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[MaheshDalle]

I have undergone tibial LON on 21st June under the HII team. Will be sharing my diary here.

[MaheshDalle]

Pre-surgery details:
My initial height was 165-166 cm and I am aiming for 6-6.5 cm gain.

I am a long-time lurker on this forum. Did plenty of research on this forum as well as other resources on the internet. Read a bunch of diaries and finally contacted the HII team.
Naturally, I had my concerns, most of all the infection risk.
I visited the place for physical consultation twice and met 10+ patients, validated the facilities and authenticity of the company, and finally after enough contemplation, decided to undergo surgery with them.

[Beforeandafter]

Best of luck for your journey. we would like to see something convincing like picture or video.

[MaheshDalle]

Since, I am working full time remotely, will try to update whenever I get time. I have had 2 xrays so far, will share those soon.

[MaheshDalle]

Day -1(one day before surgery): I was admitted to the hospital and had blood, urine, ecg, scanogram.


Day 0(Surgery day):
I was given spinal epidural pre surgery which completely made my lower body numb.
The experience was surreal since I had no hospitalization experience before. I thought I would be super nervous and shaky during the surgery but I was looking at the heart rate during the surgery to pass time. To my surprise, it constant hovered around 70-80.
Also, I was awake the whole time and could hear drilling and hammering sounds and felt something happening to my legs but didn’t feel any pain. They told me to ask for a shot if I wanted to sleep but I didn’t and was awake for about 4 hours.
Was transferred to ICU for monitoring. Doctor came to check if I had basic toe mobility. I had in  left but right was still not moving. Was a bit scared but 2-3 hours later when the epidural wore off a bit, the mobility returned. Finally, about 10 hours later, was shifted to my room. I had sandwiches in the breakfast and slept afterwards.

Day(1-2): Epidural + a few other IVs continued, there was absolutely no pain but felt my legs extremely heavy. This was a bit shocking and even moving the legs slightly took immense effort. Another major discomfort was passing the bowel. I was uncomfortable using a bedpan, and didn’t have a dump for 2 days post surgery which in hindsight was a bad decision.
I slept, ate and netflixed the entire time.
2nd day at night, I got about 100.5 F fever, I didn’t notice it, but nurse during IV replacement noticed it and notified the doctor. The routine PCM cleared out the fever and I slept through the night.




Day 3: Epidural and urinal catheter was removed. I had 2 people carry me to the bathroom on wheel chair and I passed stool. Felt relieved, also I didn’t face any constipation problem like many patients do.
The same routine continued, ate, slept and streamed movies.


Day 4: Dr. Hirdesh(owner of HII) came and removed the bandages and did fresh dressing. Leg mobility also got better so legs started feeling lighter and I felt better. All this time I had no to very low pain(1-2/10) due to the IVs. Also had my post surgery xrays done, will share those soon.


Day 5: Got shifted to the guest house. Felt good to finally go out of a closed room.

[Grateful]

All the best, following your diary closely.

[MaheshDalle]

Thanks!

Here's the xrays from day 4: https://imgur.com/EEmvzVB
The bone cut was oblique with some pieces instead of a straight single cut. I asked the doctor about it, he mentioned it is normal and it may lead to better callous due to more surface area in contact.
I read this on a few other diaries in this forum as well.

[Torbjorn]

Why did you choose Ilizarov? What is the price for the surgery and rehab there?

[MaheshDalle]

This center had more illizarov patients for tibia, there are a few with monorail as well though.
Regarding cost, it’d be better to contact the team: +91-9971119604
They are pretty responsive.

Here’s a small video they shot while I was in the hospital-day 2 or day 3.

[abc_]

niceee, also i have to ask this, do they reduce your fee if u make a diary for them, you know seems like a potential conflict of interest so just wanted to confirm, pls excuse me if this was a stupid/offensive question

[MaheshDalle]

Nope, nothing like that for me. I told them I will be writing a diary much later after the surgery anyway.
Also, just to be clear I am not here to promote them. I have discussed this with Dr. Hirdesh(Harry). I will share my journey as I experience it and he asked me to do the same.
So far I have had a really positive experience with the team but I will be candid with my experience as it progresses.

[MaheshDalle]

After day 6:

The pain was minor and I was constantly sleeping 6-8 hours each night due to a bunch of continued meds. I thought this is a breeze but it didn't last long. The most discomforting thing was not being able to go to the washroom and requiring 2 people to carry me using the wheelchair till I learned to manage it myself.

