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Author Topic: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley  (Read 241664 times)

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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #31 on: July 19, 2015, 06:41:03 PM »

Week 1-2:
So I suffered this constant rollercoaster of pain (goes down to 3, and then jumps up to 9-10 every 2 hours) for several days. I had trouble sleeping at night because the pain would wake me up. I realized now why other patients had trouble sleeping at night. I asked another doctor friend of mine for his opinion. He told me to get Oxycontin which is a slow release version of Oxycodone and was wondering why they were not giving me Oxycontin. Oxycodone is 10 mg per 4 hours. Oxycontin is 10 mg per 12 hours. This way, I would not have a rollercoaster ride of pain. I emailed Dr. Paley who emailed the other doctors. At first, they were pissed that I asked an outside doctor for a second opinion. But in the end, they agreed with him, and they told me to get Oxycontin and Ibuprofen (Advil). So I was to take Oxycontin every 12 hours and Advil 800 mg (4 pills), every 6 hours. The Advil actually causes stomach ulcers (bleeding) if taken with the blood thinner that I was already prescribed. So it's dangerous to take Advil with it. But, the combination of Advil and Oxycontin worked. I no longer had the rollercoaster ride of pain. I had a base level of pain around 1-3. And when I go too long without pain meds (like if I slept for a long time), I sometimes get back to level 8 pain or so, but two pills of Oxycodone stops that immediately an hour after taking it. I decided at this point to only take Oxycodone when I needed it, such as an hour before PT start. This is because I was developing a tolerance for Oxycodone, so it wore off quicker and didn't have as much of an effect. So I found it more wise to only use it when needed, so that impact of it was stronger. It was so strong after not using it for a whole day that when you take two pills before PT, you feel euphoric and happy and don't feel ANY pain at all. This made PT a breeze for me. So this setup of one 10-mg Oxycontin per 12 hours, four 200-mg of Ibuprofen (Advil) per 6 hours, and one or two 5-mg of Oxycodone when pain level 0 is desired (only once or twice per day) works great for me, and I would recommend this pain med setup to anyone who had the same rollercoaster of pain and/or trouble sleeping at night.

Trying to get off Advil
One time I tried going cold turkey on the Advil (i.e. stop taking any at all) and used only Oxycontin/Oxycodone, because I was scared of getting stomach bleeding. That was dumb of me. Don't go cold turkey on pain meds. I went cold turkey for two days and suffered level 7 pain constantly during those two days. As soon as I got back to the Oxycontin/Advil combo, I was back to pain level 3 and below. I sleep the full night now with this setup and can do pretty much anything, like use the walker for long periods of time. I used my walker so often the first week out the hospital that I developed bruises on my palms. They have trouble healing, because I keep hurting that bruise over and over again when I use the walker at the hotel and during PT. I recommend getting a wrist guard and some gloves to soften your palms when holding the walker. I put about 70 lbs on my palms when using the walkers according the scales. I regret not getting the gloves sooner and bruising my palms. Don't make the same mistake as me.

Physical Therapy
By the way, they start you on PT 5 days a week immediately and PT happens at the Paley institute within the hospital. The days/times are randomly assigned to you at the end of each week. Some of those times and days are times when the Paley free transport don't operate. That's when I use the hotel's free shuttle to get there. But the hotel's shuttle doesn't have wheelchair access (it's just a red minivan), so I have to use the walker with it. But if the hotel shuttle is only from 8 am to 8 pm, so if your PT is at 7 am, you have to pay for that $8 taxi. PT for me is a breeze. I have excellent flexibility. I can touch my butt with my ankles. I have spread my legs 45 degrees to the side. I can put my knees straight to 0 degrees. PT is also fun when you crack jokes with the PT. The hour goes by very quickly, and I actually enjoy going to PT everyday. You get a random PT, so it's not always the same person. From what I heard, "big Mike" is the guy who really pushes you (i.e. makes you hurt but gives you good stretch results) and is the best PT. I haven't had him yet, so I can't comment. But all the other PT patients say that he's the best. I've only had the female PTs so far, and all have been very nice to me. They focus on your weak spots. For me, that's my hamstrings. Everything else is loose and flexible except for my hamstrings.

