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[LIVELIFETHEWAYIWANT]

Hi , I did precise 2.2 with DR debiparshad in april , now I am 5 months into consolidation .

congratz on your recovery so far , hope it get better and better .

I went from 168 to 176ish , hope I can get back to normal activity soon . lol .

[akali]

What a diary……. Thank you and congratz my brother!

[senk]

Hi , I did precise 2.2 with DR debiparshad in april , now I am 5 months into consolidation .

congratz on your recovery so far , hope it get better and better .

I went from 168 to 176ish , hope I can get back to normal activity soon . lol .

Hii, ive sent you a PM could you check it pls?

[LIVELIFETHEWAYIWANT]

replied.

[StrydeNailChallenge]

Hi BTM,
I checked the forum after several months and on first page I saw your page.
I am glad all worked well for you.
Some of us (you and myself included) did CLL at a perfect timing window during the covid lockdown and that I think sped up our recovery, while almost everything went online!
SNC

[BelowTheMean]

Hi BTM,
I checked the forum after several months and on first page I saw your page.
I am glad all worked well for you.
Some of us (you and myself included) did CLL at a perfect timing window during the covid lockdown and that I think sped up our recovery, while almost everything went online!
SNC

Hey SNC, you might not ever see this, but I'm really glad I had you, Movie, and the other guys to chat with while lengthening. Having a community made the process so much better, even if only virtually! We were definitely super lucky to do CLL during the golden window (Stryde + lockdown + WFH).

---------------------------------------------------------------

In other news it's been over a year since my nail removal and I randomly felt like stopping by today. It seriously feels like it's already been years since I went through CLL!

I don't have any major updates to give. I'm still improving athletically, but not to my pre-surgery level. I think part of it is also caused by aging, but there was definitely some level of athletic loss from getting the surgery, which I have always been aware that it was going to happen. Numbness in my shins is still slightly there, but again it's better than before. My scars are still quite obvious, though two of the six have faded to a much lighter color (though still different than my base skin tone).

In terms of dating, not much has changed. I'm basically back to the same lifestyle as I was before CLL and COVID (mostly hookups with above average looking girls, but with a lot fewer of them calling me short now). I'm still far too picky for my own good and CLL doesn't seem to have helped me find someone worth settling down with. I don't want to encourage people to do CLL for more dating opportunities, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make the process a little easier.

However, based on my experience while the baseline number of girls willing to date me after CLL has gone up significantly, it hasn't made a huge impact to the types of girls I'm dating; I just have access to a lot more of the same type of girl. You will definitely have more dating opportunities if you do CLL, but not necessarily better looking girls. I think I have to make more structural changes to my lifestyle and dating strategies if I want to date a completely different pool of girls than I already am. Adding three inches of height was definitely not enough to make a difference.

I'm still working on this and based on firsthand experiences from the last year, I have a few ideas on what approach to take (aside from just making way more money ) A part of me wonders if I even needed to get CLL if I ultimately end up taking the money route to get married to a 10/10.. but doing CLL has definitely made me happier with myself and more confident in general (outside of dating too) so it was still worth it to me even if not for the girls.

Anyway, just some random thoughts! Wishing you all the best. -BTM

[Yau]

Hey SNC, you might not ever see this, but I'm really glad I had you, Movie, and the other guys to chat with while lengthening. Having a community made the process so much better, even if only virtually! We were definitely super lucky to do CLL during the golden window (Stryde + lockdown + WFH).

---------------------------------------------------------------

In other news it's been over a year since my nail removal and I randomly felt like stopping by today. It seriously feels like it's already been years since I went through CLL!

I don't have any major updates to give. I'm still improving athletically, but not to my pre-surgery level. I think part of it is also caused by aging, but there was definitely some level of athletic loss from getting the surgery, which I have always been aware that it was going to happen. Numbness in my shins is still slightly there, but again it's better than before. My scars are still quite obvious, though two of the six have faded to a much lighter color (though still different than my base skin tone).

