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[tinyknight]

sup guys...partly because im bored and partly because i feel like it's my duty to warn others about the torture device known as lon femur, ive decided to write some thoughts down.

Some details:
starting height: 170
current height: +3 cm
goal: was originally 8 cm. Now...I think I'll be lucky if I reach 5.5/6.
xray link: https://imgur.com/a/hDfZZAP
Company: AFA

I was transported to the hospital and went through the pre-surgery protocol. My heart started racing and some doubt crept in but having read other diaries, I was mentally prepared for this to happen and was determined to forge on. The next morning, I was escorted into the surgery room and was knocked out cold after the anesthesia. Upon waking, I felt like my legs were sawed in half and put back together. The pain was...intense to say the least. But almost as bad was the shivering. I've lived part of my life in Canada and I've never felt as cold as I did at that moment. All I remember is moaning for painkillers and blankets and thankfully, the pain subsided from a 9/10 to a 5/10 within the next couple hours.

The next day, the doctor had me walking and to my surprise, I was able to! That is, for 10 seconds before feeling wobbly and getting tunnel vision. The nurses grabbed me moments before I blacked out and I got escorted to my bed. The next couple days are a blur. Pain, catheters, IV drips, no sleep, etc. Looking back, it doesn't even feel real. And I haven't even gotten to my legs. Imagine a bowling ball strapped to the side of your leg...psychologically it was very difficult to accept my new reality--just a day before, I was in tip top shape and now just using the bathroom was a herculean task. Thank god for my caretaker...he didn't speak any English but without him, I have no idea how I would have survived.

My pain/mobility slowly improved throughout the next 7 days after which I was discharged. The ride back was fine...I was given a final dose of painkillers and the driver helped me lie down for the entire ride.

After 3 days, I started PT and lengthening. And every week it feels like there is some new pain/ache. My flexibility is great; I was able to the splits before surgery and I regained my mobility after just a couple PT sessions. However, bone pain, quad muscle pain, heel pain (from the added weight of the fixators), and overall discomfort range anywhere from 2/10 to 7/10 (especially at night). Even on days where there is no pain, the discomfort that exists 24/7 is enough to make me wanna gouge my eyes out and strangle myself. At night, the pain (from whatever source) becomes unbearable to the point where I have to take the strongest opioid painkiller I got. I thought being flexible was enough to avoid the majority of the lengthening pain. While that may be true, everyone's body reacts differently to the lengthening process and there is no way of knowing just how much pain you'll be in and from what source. All I can say is for me, holy s*** I would never go through this process again even if I got paid.

All the stories about lon femur are true. Even after reading about it, I still thought it was not going to be as bad as what they say. And even now, I don't know if my present self could go back and fully convince pre lon me of the eventual pain/mental torture involved. And maybe that's for the better because I wouldn't have gone through with this if I did truly know lol. The marketing also adds to this because you get conditioned to think only about the good outcomes.

AFA has been excellent throughout this whole process. The PT sessions are amazing, they are responsive to all my concerns, and they have all the logistics figured out. The doctor is very calm and professional. And from what I can tell, they are ethical when it comes to lengthening rates/max lengths allowed. I haven't had any complications so far and I think most of that comes down to the professionalism from the team.

If you guys want to save money/don't have the finances to do anything other than lon, I would strongly encourage you to do some soul searching and think if this is truly the best thing to do. I can't say whether precise is that much more better but from what I can tell from the other patients, there is a noticeable difference in the amount of pain reported. I truly do get it if lon is all you can afford/for some reason that is the only option you have and you still want to move forward. I hate the way I look in the mirror and it got to a point where height was the only thing consuming my brain 24/7 and this procedure was the last resort. I can understand others that feel the same way (or even stronger) and would not judge them for moving forward w lon despite these warnings. But...yeah think about all these things BEFORE it's too late and ur laying down in bed feeling like you just got ra*** by a gorilla with a month still left to go.

One good thing that's come out of this is my height neurosis is completely cured. I don't give a flying rip what I look like in the mirror anymore lol. All I care about is getting these fixators off my body asap. But...I know that my future self will regret it if I stop too soon so I'm trying to push as much as a I can. My original goal was 8 cm. Now...hmm. I feel like 6 is my max. Maybe I'll stop between 5-6.

Some tips if you do proceed:
Bring some no water body wash. You won't be able to shower and these kinds of products have been a lifesaver for cleaning my private parts/other areas of the body.
Bring a friend/family member.
Being active is important. BUT being too active is also a problem. I pulled a muscle while working out and gawwwwwwdam the pain was bad. Even if you don't pull a muscle, if you are too active, your glutes will haunt you at night. Find a balance.

I'll give updates if there is anything meaningful to report on. If you have questions, I'll try to get to them.

[choin]

What was the length of your femur and tibia before surgery?

And I hope you achieve your goals.

[tinyknight]

thanks mate. femur was 44cm and tibia was 35cm.

