Limb Lengthening Forum
Limb Lengthening Surgery => Limb Lengthening Patients Experiences => Topic started by: Antonio on August 05, 2016, 10:45:49 AM
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Hi everyone,
I thought I'd document my story for posterity as this forum gave me the confidence to finally do it. A big thanks to all the Dr. Monegal patients I've met.
My stats:
Age: Early 40s
Residence: Barcelona, Spain
Pre-LL height: (a.m./p.m./before bed) 167/166/165,5 cm
Post-LL height: (ditto) 174,5/173,5/173 cm
Weight (Sept 2015, 15-20% bodyfat): 70 kg
Weight (Aug 2016, 15-20% bodyfat): 70 kg
Pre-LL athleticism: Squat (legs parallel to ground) 66 kg 3x6 reps, jog 5k 30 mins, swim 2k 25 mins
Lengthening: 7,5 cm in femurs in two stages (first op Right Sept 2015, second op Left Feb 2016)
Summary of process:
July 2015 - Consultation with Dr. Monegal in Clinica Diagonal, set date of 1st surgery.
Sept 2015 - 1st op on Right femur, 6 days stay in Clinica Diagonal. Moving around with crutches. Can shower by myself. Back to work and driving 10 days after op. R knee flexion 110 deg. Fitbone lengthening at aprox 1mm/day. Walking with crutches about half hour a day and up and down 2 flights of stairs every day.
Nov 2015 - Xrays show 33mm lengthened. Screw loose, Dr. Monegal schedules op in 3 days. R knee flexion 90 deg. Pain level 6/10 at night, Dr. Monegal prescribes Tramadol for pain, Orfidal to sleep at night.
Nov 2015 - Operation to push screw back into place in Clinica Diagonal. Local anaesthetic, very uncomfortable as Dr. Monegal literally hammered the screw back into place.
Dec 2015 - Xrays show 78mm lengthened. Decided to stop lengthening as beginning to get nerve pain in R foot and front of shin. R knee flexion 135 deg.
Feb 2016 - 2nd op on L femur, 6 days stay in Clinica Diagonal. Back to work and driving 14 days after op. L knee flexion 70 deg. R knee flexion 150 deg.
Mar 2016 - R occasional nerve pain in foot and shin level 2/10. R knee flexion 180 deg but only after hot bath. L knee flexion 80 deg.
April 2016 - Xrays show good bone cloud on R and L (helped by bone spur). R knee flexion 180 deg, no more nerve pain, slight pain when going upstairs. L pain 4/10 at night, knee flexion 90 deg. Using only one crutch since mid April.
May 2016 - Stopped lengthening at aprox 78mm (confirmed by Xrays). Telemetry confirms no disparity between R and L. Went first time to work without crutches on 10th May. Walking akwardly but without crutches
June 2016 - R pain only when going upstairs, knee flexion 180 deg, muscle mass coming back. L no pain, but knee flexion at only 90 deg. Increase stretching in heated pool.
July 2016 - L knee flexion 100 deg. Went to gym to do squats, could only do 26kg and still not reaching parallel to ground.
Aug 2016 - R almost no pain except after sitting in same position for a long time. L knee flexion 135 deg. Swim 2k 2x a week, walk half hour every day. Squats 40 kg 3x6 reps.
Will update with progress.
Feel free to ask me anything.
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Hi, congratulations on your new height ;)
Are you happy with the end result? Was it what you expected?
How are the scars? What about your proportions, are the femurs too long now?
Thank you for sharing your experience!
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Hola Antonio,
Thanks for the info. Just a couple of questions:
- You said you lengthen at a rate of 1 mm/day. Did you find it painful or uncomfortable? (I'm asking this because most people do it at a rate of 0,8 mm/day)
- Which was the cause of the loose screw? Any accidental load or early weight-bearing?
Thanks!
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Hi NoRegrets,
Thank you. Yes I am very happy with the new height. Previously I was not depressed or moping about it, but it definitely held me back socially. Now women approach me at parties! And there have been some nice compliments :)
Was the process what I expected? Yes, more or less. And the end result has been quite positive I must say.
The scars have healed nicely except for the R leg where the doctor had to push the screw back into place.
Regarding proportions, I think they have improved as previously I think I had rather short and overly muscular femurs.
Over the next few days I will post photos so you can judge the proportions.
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Hola Ozymandias,
You're welcome.
Regarding the lengthening rate, it was an average over the 3 months or so per leg. I started at about 4x9 pulses a day on the Fitbone device at 0,27mm x 4 = 1,08 mm but at about 5 cm I slowed down to 3x9 or even 2x9 pulses depending on the pain/stiffness/work commitments. I let my body tell me whether I was going too fast or slow. After about a month or so after the ops, I only took painkillers at night to help me sleep. And during the day my pain levels were about 2 to 3/10 max, but only after lying or sitting in the same position after 2 hours or so.
Regarding the loose screw, it was due to me not using the heels at home. As my R leg grew longer I had to compensate with heels on my L, but I was lazy and just moved around on bare feet (even without crutches occasionally!). This weight at an angle on my R leg caused the rod to bend and the screw near my knee to become loose. The bending solved itself over time. With that knowledge, I was very careful about not putting weight at an angle on my L leg, and the screws still remain in place.
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Regarding proportions, I think they have improved as previously I think I had rather short and overly muscular femurs.
Over the next few days I will post photos so you can judge the proportions.
Awesome! If you could post your sitting height, knee height (while seated), etc, that would be great. I'm also considering lenghthening femur so I'm trying to gather information to make sure I know what I want :)
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My sitting height is 89 cm, and my knee height while seated is 49 cm.
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My sitting height is 89 cm, and my knee height while seated is 49 cm.
At 174cm it looks very good :D thanks!
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Hi,
A forum user has sent me an email. I wish to say that I do not wish to correspond by email, but only via the forum. However, as the user posts some interesting questions, I will answer them here. Sorry for the Spanish, for non-Spanish speakers.
Q1) Me ha sorprendido mucho que Monegal te dejase alargar tanto (7,5cms). Yo tuve la mala suerte de que cuando le vi se estropeo la máquina de rayos x, así que no me pudieron hacer la telemetría y no sé mis proporciones exactas fémur/tibia. Monegal me dijo que esto es clave para saber cuánto puedo alargar ya que para él lo fundamental es respetar las proporciones biomecánicas de la pierna. A ti te mencionó esto? 7,5cms sería la cantidad ideal que yo alargaría, aunque con 6,5 o 6 seguramente me conforme...
A1) Monegal no prohibe alargar la cantidad que quieras, siempre y cuando tu cuerpo la aguanta, sobre todo la flexibilidad y mobilidad. En mi caso, mis femurs aún después de 7,5 cm están en los limites estadisticos del ratio de femur:tibia. Para mi lo más importante era caminar e estirar cada día, para comprobar que mi cuerpo no "rechazaria" la pierna nueva.
