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[MadDogs]

Hi everyone, I'm not new to the forum but I am new to posting here. I was unsure about creating a diary but I would have been more thankful if I saw more patient stories with Dr. A.
I am currently at 4.2cm and distracting at a varying rate of .75mm on most days and .5mm whenever new pains arise. I did the surgery end of Nov and am a few days away from being 2 months post op.

A little about me:
~167cm pre-op
Male
Early 30's
170 lbs, muscular
I knew about this surgery since I was about 14 years old. I've never felt all too short. In my day to day I would feel normal and like I blended in. However, a lot of people reminded me of my lack of height. Any new place I've worked, new friends I'd meet, someone somewhere would mention how short I am. I don't think people meant it negatively, it seemed to always be a surprise. I come off bigger than I am, yet near others my stature surprises. I'm ready to put all that behind me, and look forward to never thinking about height again.

Why Dr. Assayag?
I almost dismissed Dr. A as a LL surgeon. I won't get too into it, but it was based on my own biases and pre-judgements and nothing to do with him.
The surgery was going to be done in the West, that much I knew. I contacted 4 surgeons in total. The back and forths between the staff and me left me unsure.
After letting some time pass, and initially leaning towards Dr G from Canada, she recommended I speak to Dr Assayag. I researched him and realized I was very wrong about him. Then I called the number on the website, and to my complete surprise, he answered. Talking to him in person did it for me. From that day on, I had direct contact to him, and he always responded within a reasonable time, if not mostly within 5 min.
Dr. Assayag is world class. I could not recommend him higher. If you are on the fence on him, don't be. You cannot go wrong with him as your surgeon. Price was not the reason I chose him, but I must say, he is the cheapest option in the US. Expect to pay about 70k, but with insurance, I suspect it will be less.

Surgery day through day 10
-I kept a physical journal that I wrote in for 10 days. I will transfer it over as is, but will have any updates in parenthesis. Glad I kept it because I'm just now re-reading it and I forgot most of what I felt. I was a little surprised.
Day 0
No real feelings of fear or anything. Went from being really busy (because of work), to sitting there getting my leg shaved. Went to the surgery room, looked like I was abducted by aliens. Next thing you know I woke up in pain. Anesthesia stayed in my system for roughly 2 days. Threw up once, was fine after that.
Day 1
Slept most of the day. Hardly any pain. Uncomfortable but manageable.
Day 2
Same as day 1. PT came and hand IV hurt, making it hard to move around. Staff great.
Day 3
Discharged. Thought the painless first two days meant I would have little pain thereafter. Wrong. Getting into car extremely painful.
Day 4-7
Painful. Mostly 4/10 pain. 9/10 pain if sudden movement or going to bathroom. Tested the limits of my pain tolerance (Didn't take enough Oxy. I was trying to minimalize use. Mistake). Sleep uncomfortable. Would wake up with lots of pain (in hindsight, legs were cold from little movement. Hadn't even started self PT). When new PT came, I would feel amazing (move those legs!).
Day 8
Finally feeling better. I am only at 4mm and already very tight on my left leg. Not good (tightness due to swelling, but I was unaware and a little scared. Seems silly thinking about it now). Right leg is having severe sharp pain. 7/10 if I move it a certain way. Unavoidable if transferring from chair to bed or bed to chair. The pain is weathering my resilience away (Again, was trying to take as little oxy as possible. Just take it, trust me. It would have made this process so much easier). I feel strong yet tight and in much pain. Tired. Taking oxy daily now. Days unbearable otherwise (was only taking one a day. Should have followed directions and taken every few hours).
Went to Aquarium. Loved it but very painful near end. Gotta stretch more. If I'm having tightness already and nerve pain, I doubt I'll achieve any significant increase in height. It would be a waste (I was just swollen. Also nerve pain was actually just bone pain). Must get it together. Stretch constantly. Stretched for an hour today. Do it constantly! Helped tremendously. Warms up muscles and reduces pain.
Day 9
Exercised first thing in the morning. Made all the difference. Able to transfer from chair and toilet with minimal pain. Right leg still hurts. Still thinking it's nerve pain (wasn't). Knee pain as well.
Day 10 forward
Stopped writing in personal journal. By this time I was able to mostly stop using oxy. Pain and swelling had gone down enough that I had no more tightness. I had mostly fallen into a groove and was just going through the motions. Occasional oxy here and there. That's when I realized I should have taken more the first two weeks. It's really the toughest time. After the surgical pain subsides, you're mostly just bored.
1mm/day to .75mm/day
This happened at 28.5mm. Felt tingling in my shin and would burn when I stretched. Texted Assayag and that day retracted me 1mm. Immediate relief. Saw me 2 days later for an unscheduled xray. Everything was fine and found out I was starting to evertretch a nerve that thankfully was only responsible with shin sensation. Told me to take a day off after the retraction and try .75mm from then on. Did the trick. I still have a little tingling till this day, but it's mostly negligible. Gets better everyday.
Ok, I just want to let everyone know that during this, I was very afraid. However, Dr. Assayag put me at ease almost immediately. As soon as I texted him, he responded. He is a professional and knew exactly what to do. Not only that, but he responded right away. He really is always available.
I could not be happier with his care.
.75 mm to .5mm
This started at 38mm. I only did it for 3 days after a 1 day break. I felt a pull near the ankle. As I stretched It felt like I was going to snap a chord in my leg. Strange because I'm doing femurs and I felt it near my ankle. Anyway. Slowing down helped tremendously. After a few days it got better and returned to .75mm a day. I will go back down to .5mm a day if it returns though. I'm now at 42mm and other than the slight pain here and there, I'm mostly just bored.
I've met 3 LL patients here. One has a journal in the forum. From what I've seen, everyone has had a pretty easy time here. We have all slowed down at some point, and other than it taking a little longer, it's what I like most about this place. There's a sense of safety here. We cherish comfort over fast and painful.
If you all were wondering, I am staying at the Hackerman Patz house. The daily rate is $15 a day. It is a bargain. The surgery is already cheap in relation to other locations. The housing rate makes it an even bigger bargain. I am extremely happy with the Doctor, lodging, and environment.
I am walking daily on my walker, and I feel very strong in my legs. My hamstrings are pretty tight, but they were tight before surgery. Dr. Assayag did a wonderful job aligning my legs. I was slighly bowed and now they look completely straight. Mosha has done an amazing job as a physical therapist. He pushes me just enough to make it uncomfortable, but not enough to make it painful. Best of all he comes to you. No need to risk traveling. Also, the hospital is right across a not too busy street. It takes less than 3 minutes on an electric scooter. Convenient location to get x-rays and pick up pharmaceuticals.

