Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[canterk]

60kg is to little weight, very few adult men (profile of most of those who do LL) weight less than 60kg, so this makes no sense.

sorry but there are many adult men who weigh around 60kg.
also OP said he's 150 lbs that is around 68kg.

[BagOfMilk]

Hey bagofmilk congrats on your surgery. Care to share photos of your hotel room? And also sorry if already posted I must have missed it but how much did you pay in total including accommodation? Thanks and wish you a speedy recovery!

Hey Canterk! 
I have a few photos of my room on IG (bagofmilk2022) including each room and the view of the room. Scroll down to the bottom of my IG. Let me know if you can see them. I can take some new ones if you want me to.

Interms of pricing. You might want to msg AFA and ask for the current pricing, I did hear from the other patients of new price update for 2022 already. The package does include almost everything. I have only paid for food so far... everything else is included, even the drugs & supplements like calcium and D3 etc.

[BagOfMilk]

60kg is to little weight, very few adult men (profile of most of those who do LL) weight less than 60kg, so this makes no sense.

I weigh 150 lb about 68 kg...I do believe im very average. Thanks for posting your first ever comment on this forum tho  ... Hopefully you are not a toxic fake account from one of the other teams here in Turkey. If you want to see my body stature or my progress. you can check my IG.

[BagOfMilk]

Day 6,7,8,9 (Dec 26, 27,28,29)
These 4 days are the days are the days where I gained most of movement back. The pain levels also settled down dramatically. I believe I got up and off the bed at least 5-10 times a day. I got so bored of lying down. I forced my self to move around with the walker. Pain killers were rarely given to me at this point. As I didn't even bother asking for it. Non of the pain I felt was unbearable. 0 pain lying down or even standing up . 2-3/10 pain for 30 second to 1 min, at mid night to morning times around the osteotomy site. 3-4/10 pain when pushing my self in the knee bending movements to the limits. I was able to watch a ton of YT videos and not even be bothered by any type of pain. Doctor took a walking video of me with a walker. You can see it on my IG. The nurses finally learnt my name and remembered my face. They are all so friendly. The hospital prescribes antibiotic needle injections through the IV. When it is injected too fast I felt abit of burning sensation in my veins. Once I asked the nurses to slow down the injection. It felt alot better. Overall... I was super pleased with the condition I was in. Sleeping with the Ring Fixator was getting alittle tough. Your feet are hanging in the air all the time ... You will need to put a pillow below your lower legs and maybe even wear a splint (shoe like device to keep you feet upright while sleeping). This prevents ACL contracture. You don't want to keep anything below your knees, to prevent knee contracture. I have also started lengthening on day 7. The process is super simple. This Modified IRF has three rods on each leg. It uses a 10mm square wrench to turn the nut. Quarter turn = 0.25 mm. I do it 4 times a day = 1mm. You do not feel anything when turning it. Painless. Check my IG for the video of the lengthening video.

[BagOfMilk]

Day 10 ( dec 30th)
Discharged from the hospital at 5 pm. Doctor did decide to let me go one day early. I have not been taking nor asking for pain killers since day 4. Walking seemed very good. Knee bending while walking with walker was super natural. My Edema (swelling) was rapidly decreasing by the day. My feet was pretty much back to normal. The Legs and ankles area were the only parts that still trapped some fluids when standing up for too long. I did raise my legs higher by putting a pillow below when lying down. I was able to put on my own socks, shoes, fat pants etc. Also packed my own bags while standing up. Felt super motivated to be picked up and go back to my hotel room. Doctor prescribed me all my meds and supplements for the lengthening period. It was filled and brought up by the drug store near the hospital. Super convenient. Ozzy and Mr.F from AFA showed up at 5:30. I got into a normal car, didn't need extra spaces or anything for ride back. I was eager to eat something other than the hospital food. So Ozzy made a pit stop at a burger king (yes, burger king exists here in Turkey) and got me some fries, ketchup and a cheese burger. I was in heaven... literally. The car ride was about 1.5 hours. Besides abit of stiffness in the knee area. I was literally in zero pain for the whole ride back. Once we got the hotel. Ozzy pushed me to my room in a wheel chair. While Mr.F went to grab me my new improved walker with 4 wheels which also worked as a chair!. I love it! The only thing is.. realizing I couldn't go around the room like I used to just 9 days ago; I cant use the shower either for the next month to two was somewhat sad. I was mentally prepared for it... but once you get into the reality of it all. It gets real. On the other hand... I was going to be spending new years with my fellow LLers here at the hotel seemed to be promising.