Q2) A mi Monegal (repito, que no hemos podido ver mi telemetría, así que todo es "provisional") me recomendó operarme los dos segmentos (fémur y tibia). Podría hacer los 2 segmentos de una pierna a la vez, con lo que alargaría más rápido y además mantendría las proporciones intactas. El fallo es que las tibias me acojonan mucho. Muchísimo. Por lo visto dan muchos más problemas, son dos huesos (tibia y peroné, este último por lo visto consolida bastante mal) y el juego del tobillo es súper delicado. En fin un montón de problemas. Por suerte, el dinero (hacer los dos segmentos es más caro) no es un problema y haré lo que sea mejor, pero a pesar de ello las tibias me dan mucho miedo. A ti Monegal te comentó esta posibilidad? Tu qué opinas?
A2) Sí me comentó, pero estaba seguro de que solo quería operarme en un segmento. Para mi, esta operación tiene tantos variables y riesgos que no voy a jugarmela en tantos huesos. Al final, es cuestión de la altura y las proporciones en que te sientes comodo. La ventaja de hacerlo un segmento (y un hueso) a la vez es que tienes tiempo para ir comprobando la reacción de tu cuerpo, y puedes tomar las medidas correctivas si hagan falta.
Q3) Cuales crees que son las condiciones óptimas para llegar a la operación? Monegal no tiene unos requisitos. Por lo que hablé con el, la fuerza/musculatura no le preocupa para nada. Yo aquí no sé qué pensar. Hay gente que dice que cuanto menos músculos mejor (en parte por eso a las chicas les duele menos) y otros que dicen que la recuperación es mejor si estas más fuerte. Con la flexibilidad no hay dudas, cuanto más, mejor. Yo creo que no voy mal. Al estirar abductores, puedo llevar el pie al culo, de pie toco el suelo con las manos (apoyando las palmas, que lo mío me ha costado!) y tumbado puedo llevar mis piernas a más de 90º. Creo que puedo mejorar algo más hasta la operación pero comparado con otros pacientes creo que no voy muy mal. Tu como lo ves? Como afecta a esto (a la preparación) el hacerlo en 2 fases? Yagen me dijo que cuando se operó una pierna se centró en ella (lógicamente), dejando de estirar la otra. A ti te pasó lo mismo? hay que hacer el esfuerzo de seguir entrenando la pierna "buena" para prepararla para su operación?
A3) Para mi, la fuerza y la flexibilidad son ambas igual de importantes. Siempre pensaba que el fisico ideal para LL sería el de un gimnasta de nivel olímpico, que tiene la fuerza para saltar y la flexibilidad para doblar. Hay que mejorar en las dos, sin perjudicar ni el uno ni el otro. El músculo se compone de celdas que tienen la capacidad de agrandar y estirar, y durante el proceso, vas a perder fuerza y flexibilidad, asi que si puedes mantener o aumentar tu flexibildad mientras ganas músculo, para mí mejor.
Te veo bien, sobre todo en fuerza. Yo tenía un poco mejor de flexibilidad que tu antes de empezar, tumbado podia tocar mi pecho con la pierna (de consecuencia, no tenía nada de "duck-ass"). Hice los mismos estiramientos antes, durante y después de cada operación. Reconozco que era un poco fanatico, estiraba durante media hora cada 4 horas cada dia.
Q4) Tú te hiciste el famoso "IT band release" (operación del tendón tibial). La mayoría de foreros dice que si alargas más de cierta cantidad (creo que 6cms) los doctores suelen hacerlo. Guichet, en cambio no lo hace nunca. Tú te lo hiciste? Que efectos secundarios tiene (además de que estarás algo más cómodo y con menos tensión)?
A4) No lo hice y no pienso hacerlo. Cuanto menos se toca, mejor. De hecho, no tomaba ni tomo ningún suplemento dietético.
Q5) Tu también seguiste trabajando durante todo el proceso. Yo tengo un trabajo de oficina y croe que podría compatibilizarlo. Mi mayor miedo es lo cansado que pueda estar. yagen me dijo que lo que más le costaba a él era dormir por las noches, y al no descansar al día siguiente estaba hecho polvo. A ti te pasó lo mismo? Tienes algún truco/pastilla para conciliar el sueño? Otra duda al respecto es, tú te pediste la baja durante los primeros 15 días tras la operación? De ser así, que pusiste en el parte?
A5) A mi tambien me costó dormir, pero después de un mes encontré mi rutina para dormir bien. A las 23h, me bañé con agua caliente, después estirar, y enseguida tomé Tramadol y Orfidal. Con esto dormia 7 u 8 horas seguidas. Pero cada pierna es diferente. Con mi segunda pierna no tuve nada de problemas en conciliar el sueño.
No pedí la baja, pedí días de vacaciones. Y durante las vacaciones, tuve un accidente de moto ... Y la segunda vez, recaí por intentar hacer demasiado :)
Q6) Que terapia de recuperación has seguido tú? Lo hacías por tu cuenta o con Claudio? Yagen iba bastante a su rollo, bien aconsejado, pero sin ir al fisio ni hacer demasiados estiramientos, más allá de caminar (con muletas) y usar una máquina de CPM.
A6) Todo por mi cuenta, no gasté ni un duro con el fisio. Estirar, caminar cada dia, y ultimamente nadar y gimnasio.
Q7) Yo vivo en Madrid. No es lo ideal (mucho mejor en Barcelona como tu) pero creo que no está mal del todo. Hay algún beneficio a quedarse en Barcelona? Evidentemente, si tuviese algún problemilla (como lo de tu clavo) estando en Barcelona, se soluciona en un momento, pero teniendo en cuanta que tú tardaste unos días en operarte de lo del clavo, entiendo que no es algo súper urgente y que yo podría volar a Barcelona, corregir y volver a Madrid. Respecto a la terapia, hay algún beneficio en quedarse en Barcelona o puede Claudio explicarle a otro fisio (con discreción, mi plan es que no se entere nadie de mi operación) la terapia de rehabilitación?
A7) No es imprescindible que estés en BCN. Creo que puedes hacerlo igual de bien desde Madrid.
Q8) Última. Qué tal es tu recuperación? He visto que andas sin ayuda desde mayo. Qué tal andas ya? Se te nota? Yo tengo una boda a finales de junio del año que viene y soy testigo (por eso en principio quería esperar hasta entonces para operarme, pero ya ha cambiado la fecha 3 veces y no quiero seguir "postergando mi vida"), y me gustaría "estar bien para entonces". No es algo que me obsesione, si tengo que ir con muletas, que le vamos a hacer, y si ando raro pues también, pero a ser posible me gustaría llegar bien (cosas como que me canse de pie a la hora o cosas asi no me importan). Tu como lo ves? Tengo alguna posibilidad? Considera que pretendo alargar 6-7cms y que siendo realistas es muy difícil que me opere antes de noviembre (octubre quizás, pero antes imposible).
A8) Ando cojeando un poco, y bajar las escaleras es lo más complicado ahora, pero noto mejoras cada semana. Cada paciente es un mundo. La recuperación tambien depende de los segmentos, tu preparación, la intervención, tu ánimo, etc. No pretendo ser el experto en el proceso, mi recomendación es que hables con Monegal y/o Guichet para determinar el timing y te dejas suficiente margen.
Saludos,
Antonio
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Is this the same Spanish kid that sends all the patients super long essay level messages? Cuz that guy is weird, people's times are valuable and those super long questions are annoying. No one likes reading all that junk.
Props to Antonio for actually taking the time to answer these questions.
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Thank you LLCaptain. It was my pleasure to talk about myself while lying on the beach.