Well, I don't have much else to add, but I'll check in on the forum from time to time. I'll update when something of significance happens. If you don't hear from me, everything is just normal and I don't feel the need to update. Have a wonderful day everyone 😊

P.s.
X-rays will come when I leave Baltimore.

[ballsackoffury123]

Did you get your IT band released? and do you know if it is included in the original price tag? I am thinking of starting my consultation here after reading your post.

[Captain Bone]

I can write a diary describing my trip to space just by writing. You have no pictures or videos. I think this diary is fake. Let me tell you before you write, with the leg picture and video, no one is exposed and who it is can never be found. Also, although this is a difficult operation, there are many people who share pictures and videos. I prefer to read video diaries with pictures rather than just reading diaries. Good luck on your journey.

[MadDogs]

Did you get your IT band released? and do you know if it is included in the original price tag? I am thinking of starting my consultation here after reading your post.

Yes my It band was released. It will be extremely difficult for most to do it without the release. Pretty much everything is included in the surgery. All future xrays and visits to assayag as well. Only thing not included is housing, food, medication, and things like that. I have a price breakdown somewhere in my email. I can try looking for it.

[MadDogs]

I'll upload my erc progress. Hope that's enough to prove it. If not ask me what would be more believable. Now I just gotta figure out how to upload lol

[stretched]

When was the worst part in terms of pain? Was it ever unbearable for a long period of time (i.e lying still on the bed)?

Also how much pre-op work did you do (stretching, working out, etc)?

[hippo60]

The visits and x-rays aren't covered for the first 3 months only?
Also, if you don't mind sharing, why Dr G recommended you speak to Dr Assayag?

[MadDogs]

Erc https://imgur.com/a/WAqreYH

Well here's a link cause I can't figure out how to embed the picture in the post. As you can see I'm a little ahead because it's been a few days since I've posted being at 42mm. You will also notice one leg ahead by 1mm. It's not really ahead. When I had one leg retract a mm, the erc doesn't show it, so I slowed down the other leg to catch up.

The worst pain came after surgery. You'll be pretty pain free at the hospital because they keep a good eye on you and med you up as pain arises. Once you leave though oxy is all you have. It's never complete agony. You get sharp pains mostly only when moving. If you stay still you'll be OK. I think I had 3 or 4 moments when I had 9/10 pain. All lasted less than a minute. 4/10 pain is where I sat for most of the first week. 6/10 and obove when trying to use the bathroom, change, or anything that involved a lot of moving. Again though, use oxy and you can dull a lot of the pain. I was a little dumb about my oxy usage.
I did moderate pre op work. I stretched only weekends and I focused on hamstrings because that's where I was tightest. I could barely touch my toe with my longest finger, and even then I was struggling to reach. Stretching pre op allows you to stay at a higher mm turn rate. The less flexible you are, the longer your distraction will be. If you have terrible flexibility, be ready to stay here 4 or 5 months distracting alone.

