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[StrydeNailChallenge]

Definitely listen to your body. Stretch more than PT. Going hard on PTs no good if it makes you feel like quitting early. Go easy on it. You got this.

Thanks ghkid2019, Very much appreciate the kind advice and the support.  I am just a bit surprised by the level of pain. But, I know by heart I went for this mainly to experience the challenge and to see whether I can deliver some perfect results that are expected out of this surgery (8 cm taller + going back to normal life, and how knows, possibly even better than before, cause with taller legs, you could do better in some stuff; e.g., for me as a swimmer, I should be a faster swimmer, technically if I nail it).

I have never hesitated going for this surgery even when I was screaming and crying of pain! but if I were to grade myself, in terms of how well I have handled it so far, even B+ is a stretch! I had thought pre-op that I would be at A or A+ in terms of nailing the challenge; How naive was I

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Dear taller2023,

Regarding transferring money, or anything like that I believe  the right way is to contact the office of the doctor you are interested and see about the financial aspects. ....

Hi Taller2023,

Reading your message once more, I now see that I misunderstood your first question. I think you meant to ask whether Dr. M.'s staff includes someone who knows Chinese. This is what I recommend: to email the office and ask them you would like to talk to them over the phone but you need someone to translate your questions in Chinese and tranlate Dr. M.'s answer in English back to Chinese during the phone call.  I hope this helps.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Hi Taller2023,

Reading your message once more, I now see that I misunderstood your first question. I think you meant to ask whether Dr. M.'s staff includes someone who knows Chinese. This is what I recommend: to email the office and ask them you would like to talk to them over the phone but you need someone to translate your questions in Chinese and tranlate Dr. M.'s answer in English back to Chinese during the phone call.  I hope this helps.

 One more thing!  if Trump gets elected once again, there is a chance getting a US visa becomes increasingly hard. This is what I recommend: If you decide to come to the US, you would have to stay here for a while and spend money. My suggestion is to try to get a Master's degree admission from a US school. This first of all helps with the visa, second is that you would try to do the CLL operation here in the US sometime towards the end of your master's program when you are almost done with courses, third is that it would help you save some money, cause you are here anyway.

E.g., if you plan to do CLL with Dr. M., my suggestion is to get an admission from USC, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCIrvine, UCRiverside, Calstate, etc. depending on your major and make your CLL journey a combo CLL + Master's degree journey

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Day 27 (Tuesday, August 18) - 19.8 mm Taller.

One of the most inconvenient nights. Despite taking the usual two 650mg Tylenol tablets, my left leg had this 5 to 8 level pain that would propagate from upper knee area back towards hamstrings and outer side of my leg and also by butt/lower back area, randomly. If I were to guess, I would say my exercises must have disturbed my nerve system and that is the reason the pain radiates randomly to different spots.   I used a piece of cloth to tightly wrap my legs. After a while when it started to ache again, I separately wrapped my left leg tightly. That helped for a while too. Overall I managed to sleep for 4 or 5 hours.

I took a hot shower in the morning and that as usual reduced the pain down towards 0-1 levels. I had an appointment with Dr. M. this morning. I have been worried about my left leg since day 1, considering the discomfort and high levels of pain I have been experiencing.

Dr. M.'s Appointment:

X-rays: Before seeing Dr. M., his staff took the x rays. Finally after waiting for 27 days, it was the time to see how my legs had turned so far. I was so relieved when the Dr. told me that they look great and confirmed that both legs equally got lengthened by almost 2 cm. Dr. M. also said that the x-rays show bone growth.


https://imgur.com/A4COg20
https://imgur.com/aYp9Brb
https://i.imgur.com/TqNLOlT
https://i.imgur.com/1WXNKZi

Pain Management  I asked Dr. M. about CBD. He said he would not recommend that, but he was fine with writing Tramadol for me.

To self-PT or not to self-PT, that is the question!

Dr. M. asked for some straightening and bending moves and he was very impressed with my flexibility.  He still recommended me to hire a PT for once per week. I think I am going to be super careful to make sure I don't catch COVID-19 and I am gonna get a PT as Dr. M. recommended.

