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[dream_catcher]

Hi all, I am an Asian Canadian. My height started to bother me since my later twenties. And a few years ago, I thought that I've managed to get over with this problem mentally. But I was wrong... unfortunately I read a news about a success story of leg lengthening.  And that is the begining of my story.

The first time I visited this forum was last September and since then I've become obessed with leg lengthening. I spent hours and hours reading other patients' experience and checking different doctors' information on this forum and other websites. As you know, I read news about people really got handicapped after leg lengthening and I was scared and hesitated. But then I read the experience of shyshy and yellowspike, who had their surgery operated by Dr. Guichet and I finally decided to at least pay a visit to Dr. Guichet.

[dream_catcher]

Unfortunately I was quite busy with my work for the fall of 2015 and I could only arrange to see Dr.Guichet in February 2016. That was indeed a long wait for me. How I wished that I could get all this leg lengthening process done as soon as possible!

So at last I had my first consultation with Dr. Guichet at Milan. He was nice and knowledgeable, just like his other patients said. He answered all my questions and cleared my doubts. However, he asked one requirement from me, increasing my leg strength by 30%. Luckily he agreed to let me do the training at my home, but must with a qualified personal trainer.

After more than three months of hard working with a good personal trainer, I arranged my second visit with Dr. Guichet and prebooked my surgery in June. While I was at home, I contacted Dr. Guichet several times via email and he always responded by himself. Most times he responded my email within 3 days, unless he was busy doing surgeries.

[Peaceout]

good luck what is your starting height and goal?

[dream_catcher]

I'm 165cm tall and hope to gain 7cm in a bit over two months. As my age is towards the high end of the patients that Dr. Guichet had, I guess he is a bit conservative on how much I can gain. He said he will see how my body reacts during the lengthening process, which will start on June 20. Yes, next Monday!

Last week I met the group of Dr. Guichet 's patients and I had the chance to talk a bit with Mr.D, who is also from Canada, and Mr.T, who is from Australia and had his surgery two months ago. They are all cool guys. Mr. D likeed to making jokes when he and I were talking with Francisca, our personal trainer. He is so relaxed and he is so lucky to have all his family staying here with him. Mr. T was so calm when he was talking about his pain caused by one of his nails touching a nerve. Wow, I can't imagine how hurtful that feels.

As for me, I'm in Milan all by myself because my wife needs to work in Canada. But I used to travel around from time to time by myself, mostly for my work, and I studied a little bit of Italian just before I came to Milan. So hopefully I can manage my life decently after the lengthening starts.

[dream_catcher]

I was very busy this past week especially yesterday and today. There were so many shoppings to do. I bought an exercise bike, which Dr. Guichet said is necessary to use each time before clicking. A few other patients who came earlier managed to have the bike delivered by the store. But it takes a week to ship it so I picked it up directly from the store. I also bought a foldable walker and a pair of crutches, which I'll start to use soon Not to mention there is a prescribed list of all kinds of medicine to buy.

Last but not least, I bought a lot of sporting shirts and socks, enough amount for at leadt two weeks without the need for washing, which I'd like to avoid in the toughest beginning of the lengthening. And I'm still working on the list of food that can supply my wellbeing and growth for two weeks and I need to buy all the food tomorrow. What a load of work!

[dream_catcher]

Today I took a photo of myself to record my flexibility before the surgery. I think that my flexibility is decent, except my hamstrings still feel tight. I'll concentrate on stretching them in these last two days before my surgery 

[dream_catcher]

One day before my surgery and two days after Mr. D's surgery. His surgery went well and he was so kind to send me his best wishes and some important tips, while he was still at the hospital! Based on his tips, I rushed to buy a few more shorts, t-shirts and socks. And I bought the last batch of food for my first two weeks of lengthening. What else? I also did my last strength training before surgery at the gym. Are all these preparations enough? I hope so, unless some unexpected situation occurs, and I believe that I've done as much as I could

[Alu]

Thanks for the new dairy. Good luck on your procedure. Wish you the best!