In terms of dating, not much has changed. I'm basically back to the same lifestyle as I was before CLL and COVID (mostly hookups with above average looking girls, but with a lot fewer of them calling me short now). I'm still far too picky for my own good and CLL doesn't seem to have helped me find someone worth settling down with. I don't want to encourage people to do CLL for more dating opportunities, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make the process a little easier.

However, based on my experience while the baseline number of girls willing to date me after CLL has gone up significantly, it hasn't made a huge impact to the types of girls I'm dating; I just have access to a lot more of the same type of girl. You will definitely have more dating opportunities if you do CLL, but not necessarily better looking girls. I think I have to make more structural changes to my lifestyle and dating strategies if I want to date a completely different pool of girls than I already am. Adding three inches of height was definitely not enough to make a difference.

I'm still working on this and based on firsthand experiences from the last year, I have a few ideas on what approach to take (aside from just making way more money ) A part of me wonders if I even needed to get CLL if I ultimately end up taking the money route to get married to a 10/10.. but doing CLL has definitely made me happier with myself and more confident in general (outside of dating too) so it was still worth it to me even if not for the girls.

Anyway, just some random thoughts! Wishing you all the best. -BTM

So glad you came back to this forum after so many years and told us your current status.  You said that your athletic ability is improving, can you play football, basketball and tennis?  Not a professional level, just entertainment.  I know it's trade off and I will lose some athletic ability after LL surgery, but if just for entertainment, can I play sports again?

You said doing CLL has definitely made u happier with yourself and more confident in general so it was still worth it to u. I totally agree with u. Just do it for myself, not for dating. But I am worried about permanent complications. You said numbness in your shins is still slightly , but it's better than before. Does it bother u and affect your daily life?(eg cannot walk long distances).

Please update randomly to tell us your current status. Wishing u all best. Thanks a lot!

[toyz]

do u hav a very handsome face and body? are u rich? i thought this level of getting laid happens only in movies.. teach us bro

[BelowTheMean]

So glad you came back to this forum after so many years and told us your current status.  You said that your athletic ability is improving, can you play football, basketball and tennis?  Not a professional level, just entertainment.  I know it's trade off and I will lose some athletic ability after LL surgery, but if just for entertainment, can I play sports again?

You said doing CLL has definitely made u happier with yourself and more confident in general so it was still worth it to u. I totally agree with u. Just do it for myself, not for dating. But I am worried about permanent complications. You said numbness in your shins is still slightly , but it's better than before. Does it bother u and affect your daily life?(eg cannot walk long distances).

Please update randomly to tell us your current status. Wishing u all best. Thanks a lot!

I don't play football (i.e. soccer) or basketball, but I've seen videos on the forum of people playing those (most notably Movie playing soccer). I do play a lot of tennis though, and I know I'm definitely not as athletic as I used to be. I can feel that it takes longer to start up a sprint and I can't stop as fast when I need to turn quickly so my court positioning isn't as good as before, but I can still serve and rally just as well as before. I try to play at least once a week so I'd say I have a pretty good gauge of where I'm at. There are sports where the impact is very small, like skiing, snowboarding, surfing, swimming, etc. but anything that requires agility will be worse than before.

As for my shin numbness it's barely noticeable at this point. It was never a big issue though because it's not painful. As I wrote in my journal, even when it was at its worst, I wouldn't notice it unless something brushed against my shins. This was kind of annoying when I wore long pants, but a few months after consolidation pants felt normal to me. At this point I don't even notice it unless I'm purposefully sliding my hands up and down my shins trying to see if it's still there and even then I can barely feel it. The shin numbness has never impacted my ability to walk and no one aside from me can even tell that it's there.

I would say based on my experience after consolidation you will eventually reach 100% for walking. I can walk 30K steps in a day no problem. Running however, is much worse than before. I can't sprint very fast and my endurance isn't as good as before. I have been working out more lately and I think my running is improving, but it's still much worse than before surgery. I could run a sub 5:30 mile (1600m) before surgery and I'm not sure if I can run a 10:00 mile today. With that said, at my age I really don't care how fast I run and I don't regret making the tradeoff at all.

do u hav a very handsome face and body? are u rich? i thought this level of getting laid happens only in movies.. teach us bro

Nah, I can name at least 5 friends who are even better with girls than I am (and none of them had to get CLL). I live in a top tier city so there are lot of attractive people and wealth floating around. If you move to a fast paced city with the type of nightlife that you enjoy, get into the right circles and getting laid all the time shouldn't be an issue at all. However, finding someone both attractive and worth settling down with is definitely an issue.