Tips I learned
1. When on the wheelchair, always keep your legs straight or dangling. Don't put your knees up on your chair. I was told that this makes your muscles tighter and hard to extend your legs later.
2. Don't sleep on your side. That's where your pins are and it hurts a lot when you wake up. I tried it once. Never again.
3. You need help for the first few weeks. It helps a lot. It's very hard to do much on your own. It can be done, but it's very hard. Things like opening doors are frustrating without help. Things like picking things up and putting it somewhere else are time consuming, because you have to get back on the wheelchair. It's hard to do these things while on a walker in your first few weeks, because of the pain. Hired caretakers are $250 per day (24 hours) and want their own room ($70/night), so try to find a friend/family to do it or you'll be spending a lot of money.
4. Put some towels or put a box/stool under your feet when you poop. This keeps the pressure off your femurs when you sit there for a long time. This reduces your pain and helps keep your blood flowing in your legs. I might use this trick when I get better, too, because my feet tend to fall asleep when pooping for half an hour.
5. Instead of using the weird gel-like cushion on the wheelchair, use the hotel pillow instead. The weird gel cushion feels like you're sitting on a hard rubber that keeps moving around. Pillow is much better feeling.
6. Try to get into the pool as soon as the doctors let you - usually 2 weeks after surgery. Being able to walk in the pool makes you feel normal, and the pool is usually warm. It's usually cold on rainy days, but mostly warm, because it's heated to around 78-80 degrees or so. On a sunny day, it feel likes 85 degrees in the water, which feels really nice. I usually swim at night (pool closes at 10 pm), because I don't want to get sun burnt, which can happen easily in Florida. Also night time is when there are less people, which is nice, because some of the kids (non-patients) that go in the pool are pretty rowdy and dive/splash water, even when they're not supposed to.
7. Try to get prescriptions earlier. The pharmacies nearby keep running out of drugs (Oxycodone and Oxycontin to be specific) and they don't really deliver except for Garden Drugs. Walgreens delivers to the hospital, though. So try to get them about a week in advance before you run out, because it takes about 1-2 weeks before they get their next shipments in each pharmacy I called.
8. They mark your leg where you're supposed to put the magnetic machine to do the distraction. The distraction machine is easy to use. First you plug in the machine to an outlet. Then you align the pill shaped hole in the distractor with the rectangle mark on your leg. Then press F1 to start the machine. It displays the distraction while you're doing it, and it lasts about 2 minutes. Then when it's done, the top-left arrow blinks and you press it to reset it back to 0. Then you put the machine on the other leg, and press F1 to start it again. Then you press the same top-left arrow to reset it. Finally you unplug the machine.
9. So here's a tip about the mark on your leg with distraction. They put a sticker over the mark, but that sticker comes off easily if you shower. So bring a black and silver sharpie. The black wears off faster but I use it to fill the inside of the rectangle. The silver sharpie lasts longer and I use it as the outline of the rectangle. I also drew a line with the silver sharpie around the distractor when placed in the position. You can't see the pill-shaped hole yourself, so you can't align the distractor yourself through that. Instead, get someone to align it for you and then draw an outline of the whole machine on your leg. Then you can just align the machine based on that outline instead of the rectangular maker. I get a bunch of clear stickers from the doctors to put over this to protect it from water. It lasts about 3-7 days. I should be able to distract myself using this method. I haven't tried yet, because I currently have a care taker doing it for me.
10. I shower after I poop, so I don't have to wipe. It also means that I only have to go to the bathroom once or twice a day.
11. I brush my teeth in the shower. It's hard to brush your teeth while standing, and I don't recommend it. Do it while sitting in the shower. They give you a chair to sit in the shower, and a chair to sit in for the toilet - with handle bars on each side to help you get up.

Day 16:
This is when you get your first X-ray and first doctor report on how well you're doing. My X-rays came back fine, and everything is going well. So I have nothing to report here. Distracted 16 mm on each leg as expected.

Week 2-3:
I'm in that "honey moon" phase that they speak of (i.e. not much surgerical pains, and lengthening pains haven't started yet). They say lengthening pain happens after 6 cm and continues to 8 cm. I plan to flex and stretch as much as possible before then so that I can prepare myself for the 6-8 cm stretch. Distraction/lengthening itself feels like nothing. You can't even tell that it's happening. You do only .25 mm each time and four times a day. I've met with the other patients here at the hotel. Everyone's very friendly. I set up card games, buy take out food for everyone, and hold Friday movie nights in my room to make the other patients feel more at home. I brought my PC and connected to the hotel TV via HDMI. The hotel TV sucks. I brought my own external speakers as well to help. But the TV is 1080p, but looks like 720p and is only 27 inches or so. Picture quality looks like something from 15 years ago.

Complaints about Dr. Paley
Everything actually runs very well and almost everything you need is given to you. There are a few things I didn't like, like the PT forgetting to tell me that they changed my time, so I ended missing a PT session. But most of that stuff is minor. The only real complaint is that they didn't give me Oxycontin/Advil idea to begin with and only started me off with Oxycodone. If they had me on Oxycontin/Advil to begin with, I probably wouldn't have had that level 10 pain in the first few days out of the hospital.

Other costs
So I already mentioned the costs before. So here are additional costs: Oxycontin is $200 for 60 pills. I was forced to get this from Garden Drugs, because they were the only ones who still had it in stock and I was in a rush to get them, since I was in that rollercoaster of pain. So it might be cheaper at the other pharmacies, but they might not be in stock. The other drugs combined is around $343 (again, don't use Garden Drugs if possible - they tried to charge me $660 or so for all of them). There was also a separate bill for the x-ray lab that went to my house that I didn't know about. It was for $170. That surprised me, because they never mentioned this to me when I paid $300 for the x-ray during the consultation. So the consultation with Dr. Paley is actually $750 (Dr. Paley) +$300 (xray) +$170 (xray lab) +$77 (vit D test) = $1,297 in total and not $1,000.