[Johnjohn2024]

Hello Tinyknight. I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing your experience so far. I have been hearing many doctors saying over and over again that for femur, it's best to do precise method instead of LON method. I thought you can achieve more length using LON method on femur? If you can do the splits, that tells me you are quite flexible. Is it true the more flexible you are, the more you can lengthen?  I am planning to do LON method on Tibia. What is your thoughts on LON method on tibia? I hope your lengthen goes well and you achieve your desired length.

[Precise2.2]

Try to push through it, you went through all that pain to stop early. Time will go by quick. Easier said than done but at least get to 5cm.

[tinyknight]

Hey johnjohn, I'll preface my answers by noting that although I feel quite strongly about them (a result of a lot of research and consultations with doctors), I am still not a medical professional and these are just my opinions.

When it comes to more length, the most reputable doctors in the world all have an upper limit of 8cm regardless of the method. And even then, 8cm is not some magic boundary where everyone is forced to stop even if they could have gone further. Rather. it's regarded as an absolute maximum that many people will not be able to reach. I know some doctors allow LON patients to reach 10cm. I don't think this has anything to do with LON being more robust in anyway. It's just that the precise machine is programmed to stop at 8.

Yes, flexibility matters. The more flexible you are, the more likely your muscles/tendons/nerves will be able to adapt to the lengthening. But I'm not sure this is as strong of a correlation as people think. Although being super flexible helps, at a certain point, the stretching of the muscles goes beyond any amount of flexibility that could have been acquired pre-lengthening and there will be stiffness and pain. Plus, regardless of flexibility, there can be a lot of pain involved that can also limit how much you can go.

Tibia is interesting. It seems to be the more technically difficult surgery to pull off with more potential complications due less blood flow and the stiffness of the achilles heel. But, since there is less muscle in the area, there also seems to be less pain for many people. All the top doctors still use external fixators on tibias (but not on femurs) so I think it's a more valid procedure as long as it's not a monorail fixator. Definitely doable.

[tinyknight]

yeah appreciate it. Will def push for 6 still but I think I'll be happy if I fall somewhere between 5 and 6. We'll see.

[Johnjohn2024]

Thank you for the response Tinyknight. Lot of the things you've said made sense to me. Yes, I'll be on the Ilizarov frame for the tibias with the LON method, so it's won't be a monorail. I'm not 100% sure how much I should lengthen my tibias though. I'm thinking 5 to 7 cm. After I am fully healed from that surgery, I plan on doing precise 2.2 for my femurs. I will aim for 5 to 7 cm also on my femurs. Looking forward to reading your continued lengthening journey.

[JustineCollins]

I believe you should do femurs first to lengthen properly and femurs gives less pain and better healing. tibias is complex thus have many things to go wrong for someone new

[Johnjohn2024]

I get what you're saying. Precise Femur surgery for more length and less complications. But it doesn't matter which order you do first as long as you go to an experienced, knowledgeable doctor to perform your surgery. In east Asia, tibia LON surgery is more commonly performed than precise femur surgery. One of the primary reason is the cost. Not everyone can afford 60K to 100K precise surgery. It doesn't matter whether I'm new or not. I've made up my mind on doing tibia surgery first. My money, my time, my energy, and my body to do as I see fit. Just as you do whatever that fits with your life.

[tinyknight]

feeling a bit better about everything...rigorous PT coupled with cutting out biking really helped calm down the muscles. The pain still spikes at night but not mentally in a dark place anymore. After talking to other patients, I'm realizing this cycle is common regardless of method or stage of lengthening. Gonna have a couple days where the pain is especially bad, the mental state/depression suffers, then the situation improves and ur back on track with your goal. Then u run into another pain obstacle and the cycle starts over.

This really is a long, sluggish marathon. I've been lengthening for a month now with one more month to go and it already feels like ive been here for half a year or something. Good news is I guess there's rapid improvement after the fixator removal surgery. Talking to some people who just had them removed and they say pain/sleep/quality of life is night and day. Really puts some light at the end of the tunnel.

One thing that helps a little is establishing a routine. I wake up at 6 (not on purpose; my body is awake by then), do my first lengthening, slowly make my way to the bathroom and wash myself/clean up (not with a shower of course). Then I eat breakfast. I always make sure I have leftover rice the night before so that I can quickly heat something up. Since cooking saps up a lot of energy, I've been relying on a lot of canned tuna/salmon/other types of fish/beans/protein powder for protein. After eating, I start stretching in my room. I think having a bit of food helps with the stretching. Then I go to my PT session which lasts two hours. Afterwards, it's 12pm and I have my second lengthening. After another meal, I lay down and start reading some stupid mystery novel (helps to read something not serious but a page turner). I set an alarm for every 3 hours for light stretching. At 6 I'll lengthen for a third time and eat dinner. I usually call a family member or friend afterwards and slowly wind down using a tens unit and a muscle relaxer pill. I also use the long bath towels as blankets because the regular blanket feels too heavy. I'll try to start sleeping but every night, I wake up every hour or so. Just gotta try to stay loose, take painkillers, and survive till 6.

Another tip: not a bad idea to grab a tens unit. It's not going to help with severe pain but for little day to day aches, can help with some temporary pain relief. It doesn't last long but every small win helps immensely in the long run.