Today was a great day. I was imagining Dr. M. would tell me, SNC, we gotta take you back to the surgery room to fix an issue with your left leg and I was mentally preparing myself for that. Hearing from him that both legs were in great shape was like winning a double Oscar in the best supporting Leg category and a Nobel Peace Prize combined    The credit mostly goes to Dr. M. He is my GLL (God of Limb Lengthening )   

I took my first Tramadol at 12 pm. I don't wanna say the pain completely disappeared, but I have a good feeling about Tramadol so far. Dr. M. told me if one did not work, I can take two (every 6 hours). I'll keep everyone posted with my Tramadol-based pain management experience.


Yesterday I graded myself a B+ with a stretch! Based on the x-rays, I would say, B+ is fair. Let's see if my grade improves. It all depends on my pain management in addition to the final distraction and consolidation results.

[Movie]

x rays look good, he did a great job with the nail installation and alignment, looks like you're on the right path to success

[StrydeNailChallenge]

x rays look good, he did a great job with the nail installation and alignment, looks like you're on the right path to success

I am so happy to see this. Very assuring cause it's coming from Movie, the Champion himself

By the way, how are you doing on the knee pain management? I hope you feel much better already.

[Movie]

Haha thanks for the compliments SNC, yes I feel good, pain is about 95% gone and manageable (: BoneStretching & I suffered for 4-5 weeks of the similar type of pain, we believe it to be a ~1 year post op painful adjustment your body goes through after you do 8 CM.

[ghkid2019]

You're 1/4 the way there man. You're amazing, considering your age many people would've given up already. Keep going man

[BelowTheMean]

I’m actually considering doing the surgery with Dr M in November now. Might as well get it out of the way while I can’t travel anywhere anyway. If.I schedule a consult ASAP do you think I could get a November surgery date?

[caveman]

So your end goal is 8cm? Are you planning to do tibias later too? Also, just out of curiosity, what's your wingspan?

[StrydeNailChallenge]

I’m actually considering doing the surgery with Dr M in November now. Might as well get it out of the way while I can’t travel anywhere anyway. If.I schedule a consult ASAP do you think I could get a November surgery date?

Hey BelowTheMean Bro,
Dr. M.'s office staff and himself have always been very prompt in responding to my emails. Finding them on the phone has not been a problem to me either. I believe if you email or call them, they should be able to provide an answer about the surgery date very quickly.

I wish you the best in your future CLL.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

So your end goal is 8cm? Are you planning to do tibias later too? Also, just out of curiosity, what's your wingspan?

Hi caveman,
Correct. My goal is 8cm.

I did this mainly for the challenge of it. I already look tall with the right shoes and considering my athletic/almost zero fat body. There is a high chance with the additional 8 cm I would look just too tall. Those said, I don't believe I would ever do the tibias for two reasons: 1) CLL was top of my list of challenges I wanted to go for. I am doing it. I don't have motivation to repeat the challenge. I would rather go to the next item on my list, and 2) Adding tibias would make me look awfully tall. The only reason I would do tibias would be Dr. M. recommending that for medical reasons, but when I checked with him back in December 2019, he also agreed that I should do only femurs.

[taller2023]

Than you.  I hire english people to help talk to doctor.  Me will call and email.  Than you for you write me.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

You're 1/4 the way there man. You're amazing, considering your age many people would've given up already. Keep going man

Thanks very much ghkid2019. I get energy from this forum and all the kind words including yours.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Day 28 (Wed., Aug. 19) - 20.8 mm Taller
Day 29 (Thurs., Aug. 20) - 21.8 mm Taller
Day 30 (Fri., Aug. 21) - 22.8 mm Taller


Hello LL'ers! Hope everybody is doing great!   The last three days were very similar! I continued to manage the left knee pain that had started on Sunday, by taking extra care on stretching and the help of pain killers.

Almost on a daily basis, I feel improvement in my legs in terms of strength and flexibility. E.g., now I can roll 360 degrees on bed, I can lie on my sides, etc. However the left leg pain remains and it gets worst at night times. The pain is not on a fix spot. Any moment it could be on any part of my left leg. It radiates and propagates randomly.

I have started using some ointments after getting approval from Dr. M.; to locally manage the pain. If it goes successfully, I let everyone know.

I developed a lower back pain on Thursday night, perhaps due to my stretching exercises, but I am not that concerned cause I think in a couple days I will recover.