[dream_catcher]

Thank you, Alu 

[TIBIKE200]

good luck and stay safe.

[axelf]

how long (seconds/minutes) can you hold that stretch in your picture?

[dream_catcher]

Axelf: I never attempted to see how long I can hold that position, but I can hold it easily for at least one minute.

I'm in my hospital room now... before my surgery, which will be the very first surgery in my life. A strong fear filled my body after a nurse injected an injector/extractor into my vein. At that moment, I suddenly realized that I'm a patient who is indeed going to undertake a heavy surgery! Wow, I never had that fear before...but I managed to get rid of the fear after a minute  I decided to start all this, so I must commit to finish this.

I came to the hospital at 11am, but Dr. Guichet had another surgery in the morning, so I don't know how long I need to  wait. Anyway I first arranged my stuff like medicines, water bottle, phone, and tablet at my room so that I could easily access them after the surgery. Then to kill the time, I turned on the TV. There are just a few channels, of course all in Italian. But one channel is showing American detective drama series, one after another, which I think was shot in the 80s. Well, I can't understand most of the talk of the characters , as the program is translated into Italian, but that doesn't prevent me to understand the main plot

[dream_catcher]

Thank you too, tbike200.

[Cheez]

Good luck...

[ortholengthening]

looking forward to reading your journey
as an asian-canadian myself and being older.
you must have a very understanding wife/family to support you.

out of curiosity, approximately how old are you? mid 30's? early 40's?

best of luck!

[dream_catcher]

Thank all you guys for the best wishes 

My surgery was finished one and half an hour ago and I just managed to finish my first and only meal for the last 24hours I think the surgery lasted around 6 hours because I remembered being taken to the operation room about 4pm. Yeah, I still remember things 

The first half an hour right after the doctors woke me up was serously insane. My whole body even my teeth were so so shaky and I had no control over it. The nurse told me that's  because of the pressure (of the instrumented nails?) And I was literally out of mind: weird thoughts were re-occurring in my mind, I don't even know if I'm still me and I felt like a robot who was being programs as my thoughts definitely  weren't coming from my consciousness! I guess that's the after-effect of anethesia   

I felt most pain in my right leg, which I guess was at the exact location where the nail was inserted. I couldn't look at it as it was coverred by a band. And both my legs felt very stuffy...Yes, stuffy with the nails and perhaps also swollen, which I'll left to check tomorrow morning.

[dream_catcher]

ortholengthing, I'm in my early 40s and I consider myself to be old for this kind surgery, but Dr. Guichet told me he had one patient in early 50s.

Dr. Guichet came by my room an hour or so after the surgery. He got the feet side of the bed elevated so my feet stayed higher than my upper body. But I lost that elevation after I tried to lower the entire bed. So I asked the nurse to help that he didn't know how to do it and I ended  up with two pillows stacked under my feet. Dr. Guichet tried to rotate my right leg and he could easily bend my right knee, but my right leg couldn't rotate inwards as my knee and my thigh muscle was contacting out of my control. I hope the muscle will loosen up tomorrow, otherwise I don't know if I can click.

I'm going to try to get some sleep now, though I don't feel very sleepy after the meal. I guess tomorrow will be a very tough day as the effect of painkillers will be gone...

[Takanori]

Very happy that all is ok for you Dream catcher. In 3 weeks it will be my turn...Start to stress already.

Good recovery mate!

[YellowSpike]

Dream catcher, just wanted to wish you the best of luck. But with Dr. G, you won't need it. You just need to be strong, work hard in PT, and stretch as much as you can. And for the love of God, take as many calcium supplements as you can.

Listen to your body. 7cm is a good goal (you are a similar starting height to mine, I was 166). If your consolidation isn't great, you may need to stop. Just listen to Dr. G - honestly, he's the man. Everything he has told me came/has come true. He really does have your best interests at heart (both in achieving your height dreams as well as not crippling yourself).

