Hello People,
I found many people’s experiences super helpful so I also want to share mine and hope it can help you too.
About me: I’m 25, 164cm, originally from China. My parents and I live in the state now (not in FL though). I’m software engineer so wfh is an option for me, but I will take 3 months off since it’s strongly recommended by Dr. Paley.
Who takes care of me: Chinese people are usually not that open, so I really appreciate it that my parents always support my “crazy” ideas. My mom will stay with me and take care of me during the entire 3 months.
Who knows about my surgery: right now only my parents and my ex knows about it. My ex knows it because she’s my girlfriend back then lol. (We broke up for other reasons, not because of the surgery lol). I don’t plan on letting any other people know about my surgery.
Why I want LL: I just want to be taller and feel better about myself.
What my goal is: I don’t have a goal. If I’m happy after 8 cm femur then I won’t do tibia.
Where I stay: since my mom can drive, and we have a suv that is big enough to carry wheelchair, I booked an airbnb for 3 months instead of staying in the recommended hotels. It’s a 10-minute drive to the Paley institute.
Preparation before the surgery: I stretched and used foam roller every day for 3 months before surgery.
Sep 15, surgery: I had the femur surgery with Dr. Paley today. I woke up feeling excited probably because of the meds... I didn’t feel painful but my legs were extremely heavy and stiff. That feeling was worse than pain to me. The first day was hard as I couldn’t get off the bed. My mom couldn’t stay with me overnight in the hospital because of covid. (I felt I was a baby again and seeing her made me feel better lol). I had good appetite though.
Sep 19, Day 4: sorry for not updating on day 2 and 3. so I was discharged in the afternoon. I read MyRevolution’s posts about having problems with sitting. I didn’t feel painful while sitting though. I think the incisions differ from person to person, and my incisions are probably higher. I applied ice to my legs a lot for the first three days. My incisions were good and only hurt a little on day 4. I took pain meds because I would feel cold and very uncomfortable if I didn’t. Right now I’m taking pain meds every 4-5 hours. I switched between 5mg of oxycodone and 2 acetaminophen. So if I took oxycodone this time, I would take acetaminophen next time. Pain management is easy so far. I slept for 10+ hrs every day because the pain meds made me sleepy. Several nurses said that I recovered faster than people they saw in the past few weeks. They said they loved to see me walking around (with a walker of course) and I was superstar lol. I’m not sure if it’s true or they just wanted me to feel good. It’s not an easy task to walk around but I tried to get some exercises every few hours. My mom also helped me stretch several times a day, and I ate a lot (my mom cooked delicious Chinese food!). I could stand, wash my face, brush teeth, etc... I could also took shower by myself (putting a chair in the tub and sitting on the chair). I never tried to walk without walker, but I feel I can walk a few steps without walker too. I could do these but they were not easy tasks for me.
Sep 20, Day 5: I started to only take 5mg oxy every 4.5-6 hours instead of switching between oxy and acetaminophen. Oxy is stronger, but it gave me good energy to stretch & walk around, which actually helped me recover I believe.
Sep 21, day 6: my legs are much more flexible comparing to yesterday. Stretch, exercises, and walk really help! I could walk a lot faster today (with walker). I started to do more simple tasks on my own to show off lol. Pain management is still easy so far. I’ll start lengthening tomorrow!
Sep 22, day 7: First day lengthening! I’m using the latest Samsung machine, which is smaller, smarter, and takes only about 45s to lengthen 0.25mm (I heard it’s 7 mins with the old machine...). I think they just got the new machines several months ago. Unlike the old machine, the new machine can tell you if it’s connect to the nail, and will only start to work if connected. It’s hard to incorrectly use the new machine and miss lengthening. PT measured my flexibility today, and said it’s impressive to see how flexible I am. I stretched and used form roller every day for 3 months before the surgery, so my muscles are not tight at all. PT told me to put ice pack on my thigh since they were still swollen (It’s so obvious that my thigh are swollen, but I don’t know why I didn’t notice it until my PT told me...............)
Sep 23, day 8: I was with a different PT today. It seems that she’s a little disappointed seeing me super flexible because I kept telling her “no“ when she asked me if I felt the stretch lol. She said she wanted to challenge me and see me coming in tomorrow without wheelchair, just the walker. My legs felt so good after PT because they were warmed up. I went to shopping with my mom right after PT and walked for 1 hour without rest!
Sep 23, day 9: today I went to PT without wheelchair, and felt that I will never need it! I had to keep walking while waiting for PT though since standing was harder for me... Pain management was easy before lengthening, but becomes a little harder now. It’s probably because I haven’t fully recovered from the surgery, so I’m lengthening injured areas.
Sep 27, day 13: sorry for not updating everyday. Since it’s almost 2 weeks after the surgery, I tried to not take oxy to see if I still needed it. After 9 hours without oxy, my conclusion is, I still need oxy. I felt tired after walking for 1 hour without rest on day 8. Today I just walked for 1 hour again and didn’t feel tired at all!
Sep 28, day 14: sometimes I felt discomfort in my left leg and oxy couldn’t help. I don’t know how to rate the discomfort, but I couldn’t sleep when I felt it. It’s been like this for several days but it’s getting better. Sometimes the discomfort slowly goes away if I apply heat or lay on my stomach, so I became a stomach sleeper recently... I usually have two daytime naps (3+ hours) and two nighttime naps (4 to 5+ hours), so I sleep about 7 to 8+ hours a day. I feel I’ve been doing great so far. Several PT said I should be able to hit 8 cm without problems. One PT felt that my legs probably won’t be tight at all during the entire lengthening process. Right now I’m still super flexible , have good appetite and eat 5 meals a day. Having my parents supporting me also makes me mentally stable and strong.
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Topic: Another 8cm femurs (hopefully) with Dr Paley Sep 2020!! (Read 15977 times)