[BagOfMilk]

Day 11 ( Dec 31st )
The first night at the hotel without a caretaker nor nurses to watch over me.. seemed some what lonely. I slept very well almost a full 8 hours. Woke up the next day just in time for breakfast on the first floor. I was able to take my self down to the restaurant with the new walker. The ladies there saw me cripple in with a walker ... made them alittle sad. I had to explain to them that I was getting this done on my own will, for the purpose of getting taller. Then they all became motivating and started to help me with all the little things around the place. I love them! I did get into a habit of bringing and eating breakfast with fellow LLer in their room before the surgery. I was determined to get back into the habit, which I did. Felt amazing to be able to bring breakfast to a fellow friend just after the surgery. I had my first PT session with AFA at 12 pm. The PT room is conveniently located in the hotel. My physical therapist was Turkish whom spoke good English. We both had good vibes towards each other. The session was very challenging to say the least. It is two hours long with many movements targeting almost every muscle and ligament in ur lower body. I do have to admit. This will help me tremendously in my rehabilitation process. Your bones will out grow your soft tissues. So you are always playing catch up with your soft tissues. The more you do during lengthening, the less pain you will be in after. I will up date once again soon! thanks for reading! check my IG for my scars photos.

[canterk]

Hi Milk, thanks for the updates. Curious about the nail removal protocol are they doing it also after 1 year like most others? I know you are sharing your photos on IG but how do you feel about how they treat patient privacy? I ask because I know some other Turkish doctors or teams post a lot about their patients and maybe sometimes without consent? Interested to know how the AFA team and doctor handle this concern in particular.

[BagOfMilk]

Hi Milk, thanks for the updates. Curious about the nail removal protocol are they doing it also after 1 year like most others? I know you are sharing your photos on IG but how do you feel about how they treat patient privacy? I ask because I know some other Turkish doctors or teams post a lot about their patients and maybe sometimes without consent? Interested to know how the AFA team and doctor handle this concern in particular.

Hey canterk 
As to what I know. The internal titanium weight bearing nails I have can be removed from year 2. Most will choose to remove them around year 5, after bone remodelling. Some patients may also choose to keep them in forever. It will not cause problems in the long run. They can be removed to improve extreme sport or other functional purposes. The precise nails are required to be removed after one year or after consolidation. I will ask the doctor to confirm, once I see him again.

Interms of privacy. AFA team have always asked me for my permission before they take a single photo or video. They have always been keen on making me feel super comfortable about this issue. Even when you agree to share, they will ask you if you want just lower body, or blurred face etc. You shouldn't have to worry about this with AFA. Im with many other patients whom choose not to even share a single picture or video. The team respects that and from what I have seen. They have not even taken a single photo of them. This was one of my major concerns as well. This is a surgery we might want to keep to our selves... forever. I just personally wanted to share my photos and videos, hopefully helping out a fellow or two. You are totally correct on how some other Turkish teams take photos and videos without consent and even posting them. 

[canterk]

what made you choose this doctor over Dr. Inan? i understand AFA is also connected with Dr. Inan? Was it the price, availability, something else?

[Mayday]

hiya bagofmilk. Thanks for sharing your experience in gram' as well and congrats for the surgery! I was wondering the reason why you choose to have İlizarov rather than monorail ones?

[canterk]

hey milk what is your status now? are you finished lengthening? hope you're doing well.

[Pikachu]

Hi milk! It's been a while since we haven't heard from you, I hope you are doing okay mate. Give us an update if you are here

[BagOfMilk]

Hey guys and gals. Im sorry  I have been MIA for the past five ish month. I'm back and I will update this dairy now. Also big thanks to all the LL friends whom contacted me on IG and also visited me in person! I wish you all the best of luck and speedy recovery when you get ur surgery done. So happy my experience so far has helped in anyway possible.

I'm doing well! Still here in Istanbul, lengthening daily. Have been here since Dec of 2021. I have finished my Tibia illzarov LON lengthening with 5.5cm gained. Zero major complications. Some small issues which are all resolved.

As of today. July 16th 2022. Im currently in the process of finishing up my Femur Lengthening with precise 2 nails. I'm at 5.4cm today. Will stop lengthening in one week at 6cm. Heading back home to Canada in two weeks time.

