Any update?

1.8 cm

Everything goes good. I need 20 minutes for clicking now. I have learnt to not bend the knee so much when clicking. Makes it much easier. Puts less pressure on your muscles -> less pain -> faster.

Have stiffness on the IT bands. So no duckass/stiffness on quadriceps yet. I work on IT bands now a lot. No problems yet. I can not feel the height increase. Walking looks 90 % percent normal.

lymphatic drainage: You get this everyday in the clinic. Is a waste of time if you ask me. At least the way the ladies are doing it. It is just a very bad massage. They should fire these ladies and fire the physiotherapists also.

Medication: I take tramal, tizanidin, xarelto, magnesium, calcium, novalgin and some other stuff...Novalgin works the best for me.

Lengthening 1 mm a day sounds a lot but it appears like slow motion for me. I guess I will stick to it for now although I am sure I could handle at least 1.25 mm. But I will listen to the doctor and stick with it.

[jfk]

Awesome jfk, Keep up the good work and keep us update:)

Thanks man!

[Ghostfish]

Hey jfk
I am glad that everything is going well with you. I understand you may feel you can handle more than 1 mm as almost all every other patient would feel at the beginning of lengthening.  But you will feel tightness soon pretty much all of sudden.  You have to prepare for that from now on.  Stretch a lot and walk or stand as much as you can. 
One thing I just want to tell you is that I really hope you lower down your goal from 11cm to somewhere 7-8 cm.
Wish you the best of luck!

[jfk]

Hey jfk
I am glad that everything is going well with you. I understand you may feel you can handle more than 1 mm as almost all every other patient would feel at the beginning of lengthening.  But you will feel tightness soon pretty much all of sudden.  You have to prepare for that from now on.  Stretch a lot and walk or stand as much as you can. 
One thing I just want to tell you is that I really hope you lower down your goal from 11cm to somewhere 7-8 cm.
Wish you the best of luck!

Hey Ghostfish,

thank you very much for your words. I take them very seriously and I am happy for that because this kind of feedback helps me to make the right decisions along the way. I will not do more than 1 mm a day and I will go on stretching hard every day. Also I will not go beyond 10 cm for sure. Lets see how I feel when I reach 7-8 cm and decide from there.

Anyway thank you for taking time to write to me and thanks for your wishes!

[nomad13]

congrats and good luck with your journey jfk

[Ghostfish]

Hey Ghostfish,

thank you very much for your words. I take them very seriously and I am happy for that because this kind of feedback helps me to make the right decisions along the way. I will not do more than 1 mm a day and I will go on stretching hard every day. Also I will not go beyond 10 cm for sure. Lets see how I feel when I reach 7-8 cm and decide from there.

Anyway thank you for taking time to write to me and thanks for your wishes!

Sounds great!  Yeah, When I was lengthening, I also was thinking and complaining why I have to do lengthening only 1 mm a day and I could have handled a little more than that.  But then around 4 or so, it really hit me hahaha.  Once it hits you, it is just so hard to go back to normal but instead it is getting worse and worse.  So I am glad you are working hard to stretch and being more cautious.
Good luck!!

[Canon]

Why don't you goto dr barinov again?

[jfk]

Why don't you goto dr barinov again?

Dr. Barinov is an expert with tibias. Thats what he does 99% of the time. Dr. Betz is an expert wirh femurs. That is what he is doing for more than 30 years. You get the idea...

[jfk]

3.65 cm

Hey guys,

here a couple of thoughts on the process:

Clicking is a pain in the ***. If you can choose to use a nail without the clicking mechanism you should go for it. It takes so much time and there is some pain involved during and after clicking. At least for me.

I went from 1 mm to 1.3 mm per day because I am limited with time (have to go to work as soon as possible). This is against the doctors advice (0.7 mm recommended from 3 cm on)

You can not work in the lengthening phase (not even from home). I get bad sleep. Maybe 4-5 hours a night and in the mornings I am very tired. And in the daytime there is also pain.

Milestones:

8th December: 5 cm
22th December: 7 cm
7th of January 2020: 9 cm
14th of January 2020: 10 cm -> 182 cm

I developed some knee pain so I bandage my knees. I do not go to a physiotherapist but do the stretching by myself.
Until now it is only the IT bands which are very stiff. So no quadriceps or hamstrings and no duckass but some wide legs.

But in general I feel good. I guess the hardest part is still in front of me.

Well the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.

[BetzLandLiberator]

3.65 cm
I went from 1 mm to 1.3 mm per day because I am limited with time (have to go to work as soon as possible). This is against the doctors advice (0.7 mm recommended from 3 cm on)

Dude, don't do that. That's stupid. You're gonna regret and probably will have a very bad consolidation and recovery.
Follow Dr. Betz advise.

Trust me, I know. I did 10mm with the old Betzbone.

[Siegfried]

Why is it Not possible to work from Home? Lack of concentration due to pain?

[KiloKAHN]

Why is it Not possible to work from Home? Lack of concentration due to pain?

It's not impossible, but the lengthening phase is very exhausting just staying in bed and even simple things like playing video games often take a lot of effort. Some days you'll feel okay, others you'll feel like crap and have a lot of pain from the slightest movement. Your will to do any sort of work will be lowered and it's something that will take a lot of effort, especially if you're expected to do anything on any sort of deadline.

[jfk]

Dude, don't do that. That's stupid. You're gonna regret and probably will have a very bad consolidation and recovery.
Follow Dr. Betz advise.

Trust me, I know. I did 10mm with the old Betzbone.

Thanks mate for your kind words. You are right, I have contacted Dr. Betz about it and he said it is a high risk the bones to not heal at all if I go over 1 mm a day. So I went back to 1 mm a day instead of 1,3 mm.

Another question: At what amount of centimeters did you get duckass and how did you fight it?