Driving:  I know I had mentioned in my diary that I would start driving by the end of month two, but my right leg has been normal for a long time. I thought I should give it a try. Turned out driving is not a problem for me and I think I can do long drives, but at this point, since I work from home, driving would be short; just to get away for a while and feel a bit fresh.

[BelowTheMean]

Day 28 (Wed., Aug. 19) - 20.8 mm Taller
Day 29 (Thurs., Aug. 20) - 21.8 mm Taller
Day 30 (Fri., Aug. 21) - 22.8 mm Taller


Hello LL'ers! Hope everybody is doing great!   The last three days were very similar! I continued to manage the left knee pain that had started on Sunday, by taking extra care on stretching and the help of pain killers.

Almost on a daily basis, I feel improvement in my legs in terms of strength and flexibility. E.g., now I can roll 360 degrees on bed, I can lie on my sides, etc. However the left leg pain remains and it gets worst at night times. The pain is not on a fix spot. Any moment it could be on any part of my left leg. It radiates and propagates randomly.

I have started using some ointments after getting approval from Dr. M.; to locally manage the pain. If it goes successfully, I let everyone know.

I developed a lower back pain on Thursday night, perhaps due to my stretching exercises, but I am not that concerned cause I think in a couple days I will recover.

Driving:  I know I had mentioned in my diary that I would start driving by the end of month two, but my right leg has been normal for a long time. I thought I should give it a try. Turned out driving is not a problem for me and I think I can do long drives, but at this point, since I work from home, driving would be short; just to get away for a while and feel a bit fresh.

Isn’t the bigger issue with driving the use of narcotics? Or are you not taking any pain meds that would hinder your ability to drive? Since you can drive, do you think you could go on a grocery run? Or would that still be impractical since you probably don’t want to carry anything heavy.

[Tartar]

SNC don’t give up! I’ve slept 6 hours in 3 days cause of knee pain, now it’s totally gone and I have no pain as before. So don’t lose your hope it could drastically change quickly
How is your walk?

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Isn’t the bigger issue with driving the use of narcotics? Or are you not taking any pain meds that would hinder your ability to drive? Since you can drive, do you think you could go on a grocery run? Or would that still be impractical since you probably don’t want to carry anything heavy.

Hey BelowTheMean buddy,

As you pointed out it is everyone's responsibility to make sure they are not under any drugs/pain killers that may block their judgement during driving.
I was pretty sure I was fully alert. I had taken my last pain killer hours before. Then took a hot shower to suppress the pain temporarily and then went to try driving. After driving was over I starting taking pain killers again.

I believe I can go to grocery pick stuff and put them in a cart and walk using that cart. However the whole thing is too risky. My family members have been nice to me and have taken care of in-person shopping. I insist that we should order online but there are certain items they cannot find online  such as certain yogurt or bread types/brands:D 

[StrydeNailChallenge]

SNC don’t give up! I’ve slept 6 hours in 3 days cause of knee pain, now it’s totally gone and I have no pain as before. So don’t lose your hope it could drastically change quickly
How is your walk?

Tartar Bro,
My knee pain was over by Thurs., the 20th, however as usual I have had a lot of pain in my left leg. The pain location and severity changes almost randomly to me. The only know part I have is starting evening it intensifies and in the morning it starts to subside.

I wish you the best bro. I hope you find stretching ways that help you avoid that knee pain, while managing your distraction.

[F3]

Hi SNC,
Are you able to walk at least few steps unassisted?

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Hi SNC,
Are you able to walk at least few steps unassisted?

Hi F3,
Yes. I wrote in my diary that last week I tried walking unassisted with no need to widen my legs. However my walk looks wobbly. I don't feel like walking unassisted would benefit me in any form (pain, healing, etc.). I therefore plan to have my crutches handy. While using them, I try to not depend on them too much, though.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Day 31 (Sat., Aug. 22) - 23.8 mm Taller
Day 32 (Sun., Aug. 23) - 24.8 mm Taller
Day 33 (Mon., Aug. 24) - 25.7 mm Taller

Back Pain: When my lower back pain started Thursday evening, I thought I would recover in a day or two, but it turned into a drama during the weekend! The pain was not on a certain spot or muscle and sometimes moved to be a middle back pain. Therefore times it changed to a deep pain on the sides, either on the left side, or both sides. The pain has got worsened every day since Thursday evening. At night times I had a hard time sitting and lying on the bed, therefore I had to stand or walk once in a while. I got a bit worried that it could be kidney related, but the pain was not constant like in case of kidney pain.  I think if the pain is not gone by Tuesday, i.e., 5 days after it started, I go to a clinic for a checkup. 