I will now attempt to catch up on the missed posts in sequence. =)

[BagOfMilk]

Jan to Feb 2022
Got very used to the daily routine. Grab breakfast on the first floor. One extra for the Australian friend and eat in her room. Watch a video or two then get ready for the PT session. The sessions gets pretty intense and you might even break a sweat from time to time. Every Mondays and Thursdays are my dressing change days. My Physical Therapist Mr.Bayram does it very well! Making sure it's well cleaned and well protected. Once PT is over I go back to my room for lunch. I usually order from the hotel restaurant, Grilled salmon; Grilled sea-bass; Chicken thigh and salad etc. Chill in my room till dinner time. Head back up to my Australian friend's room and we will decide what take out to order off of the Yemeksepeti app. Dinner usually consists of Pizza; Stri-fry; Fried noodles; Curry Chicken etc. Once that is done I go back to my room clean up and head to bed. Pretty much repeat this day after day.

Jan 7th 2022
Had my first infection on the top inner wire site of the right leg. The cause was unclear but Mr.F from AFA got me onto oral antibiotics the very next day. This infection lasted about 10 days. The worst pain I have felt since the initial surgery. The whole right leg was swollen due to this one wire site infection. Even the knee joint was in pain. Any type of movement would have caused some type of pain. I did not put much weight on the right leg. Nor any PT movements for a good two weeks. Took 1000mg of oral antibiotics every 12 hours for 7 days straight. Dr.Uysal came by and saw me at the hotel. He did a quick dressing change and injected some RIF (external antibiotic solution) at the infection site. On the 6th day. The infection settled. I was able to move my knee joint without much pain. The swollen ankle and soft-tissues was still not completely gone just yet. That took about 4-6 weeks to completely settle. Dr.Uysal also determined the cause of this infection to be either from hygienic issues. Or most likely from the shearing action between the skin and the metal wire. Either I walked too much or over did some PT movements. Overall I was pretty happy that this episode came and went without too much headache and no painkillers were needed. Infection episodes happen to external patients regularly. So I wasn't too concerned.

[BagOfMilk]

Jan 14th 2022
Friday. A very Sad day  ... I had my first mobile x-ray at the hotel. The mobile xray was taken in the PT room. Around half an hour after that Mr.F sent me my set of xrays through whatsapp... and... I was blown away with the emptiness between the bone gaps... Literally "Clean and Clear". We saw no visible bone regenerate. I was feeling very down for the whole weekend. Dr.Uysal had time on sunday to video call me after he saw my xrays. He made me feel better by confirming that things will be okay. He said he saw signs of regenerate in my poor/weak callus. We did agree to slow down the lengthening rate from 1mm a day to 0.5 mm a day. For the next week or so I have had negative thoughts all the time. What is going to be the outcome of this... what will need to happen if I have no callus.. what if Non-union occurs? I have to be honest. I did NOT quit smoking on time. The required 3 month of smoke free period was not satisfied. I even had a smoke before I got on the plane to Istanbul... but i have not had a single smoke since. At this point... I had to do everything I can. Including contacting my good friend Victor (cyborg4life). He took the time and effort to set me up with some great instructions along side Dr.Assayag. We all decided to up my calories count to 3000 k/cal a day. 10000iu of vit D. a protein based diet. Sleep and exposure to the sun!

Jan 25th 2022
First snow in Istanbul. It was a beautiful scene. Reminded me of home. Took a few photos from the hotel window. I will share it on IG. It isn't usual for this much snow fall in Istanbul during this time of the year. I feel like I have brought over this cold breeze with me... somehow. LOL. As the roads accumulated with unmelted snow. The food delivery companies also stopped services. Government also issued closers for all road related work. I had to get some raw materials and cook for my self for the first time. Lets just say... Im happy I didn't die from the food I cooked. This lasted for about 3 days.

[BagOfMilk]

Jan 27th 2022
This was going to be the second xray day. Mr.F wanted to take me to a near by hospital for a more comprehensive xray. Maybe at a higher resolution to reveal my poor callus. Before we went to the hospital. I asked Omar from AFA to take me out for a hair cut at the mall. Omar got me a wheel chair to goto the mall with. This was the first time I got to go out for about a month now. Felt amazing! Definitely missed going outside and the fresh air. Hair cut was only 100TL. Also pretty amazing!
Ozzy and Mr.F took me to the hospital after work. We were all nervous about my callus conditions to say the least. Sadly... the bone gap got bigger and the void of blackness got bigger as-well... once again.. I felt super depressed. At this point I have decided to stop lengthening for the up coming week maybe two. The fact of having no bone regenerate sucked! Almost at the point I regretted ever smoking / doing this surgery all together. I had to suck it up and push through a few more weeks of PT and daily stuff. hoping to see the next xray in two weeks.

