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[KrP1]

Have you got Knee pain ?

[Time4LL]

Here is a small update. I finally got wifi in my apartment.

After tonight I will have turned 1 cm. I don't feel any taller yet haha so hopefully that comes later.

I am not going to lie this whole process is really hard. There are times when I wonder why I did this to myself but I am still glad I did it. Right now I am not around people where my height bothers me so it is easy to forget about it. Than I think about the United States and how miserable I was with my height and it gives me strength. There is no way I was ever going to be happy with my height so this was my option.

The only pain I feel is the stretching from turning. I have been turning 1.5 mm per day for the last three days because I am consolidating too quickly. Whenever I turn my left leg I always hear a pop and like the bone is breaking off. I have heard this probably six times so I am kind of concerned but I think if I keep turning 1.5 mm per day I will be okay. Turning that much has made me really sore before that I was doing really good. I hope to get down to .75-1 mm a day in a bout a week so my soft tissues can keep up. My goal is definitely 6-7 cm max no more.

I don't have knee pain at all yet. But I don't bend my knees as far as I normally would. What is the knee pain supposed to feel like with LON and when do most people get it? I am sure I will have it as the odds are not very good to not have it.

Overall I have been very fortunate and I really cannot complain.

[KrP1]

Wow 1.5mm per day. Thats a lot . But if you are consolidating so fast it will be ok. Have you told dr. Inan about that?. How is your walk now? Do you walk always with a walker or crutches or could you walk unaided some meters?

[Time4LL]

Dr. Inan told me to lengthen that much for just a week until I see him next. I just got done lengthening and no popping noise out of my left leg and my right leg was almost too easy so I hope I didn't go too fast on that one.

My walking is okay. My legs are so tight it takes me a little while to get going. I walked from my apartment to the ATM close by which took about 45 minutes and it was probably a half a mile away. I don't walk unaided yet. I think I could once I get warmed up but it kind of scares me I guess. I tried walking like two steps once but I didn't feel comfortable, I don't have the power I once had or something. I might try again soon.

[Time4LL]

Just thought I would give a small update today. Things have been going really good so far with everything. I have now turned 1.45 cm which is pretty good and my legs feel a little tight but not too bad. I am able to go back down to 1 mm per day because the risk of preconsolodation is gone which is good as 1.5 mm was way too much for me. Today I walked to the supermarket and back with my walker which took me about an hour. I was exhausted, it was a strange feeling as I used to be able to run 10 miles and now I get exhausted walking a half a mile but I have faith it will come back. I think it is so important to walk as much as you can during the process.

Living by myself has gone great so far, I FaceTime friends and family which helps pass the day and I watch movies and I have a walking and stretching routine. I stretch 30 minutes before each lengthening which is every 6 hours. So I stretch 2 hours a day. I also try to walk an hour a day along with the walking I do to go to the bathroom, make food for myself, clean, etc. I think having an apartment to manage is kind of good because it seems there is always something that can be done in the apartment and the days fly by. I think it also forces one to get up and move around as opposed to just lying in bed. Sleeping has been a challenge but I usually have been getting 6-8 hours a night. The thing that sucks is I lengthen at 12 am and 6 am which kind of gets in the way of sleeping. I think I will figure out a better routine for that so I don't get up twice.

The doctor's assistant said that I need to improve my achilles tendon flexibility so I have been working on that. I am worried about how I will be able to take care of myself as I lengthen more so I hope that goes well. I am never sure how my muscles will adapt with the length.

I have had a great experience so far and I hope it continues.

[Time4LL]

Hopefully this image uploaded as it is my first time trying to do so. This is kind of a poor picture but it was taken today 17 days after surgery. It is kind of at a weird angle.

[Arche]

Great image, thanks for that! It seems as though the scars from where Dr. Inan severed your tibia and fibula are relatively small. Would you ever get monorails on your femurs?

[Time4LL]

I was very impressed with the incisions I thought he did a good job with that. I do not think I would do monorail on my femur for a two reasons:

1. There is so much flesh that the pins would be cutting through. Right now the pins are hardly noticeable for me as they are not cutting through much flesh.

2. I can get pretty comfortable and sleep on my sides with the monorail on the tibia. There is no way you could do that on the femur, I think it would drive me crazy.

I personally would not do it on my femur but if you want to go for it. For me as long as I get 6-7 cm though I will never do leg lengthening again. If for some reason I did want to do it again I would get internal femurs.