Okay, that's about all I have to report. Things are going well. And I think everything will be the same for the next few weeks/months. I'm actually a pretty busy guy with lots of work to do, so I will report back when things change. I doubt that YogiBear will update her diary. She's not doing as well as me. She's on that rollercoaster of pain that I told you guys about. I told her about my med setup and am trying to get her to get on it. Hopefully that will help her out. I don't think I should be talking about her situation, but I just wanted you guys to know why she hasn't been updating her diary. So don't blame her to for not updating her diary. I actually feel bad that she's not doing as well as I am with recovery, and would actually be surprised if she started writing in her diary again.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2015, 07:14:36 PM by DoingItForMe »
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

patientdad

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #32 on: July 19, 2015, 07:08:30 PM »

Good write-up.  Hang in there.
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Ghostfish

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #33 on: July 20, 2015, 06:05:51 AM »

Hi DoingItForMe

Congrats on your LL journey!  Thank you so much for writing a great diary so far.  It is really helpful and informative.
Be strong!
Wish you the very successful LL!
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #34 on: July 20, 2015, 09:50:33 AM »

Hi DoingItForMe

Congrats on your LL journey!  Thank you so much for writing a great diary so far.  It is really helpful and informative.
Be strong!
Wish you the very successful LL!

Thanks! I was tempted to not write it, because it's very time consuming and I'm not actually as bored as other patients say they are. I actually like being in the hotel room, because I brought my computer and it feels like my own bedroom. Also I go swimming everyday and talk to other patients everyday, so it feels like normal (maybe even better than normal life).

I wrote the diary because I learned a lot from the other people's diaries, and there were things I learned that were missing in other other diaries. Therefore I felt that it would be the right thing to do to pay it forward and help out future patients with my knowledge. I don't want to spend too much time on here, because I have other more important things to do. But I will drop by every once in a while. If you don't hear from me, you can just assume that things are still going well. I will come back and write in the diary when things change or I learn something new. The only change right now is that I'm able to survive the day without OxyCodone now and have reduced my Advil intake to just two pills per 6 hours. I hope within the next few days that I only need OxyContin. And then for the next week, to be off all narcotics in general, so that I can drive again.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

Alu

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #35 on: August 20, 2015, 04:08:36 PM »

Hey mate I don't mean to rush you or anything, especially since you do seem busy, but considering it's been about a month I was wondering how you have been?
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CBixler

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #36 on: August 23, 2015, 06:03:23 PM »

Yes an update would be nice. How is everything? I hope the second month of lengthening is a lot smoother than the first one
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #37 on: August 23, 2015, 11:35:44 PM »

I was doing stellar from 0-4 cm. Flexibility was still amazing and impressed all the PTs. I could bend my legs 150 degrees (ankles touching my butt). At around 4-5 cm, my flexibility starts nose-diving. I measured at 120 degrees last week, and I am probably at 110 degrees or less now. 90 degree is the goal, and I'm still past it, but I'm getting dangerously close. My 90 degree straight leg raise was last measured at 65 degrees on the right and 75 on the left. The goal is 70 degrees, so I'm not doing great with my hamstrings too. I can also only bend my foot up 10 degrees from neutral. 20 degrees is the goal.

I blame my loss in flexibility on two things. First, I am not as young as the teenaged patients here. They are able to flex just fine. I assume because they are still growing, and their body is okay with that. My puberty stopped a decade ago, and it is now evident. The muscles on my legs are really tight now like they've been over stretched. It is not keeping up with the lengthening. I am going hard on PT to try get me flexibility back. I am in the pool 3 hours a day and stretching as much as I can that my endurance and pain lets me. But I guess my leg muscles are working against me (prior to surgery, I could leg press 550+ lbs - not sure what my max is, because the machine at my gym tops off at 550 lbs). My suggestion is to not have muscular legs prior to leg lengthening if you're doing femurs.

As for the pain, the doctors are trying to wean me off them. And that is annoying me, because it gives me less time to do PT at home. I require two Oxycodone 5 mg pills to feel no pain. A single Oxycodone does almost nothing for me. But they give me only 4 pills a day. So if I take two for PT, I only have two left for the rest of the day. And two pills lasts only 3-4 hours. It's not enough in my opinion, and I question why the doctors are doing this to me. I also blame this for why I am losing flexibility. Before, I used to be able to do PT at home almost 24 hours a day, because I was on oxy 24 hours a day. Now they won't even give me OxyContin (the long lasting one) during the day.

So I was back to that rollercoaster of pain I mentioned because I don't have OxyContin during the day. I don't think the doctor (Dr. Packer) understands that I'm experiencing a lot of pain when not on Oxy. She said that I've been on oxy for over a month and should be off it by now. Well, when I'm ripping my muscle fibers apart to stretch my legs further, it isn't exactly a walk in the park. She doesn't believe me, and I am rationing out my Oxy now like it's a rare commodity.

Since I only get OxyContin once per day, I decided to just take it during the day instead and take no oxy at all at night. I figured that if I'm going to be in pain several hours a day, I rather sleep through it. So now I'm trying to take OxyContin during the day and jam 3 hours of PT after taking two Oxycodone. Then I save the other two Oxycodone as emergency for when the pain gets too much. I would much prefer if I had more Oxycodone so that I could do more PT throughout the day. I will see the doctor next Tuesday, and will see how that goes.