Feb 1st
Leopard (fellow LLer here at AFA) Whom wrote his tibia Monorail Lon dairy with Dr.Inan on this forum. He and I became good friends during his femur LON process with Dr.Uysal. He is a quad patient whom finished both segments with in one year. I was very impressed with his conditions. Great callus conditions with amazing ability to walk unassisted. Sadly he is leaving to go back home. I was a little sad to see him go. Felt empty without him here now. All the best wishes to you Leopard! 

[BagOfMilk]

Feb 9th
Had to include this day. Omar from AFA surprised me with a loaded breakfast! He himself is a vegetarian. So for him to prep such a big breakfast... I felt spoiled! I will upload a picture on IG. Thank you SIR! I really appreciate all the help!

Feb 10th
This will be the 3rd xray of my poor bone conditions. This xray is key for determining wether I get to keep lengthening or retract the bone ends. I have to be honest. Having the illzarov ring fixators on my legs without the ability to lengthen really sucks  . We went to the near by hospital after work hours. Took both front and side view xrays. Let's just say we see almost nothing. No cloudy regenerate. Nothing at all. So, the decision of retracting the bone ends by 1cm was made. Retract for a few days and wait another two weeks. Hoping to stimulate some bone end connections and cloudy regenerate. This really sucked... Super depressing. Wishing that I have quit smoking earlier 

Feb 14th
Valentines day.. also a sad day. My close Australian friend left for home as well! She had her tibias done a couple of year back. She has just finished her femur Monorail Lon process. She left with amazing callus and muscle conditions. She was able to crutch her way to the airport. No need for a walker. Super jealous of her conditions! Best wishes to you Mai! Hope to see you in the future! =)

Feb 28th
Had a Second infection on the same wire site... ouch!! I can for sure say this infection was caused by too much movement. Shearing action of the skin and wire/pins will cause inflammation. Long enough it will cause drainage and infection. I had the same stiff pain in the knee joint and swollen soft tissues. Started Antibiotics right away.  1000mg every 12 hours for 7-10 days.

Another friend went home after her femur Monorail Lon process. She was a tiny little girl whom had a great big heart! We had shared many great meals and watched many movies together! Best wishes to you! Really hope you recover perfectly! 

[BagOfMilk]

what made you choose this doctor over Dr. Inan? i understand AFA is also connected with Dr. Inan? Was it the price, availability, something else?

Hey canterk.

My original choice was doing with Dr.Inan. As I saw the great conditions of the patients in the hotel. I quickly changed my mind to go with Dr. Uysal. Also I got to have an in person meeting with Dr.Uysal. I felt like he was going to take care of me. Also treat my surgery in a very conservative manner.

[BagOfMilk]

hiya bagofmilk. Thanks for sharing your experience in gram' as well and congrats for the surgery! I was wondering the reason why you choose to have İlizarov rather than monorail ones?

Hey Mayday

I had a meeting with Dr.Uysal. He educated me on the risks of misalignment; angular deformities etc that monorail Lon presents during lengthing. Illzarov ring fixator provides a much more stable structure. Also the ability to fix any type of issues that Monorail just can't. As of now... I'm sure my choice was smart  . I have perfect alignment and no angular deformities etc. Very happy with my choice.

[BagOfMilk]

hey milk what is your status now? are you finished lengthening? hope you're doing well.

Hey Canterk
I'm done with Tibia lengthening. 5.5cm safely gained. About 1.5 month after, Dr.Uysal did my femurs with Precise 2 nails. Im about a week away from 6cm. Almost all done my friend  Going home soon 

[BagOfMilk]

Hi milk! It's been a while since we haven't heard from you, I hope you are doing okay mate. Give us an update if you are here

Hi Pikachu!

I'm doing great mate! almost + 11.5cm I will update every few days when I get the urge to write a bunch of stuff. I will also update my IG more often as well. Looking forward to go home and consolidate. Then learn how to walk again.