[Disobedient]

Hopefully this image uploaded as it is my first time trying to do so. This is kind of a poor picture but it was taken today 17 days after surgery. It is kind of at a weird angle.

monorail is just fine for tibia, just don't forget to clean the pin site daily,
usually during distraction, also during standing or moving there  could be some discharge come from pin site, so change the bandage immediately after that, IMMEDIATELY ..

Good luck in your journey

[Polycrates.]

What's your doctor's view on fibular fixation? Are you worried about fibular migration at the ankle joint? This is the primary reason I think Ilizarov is superior to monorails, because it stabilizes the ankle joint if the doctor fixates the fibula with a pin distally.

[Time4LL]

Disobedient,
Thanks for the advice. Yeah my doctors have been monitoring that really well and soon I will be cleaning the pin sites I believe. They said this was very important.

Polycrates,
The doctor did not fixate the fibula, I really did not ask too much about that. I think one could have the fibula fixated with screws even with the monorail so the illizarov isn't advantageous over the monorail in that regard. Do all doctors fix the fibula with the illizarov method? I was under the impression they did not. I think the way the illizarov method is better is the ability to make corrections to malalignment. I don't see how the monorail could accomplish that. But maybe I am wrong on my assessment of both.

I am a little concerned about the fibula not being fixated and will keep people updated as to if it bothers me or becomes a problem. Hopefully it does not for me.

[Time4LL]

Disobedient,
Also what did you clean the pin sites with. Dr. Inan said he would give me something but I was just curious what you found worked best?

[KrP1]

Do you have x-rays of your legs post surgery?

[Time4LL]

Yeah I will post them sometime when I get around to it. I have like 4 sets of X-rays.

[ShortyMcShort]

Do you have any knee pain atm? Or anywhere within its vicinity?

[Time4LL]

I luckily have had no knee pain yet. They get stiff if they are in one position for awhile but they easily loosen up. I have never felt pain in my knees. This may come later I don't know. I can bend my almost like i used to now. Maybe they would hurt if I was in a squatted position and lifted my body up but i won't be trying that for a long time. We will see though my knees so far have been the least of my concern which makes me really happy. I can barely even see the incision on my left knee now. 

My biggest problem now is achilles tendon tightness. It is already bad at 1.6 mm. I walked to the supermarket again today which seems to do wonders for my legs. Without walking I don't know what I would do. Though I do worry about bending the fixator even though it feels very sturdy the monorail has gotten a bad reputation on these forums.
i

[Disobedient]

Disobedient,
Also what did you clean the pin sites with. Dr. Inan said he would give me something but I was just curious what you found worked best?

I used to clean it with liquid betadine  and then put some betadine ointment, and here is the odd thing that I noticed, putting bandage do harm more than good, cuz when there will some discharge from the pin sites it will stuck with bandage, so when every time  you will try to change the bandage you'll cut some skin..
so I would not bother do dressing unless if I'll go outside, but keep the pin sites always clean

[Time4LL]

I hit 2 cm in the amount I have turned today. I am pretty happy with everything so far as my muscles feel good but I really need to keep up with my physiotherapy and keep them strong and flexible. My achilles is already very tight so I have been working night and day trying to keep it loose but it proves to be a difficult task. Every other muscles seems to loosen up after a little while but the achilles does not. I try to sleep with boots on and my legs straight and it helps but is uncomfortable. I can definitely see why people say after 5 cm it would be very hard. Dr. Inan said I can go to 5 cm but than we will have a discussion on if he will let me go farther. I talked to the physiotherapist and he said my ROM was good so I am happy to hear that.

I have been kind of realizing that I may actually get my goal now which is really rewarding. I have been thinking a lot about being done with the process even though I have barely started. I keep dreaming of what life will be like back home with my new height. I can't help but wonder if it will really matter. Like most of us there is a  girl I really care about back home but I was always in the dreaded "friend zone." I think you can get out of the friend zone easily but I wonder if she will notice the height or will look at me any differently. She always made comments like "I think we are the same height" even though she is a couple inches shorter than me. That always really annoyed me because she was definitely not very tall for a girl. If it did work out with her and I thought that it was because of my height I wouldn't blame her. Honestly, if she was 4'11" I wouldn't really want to date her either. That is the reality of life and we have to get used to that. We kind of left on bad terms so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Whether it works out with her or not is no big deal either way. I just hope to get the process done safely and go back home and focus on other things. It is really an exciting time for me and I can honestly say I would have never had this chance without this forum. Hopefully it all turns out well and keeps going well.