Started lengthening on day 7 - Doing 1 mm/day.
Also, sitting for long hours due to work caused discomfort on the tailbone due to constant pressure so I got a cushion for support. It has relieved the problem a bit but still sitting long hours was a trouble.

Other than that, I had a normal schedule - sleep, work, eat, physio 2 times.

The routine medicines got over on day13~14 and I shifted to painkillers only for SOS, the real discomfort started kicking in and I experienced those sleepless nights. I was going to sleep at around 11 PM each day, would wake up at 1-2 AM due to pains in my shin and osteotomy sites. Would try to alter positions, massage my feet, nothing really helped. Each night I was getting a sleep of only 3-4 hours while I was on bed for 7-8 hours. This was really tiring and troublesome since I couldn't sleep during the day because of my work. This continued for a week.

Went for xrays when I hit 1 cm turning(day 16) -
https://imgur.com/a/0boiOW4

[abc_]

After day 6:

The pain was minor and I was constantly sleeping 6-8 hours each night due to a bunch of continued meds. I thought this is a breeze but it didn't last long. The most discomforting thing was not being able to go to the washroom and requiring 2 people to carry me using the wheelchair till I learned to manage it myself.

Started lengthening on day 7 - Doing 1 mm/day.
Also, sitting for long hours due to work caused discomfort on the tailbone due to constant pressure so I got a cushion for support. It has relieved the problem a bit but still sitting long hours was a trouble.

Other than that, I had a normal schedule - sleep, work, eat, physio 2 times.

The routine medicines got over on day13~14 and I shifted to painkillers only for SOS, the real discomfort started kicking in and I experienced those sleepless nights. I was going to sleep at around 11 PM each day, would wake up at 1-2 AM due to pains in my shin and osteotomy sites. Would try to alter positions, massage my feet, nothing really helped. Each night I was getting a sleep of only 3-4 hours while I was on bed for 7-8 hours. This was really tiring and troublesome since I couldn't sleep during the day because of my work. This continued for a week.

Went for xrays when I hit 1 cm turning(day 16) -
https://imgur.com/a/0boiOW4

I see. Hope it goes well for you bro.

[abc_]

also did they put you on antibiotics yet?

[MaheshDalle]

Day 16 - Day21

During the day, the pain was low and manageable and apart from just taking longer time to do the chores, everything including my work was manageable. Also, had been working 7-8 hours. It had its pros and cons, kept me distracted from the discomfort but everything was many folds harder. Constant days of low sleep also wore me off. I’d say I was like 50% me during the work.
Started going to the in house gym at the centre to train upper body. Have been doing ~30-40 mins 4 days a week.

The nights were the worst. Not being a flat sleeper, I experimented with different sleep positions. Nothing was really comfortable but I was able to sleep on the side using two pillows to support the upper rings of the fixator.
Also, was trying to taper down the painkillers. Had been taking one a day for 3-4 days. After that, started taking just half each night. They helped but still not a lot. Would wake up each day at ~ 1-2 am, and sit for like 2-3 hours. This was really tough and it mentally wears you down. You just want to sleep, but the constant discomfort keeps you awake.

Anyway, this continued for a week till I figured out the sleeping positions, and avoided sleeping during the day to get tired and sleep at night.
Overall, the max pain I faced so far is 5-6/10 but the constant discomfort is still really bad.
Distraction is continued 1mm/day.

Thanks @abc_! I will answer your question in the next update, don’t wanna spoil the chronology.

[abc_]

i see no problem, how are u keeping up?

[MaheshDalle]

I am doing fine, thanks! Just got a bit of muscle pain near left shins. It is day 37 post op. Will update the details for the previous days soon.

[MaheshDalle]

Day 22 - Day 32

This week was a bit more comfortable as I figured out the sleeping positions. Was able to sleep 5-6 hours. Also, I took only about 2-2.5 pain killers the entire week.

On day 27, developed some minor inflammations + pin tearing on the upper right pin. This was really painful the day it started, knee bending was restricted due to the pain.
Had to take a single physio session rest. There was very minor discharge, was prescribed antibiotics for 5 days. Also, pin cleaning increased during this period. Every alternate day, was getting the dressings changed. Pain reduced in a couple of days but inflammation took about 8-9 days to go away completely.

Other than that, activities continued normally - Work, Gym(4 days a week), 2 times physio + 1mm turning per day.