I don't know who he is, I've never met him before nor has anyone mentioned him to me before.
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Aug 2016: 3 months post L leg lengthening
As promised, here are some photos. Sorry for the poor quality; I'm not used to selfies.
http://imgur.com/rJ1zFKx
http://imgur.com/a/9Ou3v
I'm getting back the mobility and muscle shape in my thighs; walking is almost normal except for the first steps after getting up from the chair.
Pain: L pain in knee after stretching, R shin pain after strenous workouts
Flexibility: L knee flexion 135 deg. R 180 deg.
Strength: Squats 30 kg, leg press 40 kg
Stamina: Walking 1 hour, Swimming 2k no problem
After my first leg workout, I had shooting nerve pains along my right shin, and could barely walk for two days afterwards. It was great! It meant I was targeting the right muscles and after the pains subsided, it meant that the pains were muscular and not from the joints.
Now I'm following a 1 day on/3 day off cycle; I train legs every other workout and arms/upper body every other. Cardio (swim 2k) 2 days after workout. Walk half hour every day. Stretch 4x a day every day.
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Aug 2016: 3 months post L leg lengthening
As promised, here are some photos. Sorry for the poor quality; I'm not used to selfies.
http://imgur.com/rJ1zFKx
http://imgur.com/a/9Ou3v
I'm getting back the mobility and muscle shape in my thighs; walking is almost normal except for the first steps after getting up from the chair.
Pain: L pain in knee after stretching, R shin pain after strenous workouts
Flexibility: L knee flexion 135 deg. R 180 deg.
Strength: Squats 30 kg, leg press 40 kg
Stamina: Walking 1 hour, Swimming 2k no problem
After my first leg workout, I had shooting nerve pains along my right shin, and could barely walk for two days afterwards. It was great! It meant I was targeting the right muscles and after the pains subsided, it meant that the pains were muscular and not from the joints.
Now I'm following a 1 day on/3 day off cycle; I train legs every other workout and arms/upper body every other. Cardio (swim 2k) 2 days after workout. Walk half hour every day. Stretch 4x a day every day.
Hello Antonio, we're of similar age and I just finished LL on internal femurs with Dr.Guichet. I've a couple of questions for you. When did you no longer have pain when walking? How much and what kind of leg exercises did you do after stopping LL? When were you able to walk without crutches?
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Hello dream_catcher,
Congrats on finishing lengthening. Good diary. I actually had a consultation with Guichet in 2014 but the timing was not ideal.
To answer your questions, I didn't have any pain while walking from about May onwards, or about a month after I stopped lengthening my L leg.
During 2 months after lengthening, all I did was walk every day for at least half an hour with crutches or one crutch, and do stretching. Then I started to do swimming and light cycling on the exercise bike. I didn't do any weightbearing (additional to bodyweight) exercises until end of last month.
I was able to walk without crutches 2 weeks after lengthening my L leg.
Keep your spirits up. 90% of the LL battle is mental anyway. I found it helpful to keep a training log, and used it to motivate myself by seeing the progress I made, no matter how small. I remember counting the tiles in the pool when I stretched to check my knee bending progress!
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Looking good Antonio ;)
Hows the consolidation going in both legs?
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Thanks NoRegrets.
I don't know from the last xrays. I will ask Dr. Monegal to have them done again at the beginning of September.
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Hi,
A forum user has sent me a private email. I wish to say that I do not wish to correspond by email, but only via the forum (public record). However, as the user posts some interesting questions, I will answer them here. For wider benefit, I will translate his questions from Spanish.
Q1. How much weight do you think the Fitbone can handle? Of course I will use crutches during the procedure, but I am afraid that an accidental overload could damage tha nail (or screw, as was your case)
A1. According to Dr. Monegal, the Fitbone nail can handle up to 25 kg i.e. partial weight bearing during distraction. The manufacturer Wittenstein does not specify any weight except says that it is up to the discretion of the surgeon based on the recovery of the patient.
I personally think that if you weigh 70 kg or less and place most of your weight on your good leg, and are careful about not placing weight at an angle on the operated leg, then with crutches you can move around without problems. Of course if you start jumping or fall down, then of course there are no guarantees.
Q2. Another patient has told me that he used only one crutch after the third or fourth week, which implies some weight bearing on the operated leg. Do you think this is feasible?
A2. Assuming you are going to do the two-stage lengthening, then yes, it is feasible, as you will have recovered on your first leg to place most of your weight on it. The crutch will support the weight of the second leg.
With bilateral lengthening I don't think it possible as you will probably still be in the wheelchair then.
Suerte! Un abrazo
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Thanks for the answers, Antonio.
I want to say that it was me who asked Antonio these questions. I did it via PM to avoid the apparently unavoidable trolling by "that user" in every Monegal thread. But I agree that making them public will benefit more users.
I personally think that if you weigh 70 kg or less and place most of your weight on your good leg, and are careful about not placing weight at an angle on the operated leg, then with crutches you can move around without problems. Of course if you start jumping or fall down, then of course there are no guarantees.
This is particularly interesting. You are not the first to point that it is the bending moment, rather than the pure compressive strength, the most likely cause for a nail failure. Even in jbc's recent consultation with Paley, he was told that "they [internal nails] are most vulnerable to breaking at full extension". Another point in favour of not lengthening too much!
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Your proportions look great :)what is your wingspan?
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Thanks Peaceout.
My wingspan is 171.5 cm.
But I don't think wingspan is a good measure of proportionality as it depends a lot on shoulder width and flexibility. I prefer armlength.
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Hi,
A forum user has sent me a private email. I wish to say that I do not wish to correspond by email, but only via the forum (public record). However, as the user posts some interesting questions, I will answer them here.
Q. Hey antonio, I hope your recovery is going fine.
I wanted to ask you. You said that now your femurs look better proportionally according to you. did Monegal also state before you did the operation that your femurs are "shorter" than normal people your height, or was is your own feeling?
To be more specific, did you femurs were "scientifically" short or it was just your own view of them?
Thx in advance and best of luck with recovery :)
A. Thank you. My recovery is going better than I expected. 11 months after my first operation (or 4 months post lengthening my second leg), I am now walking without problems, except the first few steps after getting up from the chair. I can walk upstairs without holding onto the bannister. I am back to doing squats in the gym and have recovered 95% of my quads, hamstrings and glutes.
Dr. Monegal did not say anything about the length of my femurs, except that his recommendation for lengthening for my age would be 5-6 cm. It was my own feeling, I think that femur length looks proportionate when the fingertips come down to the middle of the thigh (see my post on Reflections on ideal femur length in the Proportions section). The reason is that people concentrate on different segments of the body when they look at you - if they look at your face and upper body then they are not concentrating on the legs and vice versa. That's why I think that torso length and tibia length are not as important (especially as the illusion of torso length can be manipulated by the width and muscularity of the upper body) as compared to arm length.
As far as the actual femur measurements go, I never did the complete X-rays measurement. However, measuring from top of hip to middle of knee gave me pre-LL 41 cm and post LL 49 cm and from top of knee to floor while sitting 49 cm. Tibias are supposed to look shorter than femurs anyway.
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Update Sept 2016
Had my X-rays done and check-up with Dr. M yesterday.