Disobedient,
Thanks for the advice that makes sense and I will make sure to do that.

[Arche]

Hey TrailBlazer, I wholeheartedly agree with you in regards to everyone on this forum having that "girl back home" haha It's funny, I haven't gotten this surgery yet, but there are already a few girls in my life who fit the description of the one you gave!

Anyways, what vitamins or protein shakes are you taking, if any?

[Time4LL]

I take a protein shake. I get 48 grams of protein a day from this. The following is a link to it:

http://www.amazon.com/Optimum-Nutrition-Standard-Chocolate-Packaging/dp/B000GIQT2O/ref=sr_1_12?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1413962070&sr=1-12&keywords=protein


For vitamins I take B12, Iron, A men's multivitamin, Calcium, and Fishoil.

I also take Melatonin to help with sleep.

I think taking some of this stuff helps, especially the protein. You really need to take in a lot of protein.

[Time4LL]

It has been awhile since I last updated my diary.

I am at 3.6 cm according to my turning journal which means I am halfway done. It has been relatively easy so far but I can tell that this next half is going to get much harder. I hope to be able to go up to 7cm but Dr. Inan said we would have to talk about if he will let me pass 5 cm. It is crazy for me to think that 5 cm is only about 2 weeks away now.

 Like most tibia patients said, Ballerina foot is really tough to prevent. My left foot is okay but my right foot is horrible. Dr. Inan said that I must gain more flexibility in my achilles or else I may have to get a release on my tendon. I hate the thought of another surgery so I have been trying really hard to work on my flexibility. 

Days go by really fast here and like most people have said you really don't get anything productive done. I always thought that I would read and learn things but I basically just watch movies and listen to music. I have been treated very good by Dr. Inan and his staff and everything they have said has worked out so far.

I think the thing that i am surprised about the most so far with the monorail is that I don't even feel the pins. They haven't hurt me at all so far. The pain from this procedure up to this point has been almost nonexistent. Honestly there isn't much else to say days just go by and I am looking forward to being taller. My next post I will post a picture of my next X-ray to see what people think and maybe a short video or something.

[KrP1]

hey Trail, nice to get your diary updated. try to strech the achiles tendom and stand up a lot. keep us updated to what dr.Inan tolds you. have you done any pictures with trousers? how does your scars look?

[Time4LL]

I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them of my scars and ill take one in trousers. The scars in my opinion are not that bad, hopefully they fade.

I think i might try to walk about 2 hours a day now. And maybe just do some standing. Thanks for the advice!

[GeTs]

Some full body shots would be nice if u can

[ShortyMcShort]

Any knee pains/discomforts in or around that area?

Do you have an estimate of how much money you've spent thus far or is it too soon to figure out?

[Leo]

I think LON at Dr. Inan cost about 44,000 Turkish Lira.

[Time4LL]

I have no knee pain at this point. My knees are however getting slightly harder to straighten out.

I spent $20,000 for the surgery.
$200 for the initial consultation.
About $70 for each Xray that you take which is every one or two weeks.

I have probably spent about $32,000 at this point with my accommodation food, and transportation costs.

You could probably find cheaper accommodation though and maybe a place closer to the hospital.
I might be forgetting something but that is roughly how much I have spent.

I, so far, am happy with my decision because I did not want to go to an undeveloped country and have surgery. Here there is a nice hospital and I personally really felt comfortable with Dr. Inan. It is more expensive than some places but for me it was the best decision.

[Leo]

70$ for each x-ray sounds ridiculous imo.

[Time4LL]

Yeah it dose kind of suck. I think that is the price. I haven't paid that yet so I will ask about that and make sure that is the right price.

[ChrisIsaak]

70$ for each x-ray sounds ridiculous imo.

It's way less than what you'd pay for an X-ray in the United States. (Isn't it? Correct me if wrong.) I paid around $900 for the EOS scan during my initial consultation with Dr.Paley (which is a lot more costly than a regular x-ray, I admit, but I thought THAT price was ridiculous).

[GeTs]

It's way less than what you'd pay for an X-ray in the United States. (Isn't it? Correct me if wrong.) I paid around $900 for the EOS scan during my initial consultation with Dr.Paley (which is a lot more costly than a regular x-ray, I admit, but I thought THAT price was ridiculous).

that price is ridiculous indeed