Pain Management:   I started taking Tylenol PM (two 500 mg tablets) on Sat. night. It was an almost pain-free night. Tylenol PM gave me a lot of hope that my sleepless painful nights could be over. However PM did not work on Sunday night. I had a lot of pain on my left leg (and back pain made it worst). I was awake almost for the whole night.  I decided to switch back to Tramadol on Monday, but I started aggressively: I took one Tramadol (50mg) every two hours. By Monday evening time I took one tablet every 3 hours and overall I took 400 mg of Tramadol for 24 hours. Not perfect, but overall it helped me manage the pain throughout the day, so I could also do some work.  Occasionally I also put some ointments to mitigate the pain. I specifically use Diclofenac Sodium Topical Gel, as well as BioFreeze. Massaging the left leg has been helpful in distracting myself in case of severe pain.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

How is your walk?

Tartar Bro,
My walks improve on a daily basis. I feel very comfortable with crutches and I know I can walk unassisted as well. I figured to avoid the wobbly walk, I should make sure each leg is strong enough so as I can lift my whole body and stand on that leg. This morning I practiced that. My right is very close to normal, but my left leg is not there yet. Therefore when I try walking unassisted, one may notice that when my whole body weight switches to left, there is a little bit of wobbly move. Slowing down and shortening the stride, helps making the walk look more normal.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Day 34 (Tuesday, Aug. 25) - 26.7 mm Taller


A peaceful night! cause my back pain started to sharply drop and pain management using Tramadol + ointments + massages has worked so far (pain level at 0-3 on left and 0 on right). By morning I felt like back pain was almost gone, so cancelled my plan for a clinic visit.

Everything else is routine (taking vitamins, etc., doing stretching around 6 times, one before and one after each lengthening session, walking using crutches, doing some work, watching movies, and surfing Internet!).

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Day 35 (Wed., Aug. 26) - 27.7 mm Taller


I have fully recovered from the back pain. Nights are not as frustrating any more, cause even if I am awake, the left leg pain is manageable.  Every time I wake up, my legs become so stiff and sore! Bending or straightening knees becomes a challenge for a few minutes. The best solution to it is to do one round of stretching exercises to help my legs go back to normal!

It is very easy for me to hurt my left leg during stretches. This afternoon the upper knee part of my left leg started ache and create discomfort. By 10 pm the pain peaked around 5 or so, but subsided later on and by early morning of Thursday pain was normal (0-3 levels with the pain management I had described before).

Every day I practice (short and slow) unassisted walks to try to get a handle of making the walk look as normal as possible. When my body weight is on right, my steps look pretty normal, but left leg is too painful and that is reflected in the form of a wobbly move while body weight is switching weight from left to right.

[F3]

Good to know that you’re pain free. Back pain can be a nightmare. I’m starting to feel it. I’ve been doing bridges while lying down. May be you can try that too.
And How’s your knee bending currently?

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Good to know that you’re pain free. Back pain can be a nightmare. I’m starting to feel it. I’ve been doing bridges while lying down. May be you can try that too.
And How’s your knee bending currently?

Hey F3, I have been doing several exercises such as cobra, cat, bridges and rolling that may have affected the back muscles. My back pain started fairly quickly therefore I tend to believe during a stretching session last Thursday I must have hurt my back.

My knee bending is pretty good I would say. Lying on my back, I can bend and bring my foot all the way to my butt; but that's the most inconvenient stretch for my left leg. Bending while sitting, I cannot bring my foot all the way to butt, but the gap is around 10 cm or less.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Day 36 (Thursday, August 27) - 28.7 mm Taller

Official Graduation Day from Crutches:
As noted in my diary, the first time I tried an unassisted walk was on Day 21 (Wed., Aug. 12th), however at the time I did not feel like it would benefit me to go 100% unassisted. Two weeks have passed since then, and I am confident my legs are more than ready to go unassisted. I therefore graduated myself from crutches as well and wet unassisted 100%. I ended up walking perhaps more than other days, cause without the crutches, I had more freedom in terms of doing my own tasks. E.g., instead asking my family to make me coffee and bring to the table, I did those tasks myself. I almost did everything by myself today. That certainly put a lot of pressure on my legs, however it felt right, meaning I believed my legs are ready for the extra pressure and the unassisted walks would accelerate the healing process.