Link: http://imgur.com/a/UsdXx (http://imgur.com/a/UsdXx)
Link: http://imgur.com/a/Y6rPR (http://imgur.com/a/Y6rPR)
Bone consolidation is well on the way, curiously (according to Dr. M) it is much better on the internal side of my L leg and on the external part of my R. It should have been better on the internal side of both legs. The vagaries of the human body...
Screws in place, flexibility L knee 150 deg, R 180 deg. No valgus or varus. Hips aligned.
During the radiography, the lab technician had to adjust the lead plates repeatedly to get the whole thigh in one X-ray as she said "you have such long femurs!" (she didn't know I had had LL). I just smiled, mostly inwardly, the smile of quiet contentment.
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Hey Antonio, thanks for your update and X-rays. Is the right lower screw normally that bended?
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your consolidation in one leg looks pretty light and not really connected from the lateral view, so I'd take it easy on the weight bearing just to be safe. best of luck with your recovery!
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Yes man, no matter what this man says. This consolidation pattern is strange. Show your Xrays to another doctor.
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Yes man, no matter what this man says. This consolidation pattern is strange. Show your Xrays to another doctor.
I didn't mean to imply that anything was strange. just that his consolidation seems slow, since his right leg is 1 year post op and still not fused all around (maybe due to older age?) and give a little more time for his other leg to heal before too much early weight bearing, which might lead to a bent or broken screw like Jessie Believer pointed out in his xrays. but that's just my non-professional opinion. hope everything is ok antonio!
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YES one leg Is slower because It Is a 2 stage procedure. So one leg Is 4 months delayed When compared with The other. No worries in any thread where my name appears The noid Lluser will start To blah blah blah with his Medical degree at Stanford To show Us the ligth
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Ha ha, no worries everyone, I may be old(er) but I'm not disappearing :)
I wouldn't worry too much about the consolidation, for now. The literature shows that femur consolidation can take from 45 up to 93 days / cm lengthened, so I have still up till next year before I need to press the panic button :) Regarding the pattern, it's not unusual as when I was younger I broke my left arm (not purposely ;)), and the bone regeneration was similar.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27053972
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26874445 (Fitbone)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21729641 (also indicates that healing rate is independent of lengthening rate)
I'm still doing weights because I'm a firm believer in testing my limits, whilst also listening carefully to my body. For me the benefits of (controlled) weight training which include increased bone regeneration simply outweigh the risks.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27046087 (increased bone density and wider shape of tibia, in British Army recruits (21 years, average height 178cm only!!)
@Jessie: Yes, the right screw is bent because it came loose and that brute Dr. M just whacked it back in! @Dr. M: don't worry, I'm just joking, I'm very grateful to you, you know I'm still your model patient :)
On the good news side, I gained 2 cm of muscle in diameter on my ass and hips, so my sitting height is now 91 cm!
Thighs are still underdeveloped at 54 cm, but I'm getting there...
Have a beautiful day everyone!
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How much lengthening shows your telemetry/xrays?
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The telemetry and X-rays are not reliable to determine the amount lengthened because:
1. The angle of the femur and leg placement creates distortion when projected onto a 2-D plane.
2. It is very hard to determine the exact point of fracture as the cut is at an angle.
Measuring on the screen gives a result varying between 6,5 cm and 7,8 cm
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Update: Jan 2017. R 12 months post lengthening, L 8 months post lengthening
Got new X-rays today.
R: http://imgur.com/a/OPL0M
L: http://imgur.com/a/VGcoh
Consolidation has improved quite a bit since my last X-rays 2 months ago.
I can do everything I used to do, except getting up from chairs I need to support myself and I also avoid impact sports like running, tennis.
I don't feel any pain whatsover, but occasionally tightness in my hip flexors at night.
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A forum user has sent me a private email. I wish to say that I do not wish to correspond by email, but only via the forum (public record). However, as the user posts some interesting questions, I will answer them here.
>>Hi Antonio
I hope you are doing well.
Im 40 years old and I'm about to do the same process as you did: 2 stage lengthening.
Can I ask you some questions?
1) what did you tell to the people in your work? What's it stressful being questioned?
2) how did you balance the gap between your legs? Elevator shoes on one leg and what on the longer leg?
3) did the process/pain impacted your performance at work?
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me
Best<<
Hi, thank you for your questions.
1). I told them I had an accident with the motorbike. In Spain it is quite common, and as I was not going to be able to ride for a while, I had it serviced and kept in the garage. It's a beautiful classic off-road Bultaco. As I did not take the baja (unpaid leave), I did not have to give any evidence. I was back to work one week after the operation. I also waived the annual check-up by the company medic. Everybody was very suppoortive when they saw me with crutches (opening doors, carrying my stuff, driving me around). Although that may be them suk up! Anyway, I enjoyed the attention and could use it to deflect from my pains. When people wanted details, I would begin talking about terms in a very technical manner about the bone, ligaments and tendons and the operation and their faces would kind of glaze over. So prepare your story! When I travelled and the metal detector would sound, I told everyone that I had a metal rod in my knee for support. Wearing the heels was more problematic, but I said it was to relieve the stress on my injured leg. Over time, they don't notice the growth in height (or maybe they are just too afraid of me to say so!) and now they think I just have great posture and work out more.
2). Yep, elevator shoes on the shorter leg. Normal shoes on the longer leg. You can use an add on heel (internal) and/or external one. The orthopedist can make a new larger external heel for your shoe.
3). Not really. That's one of the benefits of having one good leg. I could get around to make site visits and meetings on the crutches, and everyone was so impressed by my dexterity and determination. I must admit though that being in Barcelona helped. When I had my screw loose and saw it in the X-ray, Dr. M scheduled the operation the same week.
All the best in your journey. Happy to answer any and all questions.
Antonio
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Hi Antonio,
I am from Latin America and i have enjoyed reading your LL journey. I hope I can get my surgery in August still deciding one stage or two stage. Definitely two stage seem to me the way to go as you can continue with your normal life with little difficulties and only taking a couple of weeks off; however, coming from far away won't make it easy to go to Spain and then again after 6 months. So Antonio from your experience as Monegal's patient;
first, Would you recommend Monegal?
second, as you mentioned in your blog you had a screw loose that led to a surgery, do you think for a patient that comes from far away that incident could be avoidable?
third, how did you find your experience of being lengthening your leg on your own, is it something really easy that anyone can do?
Fourth and last, just out of curiosity as you were growing in one leg and started to use an insole in your other shoe to compensate, did you require to change the insole per every centimeter you grew taller? how did that work out?
thanks Antonio for mi boring questions and have a nice day!!
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Hi UOL1 (man, I like your username!),
Congrats on taking the first step in this life-changing journey! I am very very happy I did it, although I am sure as you have read from other diaries here (Unicorn, DIFM, Yellowspike etc) you know it is not a piece of cake. May I ask how tall you are now? I think LL has helped me in 3 different ways:
1. My self-image. Before I used to look at my body and curse my parents for giving me such short legs. Now I look at my longish legs and body and I am so happy. And it shows when I approach women how comfortable I am now in my skin.
2. My confidence. As I said before, my confidence is now sky high. Going from average woman's height to 3 inches above is incredible. I have received so many flirtations and outright come-ons that I still can't quite believe it. I started dating a Danish woman a few months ago (she's about 5'6") and I can honestly say that at my previous height she would not have even looked at me. And now next week we are going to Naples and the Amalfi coast to celebrate!