Other than that, I am past 5 cm and I am counting down the days until 8 cm. I have no caretaker, and have managed to do everything on my own. Going to the pool 3 hours a day and chatting with the other patients help a lot. I also host trivia game nights at my hotel room and share my snacks to the other patients. They all appreciate it.

Will I get to 8 cm? I'm 90% sure that I will. I will power through the pain and keep doing as much PT as I can. If the doctor gives me enough oxy this time around, I raise my chances of getting to 8 cm to 99%.

How does it feel to be 2 inches taller? Amazing! I used to be 5'5"-5'6" (depending on time of day), and now I'm 5'7"-5'8". I measured at 167 cm at the office when I started, so I will probably be 175 cm when finished, which is close to 5'9". I'm going to wear one inch shoe lifts to get to my ideal height of 5'10" instead of doing Tibs. I think one inch in sole gels are not that embarrassing or shameful - compared to the 2-3 inch ones I used to use. Now that I've been through the process, I think losing 6 more months of my life is not worth it. The jump from 5'6" to 5'9" is enormous though.

Some of the girls here staying at the hotel are starting to develop a crush on me. So this is how it feels like to be attractive. I've never had girls become interested in me from just my looks before. It feels good. It makes you feel wanted and confident. Even though I'm experiencing the worst pain in my life, I am extremely positive about the whole process. It is like I'm getting a second chance at life. I wish I had done this sooner. But then again, the technology was not as good back then. This precice 2.1 is pretty resilient. I doubt that weight bearing is only 75 lbs. I have put more than 75 lbs on them before and they still are not bent. But I only did it by mistake and only lasted for a second or less.

I'm newly single and can't wait to get an expensive tailored suit and find myself a nice girlfriend to spend time with. This was the same feeling happy feeling I had when I got rid of my glasses and got LASIK.

As for long term effects, I do notice that I lost my ass muscles. I lost 15 lbs and I think a lot of was from my butt. I can no longer touch my toes while bending down. I can no longer sit Indian style. I can no longer put my legs behind my head. I haven't lost my leg muscles though. Probably because I walk in the pool 3 hours a day. Other patients look like they have skipped leg day for life. Meanwhile my legs are still thick and muscular. I think I gained a lot of upper body strength, since I use my arms to get around everywhere. I'm noticeably more proportional now, and I am no longer ashamed of my body when I look in the mirror. Instead, pardon my ckiness, I look really attractive. If I was a 4-6 before, I am a 7-9 now. Once I heal up, I plan on getting my six pack back and aiming for the 9-10 level in physical attractiveness. If anything, the LL process has gotten me on a 3-4 hour per day workout regime, and I've been sticking to it pretty well. Before, I used to focus mostly on work and ignored my body. Now that I have more money than I can spend in a lifetime, I have enough free time to focus on my health and hopefully attracting my future wife.

I remember two years ago, my friends talked me out of getting LL. They said that I should just accept who I am and be happy with what I have. They said that I should find someone who doesn't care about height. I did. And then she left me. And then I kept getting rejected by high quality girls because of my height (yes, I asked them why). So my friends were wrong and I wish I did this when I was younger and healed quicker. I am much happier now, and I am attracting a lot more girls than before. This means that the quality of my future wife will be much better as well. Screw accepting a lower standard. Aim higher. Make your dreams come true. Don't accept that loser mentality that you can't get better. Society is not going to change for you. Heightism is real. I can see the difference between even just being two inches taller.

Would I recommend LL? Yes, if you are below 5'7". At 5'8" and above, I'd say that it's not as worth it. Except if you're really rich and money isn't an issue and time isn't an issue and pain isn't an issue and if you live in a place where everyone is taller than you. Then yea, why not? If you're under 25, I'd say that LL is much easier to do than if you're say over 30. I can see how the difference in age is affecting the recovery in the different patients. If you're around 5'5" as a male, I'd say that the jump in three inches is probably the most significant. Most bang for the buck if you will.

I hope this diary helps people. Good luck to all the other patients present and future.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2015, 12:06:22 AM by DoingItForMe »
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

Alu

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #38 on: August 24, 2015, 01:09:26 AM »

Fantastic diary as always mate. Good to see that for the most part you're doing good physically and mentally and that you've gained much greater confidence. As for the effects you've noted, just take it easy. I'm sure going Indian-Style and bending down to your toes will return to you when you've consolidated and recovered your muscle strength; and after you've taken the rods out (which will also be a bit of a wait but still). One thing I have to wonder is how do you know look proportionally speaking? You said you look a bit more proportional so I'm wondering what your wingspan is and the inseam to height ration of you body is? As always mate wish you look on this journey!
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YellowSpike

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #39 on: August 24, 2015, 02:08:00 AM »

DoingitforMe...very happy for you and that you seem so happy so far. Getting to 5'8" range will help a lot with girls. It's not an amazing height and you're still in the short zone (though bordering on average, at times), but women typically aren't a problem. I'm a solid 5'8" at night (but I claim 5'9" on online dating sites, since I'm that height in shoes anyway, more if I'm wearing Nike Airmax or Timberlands/boots), and women 5'5" and below are now no sweat (even in heels). And there are MANY hot women that height and below (though I'm dating two girls right now, one is 5'6 and the other is 5'7...they don't seem to mind). And a hookup is 5'3" and she said "what are you, 5'10?" That was...pretty awesome :)

Would love another inch someday, though. I did mockups with another inch on femurs, and surprisingly, they don't look terrible! If I can manage the time, I might just do that. I know you said you're gonna wear lifts, but even wearing 1 inch lifts piss me off and make me feel like a fraud.