The rest was pretty much the routine I have been following: exercising before and after each lengthening session, taking vitamins, etc. as noted in my diary., and pain management (Tramadol, ointments, massages, and hot showers every other day or so).

What if knees lock:
As I had also noted before, every time I wake up my legs are so stiff. Especially if I sleep with my legs straightened or with a pillow under my knees, when waking up I would have a hard time for a few minutes bending my knees. However today something unexpected happened. After a short afternoon nap with my legs straightened while napping, I could bend my right knee after a couple minutes, but my left knee was aching like crazy; I felt like I was almost breaking my knee by doing any moves. I finally found a solution: I tried to stand up on my legs, while my left leg was like a piece of wood with no flexibility and my right leg doing most of the control. I then walked for a few minutes with both legs bearing my body weight and then I finally tried sitting; that  worked!   A reminder that while resting with legs straight, it is a good idea to put a pillow under your knees to avoid knees going to a lock mode!!

I thought I should share this with our Stryde fellows: if you have a hard time bending your knees, perhaps you should not fight it. Instead stand up and try to walk for a while and then try to sit and that should do it

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Day 37 (Fri., Aug. 28th) - 29.7 mm Taller

Today, I walked the longest since the surgery day.  That made my legs, especially the left one painful by night time. Looking at others, I think I am 5 times or higher as slow as a typical adult. I get even slower outdoors, cause I don't wanna look wobbly, so I take extra care and my time to make it look a bit more normal while walking.

I also drove for a second time today. I believe behind the wheels I am just normal and like old times I should be able to drive for long hours, if necessary.

Went to costco to try my first in-store grocery shopping post-op. By the time I got to the entrance,  I was exhausted, but I saw those electric carts for handicaps. They let me use one, so shopping was piece of cake while riding the electric cart. I rode the cart all the way to my car.

[BelowTheMean]

Day 37 (Fri., Aug. 28th) - 29.7 mm Taller

Today, I walked the longest since the surgery day.  That made my legs, especially the left one painful by night time. Looking at others, I think I am 5 times or higher as slow as a typical adult. I get even slower outdoors, cause I don't wanna look wobbly, so I take extra care and my time to make it look a bit more normal while walking.

I also drove for a second time today. I believe behind the wheels I am just normal and like old times I should be able to drive for long hours, if necessary.

Went to costco to try my first in-store grocery shopping post-op. By the time I got to the entrance,  I was exhausted, but I saw those electric carts for handicaps. They let me use one, so shopping was piece of cake while riding the electric cart. I rode the cart all the way to my car.

That’s good to hear. Now that I have the spare cash and I’m actually planning to do it soon (if all goes as planned with work) I’m thinking through all the logistics as well, especially for food. I don’t have any family nearby, so I need to figure out what can be done independently and what I need help on.

I’m actually getting a little nervous just thinking about actually going through the whole process, even though I’ve known about LL and have semi-consistently been reading journals since 2014.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

That’s good to hear. Now that I have the spare cash and I’m actually planning to do it soon (if all goes as planned with work) I’m thinking through all the logistics as well, especially for food. I don’t have any family nearby, so I need to figure out what can be done independently and what I need help on.

I’m actually getting a little nervous just thinking about actually going through the whole process, even though I’ve known about LL and have semi-consistently been reading journals since 2014.

Hey BelowTheMean,
My general advice to all who have researched and planned to do CLL at some point in their life, is to go for it as early as they can. Part of this surgery is out of your control, e.g., the pain I have experienced on my left leg started a couple hours post surgery and has stayed with me ever since, whereas my right leg has had a typical 0 level pain so far. Surgery is complicated and even a tiny bit of change on where the nails should go, etc. may impact pain level drastically. This would not change if you postpone the surgery; the earlier the better, cause during COVID-19 times, we have the chance to WFH and that helps with the healing process.

As for staying alone post-op, I just don't see how I could survive the first few days, had I not have others helping me. Unless your pain level from early post-op and on both legs is low, I believe you better have a family member or a friend helping you during the first few days.