3. My internal struggles. I feel that I have finally accepted myself for who I am and feel there's no need to be like someone else. I have overcome my genetic destiny. I may have been born with genes for naturally short height, but I have genes for artificial height (determination, mental strength, physical awareness of my body)
On to your questions. Would I recommend Monegal? For me, undoubtedly. I would place my life in his hands (and so I have, being under the knife with him 4 times now). He gets a bad rap in this forum but if you do your own proper research you will come to some rather different conclusions. I'm actually happy now that there are trolls who bash and lie about Monegal - they act as a kind of first filter. If you can believe someone on the Internet without any credentials or proof and not do your own research, then I think you do not deserve LL. And really sometimes I feel sorry for the kind of BS that Monegal has to put up with his prospective patients.
For you, I understand you are worried about being so far away from Spain. In this case, I recommend you contact a specialist in your home country to ask him if he can correct the screws should they come loose. I don't know how easy it would be for you to fly back here, I know that one patient of his from Canada has to fly back here to get the loose screw corrected. From what I've seen, screws coming loose are quite common, although no one seems to know why exactly it happens. In my case it was because I put weight at an angle on my operated leg. I also did a lot of walking and climbing stairs when I was on crutches. I think it could have been avoided if I had been careful, in fact this is what I did with my second leg and the screws are still firmly in place.
Is lengthening on your own easy to do? For me, yes, it was ridiculously easy. I only really experienced pain and tension at night, then I started to take more Tramadol and Orfidal to sleep and it was manageable. Because I always had one strong leg at any one time, I could go anywhere (I drove my car), fly, even swim in a a shallow pool. Just had to bring my crutches. Of course I was slower and had to adapt to how to cook, do laundry, get things etc, but it's not that difficult.
Insoles. I bought two insoles at 1 cm and 0,5 cm. After lenghtening 2 cm on on eleg, I had an external sole fitted on one shoe of 2 cm, then later 4 cm, then 5 cm. So adjustments were made at every 0,5 cm. I admit the external soles were very ugly-looking but I told people it was necessary for my recovery from the accident.
Good luck to you, and have a nice day
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Hi Antonio,
thanks a lot for your time and effort put in here to write this answer. I am sure we all have a story to tell and unfortunately the world we live in today judges from the outside. If you ever meet me, you will know that I hell need this surgery ! I know about this surgery for way too long however I have been always afraid of doing it and some of the top notch doctors seemed too cold not to mention the rediculous prices they charged so I always thought fk it! But then this guy Dr. Monegal came along with more acceptable prices and a friendly personality and thought to myself after 10 years : well now I am in!
Hopefully I can have this surgery done in August and finally make up for those wasted years! until recently I was so confident that I wanted to do one-stage limb lengthening because I come from far away but what scares me is that I may not able to cope with the stress of being in a wheelchair for two or three months . So two-stage is more likely as I will be able to still kick around after two weeks. I will follow your advice and get myself a doctor back home that could back me up should something go wrong (loose screw). thanks Antonio for sharing your experience with me and I am glad your life has changed for better!!!
And one more thing I am so glad to hear you are scoring better with the ladies ! Danish girls are just smoking hot!!
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Hi UOL1 (man, I like your username!),
Congrats on taking the first step in this life-changing journey! I am very very happy I did it, although I am sure as you have read from other diaries here (Unicorn, DIFM, Yellowspike etc) you know it is not a piece of cake. May I ask how tall you are now? I think LL has helped me in 3 different ways:
1. My self-image. Before I used to look at my body and curse my parents for giving me such short legs. Now I look at my longish legs and body and I am so happy. And it shows when I approach women how comfortable I am now in my skin.
2. My confidence. As I said before, my confidence is now sky high. Going from average woman's height to 3 inches above is incredible. I have received so many flirtations and outright come-ons that I still can't quite believe it. I started dating a Danish woman a few months ago (she's about 5'6") and I can honestly say that at my previous height she would not have even looked at me. And now next week we are going to Naples and the Amalfi coast to celebrate!
3. My internal struggles. I feel that I have finally accepted myself for who I am and feel there's no need to be like someone else. I have overcome my genetic destiny. I may have been born with genes for naturally short height, but I have genes for artificial height (determination, mental strength, physical awareness of my body)
On to your questions. Would I recommend Monegal? For me, undoubtedly. I would place my life in his hands (and so I have, being under the knife with him 4 times now). He gets a bad rap in this forum but if you do your own proper research you will come to some rather different conclusions. I'm actually happy now that there are trolls who bash and lie about Monegal - they act as a kind of first filter. If you can believe someone on the Internet without any credentials or proof and not do your own research, then I think you do not deserve LL. And really sometimes I feel sorry for the kind of BS that Monegal has to put up with his prospective patients.
For you, I understand you are worried about being so far away from Spain. In this case, I recommend you contact a specialist in your home country to ask him if he can correct the screws should they come loose. I don't know how easy it would be for you to fly back here, I know that one patient of his from Canada has to fly back here to get the loose screw corrected. From what I've seen, screws coming loose are quite common, although no one seems to know why exactly it happens. In my case it was because I put weight at an angle on my operated leg. I also did a lot of walking and climbing stairs when I was on crutches. I think it could have been avoided if I had been careful, in fact this is what I did with my second leg and the screws are still firmly in place.
Is lengthening on your own easy to do? For me, yes, it was ridiculously easy. I only really experienced pain and tension at night, then I started to take more Tramadol and Orfidal to sleep and it was manageable. Because I always had one strong leg at any one time, I could go anywhere (I drove my car), fly, even swim in a a shallow pool. Just had to bring my crutches. Of course I was slower and had to adapt to how to cook, do laundry, get things etc, but it's not that difficult.
Insoles. I bought two insoles at 1 cm and 0,5 cm. After lenghtening 2 cm on on eleg, I had an external sole fitted on one shoe of 2 cm, then later 4 cm, then 5 cm. So adjustments were made at every 0,5 cm. I admit the external soles were very ugly-looking but I told people it was necessary for my recovery from the accident.
Good luck to you, and have a nice day
If you are going to Naples, be careful. I arrived today, and after literally less than 25 minutes in town, my wallet had been stolen! :-(
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Noted!
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Update June 2017
X-rays: Right leg: http://imgur.com/lkkkBMj
Consolidation is complete. Rod and device removal planned for 4th July.
Left leg: http://imgur.com/rFfEtMa
Consolidation has improved a lot since 3 months ago. Bone bridge is forming slowly but surely.
No pains at all since January, flexibility is as good as pre-op (only got to 180 degrees from 170 degrees in the last month on the left leg). Started jogging again. Full squats butt to heel no problem.
Dr. Monegal has told me that Fitbone has appointed him as an official Fitbone Instructor, which means that he will start to train surgeons in the use of Fitbone soon, and as a result he has been invited to present at a Limb Lengthening worldwide conference next year. He's thinking of doing a controlled study of antegrade vs. retrograde insertion.
@helloworld: sorry about your wallet! hey it happened to me on Las Ramblas Barcelona, and I'm a local! By the way, Naples and the Amalfi coast was just amazing. So beautiful and so happy my legs had no problems climbing the 400 or so steps up and down to Positano beach
@OUL1: We had such a good time, the Danish girl and me. Swimming in the sea, enjoying the great pasta, making sweet love morning and night ... best holiday ever.