Keep going man. Stay strong!
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #40 on: August 24, 2015, 02:17:09 AM »

My wingspan is 5'7". I look more proportional now because I have a long face and long torso. My Tibs do look short now compared to the rest of my body though. I think this is where wearing long pants and shoe lifts will make my Tibs look longer. I may consider tub lengthening to 5 cm just to be safe and make it more proportional, but it seems like it's not as worth it as getting from 5'6 to 5'9
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

YellowSpike

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #41 on: August 24, 2015, 02:23:30 AM »

My wingspan is 5'7". I look more proportional now because I have a long face and long torso. My Tibs do look short now compared to the rest of my body though. I think this is where wearing long pants and shoe lifts will make my Tibs look longer. I may consider tub lengthening to 5 cm just to be safe and make it more proportional, but it seems like it's not as worth it as getting from 5'6 to 5'9

Wingspan is about 5'7.5/5'8 (don't know it exactly, but in that range). The only time my tibias really seem short is when I'm nked, but once your thighs fill out again like mine have, they won't look as bad.

In a perfect world, if I had the time (can't screw up my career), I'd do 4cm on tibias, and be done. I might have to settle for 2.5cm more on femurs and deal with the not amazing proportions (although in the mockup, they didn't look much different from how they are right now, and I don't think they're that bad now).
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #42 on: August 24, 2015, 02:28:09 AM »

DoingitforMe...very happy for you and that you seem so happy so far. Getting to 5'8" range will help a lot with girls. It's not an amazing height and you're still in the short zone (though bordering on average, at times), but women typically aren't a problem. I'm a solid 5'8" at night (but I claim 5'9" on online dating sites, since I'm that height in shoes anyway, more if I'm wearing Nike Airmax or Timberlands/boots), and women 5'5" and below are now no sweat (even in heels). And there are MANY hot women that height and below (though I'm dating two girls right now, one is 5'6 and the other is 5'7...they don't seem to mind). And a hookup is 5'3" and she said "what are you, 5'10?" That was...pretty awesome :)

Would love another inch someday, though. I did mockups with another inch on femurs, and surprisingly, they don't look terrible! If I can manage the time, I might just do that. I know you said you're gonna wear lifts, but even wearing 1 inch lifts piss me off and make me feel like a fraud.

Keep going man. Stay strong!

Agreed about the lifts making it seem like a fraud. But, the shoe lifts I have make my soles more comfortable, so I'd be wearing them even if it didn't give me a height boost. I wear shoes deep enough that the shoe lifts are invisible when you take them off. And I think dropping down one inch after taking off your shoes isn't really that noticeable. Dropping two to three inches was, though.

In your case, if adding one inch was that easy, I'd do it. In my case, I'd have to do a whole new surgery to get to 5'10", so I'll be happy at just 5'9". I originally reported that I measured at a shorter height 5'5". But it turned out that my posture was lowering my height by an inch. By fixing my posture and straightening my spine a bit, I got to a little less than 5'6" prior to surgery. I guess all those years of hunching over and programming made my posture suck. So those looking to look an inch taller, try fixing your posture with a massage therapist.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

YellowSpike

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #43 on: August 24, 2015, 02:35:51 AM »

Agreed about the lifts making it seem like a fraud. But, the shoe lifts I have make my soles more comfortable, so I'd be wearing them even if it didn't give me a height boost. I wear shoes deep enough that the shoe lifts are invisible when you take them off. And I think dropping down one inch after taking off your shoes isn't really that noticeable. Dropping two to three inches was, though.

In your case, if adding one inch was that easy, I'd do it. In my case, I'd have to do a whole new surgery to get to 5'10", so I'll be happy at just 5'9". I originally reported that I measured at a shorter height 5'5". But it turned out that my posture was lowering my height by an inch. By fixing my posture and straightening my spine a bit, I got to a little less than 5'6" prior to surgery. I guess all those years of hunching over and programming made my posture suck. So those looking to look an inch taller, try fixing your posture with a massage therapist.

Yeah it's kinda hard to say what our starting heights truly are, because you get different measurements based on how you stand and the time of day, and even the method used (stadiometer vs manual measurement). Dr. Rozbruch in NY had me at close to 5'6" (like you), Dr. G had me at 5.5.3", so I go with Dr. G's conservative measurement. I'm close to 5'9" in the morning out of bed. Hopefully you can get 8cm, I had to stop at 7cm (or just over it, because apparently clicks give you a bit more) because of my left leg having slow consolidation and a lot of pain at the end.

