Hi glenn, been following your journal and the other Monegal kids. I consider you guys the first wave.
Thanks for your advice in needing to stretch more pre-surgery.
I have plans to come early December for consultation and surgery. Hopefully we can meet when you're back February for the 2nd leg of your journey (pun intended).
Keep us updated with your progress.
Hi Treemonger!
Actually I think there are few forum guys here that have already went back to their home countries after operation with Dr. Monegal, but I don't think they bothered to do diaries.
Haha, "2nd leg" 
Sounds good! Would be awesome to meet you in February, looking forward to it!
Hi All!
So it's been about three days since I arrived back in Canada.
I'm sad to leave the MIC, but it was time to go. Even though I miss all my MIC friends, I was starting to go crazy with all the seclusion.
Susana, the manager at the MIC, arranged for a special disabled taxi to take me to the airport, and even asked the driver to help me carry my bag all the way inside the airport to the disabled counter. The disabled counter is a free service offered by the airport to help disabled people board their planes. The workers will help you check in and get through the security check. This was extremely helpful for me since I was traveling with my own wheelchair.
Some notes:
They let me bypass the metal detectors on my wheelchair, so I don't know if Fitbone sets off the metal detectors or not.
I put the distraction machine in my carry-on luggage and it passed through the x-ray scrutiny without incident.
I had my x-rays and Clinica Diagonal discharge papers with me, but were unnecessary since nobody asked me to prove my disabled status.
The disabled service was extremely efficient, and within an hour of leaving the MICs I was already in front of the boarding gate waiting for the plane.
For the two months at the MIC I only interacted with a handful of people, and upon getting to the airport I was flooded with new experiences. I probably interacted with more people in two hours at the airport than I did for the past two months! Although I miss my MIC friends, I think it was necessary to move out of the comfort zone and get out there.
I've noticed that people are nicer to you when you're on a wheelchair, but tend not to directly look you in the eyes. Oh well, at least I can use the handicap washrooms without guilt now. :-)
Normal wheelchairs can't fit along the aisles of a plane, so boarding the plane requires that the airport staff transfer you to a small wheeled-chair. From there, two airport staff will drag/lift you to your designated seat. Although I didn't get any special seat considerations, the seat that I chose was right next to the lavatory, which made me going to the washroom a lot easier for everybody. I also made a note to constantly stretch and move my legs as much as I could. After touching down, the airport staff will get you off the plane the same way and then will help you through customs and getting your luggage.
At home, I told my parents and brother about the surgery and answered their questions about the procedure. They were shocked at first, but handled it quite bravely. In the end they were quite supportive of everything, which I am very grateful for. Although I'm quite sad to have to put them through the stress. Sometimes I think it might have been easier on them if I didn't come home and recuperated on my own elsewhere.
It's interesting to note, nobody noticed my height change until after I had told them about the surgery. Then it was, "Oh hey, you're taller now!"
My home isn't wheelchair adapted, so I'm forced to get by around the house with a walker and crutches. I think this is a good thing to get out of the comfort zone. I was getting a bit too attached to my wheelchair.
Straight out of bed my legs feel weak and unbalanced, so I use the walker. When my legs are warmed up after stretching and working out, I use the crutches without problem. Using either the walker or crutches I feel pressure on both my knees, and also weakness on my left adductors when I left my leg to take a step. I'm not too worried about it and I'm sure it will get better over time.
Getting up from a seated position (like the bed, or the toilet) is difficult, mostly because they are quite low and there aren't any handholds to grab onto. Also, going up and down stairs is laborious, so I try to keep that at a minimum. My current aim is to not do anything excessive risky that might cause injury or a loose screw or something since I am all the way back in Canada now.
Also, in my province of Ontario, I think there is a law that requires a local doctor to refer for x-rays. In other words, I can't just walk-in and pay cash for x-rays. I need to have a requisition by a local doctor to tell me to do it. I don't have a local doctor, or OHIP, so if anybody here on the forum has any advice, please let me know!
Other than that, I'm quite surprised actually at how fast the progress is. I'm on day 65 of my lengthening, and I'm currently at 61 mm for my femur. Seems like a lifetime ago, but in reality it's only been slightly over 9 weeks since I flew to Barcelona and had my surgery!
Quote from: yagen on November 05, 2015, 11:21:36 AMNice news about you.
Just 2 weeks and the consolidation phase will be over. How many time do you need to start to walk with confidence.