[Yau]

Thanks a lot!
Your reply is useful and gave me more confidence to do this surgery.

[alf6cm]

Just checking in on you BTM. How are you doing?

[BelowTheMean]

Just checking in on you BTM. How are you doing?

Not much changed in the one week between when I updated and you posted this
Really just focused on living my life fully since I've already moved past the height dysphoria phase already.

Hi.
I am setting a consultation with Dr.D tomorrow, I know you are not always active here anymore but I have some questions
1.How much would you say you spent overall on LLC, not including the surgery, just other stuff like housing, uber, medication etc
2.what things off the top of your head can I get to make this journey a little easier
3. do you still have the area you stayed at while in vegas


Your response is highly appreciated.

Responding to this PM publicly so anyone else who has similar questions can see.

1. This can be found in my journal:

My legs are too sore today so I'm waiting for tomorrow to record a video and update the journal. This entry is not an update, but rather the list of LL costs that I had promised. It should give you a good idea of what you might need to spend in total to get this done in the US. I'm also including a list of some of the items that I bought just for LL and found helpful or not helpful to have during the process.

Major Medical Costs (No Insurance)

Item	Cost
Virtual Consultation	$200
In Person Consultation	$400
Deposit	$15K
Remainder to Doctor	$54K
Hospital Deposit	$9K
Hospital Radiology+Lab Bills	$100

Ancillary Medical Costs (Billed to Insurance)

Item	Count	Out of Pocket Cost
Pre-op Blood Work (Lab)	1 visit	$40
Physical Therapy	60 visits	$3850*
Pharmacy	4 mo supply	$1850^
X-Rays	4 visits	$850

My insurance paid about $10K for these claims. YMMV depending on your plan benefits.
*PT: First 6 visits were within 2 weeks of my surgical date and covered by Dr. D. For my PT sessions at home, I negotiated a discount on my out of pocket costs otherwise I would have paid about $900 more.
^Drugs: Painkillers paid with cash and everything else billed to insurance. The anticoagulant was most expensive drug by far. I only got one refill on my painkillers.

Other Items

Item	Cost
Vegas Airbnb (1 month)	$1500
Home Health Aide*	$450
Bone Supplements	$40/month
Waterproof Bath Pillow^	$40
Rubber Ring Cushion^	$20
Massage Gun	$80
Walking Cane	$20
Grabber Tool	$10
10 ft Cell Phone Cable	$10

*Aide came 5 times for 3 hours each time.
^For taking baths. It's very uncomfortable to sit in the bathtub with a flat butt

Items that I didn't find useful:
Cloth bath pillow - grew moldy, way too hard to clean for an LL patient
Biofreeze gel - didn't really do anything for my pain
Bath wipes - didn't really need them

Other costs not included here:
Transportation - airfare, rideshares, and hotel for initial stay or follow-up visits
Food - delivery of groceries and takeout
Additional X-rays - I will have to get more of these to track my consolidation, but they are <$100 a visit for me for the rest of the year
Nail removal surgery - no comment for now
Scar removal surgery - I might need this

Additionally, nail removal cost about $9K and I spent about $2.5K on laser scar reduction at a dermatology office. (Edit: Actually, if you want to go into details, I spent €600 to upgrade my transatlantic flight back from Spain after nail removal to a lie flat seat to reduce my risk of DVT. That's technically a CLL-related expense. I don't think that price remotely feasible nowadays with post-COVID travel back to 100%)

For nail removal you'll definitely have to do your own research. I got mine at the same place as Movie, who paid much less than I did even though I did it a few months after him. As for the scar reduction I'm not sure if it's really worth it. The procedure helped flatten my scars, but I don't think it helped too much with making them less red/lighter color. Now that my removal scars are over a year old maybe I'll go try it again.