In theory, another inch on femurs would be relatively "easy" (if you can refer to breaking your bones as "easy"). He said it would only take 2 weeks to actually get the inch, and then consolidation for such a small amount should be a lot faster. Only issue is that I just landed a new job, but if I'm there for at least a year, then maybe I'll consider it. Proportions will not be ideal, which is my only concern, but the mockups actually didn't look bad at all. I was pleasantly surprised.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #44 on: August 24, 2015, 10:54:55 AM »

The day before my surgery, I measured myself at 167 cm (almost 5'6") by drawing a line on my wall where my head is while looking at a mirror to make sure that the pencil was parallel to the ground. And then I used a tape measure to measure the distance from the ground to that line.

When I went to Paley's consultation at the beginning of the year, they measured me at 5'5" (165 cm), which made no sense. But then I remembered that when they did it, I had been staying up all night the night before my consultation. My spine and posture was not very good when they measured me and I was very tired. I also remember them pushing the metal line really hard down on my head to the point where it hurt. Now that I think back about it, I think it was a tactic to make me think that I'm shorter than I really am.

But I also think what really changed was that I measured myself at 5'6" right after I woke up from a good nights sleep. And this was also after I had multiple massage therapy sessions to remove the decade old knots on my back and spine. This straightened up my posture by a lot, and even my friends noticed. So right before surgery, they remeasured me at pre-op, and I was standing at 167 cm.

Right now, my posture is back to being bad, because of duck ass. The curvature of your spine is noticeable when you have duck ass. After I fix my posture again when the recovery is all finished, I'd be probably 175 cm, which is slightly less than 5'9". But I don't mind not being exactly 5'9". I was able to get gorgeous girls at 5'5"- 5'6" (being a young self-made multimillionaire with a nice face helps here). So being around 5'9" is going to be a walk in the park.

If I can regain my flexibility within a year, I might do my tibias at a conservative 5 cm to get me to 180 cm, which is close to 5'11. I have the time and money for it. Whether it's worth it or not is questionable, because it IS a loss of 3-6 months of my life. What do you guys think? If my recovery goes well and I regain my flexibility, should I aim for 5'11" and regain proportions on my legs?
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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YellowSpike

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #45 on: August 24, 2015, 12:19:49 PM »

Well yeah, if you measure yourself in the morning right after a good night's sleep, you're gonna be at your tallest possible height. I don't know what my morning height was before LL (probably about 5'6", I know I was 5'5.3" at night), but I know I'm a tad below 5'9" right outta bed (like 174.7 ish), and around 5'8" at night right before bed.

In your case, if you have the time and money, why not do enough just to get to 5'10? I'd love to be 5'10 (evening height), but my career would end up in a precarious state if I took more time off (I am lucky I was able to get a fully paid leave and work from home for 3 months, as it was). Since you're self-made (congrats by the way - you have my utmost respect), you can easily do another LL. I will likely have to settle for 5'9 via an extra inch on femurs...cheaper and faster than a tibia LL.

If you're able to get girls at 5'5", yeah getting girls post LL will be a cakewalk. I think once you hit 5'8" (at the bare minimum), facial aesthetics and body really take over (unless they are size queens who will exclusively date 6ft or above).
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #46 on: August 24, 2015, 07:50:19 PM »

Yea doing just 5-6 cm more on my Tibs would get me to 5'10"-5'11". That would be my dream height. I think I will do it next year unless I meet some amazing girl and she's happy with my 5'8"-5'9" height. I got measured again today for my doc's appointment tomorrow and I actually gained flexibility back. I measure 126 degrees on my right leg for knee bend, and 70 degrees for straight leg raise. 70 degrees for straight leg raise is just neutral for them, so I will have to keep working on that. But that's a 5 degree improvement from 65 last time, and 120 for knee bend. This means that all that extra PT I've been doing while in the hotel really worked.

I am updating my guess from 90% chance to get to 8 cm to 97% chance to get to 8 cm now, seeing that I am able to maintain or improve my flexibility even though I am at around 6 cm now.

Do you think it'll be weird to be 5'11" with a 5'7" wingspan though? Seems like maybe I should just be happy with 5'8"-5'9".
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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YellowSpike

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #47 on: August 24, 2015, 09:30:35 PM »

Yea doing just 5-6 cm more on my Tibs would get me to 5'10"-5'11". That would be my dream height. I think I will do it next year unless I meet some amazing girl and she's happy with my 5'8"-5'9" height. I got measured again today for my doc's appointment tomorrow and I actually gained flexibility back. I measure 126 degrees on my right leg for knee bend, and 70 degrees for straight leg raise. 70 degrees for straight leg raise is just neutral for them, so I will have to keep working on that. But that's a 5 degree improvement from 65 last time, and 120 for knee bend. This means that all that extra PT I've been doing while in the hotel really worked.

I am updating my guess from 90% chance to get to 8 cm to 97% chance to get to 8 cm now, seeing that I am able to maintain or improve my flexibility even though I am at around 6 cm now.

Do you think it'll be weird to be 5'11" with a 5'7" wingspan though? Seems like maybe I should just be happy with 5'8"-5'9".

I hope you can get to 8cm, good luck man! I worked really hard in PT and had above average (though I wouldn't say amazing) flexibility, and it got really hard at about 6cm. Really hard. But I'm sure you'll do fine.