How many cms have you done in your tibia?? the same that in the femur??
Could you do a normal job in a office, just light??
Many thanks and good recovery
Hi Yagen,
Well, just over about a week or so I will finish lengthening in my femur (I am aiming for 7cm). My tibias I stopped at 5cm, so right now there is a slight discrepancy already between my two legs.
I think it will take a long time for full consolidation to take place. (I've read papers that say about on average it takes 1 month per each cm lengthened, but I'm not sure). About walking confidently, I don't know.. stay tuned to this diary to find out! :-)
Yes, I think it's absolutely possible to work a normal office job at this stage. The only problem would be mobility (does your office have a lot of stairs? Elevators? Wheelchair access maybe? etc)..
Good luck with your consultation with Dr. Monegal next week!
Thank you Glenn,
My main dilema its about if to do a bilaterial femur in one phase or in two phases. I live to 500 km from barcelona.
Doctor Monegal has recommended me in two phases but I prefer feel the pain just one time.
In my office there are some elevators and its easy to move in crutches, but if I will do the bilateral femur in one operation, I dont know when I could star to work at the office.
In your case, when would you be able to come back at work if you only need stay in the office 4 hours?
Many thanks
Hey Yagen!
If you are in a rush to go back to work, two stages is the only sensible option. Even in two stages I think you would still need a few weeks to realistically recuperate enough to start going to work. Your body will be in a very frail state after surgery. It's not like a nose job or a boob job; I assure you LL is serious stuff and you really have to give time for your body to recover.
Aside from accessibility of the office you also have to think of transportation. Not just how to get to work everyday, but also how will you transport yourself to and from the clinic after the surgery.
For bilateral femur in one phase, I think one whole month is the barest minimum you would need (if you look at my diary, I was only back up to working speed at about week 7 or so). But one month is only the minimum, I think two months is better. Bohemia and KrP1 both did bilateral femur in one stage, and I think they would say the same thing, that two months is better than one.
Also, I would suggest that you really to have to be serious with yourself and ask yourself about the amount of time you can commit to LL. It's ok to have a recovery timeline, but I know more than a few patients that have had to extend their absence to unpaid leave because they were too optimistic about their own recovery times. Best to have a very conservative timeline in your head.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.
I think you should do one phase. Doctors disagree about it but this is what Dr Guichet says in his page and it makes sense to me.
"Operating on one leg at a time means two separate procedures. Dr. Guichet's patients have only two to three surgeries in total (including the nail removal surgery) when he operates on both legs at once. By lengthening one leg at a time, you will spend twice the amount of time in surgery, twice the amount of post-operative pain and have a twice as long period of rehabilitation. There are no benefits in treating each leg as a separate case.
Studies on bilateral operations have shown that the cumulative risk of a two-step bilateral surgery is a 2 (1+1), while doing the two operations at once lowers the risk to 1.6. In other words, the more surgeries you endure, the greater your risk of complications both during and after the surgeries."
Quote from: glenn on November 04, 2015, 04:50:40 PMAlso, in my province of Ontario, I think there is a law that requires a local doctor to refer for x-rays. In other words, I can't just walk-in and pay cash for x-rays. I need to have a requisition by a local doctor to tell me to do it. I don't have a local doctor, or OHIP, so if anybody here on the forum has any advice, please let me know!
Hey glenn, the US is the same way - you can't get xrays without an order from a US doctor. I made an appointment with a local family doctor and came clean on what I did to myself and explained that I needed to take regular xrays to send back to the surgeon. It was awkward at first but she's been fine with writing the orders. on the plus side, my insurance covers mosts of the xray costs now. I've heard canada has great health coverage. I read some other diaries where patients get referred to a local orthopedic surgeon so they have a 2nd person reviewing the case. My local physician is just an internist so she can't really give a qualified opinion but I don't mind as long as I have the xrays to send to my LL doctor. hope that helps!
Deutsch and MusicMaker,
Thank you for you recomendation, On monday I will talk with monegal both options and the pros and cons.
Glenn,
Your opinnion is very important for me because now you know what things you can do it , and can´t do it, the pain and the problems that you have to solve every day. Yes I think if I will do in two phase i will be rest one month after the surgery till I came back to work, if I will be done in one phase I think like you, Bohemia and Krp1 I will need at least two months.
Good recovery
I am very apreciate for your best opinion.
Thank you.
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