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Hey Antonio, congratulations for having a successful journey! Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself.
Now that you have the rod's removed, can you give an update of what it feels like to walk around, exercise, etc., thanks.
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His rods haven't been removed. None Monegal cosmetic patient had rods removed yet.
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If you are going to Naples, be careful. I arrived today, and after literally less than 25 minutes in town, my wallet had been stolen! :-(
Hi Hello World,
Is there anything else I should know from Spain. If you don't mind me asking when you got to Barcelona and you were getting ready for the surgery, what did u bring with you to clínica diagonal? Thanks !
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Hey Antonio, congratulations for having a successful journey! Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself.
Now that you have the rod's removed, can you give an update of what it feels like to walk around, exercise, etc., thanks.
Hey Ouro, sorry for the late reply - I've been very busy with work and my summer holidays. My new height is especially enjoyable when I travel as I see strangers and feel so much being "checked out" by attractive women. Certainly gives a boost to the ego, although my Danish girlfriend was not too happy lol.
I had my right rod (only right, my left femur has still not consolidated 100%) removed on 5th July (i.e. 6 weeks ago). Checked in to C. Diagonal at 12 noon and went into OR at 2 pm. Discharged and back to my room at 7 pm. Slept very fitfully with a lot of pain. Despite the pain and being heavily bandaged, I went back to work the very next day on crutches. My colleagues said it was as if I had come back from a war lol.
I decided to remove my right rod then as the pulse receiver and cable was starting to give me pain. That's one of the drawbacks of the Fitbone device, the receiver and cable are loose under the skin and if the cable breaks, as had happened on my left leg, the pain can be so unbearable as to prevent walking. But the turning of the rod itself for the lengthening was painless.
I must say I was surprised with how long it took to recover from the operation. To this day I have a slight pain in my fascia muscle from the knee to the middle of the outside of the thigh when I wake up and when I try to run. It feels like muscle soreness after a heavy workout. It was not until three weeks after that I regained 100% ROM in the knee as well as no lingering pain in my ankle and knee from the operation.
I've started again with squats and plyometric jumps. My strength and flexibility are back to 100%, but because of the muscle pain, I won't start running again till it is completely gone. Walking long distances is painless and completely normal.
How about you? When is your operation?
Regards,
Antonio
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Hi Hello World,
Is there anything else I should know from Spain. If you don't mind me asking when you got to Barcelona and you were getting ready for the surgery, what did u bring with you to clínica diagonal? Thanks !
UOL1, good luck on your upcoming surgery!
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Hi Hello World,
Is there anything else I should know from Spain. If you don't mind me asking when you got to Barcelona and you were getting ready for the surgery, what did u bring with you to clínica diagonal? Thanks !
Sorry! I missed the question, as it was in the diary of "Antonio".
I did not bring anything special, just the usual stuff for travelling.
I made sure I was prepared for working from the bed, by bringing two laptops and brough proteins and supplements.
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UOL1, good luck on your upcoming surgery!
Thanks Antonio! Your diary has been a huge help in making my mind to take this step.
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I decided to remove my right rod then as the pulse receiver and cable was starting to give me pain. That's one of the drawbacks of the Fitbone device, the receiver and cable are loose under the skin and if the cable breaks, as had happened on my left leg, the pain can be so unbearable as to prevent walking. But the turning of the rod itself for the lengthening was painless.
I must say I was surprised with how long it took to recover from the operation. To this day I have a slight pain in my fascia muscle from the knee to the middle of the outside of the thigh when I wake up and when I try to run. It feels like muscle soreness after a heavy workout. It was not until three weeks after that I regained 100% ROM in the knee as well as no lingering pain in my ankle and knee from the operation.
I've started again with squats and plyometric jumps. My strength and flexibility are back to 100%, but because of the muscle pain, I won't start running again till it is completely gone. Walking long distances is painless and completely normal.
Hi Antonio,
I had the cable only removed from my 1st leg and had surgery for my second leg a little over two weeks ago. Just from the surgery required for removing cable, I was not able to put weight on my 1st leg for well over a week. I was very surprised, I was not expecting that.
I was just curious as to why you have the rod removed and not just and cable? Also, how long did it take before you were able to walk again after having the rod removed?
Thanks!
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Hi Antonio,
I had the cable only removed from my 1st leg and had surgery for my second leg a little over two weeks ago. Just from the surgery required for removing cable, I was not able to put weight on my 1st leg for well over a week. I was very surprised, I was not expecting that.
I was just curious as to why you have the rod removed and not just and cable? Also, how long did it take before you were able to walk again after having the rod removed?
Thanks!
Hi 4in, congrats on your journey so far!
Why did I have the right rod removed? I don't like foreign objects in my body lol. Seriously, I always knew I wanted to remove my rods as soon as the femur was consolidated, as the longer it stays the more the muscle fibres tighten around the screws and the harder it is to remove in the future. Plus I hate the metal detectors going off everytime I fly. Taking the rod out as the same time as the cable means I skip one operation. I am a firm believer in gradualism and letting the body adapt slowly to change, so doing two rod removals at once would mean significantly more hospitalization and recovery time.
I was able to walk with crutches one day after the operation and without crutches but limping three days after. But I didn't feel up to 95% back to normal until 3-4 weeks after, when most of the pains had gone and I recovered full ROM in my knee.
Good luck amigo!
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Thank you Antonio,
Great information that I certainly need to consider.
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To the moderators: Would it be possible to remove all the Monegal opinion posts onto a single thread in Other information and leave the factual info for the Doctor entry? Organizationally, it would help matters. Thank you
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To the moderators: Would it be possible to remove all the Monegal opinion posts onto a single thread in Other information and leave the factual info for the Doctor entry? Organizationally, it would help matters. Thank you
No we need to have as much threads relating to the Great Leader Dr. Monegal as possible so he may spread his joy and blessings to all !!
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To the moderators: Would it be possible to remove all the Monegal opinion posts onto a single thread in Other information and leave the factual info for the Doctor entry? Organizationally, it would help matters. Thank you
Good idea!
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How's your consolidation now?
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dear Antonio,
Your real life foto's look great.. if i didn't know about ur LL i would not have noticed anything.
I have a couple of questions, forgive me if you have answered them before:
- I am hoping to do LL next year at an age of 49/50. Would that be a problem?
- What was the deal with bone spur?
- I see that you started doiing squats only 3 months after stopping lengthening... so the weight is held by the nail and not the bone? Is this correct?
- on may 20 17 you wrote: '..being under the knife with him 4 times now)..'... why 4 times? Isn't 3 times?
- What were the total costs? Was the loose screw an extra payment?
Thx in advance
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I think he took 1 rod out and kept having the other one inside. In regards of squats, Im trying as we speak after 4 months 2 weeks and feels better everyday. I bicycle around normally, walking not 100 % but can walk etc. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me as i want to contribute.
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How's your consolidation now?
Consolidation on left leg is complete. X-rays from yesterday: http://hpics.li/4fb9bc6
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dear Antonio,
Your real life foto's look great.. if i didn't know about ur LL i would not have noticed anything.