[ram2206]

Congrats on completing surgery. Thanks for sharing your live experience.
Keep continuous slow breathing and do Yoga while you have relaxing time and your body will have less pain and cooperate to your thoughts.
Good Luck !

[dream_catcher]

Yellowspike, it's my honour to have you here! Your successful experience played an important role when I made my decision. Yes, I just realized that 7cm is not easy to achieve the first day after my surgery, and I'll have to listen to my body and followc Dr. Guichet's advices.Thank you.

Takanori and ram2206, thank you too and I'll try my best to update my diary everyday.

I had a relatively easy start today, though I didn't really sleep but only rested last night. My pain was moderate and I had a good apitite...I finished all my breakfast

Later, while I was still wondering what should I do for today,  Francesca and Mattisa, a physiotherapist works for Dr. Guichet,  came by to start my exercise, which was rather scary than painful for me to do. Mattisa asked me to lift my legs up from my bed, but it took me 5 minutes to lift each of my legs up for just a couple of cms. But both of them were very patient and understanding

Then Mattisa and a nurse carefully helped me to stand up with my walker and move to a wheelchair, with which another nurse took me to do ultrasound and x-ray. Somehow I felt dizzy when sitting on the wheelchair. The ultrasound exam was easy as the specialist did it when I was sitting on the wheelchair, but the xray was a different story. The specialist asked me to stand up by myself and move to the exam bed. Both the specialist and nurse were women and weren't strong enough to assist me. So I asked the nurse to fetch my walker and put it in front of my wheelchair, But I still hesitated. With the two ladies staring at me and I staring at the walker for a couple of minutes, eventually I gave up. Better safe than sorry. I didn't want to have this difficult movement as my first independent standup ;p

[dream_catcher]

Yesterday was awful. Pain started to appear everywhere in my body: legs, buttocks, back. My legs were either stiffy or painful. One of the worst things is that I can't pee. Yes, I had to use the painful catheter for three times so far and I tried to drink as little fluid as I could to avoid that. Dr. Guichet told me it's normal to lose that ability to pee for a day or so after spine anethesia, but it's alresdy been two days for me

In the afternoon Francesca helped me finish my first sets of clickings, which scared me a bit by the thought on what exactly it does to my leg. I need to not thinking about this or I may not be able to do it.She asked me to do a set of clickings myself last night, but I wasn't able to do it by myself.

[TIBIKE200]

You should get over your fear. If you will not lengthen your leg, it will consolidate...
  You sort of knew what you are getting yourself into. So listen and do what the staff tells you to do

[Takanori]

Hi dream catcher,

i think it will be your hardest week, but keep your mind strong. Is it your last day in the hospital? Will you ask for an helper after this?

You've got all my support my friend.

Taka

[YellowSpike]

You're still in very early days my friend. It will get better. At about 2 or so weeks post-op, the pain will go down significantly. Sleep will suck throughout the entire process, but you'll be in less pain.

Then, once you get to about 5cm...that's what the pain comes back. And at 6cm...ugh.

Take it one day at a time. For me, clicking wasn't painful at all. Once I did it a few times, it was a piece of cake. Find the exact positions and motions you need to click, and you will be fine!

[dream_catcher]

Today I made significant improvements.First, I managed to walk to the gym in the hospital with Mattisa's help! It took me at least 15 minutes to walk the 15m distance, but that's a milestone for me: it's the first time that I can walk to  a place other than my hospital room Second,  while in the gym, I eventually peed by myself, though it hurted badly maybe as a result of using catheter. I once worried if my nerve that controls peeing was damaged. Third, I rode an exercise bike in the gym for the first time and I pedalled for 15 minutes Sitting onto the seat and starting the first cycle of pedaling were difficult, but with the momentum of the first cycle, continuing pedaling was relatively easy.