5'8" isn't too bad, and generally good for most women aside from very tall ones (which don't even appeal to me, regardless) or true height queens. The only thing I would say is not to base your decision on future LL on having a gf or not. Do what you want and what makes you happy :) I know I'd be be 100% satisfied at 5'10, but time is an issue for me. So I might have to settle for 5'9 and not amazing proportions if I do another inch on my femurs next year. That seems to be the fastest and easiest way to get closer to my ideal height range of average without taking what seems like another eternity to recovery. And after you recover from this, seeing how long it will take (especially if you do 8cm), you may not wanna do tibias (they take even longer). But you're a few years younger than me, you're rich and self employed - so if anyone can do it, you can!
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #48 on: August 25, 2015, 12:01:18 AM »

The only thing I would say is not to base your decision on future LL on having a gf or not. Do what you want and what makes you happy :) I know I'd be be 100% satisfied at 5'10, but time is an issue for me.

You might have misunderstood what I meant when I said that. I meant that if I find an amazing gf within the next year and she's okay with my height (i.e. finds me attractive), then I will probably be too busy traveling the world and having fun with her to have time for another 6 months of LL. I had a gorgeous, amazing long-term GF of many years when I did this LL. I was doing it purely for my happiness. But I couldn't help but feel that I took 2 months away from her life as she took care of me and had to handle my pee and watch me piss myself in bed. If I didn't do LL, I would have been traveling the world with her like I used to do and have great fun. I felt really bad about it as most of our time was spent sitting in a hotel room and it made our relationship very stale - like being in a boring marriage. I would not want to put any girlfriend through this again. She broke up with me after she stopped taking care of me. She was happy with my height before, and I think I lost a lot of respect from her for doing LL. This is why people should keep LL a secret. Other people will not say it to your face, but I have a strong feeling that a majority of people will lose respect for you when they find out that you did a cosmetic surgery. It is similar to how people lose respect for women who get breast implants. They see it as vanity, and they don't understand the discrimination and heightism. I wouldn't want to lose another amazing GF again. And I think going from 5'6" to 5'9" is a bit more understandable. If I told my future GF that I was going to volunteer to be handicap for 6 months and risk potential long-term side effects like knee pain to gain 2 inches in height, she might also lose major respect for me. I don't want that.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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alps

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #49 on: August 25, 2015, 03:02:55 AM »

watch me piss myself in bed.

why would this happen? I thought LLers can do toilet transfers themselves.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #50 on: August 25, 2015, 10:43:25 AM »

Only for pooping. It is more convenient to use the urinal, especially because I drink a lot of water to keep myself healthy. It is hard to pee horizontally into a urinal. It is not uncommon to get piss on yourself afterwards, because gravity doesn't clear out all the residue pee in your penis.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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YellowSpike

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #51 on: August 25, 2015, 01:16:15 PM »

I don't even care about a gf or not, but I would tread carefully. If I ended up with an amazing gf (and could see it going long-term), I would possibly consider not doing a second LL. But a woman can always just leave you, and I have to be true to myself. And I'm still not happy with my height. Whether I'm doing femurs for an inch or 1.5 inches on tibias, I am almost certainly doing a future LL. I will not stop until I am happy, regardless of a hypothetical future woman or not.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #52 on: August 25, 2015, 06:19:51 PM »

I will not stop until I am happy, regardless of a hypothetical future woman or not.

I really hope you become happy one day with or without the surgery. Good luck, my friend. And let my experience be a warning if you do get an amazing long term gf and you end up doing LL in front of her. She will most likely lose a lot of respect for you and even be disgusted. Whenever I see posts on non-LL forums about someone doing LL, almost all of the replies from women are that it's a huge red flag and a deal breaker. And if she asks her friends if how she feels about LL is rational, all of her friends will also think that you're crazy and not support what you're doing. This is what happened to me. And this is how I lost my girlfriend. So my advice would be to do that LL sooner before you find your significant other.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
Link to my experience

YellowSpike

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #53 on: August 25, 2015, 06:36:31 PM »

I really hope you become happy one day with or without the surgery. Good luck, my friend. And let my experience be a warning if you do get an amazing long term gf and you end up doing LL in front of her. She will most likely lose a lot of respect for you and even be disgusted. Whenever I see posts on non-LL forums about someone doing LL, almost all of the replies from women are that it's a huge red flag and a deal breaker. And if she asks her friends if how she feels about LL is rational, all of her friends will also think that you're crazy and not support what you're doing. This is what happened to me. And this is how I lost my girlfriend. So my advice would be to do that LL sooner before you find your significant other.

Thanks man. And I agree with you 100%. I was out with a very hot girl last night. She said several times how she doesn't date guys below 5'7" (and then guess me at "what are you, 5'9 or 5'10")? I would never tell a woman about this. If I'm tight that day and my gait is still funny, I just tell her I had surgery to fix bowlegs, and it's worked so far.