I have a couple of questions, forgive me if you have answered them before:
- I am hoping to do LL next year at an age of 49/50. Would that be a problem?
- What was the deal with bone spur?
- I see that you started doiing squats only 3 months after stopping lengthening... so the weight is held by the nail and not the bone? Is this correct?
- on may 20 17 you wrote: '..being under the knife with him 4 times now)..'... why 4 times? Isn't 3 times?
- What were the total costs? Was the loose screw an extra payment?
Thx in advance
You are observant and attentive to detail ... I like that. Just from that alone, I know you will do your research before doing LL.
Your age. It depends .... how fit are you? Are you "young" for your age? I believe that age is merely a number. A couple of weeks ago, some friends set me up on a blind date without me knowing in advance. When my date arrived she told me I looked like I was 35, or about 10 years younger. I've always been active, muscular, run 5k in 30 minutes, swim 2k in 25, never smoked, drink alcohol moderately, you get the idea.... nowadays there are lab tests where they take your blood sample, skin sample, CO2 etc and they tell you your biological age. It is the basis of some nature vs nurture experiments. Maybe you can do such a test
The bone spur was to test a hypothesis by my doctor that having a greater surface area of the bone wouold encourage consolidation. It seemed to have worked, or at the least it did not cause any bad effects.
Squats. It depends on how low you go on the squat. At the beginning of the motion, when the weight is over your centre of gravity, all the weight is on the nail. The lower you go the more the force is at an angle to the nail and so the callus is taking the stress. This stress is is what encourages bone consolidation. Also of course your leg muscles are contracting to resist the weight.
4 operations. Yes, again very well observed. I had an outpatient operation to remove the left sensor and cable as it had broken but I didn't post it as it was the time of the Monegal "storm trolls" and I didn't feel like it.
My total costs to date are 38,5k euros, broken down as follows: 18,5k for each implant surgery + 5 days hospitalization, and 1,5k for right rod removal. My doctor didn't charge me anything for the loose screw fixing.
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Thanks for the compliment Antonio.. I will definitely do my research before LL... As most "normal" people/doctors will tell you not to do it because of the risks(and they are actually right) I have no other choice than minimize the risk by choosing the optimum treatment.
I am almost 49 years but look like 39. I am in good physical health, stopped smoking 8 years ago and work-out several times a week.. So, just like you, I have that working for me.
38,5k eur seems a reasonable price compared to others. But at 165/167 cm I want to lengthen a minimum of 10cm... So I think doing femur and tibia(5cm each).. I reckon I need at least double the amount of euro's.
Monegal seems the only doc to promote the Two stage LL.. do other docs fail to see the risks?
I love your quote.."I have overcome my genetic destiny"... that could have come from my mouth...
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Thanks for the compliment Antonio.. I will definitely do my research before LL... As most "normal" people/doctors will tell you not to do it because of the risks(and they are actually right) I have no other choice than minimize the risk by choosing the optimum treatment.
I am almost 49 years but look like 39. I am in good physical health, stopped smoking 8 years ago and work-out several times a week.. So, just like you, I have that working for me.
38,5k eur seems a reasonable price compared to others. But at 165/167 cm I want to lengthen a minimum of 10cm... So I think doing femur and tibia(5cm each).. I reckon I need at least double the amount of euro's.
Monegal seems the only doc to promote the Two stage LL.. do other docs fail to see the risks?
I love your quote.."I have overcome my genetic destiny"... that could have come from my mouth...
Man, be careful to not get greedy. You should do one segment first and see how you feel afterwards, with that new height and all. It'll be better for your health and your pocket.
Also, be very mindful of your age when choosing a LL method.
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Hi Antonio,
So you just remove the antenna but the nail is still inside ?
When are you planning to remove the road?
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Thanks for the compliment Antonio.. I will definitely do my research before LL... As most "normal" people/doctors will tell you not to do it because of the risks(and they are actually right) I have no other choice than minimize the risk by choosing the optimum treatment.
I am almost 49 years but look like 39. I am in good physical health, stopped smoking 8 years ago and work-out several times a week.. So, just like you, I have that working for me.
38,5k eur seems a reasonable price compared to others. But at 165/167 cm I want to lengthen a minimum of 10cm... So I think doing femur and tibia(5cm each).. I reckon I need at least double the amount of euro's.
Monegal seems the only doc to promote the Two stage LL.. do other docs fail to see the risks?
I love your quote.."I have overcome my genetic destiny"... that could have come from my mouth...
The benefits of two-stage LL vs. one-stage bilateral are:
1. Significant reduction in risk of fat embolism. Nobody knows exactly why it happens, it can happen during surgery or even a few days after, but it has been shown to be correlated with fracture of long limbs and major injuries. So doing one limb at a time allows for the body to adapt and reduces the risk by more than half (I read somewhere that it was in the order of 3% for limbs but I can't find the source anymore. However this is the incidence, the actual mortality rate is much lower in the order of 5%. So the risk of a fatal fat embolism is about 0,15%)
2. Mobility while lengthening. It is much easier to move around on one good leg and crutches than on a wheel chair.
3. Walking on the fractured leg, if done within safe limits, can aid in bone consolidation.
4. Pain (especially the psychological perception of it) during lengthening is halved.
The disadvantages are:
1. Two operations ie double the risk of cardiac arrest due to anaesthesia (in the order of 0,02%), can be mitigated slightly by using epidural instead of GA
2. Longer time to complete lengthening on both legs
3. Importance of equaling the amount lengthened between legs, but easily achieved with safe amounts of lengthening and doing PT
The choice is yours ...
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Hi Antonio,
So you just remove the antenna but the nail is still inside ?
When are you planning to remove the road?
In early 2018
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Man, be careful to not get greedy. You should do one segment first and see how you feel afterwards, with that new height and all. It'll be better for your health and your pocket.
Also, be very mindful of your age when choosing a LL method.
I agree. You should do one segment first instead of doing cross-lateral
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It is called irony
Ban also that and let's start a dictatorship
Oh, so the same way you want diaries like Penguinn erased because they do not have proof of X-rays, pics or vids?
The Dreamer wrote on August 29th, 2017:
Yeah,I definitely agree with you👌.He didn't even post any kind of pictures,no X-rays neither videos.And talks about Ilizarov method on femurs😑
I think the moderation should set more restricting rules about writing a diary:it should be an obligation to prove your experience .If it doesn't happen,"the diary" should be erased.
Actually any perfect stranger could write an "experience"
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Oh, so the same way you want diaries like Penguinn erased because they do not have proof of X-rays, pics or vids?
The Dreamer wrote on August 29th, 2017:
Yeah,I definitely agree with you👌.He didn't even post any kind of pictures,no X-rays neither videos.And talks about Ilizarov method on femurs😑
I think the moderation should set more restricting rules about writing a diary:it should be an obligation to prove your experience .If it doesn't happen,"the diary" should be erased.
Actually any perfect stranger could write an "experience"
You are such a liar !
This post was in a diary of a patient of an armenian doctor(Mirzoyan) that seemed very fishy and a lot of user agreed with me.I never mentioned Penguinn
For everyone: see my original post by researching in the principal bar of the forum some keywords
You're a liar,in fact you're a Monegal patient
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You are such a liar !