After biking, Mattisa helped me clicking and a new problem occurred. We easily did the clicking for my left leg for 3 times and we made the first half of the first clicking of my right leg. However, we couldn't make the second half of that clicking. We tried a couple of times without success :p Mattisa cautiously suggested that we stop the clicking for my right leg. My mind was hanging in the air. Could the nail have a problem and need to be replaced? Another surgery to replace a nail...that's the last thing in the world I want :O

[dream_catcher]

I anxiously contactef Dr. Guichet and Francisca for their help.Dr. Guichet told me that both Francisca and him would come by in the afternoon. Francesca came by first and she asked me several times whether I heard any clicking sound after we stopped clicking in the morning. I told her that I didn't. So she started to position my right leg for clicking and suddenly we heard a click...the missed second half of the clicking! And this time we had no problem finishing all the  clickings for my right leg.

Dr. Guichet came by in the evening and his first question to me was "How many inflex exercises did I do today?" I told him that Matissa helped me do about 10 times for each leg. Obviously he wasn't satisfied with my answer and he questionsed me "Do you hve two months or one year for the procedure?" The he started rightaway to DO the exercise for me. Unlike Mattissa's letting-me-decide-when-to-stop or Francesca's lettng-me-do-it methods, Dr. Guichet asked me no to resist and pushed my legs directly to my maximum limits! Ouch, it was rather painful. However, his method made it very easy to click. He clicked 3 times nd asked me to click 3 times by myself on each leg. So we made up my missed clickings yesterday.

Before he left, he gave me a daunting task: do the inflex exercises the way he did it for 100 times for each leg tonight :O

[goldenegg]

reading your diary brought back some awful memories right after my surgery.  stay strong!  like yellowspike said I promise life will get a lot better after the first 2 weeks.     

I know dr. G is asking a lot but try to do as much as possible.  his recommendations are in your best interest and will make your life and recovery better later on

[dream_catcher]

Tibike200: You are right. I have to do the clicking as scheduled by Dr. Guichet...by myself. And this evening I did all 5+5 clickings myself 

Takanori: I'm leaving the hospital tomorrow. People told me that the first few days after leaving the hospital are the toughest: we no longer use morphine as at the hospital so the level of pain increases sharply and the quality of the caretaking provided by a home helper, except a strong and caring family member, is much worse than that of the hospital nurses.

Yellowspike: I have lowered my expectations of the outcome of the lengthening significantly. Now I just want a reasonable growth like 5cm, free of complexions, tolerable pains, and decent recovery time. Probably I'm not as brave as you, I have realized that I am not an iron man and any of those kinds of unexpected situations might happen during the entire lengthening procedure and results in a failed lengthening.

Goldenegg: Thanks for your encouragement!

[dream_catcher]

Last night I did finish the 100 reps of exercises but it took me an entire 3 hours and I only took 1 minute break between each 10 sets! Each rep was so difficult and painful.

I "walked" four times today: two were for exercises and helped by Mattia, two were for bathrooms and helped by nurses.I wanted to avoid going to the bathroom, but I haven't pooed for three days and my apitite decreased significantly today as a result. Every trip to the bathroom was like an intense battle: it was not only painful but exhausting. With a lot of prayings and hard working, I succedded in my last trip, although with unimaginable difficulties.Thank God, what a great relief!

And I finished 200 reps of the exercises today, as requested by Dr. Guichet. He told me that "We can't win the battle after two weeks." The first two weeks are the most critical step in the lengthening procedure, though they are the toughest. I know I might not be able to achieve the requirements of the exercises when I go back home, so I have to do as many as I can when I'm still at the hospital.

I have to say that all people who succeeded in lengthening are very fortunate. There are so many risks of failures, which only those undertakers can really understand. And the choice of an experienced, skiLL Forumul, and caring doctor like Dr. Guichet and his/her team is the cornerstone of the success!

[LLuser1]

Stay like this dream catcher
You're in good hands and Gnail is probably the best nail in the market
I would advise America. If Europe go to Guichet