On day 32, after 25.5mm turning, went for xrays - https://imgur.com/a/GWZ43l0

They prescribed some general supplements after 1st xray on day 17 - Ashwagandha, Revital(Multivitamin), Evion(Vitamin E), Suprical(Vitamin D3), Limcee(Vitamin C).
Also, apart from this was taking 1 scoop whey, collagen(5-6gm) per day.

After the 2nd xray, also started BoostBone DS tablets(twice per day), D3 shots(60000IU-twice per week).

So far, the experience with the team has been really good. They are open to feedbacks and any concern gets addressed soon enough.

[abc_]

i hope your infection recovers quickly...is this common in the clinic that patients develop pinsite infections?

[MaheshDalle]

Not many cases here. The inspection/cleaning protocol is good here.
I am not certain if this was pinsite infection. The pain was mostly due to skin tear and the discharge was mostly blood with a bit of plasma. Nothing looked like pus.
I developed this overnight and immediately informed them in the morning and a prompt action was taken.

[otaviognu]

how often they changed the bandages?

[otaviognu]

how often they changed the bandages?

?

[MaheshDalle]

They come and inspect the pin sites everyday. Cleaning and changing happens every 3-4 days for tibias. Alternate days for femurs due to thicker pins.

[MaheshDalle]

Day 32-40

Usual routine continued, lengthening 1 mm per day. Got used to the sleeping pattern now. Could sleep 4-5 hours consistently and felt myself in better state during the day.
Surgical pain completely gone, I experience some muscle pains near both the shins due to constant calf, tendon stretches. Also, had pin tearing pains around a few pin sites but these were much more bearable compared to the previous tearing I experienced which had some inflammation as well.

Started standing after 30mm distraction(day 36) using a walker.
First day was hella struggle, took a whole minute to stand. Felt tired after standing for 2 mins.
The blood rush after standing was so much, calves got pumped and very tight.
This improved rapidly, by 4th day, was easily able to stand for 10 mins. Felt great to be able to do so after a month of bedrest. And could experience the height gain, the eye level and the floor seemed to be far from the memory.
By day 40, reached 34mm in both the legs.

I am at day 49 post op, will update these days in the next update.

[abc_]

good to know that you're able to stand albeit for less time. Wishing you the best possible recovery.

[abc_]

u good mate? been some time since the last update, praying for ur recovery

[MaheshDalle]

Hey man, yes i am fine, thank you!
There are some pains(manageable by painkillers) which are expected as I am close to 5.5 cm. Will have my next xrays this week. Will update the rest of the days then.

[MaheshDalle]

Update:
I had my frame removal yesterday, after reaching the target of ~6.5cm.
Since the last update, I had a few hiccups in the journey due to muscle pains and pin tears(after 4.5-5cm) so wasn’t in a great mood.
Anyway, I continued lengthening at 1mm daily till about 4-4.5cm, started to develop a lot of stiffness, muscle pain and pin tears in the right leg while the left was relatively better.
So, reduced the lengthening rate to 0.75 mm in right, some days when I felt extra tight, did 0.5mm. Also, here and there gave a break to lengthening. This really helped with pin tears and muscle stiffness.
Also, muscle pain really interfered with my stretching, even slight dorsiflexion was causing a shock-like sensation in the leg.
Started standing 2-3 times daily for 10-15 mins with the help of a walker, that was relatively lesser pain as I could control the weight and force on the leg while going down.
Also, reduced the lengthening rate to 0.75mm after reaching 5cm in the left leg.
Status before frame removal: I was able to touch my feet down after standing for 4-5min and applying weight. Left leg was relatively easier.

Overall my journey was smooth till 4cm but then it felt really hard to keep pushing due to early muscle stiffness and a lot of pin tearing. One small advice would be to regularly trim/shave the hair during the lengthening phase. I had a lot of hair on the legs despite the clean shave at the time of the first surgery. The hair would stick with the gauze pieces and cause extra pain during leg movements.

The experience with the height increase info team has been great. They went the extra mile to help me with physio thrice instead of the usual two times when I started developing tightness. Pin cleaning is regular which was my major concern when starting the journey. The food is good with good enough variety, caretaker staff, physiotherapist team have all been really helpful throughout the journey.

Attaching pictures of last 2 xrays. I had some differences between right/left leg due to different amount of compressions which I adjusted later.
https://imgur.com/a/mDA299n

[MaheshDalle]

Xray 9 days post removal: https://imgur.com/a/2i6psfB