This post was in a diary of a patient of an armenian doctor(Mirzoyan) that seemed very fishy and a lot of user agreed with me.I never mentioned Penguinn
For everyone: see my original post by researching in the principal bar of the forum some keywords
You're a liar,in fact you're a Monegal patient
Diaries like Penguinn's means diaries similar to penquinn's, that do not have videos and x-rays, etc. Don't go around calling people liars when you are not able to understand what they write. And for the record, I do think your idea is absurd as well.
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Thedreamer is constantly bugging patients. I don't like what he does. However, Antonio isn't right. Talking about his own experience? Yes, he can do it, but he should refrain from generalizing, since, to my knowledge, he has barely met Monegal patients. For generalizing you need a good databank of real life accounts, not Fitbone propaganda, and it's obvious you don't have it. Don't mislead people, please.
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Thedreamer is constantly bugging patients. I don't like what he does. However, Antonio isn't right. Talking about his own experience? Yes, he can do it, but he should refrain from generalizing, since, to my knowledge, he has barely met Monegal patients. For generalizing you need a good databank of real life accounts, not Fitbone propaganda, and it's obvious you don't have it. Don't mislead people, please.
Where have I generalized without referring to my own experience? Please elaborate as I am extremely curious to know your point of view
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Where have I generalized without referring to my own experience? Please elaborate as I am extremely curious to know your point of view
In the thread Limb Lengthening Methods you posted inaccurate data.
For Fitbone, I'd like to add/modify:
Cost per nail is approximately 14k USD. Can weight bear partially up to 25 kg per leg (which means that you can use crutches one week after surgery if you do one leg at a time). No additional surgery required for consolidation if there are no complications. Transmitter cable may break after prolonged lengthening (usually after 7 cm) which may require surgery to remove.
Failure rate of latest version of Fitbone nail is 12 per 10,000 or 0.12%
I already told you that the failure rates of Fitbone aren't accurate according to the Fitbone failures we have heard about in this forum: 1 failure (Helloworld), 3 failures (Musicmaker) and others.
You also talked about the wire breaking especially after 7.5 cm
Transmitter cable may break after prolonged lengthening (usually after 7 cm) which may require surgery to remove.
Was this your case? Where did you hear this inaccurate information? I know the wire was broken in some Monegal patients who had done just 6 cm, and they needed unscheduled surgeries to fix this, of course. It's true the wire can break but due to the nature of the wire, not to excessive lengthening.
I'm in touch with many bad cases of LL from all doctors (Guichet, Monegal, Betz, Mitkovic, Paley...), and these people will tell you that no LL procedure is risk free. You were lucky, but fellow patients of yours weren't, and you should respect them by not mispreading wrong information. Fitbone and Monegal aren't better than Paley and Precise or Guichet and Gnail, so don't make people believe so. All doctors have good and bad cases.
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In the thread Limb Lengthening Methods you posted inaccurate data.
I already told you that the failure rates of Fitbone aren't accurate according to the Fitbone failures we have heard about in this forum: 1 failure (Helloworld), 3 failures (Musicmaker) and others.
You also talked about the wire breaking especially after 7.5 cm
Was this your case? Where did you hear this inaccurate information? I know the wire was broken in some Monegal patients who had done just 6 cm, and they needed unscheduled surgeries to fix this, of course. It's true the wire can break but due to the nature of the wire, not to excessive lengthening.
I'm in touch with many bad cases of LL from all doctors (Guichet, Monegal, Betz, Mitkovic, Paley...), and these people will tell you that no LL procedure is risk free. You were lucky, but fellow patients of yours weren't, and you should respect them by not mispreading wrong information. Fitbone and Monegal aren't better than Paley and Precise or Guichet and Gnail, so don't make people believe so. All doctors have good and bad cases.
I have answered you in the Limb lengthening methods section. I honestly think you should let people come to their own conclusions instead of generalizing about the superiority of one nail or the other, or misrepresenting my experiences and opinions
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Thedreamer is constantly bugging patients. I don't like what he does. However, Antonio isn't right. Talking about his own experience? Yes, he can do it, but he should refrain from generalizing, since, to my knowledge, he has barely met Monegal patients. For generalizing you need a good databank of real life accounts, not Fitbone propaganda, and it's obvious you don't have it. Don't mislead people, please.
It's obvious to me that you have no clue what you are talking about
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I have answered you in the Limb lengthening methods section. I honestly think you should let people come to their own conclusions instead of generalizing about the superiority of one nail or the other, or misrepresenting my experiences and opinions
I never generalized. In that thread you generalized about Fitbone and you aren't right.
For Fitbone, I'd like to add/modify:
Cost per nail is approximately 14k USD. Can weight bear partially up to 25 kg per leg (which means that you can use crutches one week after surgery if you do one leg at a time). No additional surgery required for consolidation if there are no complications. Transmitter cable may break after prolonged lengthening (usually after 7 cm) which may require surgery to remove.
Failure rate of latest version of Fitbone nail is 12 per 10,000 or 0.12%
Not true according to the experiences of members in this forum. 12 per 10.000? LOL. You had no need to post those data unless you're being paid by Fitbone. That would explain why only you among Monegal patients signed that 'confidentiality agreement'. Bull . Those confidentiality agreements don't exist. Can you prove?
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No matter if he signed a confidentiality agreement or not, but patient privacy should anyway be respected.
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Dear antonio!
Thanks for your sharing. How are you? Did you have knee pain after removing the nail?
Thanks you and best wish.
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Antonio is a bad promoter. He generalizes and don't speak the truth. Backrandom is right
In the thread Limb Lengthening Methods you posted inaccurate data.
I already told you that the failure rates of Fitbone aren't accurate according to the Fitbone failures we have heard about in this forum: 1 failure (Helloworld), 3 failures (Musicmaker) and others.
You also talked about the wire breaking especially after 7.5 cm
Was this your case? Where did you hear this inaccurate information? I know the wire was broken in some Monegal patients who had done just 6 cm, and they needed unscheduled surgeries to fix this, of course. It's true the wire can break but due to the nature of the wire, not to excessive lengthening.
I'm in touch with many bad cases of LL from all doctors (Guichet, Monegal, Betz, Mitkovic, Paley...), and these people will tell you that no LL procedure is risk free. You were lucky, but fellow patients of yours weren't, and you should respect them by not mispreading wrong information. Fitbone and Monegal aren't better than Paley and Precise or Guichet and Gnail, so don't make people believe so. All doctors have good and bad cases.
But I'd add that some doctors have more bad cases than others (Monegal)
I've come to a point where I truly believe that there's bad luck and then, there's also incompetence/neglect/arrogance on the part of the doctors.
Someone reminded me again about MasterHY's diary on the old MakeMeTaller site from 2013 which is quite similar to mine where we were initially so enthusiastic and in complete adulation of our doctors to discover that the moment complications happen, we all get abandoned, dismissed and swept under the rug.
So yes, there is a bunch of us... sort of hanging around haunting these doctors because of the way they handled complications. And we won't stop until we're healed no matter how many years it takes.
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Dear antonio!
Thanks for your sharing. How are you? Did you have knee pain after removing the nail?
Thanks you and best wish.
Thanks raku for your best wishes. Sorry for the late reply. I am fine, I don't have any pain and I do all kinds of sports like before (weight training, running, swimming). If I can help just one person with my diary I am happy. Take care