Since my diary on old forum seems to be gone and I got myself banned I will continue my diary here since I think there is still a lot of interest in how things are post LL. My experience with Dr. Sarin was positive with little pain and no major complications. Sweden has done an excellent job with his post-LL updating so I will try to do the same. I am still at the guest house for another month since I decided to stay longer to recover more.
Zip of my old forum dairy in HTML format
https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0Bx9uEct5EovhTDlxenBHNGQ2aUUHere is a quick summary:Info about meFrom: USA
Age: 24
Armspan: 180 cm (5’11”)
Sitting height: 90 cm (35.5”)
Weight before LL: 73 kg (160 pounds)
Pants: 30”x30”
Height before LL: 170.8 cm (5’7.3”)
Height after LL: 178.4 cm (5’10.25”)
Lengthened amount: 6.5 cm (2.56”)
I found this a bit odd. I am guessing the additional height is due to spine decompression from being in bed for so long every day at the guest house.
Frames were put on 4/19/2013I had two minor pin site infections.
I had numbness in a part of right leg and could not move my big toe and had difficulty moving my small toes so Dr. Sarin had me stop at 6.5 cm instead of 7 cm.
Frame removal on 7/26/2013After frame removal I weighed 57 kg (125 pounds) and had about 5 cm (2”) of ballerina foot as well as some knee bending in my left knee.
I started standing 3 weeks after frame removal, walking using a walker with wheels at about 4 weeks, crutches at 5 weeks, hand crutches at 6 weeks, and at 7 weeks I could walk unassisted slowly and painfully with shoes on.
Right now I am 61 kg (134 pounds) and my ankles have a little bit above 90° range of motion.
Hospital video
Lengthening video
Walking upstairs is easy but going downstairs is quite difficult. I lack the ankle range of motion and thigh strength to walk smoothly.
Walking barefoot feels okay and walking with shoes is easier with the slight lift of the heel.
Guest houseThe living conditions at the guest house are all still good. I am satisfied with the food, power, Internet, and having concerns addressed. Aftercare has significantly improved from a couple of months ago.
Current statusIt takes a couple of minutes to get my feet flat in the morning or after not standing for a while. I can walk long distances unassisted upstairs or on a flat surface but I do not walk completely normal. Walking downstairs unassisted is still quite difficult. Right now I am focusing on exercises to build size and strength of thighs and gain further range of motion of my ankles.
X-ray from August 17th, 3 weeks after frame removal. The lengthening estimate on the gap is wrong, I did 6.5 cm
X-ray taken September 16th, 7 weeks after frame removal.
Proportions photos – I feel my torso looks a bit short but other than that I am happy with how I look. Tibia looks like it is about equal in length to femur so it is at the limit between looking normal and not normal. I am happy with how my tibia and femur look so stopping at 6.5 cm was just right.
Photos of scars – Tibia and Fibula osteotomy sites look good. My Tibia osteotomy site is 2 lines and Dr. Sarin told me if he did not do the C shaped cut because it might have splintered my whole tibia bone. The inner knee, middle pin site, and IM nail insertion scars look the worst. My IM nail insertion scar developed into a keloid so it looks extra bad – I see other patients with scars that look much better.
To the nked eye my alignment looks okay; my legs are straight as they should be.
Thoughts on a 2nd SurgeryI have mixed feelings about doing a 2nd surgery for an additional 4 cm. Some tell me to just go for the height if it means something to me and the amount I want is reasonable and is not going to be enough to matter and many others say I should not bother and I would be stretching my currently good proportions to the limit and be risking disproportion.
My gut feeling is to not do it. I think the sacrifice in proportion would not be worth the additional gain in height. Everyone says I look good as is, my tibias look good in relation to my femurs, and 5’10” is a good height. Personally I think my tibias look a bit longer than I would like but I think I still have a lot more muscle to build back before I can accurately judge. I still probably would have lengthened to 7 cm if I was able to. My tibias are longer than everyone else’s at the guest house who was near my starting height and I still think they look okay so I would recommend others to lengthen between 6 and 7 cm and not be worried. Perhaps later in my life I could top off my femurs with an additional 2.5 to 4 cm to even out my tibia and femur proportion and gain a tiny bit of height.
I am open to any questions or requests for photos or videos.