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Iamready

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #54 on: August 25, 2015, 11:25:38 PM »

What's up?  I am staying at home wood suites right now waiting for my consultation tomorrow. I'll be here till Thursday and I'll most likely have my surgery next month. If you get bored let me know.  Hope all is well.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #55 on: August 26, 2015, 09:54:21 AM »

What's up?  I am staying at home wood suites right now waiting for my consultation tomorrow. I'll be here till Thursday and I'll most likely have my surgery next month. If you get bored let me know.  Hope all is well.

Good luck with the consultation. Maybe you might bump into me at the physical therapist office in the morning.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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alps

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #56 on: August 26, 2015, 01:58:42 PM »

I really hope you become happy one day with or without the surgery. Good luck, my friend. And let my experience be a warning if you do get an amazing long term gf and you end up doing LL in front of her. She will most likely lose a lot of respect for you and even be disgusted. Whenever I see posts on non-LL forums about someone doing LL, almost all of the replies from women are that it's a huge red flag and a deal breaker. And if she asks her friends if how she feels about LL is rational, all of her friends will also think that you're crazy and not support what you're doing. This is what happened to me. And this is how I lost my girlfriend. So my advice would be to do that LL sooner before you find your significant other.

I don't know if you can keep a secret for long. Once you get really close to her, and get over the fact that you did LL it wouldn't be ok to keep it a secret. What do you think would happen if she found out after you have kids, etc. Living a part of a distasteful marriage will suck. Not that I have a solution to the issue, I'm pointing out that keeping it a secret is really critical and yet difficult.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #57 on: August 26, 2015, 02:26:57 PM »

I don't know if you can keep a secret for long. Once you get really close to her, and get over the fact that you did LL it wouldn't be ok to keep it a secret. What do you think would happen if she found out after you have kids, etc. Living a part of a distasteful marriage will suck. Not that I have a solution to the issue, I'm pointing out that keeping it a secret is really critical and yet difficult.
I can keep a secret very well. I don't plan on getting married and having kids. World's overpopulated.
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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patientdad

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #58 on: August 27, 2015, 12:01:44 AM »

I wouldn't tell anyone.
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #59 on: August 27, 2015, 11:39:55 AM »

So a new development is that my nails are slightly bent near the top. However, the distraction is still working, so they still have me to okay to go to 8 cm. they also told me that to get to 8 cm, I actually have to lengthen to 84 mm. So I'm staying a bit longer than expected.

In other news, I stopped taking OxyContin, because I'm running out of it. I plan on saving it for days that I would need it consistently, like if I went on a date. I now only take Oxycodone, which leaves gaps in my pain because they only last 3-4 hours. When I wake up in the morning, that is when I am at my peak pain. The oxy would be at its lowest in the morning. This is when I find out what is really aching in my body. And lately, it is the area around my knee. My knee cap is not aligned properly. It makes a clicking noise when I bend or move my legs sideways. The doctor told me that clicking noises happen to a lot of people and that it's nothing to worry about. I bet that I am grinding my knee caps right now against my knee joint and this is going to give me knee pain when I'm older. So my plan is to not do running any more in my future. I read that runners also develop knee problems from all the rubbing. Only swimming for aerobic activity for me from now on. Other than that, I'm in a very uplifting mood, because they gave me the okay to go to 8 cm and I am already at 6 cm. the next 25 days are going to be really tough, from what I heard. Wish me luck!
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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Penguinn

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #60 on: August 27, 2015, 12:01:40 PM »

So a new development is that my nails are slightly bent near the top. However, the distraction is still working, so they still have me to okay to go to 8 cm. they also told me that to get to 8 cm, I actually have to lengthen to 84 mm. So I'm staying a bit longer than expected.

In other news, I stopped taking OxyContin, because I'm running out of it. I plan on saving it for days that I would need it consistently, like if I went on a date. I now only take Oxycodone, which leaves gaps in my pain because they only last 3-4 hours. When I wake up in the morning, that is when I am at my peak pain. The oxy would be at its lowest in the morning. This is when I find out what is really aching in my body. And lately, it is the area around my knee. My knee cap is not aligned properly. It makes a clicking noise when I bend or move my legs sideways. The doctor told me that clicking noises happen to a lot of people and that it's nothing to worry about. I bet that I am grinding my knee caps right now against my knee joint and this is going to give me knee pain when I'm older. So my plan is to not do running any more in my future. I read that runners also develop knee problems from all the rubbing. Only swimming for aerobic activity for me from now on. Other than that, I'm in a very uplifting mood, because they gave me the okay to go to 8 cm and I am already at 6 cm. the next 25 days are going to be really tough, from what I heard. Wish me luck!

Isn't there an alternative to giving up running? Perhaps you could fix whatever bothers your knees with another surgery, or ask your doctor about it. I'm not sure I understand it fully but if it doesn't just go away, you shouldn't have to live with it.

All the best! You're more than 2 inches taller than you were before.  8)
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DoingItForMe

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Re: DoingItForMe's Precice 2 Internal Femurs with Dr. Paley
« Reply #61 on: August 27, 2015, 12:11:32 PM »

I didn't do running before the surgery anyway. I do elliptical and swimming
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8 cm gained with Dr. Paley using Precice 2.1 internal femurs in Summer 2015.
Starting height: 167 cm (5'6") Currently at: 175 cm (5'9")
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