[MadDogs]

The visits and x-rays aren't covered for the first 3 months only?
Also, if you don't mind sharing, why Dr G recommended you speak to Dr Assayag?

I think it's covered beyond the 3 months. There was a guy here for nearly 10 months and I don't think he was charged extra. I can always ask though
Dr G recommended Assayag because she knew I was relatively close to Baltimore. She mentioned that it would be better to be close. And I agree because I was able to drive here and bring large things I could never take on a flight. Also both of them have worked closely, and I'm thinking they recommend patients to each other according to where one is located.

[MadDogs]

[hippo60]

I think it's covered beyond the 3 months. There was a guy here for nearly 10 months and I don't think he was charged extra. I can always ask though
Dr G recommended Assayag because she knew I was relatively close to Baltimore. She mentioned that it would be better to be close. And I agree because I was able to drive here and bring large things I could never take on a flight. Also both of them have worked closely, and I'm thinking they recommend patients to each other according to where one is located.

Got it, them working together definitely makes sense. Staying close is amazing, glad you reap the benefits!

Assuming his website is updated - https://www.heightrx.com/limb-lengthening/ it looks like the visits are covered for the first 3 months but no limit on the x-rays which is kinda interesting. The reason I brought it up is that I've seen most/all other doctors limit both to 3 months 

[eztic123]

Hello can you give us an update?

[BlendIn]

How long did it take to schedule your operation from the time of consultation? I'm highly considering Dr. Assayag

[MadDogs]

Scheduling was quick. From the moment I contacted Assayag, we picked a day to meet about 2 weeks off. From there we scheduled a surgery date. I chose to do it 3 months out so that I could work a little more and save.

It's been a long time since I've updated, but I am glad to say that I am done distracting. I stopped at 7.35cm because I was close enough to 3 inches that I really didn't care for the rest. My legs began hurting around 7cm and the pain was getting worse. Slowing down helped and taking a few days off was my only relief. I also stopped because I began to feel duck ass forming. I so far only have bad hamstring flexibility, so I didn't want to deal with severe tightness in other areas.
I am happy to stop, and so happy to never have to look at that erc machine again. I've been very fortunate to have great bone growth, and I was able to stand immediately after stopping distraction. So far I'm the only one that has been able to do this of the 4 patients that I've met that have finished distraction. I have my next meeting with the doc in a month, and we both feel very optimistic of being able to walk by then.
However, as great news as this is for me, this has not been the case for most patients. It seems I am the exception. So understand that this in no way means you'll have the same experience.
To update, I didn't overconsume food. I ate around 1500 calories a day. My weight had stabilized a while back, and even in this slight deficit I was able to have phenomenal bone growth. I attribute a lot of it to the exercise bike. I went hard on it almost every day. I would swet and push through the pain. After 15 to 20 minutes my legs were red and slightly swollen. I believe that this inflammation helped a lot.
I will try to keep an eye on the forum, but I tend to forget it exists sometimes lol

[lessthanavg8300]

Scheduling was quick. From the moment I contacted Assayag, we picked a day to meet about 2 weeks off. From there we scheduled a surgery date. I chose to do it 3 months out so that I could work a little more and save.

It's been a long time since I've updated, but I am glad to say that I am done distracting. I stopped at 7.35cm because I was close enough to 3 inches that I really didn't care for the rest. My legs began hurting around 7cm and the pain was getting worse. Slowing down helped and taking a few days off was my only relief. I also stopped because I began to feel duck ass forming. I so far only have bad hamstring flexibility, so I didn't want to deal with severe tightness in other areas.
I am happy to stop, and so happy to never have to look at that erc machine again. I've been very fortunate to have great bone growth, and I was able to stand immediately after stopping distraction. So far I'm the only one that has been able to do this of the 4 patients that I've met that have finished distraction. I have my next meeting with the doc in a month, and we both feel very optimistic of being able to walk by then.
However, as great news as this is for me, this has not been the case for most patients. It seems I am the exception. So understand that this in no way means you'll have the same experience.
To update, I didn't overconsume food. I ate around 1500 calories a day. My weight had stabilized a while back, and even in this slight deficit I was able to have phenomenal bone growth. I attribute a lot of it to the exercise bike. I went hard on it almost every day. I would swet and push through the pain. After 15 to 20 minutes my legs were red and slightly swollen. I believe that this inflammation helped a lot.
I will try to keep an eye on the forum, but I tend to forget it exists sometimes lol

It seems to be a common theme that people who bike regularly do the best.  Im doing well already but going to put in more bike time this month.

[MadDogs]

So I'm now at month 4, and it does stop being free after 3 months. However the visit is only $75 so it doesn't break the bank.

[sphenopetroclival]

If you have recent imaging data please put it at this thread. Redact any information that could be used to dox you.