2. I honestly don't remember that much from my day-to-day life after the procedure anymore. I think I was mostly just chilling in my Airbnb, working remotely, watching Netflix/YouTube, ordering delivery, and going to PT. Also, I did mine with Stryde and there's no weight bearing nail in the US now, so I don't know if any advice that I can give is really relevant. I would say if you really want to see some random tips that might help you get through the procedure, just read through my journal to see what I was thinking at each step of the way. 2020 to 2021 is all a blur to me now, with LL and staying at home due to COVID I think my brain just blocked it all off

3. I stayed in Henderson I think. It was just a random cheap Airbnb that was the side entrance of some guy's house. Definitely nothing special about where I stayed. I would say that without a weight bearing nail you might want to be a little more careful about where you stay since you might need more space than I did to use the walker or crutches wherever you go.

[BelowTheMean]

Here is another PM with generic questions that I'm responding to publicly:

Hi sir,

My son will be 19 when is potentially getting the surgery (G-nail).  He is thinking of getting only 6cm done but your progress is very meaningful to us as he is only 169cm as well.

We are thinking get the 6cm on femur and later do tibias after college if he wants it.

Do you still think the surgery has reduced yoru athletic potential?  He plays soccer and would hate to lose alot of speed.  If so, any thoughts on % lost?  Do you think you could do anyting more to fix that (heavy training?)

First of all, make sure that he actually wants to get it himself. Plenty of guys at 169cm live great lives and don't care about height at all. If he does get it my guess is he will be satisfied with his height after one surgery if he finishes at least 6cm on femurs (though it obviously depends a lot on race and location). If you haven't told him that you are willing to pay for two surgeries, I would just tell him that you're only willing to pay for one. Let him bring up the second surgery to you if he really wants it himself. I can't speak to the aftermath of two surgeries so I won't.

Regarding athleticism, I used to think doing 8cm was a lot worse than doing 6cm, but now I'm not so sure. I think my recovery would have been a bit faster at 6cm, but I can't say for sure that I would be more athletic than I am now. I don't know how to quantify a percentage of recovery. It seems too abstract to me. I will make the following points though:

• I don't know anything about soccer or other sports that I don't play, but in general for casual sports, you should eventually recover to the point where you can play with friends for fun.
• Running is definitely strongly impacted by LL. I used to be able to run 1600m in 5:30, but after LL I have yet to be able to run a full mile without taking walking breaks. The reason is actually not due to muscle fatigue in the legs; if I start running with any speed (let's say 7-8mph) my heart rate goes up to dangerous levels after just a few minutes. I don't enjoy cardio so I don't train very frequently so I don't know how much of this is from being out of shape for running and how much is due to LL, but I would say that any sport which requires constant running is probably going to take much longer to get back in shape for.
• I'm in an adult tennis league and I've been playing ranked matches all summer and knowing that I'm not as athletic after CLL has not taken the fun out of it. I think I can scramble almost as fast as before to hit tricky shots (both lateral and forward) though my explosiveness is down and it's definitely harder for me to stop a sprint. My serves and rallies are not impacted at all. I get tired more quickly due to the cardio issue, but because tennis is stop and go I can maintain a safe heart rate. I can generally play aggressively for over an hour and I think I'm still improving, so maybe I still have some room to get better.
• Golf, skiing/snowboarding, surfing, swimming, and diving are not impacted at all by LL. So if you enjoy those then I wouldn't worry at all about losing athleticism there.
• I have also been working out normally for a long time, though squats are not very fun.
• If your son wants to be a college athlete then getting LL is absolutely not worth it. Even if you can get close to 100% recovery I think that it would take many years.
• While LL may have reduce my athleticism, I'm still way more athletic than your average sedentary American. I was never going to be a pro and sports are just entertainment for me, so I don't care about topping out my performance.

Ultimately it's a personal decision and we have different priorities at different points in our lives. While a 19 year old may care a lot about sports, I would think that a 30-something year old wouldn't. The decision to get CLL takes both foresight and determination.