It finally happened. I had my surgery yesterday 1/18/18!
I thank GOD for allowing everything to go well and for the energy to pull through it. My family as well for the support.
Dr. Mahboubian is great. No sugarcoating things, and is friendly and casual. Professional but casual like one of your buddies would be.
ABOUT ME:
Age - Mid 40s
Height - 5'6" - 167.75cm
weight - 165 lbs.
Health - Excellent
Fitness - Fairly Fit
Goal Height - 5'9". - 175cm with Precise 2
I have been making plans for this surgery for nearly 1 year.
DAYS BEFORE SURGERY
Feeling anxious, nervous, and questioning whether I really needed to go through 3-4 months of pain, stress, and mostly immobility. I am a very busy person so being immobile for 3+ months will be hard. The answer was always yes. I am extremely bothered by being 5'6" and know that my confidence will be further elevated by the hopefully 3".
Also reflecting on the fact that I'm spending $70k+ on a cosmetic procedure while there are others out there with serious health issues, and or people living in severe poverty.
DAY 1
Arrived at the hospital and checked in at 5:30 AM. Surgery was scheduled for 7:30 AM. Got through the paperwork and standard surgery prep, like shaving my upper legs. Around 7 AM, Dr. Mahboubian and the anesthesiologist came in and said we were almost ready. Explained a few things, and within minutes was wheeled towards the operating room. I was nervous, but this was really happening finally. Still questioning myself. Super clean and large operating room. About 10-12 medical people in there. Anesthesia into the IV, and don't remember a single thing after that, until I woke up in the recovery room around 1 PM or so. My anesthesia took awhile to wear off.
I am now in my hospital room and everyone has been super attentive and nice. No complaints. I have not been hungry and have slept on and off all day. Pain is tolerable, but my legs feel super tight and heavy, the pain is about a 5 and not sharp but dull. I have my pain button but it has made me extremely groggy so I've tried not to use it too much. Very difficult to move my legs. I can bend my feet and that helps easy the tension to my upper legs.
The PT came in around 7 PM and decided not to get me up as I was very dizzy and groggy. I would fall asleep while talking to him.
Waiting for Dr. M to come in the morning.
All in all, at least day one, not as bad as I imagined. I am being told though that pain will kick in and increase.
I will keep you all updated.
Internal Femurs with Dr. Mahboubian - Los Angeles
Quote from: myloginacct on January 19, 2018, 10:51:08 AMI wish you the best of luck throughout the whole process. You'll pull it through.
We do what we can do. You can always give back later.
Thank you myloginacct, I appreciate it. Yes so true, hopefully this experience and physical transformation will make be a better person in many ways. The plan is to always give back where and when I can. Gratitude!
Thanks again.
Quote from: Honore on January 19, 2018, 11:47:52 AMDear fellow, I wish you all the luck... I am also in my 40's and hope to do the surgery this year or next... almost same height .. planning to do 4' total on femur and tibia...
Is 3' on one bone not a lot? What did the doc say about this? And what did he say about doing such a big operation at mid 40's..
Again, congrats and I hope al goes wel...
Hello Honore,
Good to hear for you. Thank you for your well wishes.
3" inches on the femur is not a lot, it is near the top of the limit but with a good doctor, and if we do our part on the physical therapy, it should be fine, of course each person will respond different and some can do 3 and some not. I am hoping for 3 which is 7.6 cm.
During my initial consultation, that was one of my biggest concerns, my age. The doctor said it wasn't a problem at all. Apparently he has had patients nearing 60. I know there have been a few members here in their 40s also.
Wishing you well.
Quote from: Zeo on January 19, 2018, 03:44:43 PMHoly crap, it's so weird because I remember seeing posts from you before and I figured you wrre going with Dr M with your username but I just assumed like a lot of us it was a long way away. Now the surgerys compete and your day 1 of LL.
It's always awesome seeing people start their journey. God Speed brother. Give us all the juicy details
Hi Zeo,
Thank you bro. Yes, I joined the forum roughly last June, and decided to take the plunge. At my age, I don't have a ton of time to sit and wait.
Today is the first day after surgery and the pain is starting to kick in more. Not a scary pain, just a tiring pain, dull, constant. My legs are super tight.
Dr. Mahboubian just left. Cool guy. Said all looks real good, not too swollen. He just took me off of the Dialudid and am now on Norco. I am waiting for the PT to come and get me up.
Thank you again Zeo .
Honore, Android, MirinHeight,
Thank you. I'll update later.
Pain has increased about a 5.5 . It's dull and constant. Getting in and out of bed has been nearly impossible for me. Wow!!
I'll keep you posted.
Quote from: Purushrottam on January 20, 2018, 04:51:09 AMCongratulations LAGrowin! The day has finally arrived! Good luck to you man! 3 months will pass before you even know it.
Puru. Thank you. I hope you're doing well and continuing to recover. Your diary and responses to my questions had been very helpful. Thank you.
Yes, the day finall came. Still can quite believe I did it. God willing so, can wait to be at the end of lengthening.
Quote from: observer on January 20, 2018, 05:29:43 AMDear LAGrowin, I can relate to how you feel when you say spending tons of money on cosmetic surgery while there are more unfortunate people out there. Yes, we are more fortunate than poor or unhealthy people or ppl without access to proper education, etc. However, we are also kinda unfortunate being short in a society where the opposite is valued. I used to think physical appearance doesn't stop us pursuing things in life and I worked hard and gave back along the way too until I realized being short has become something holding me back to achieve greater things. I know this may sound pessimistic but I think you and most ppl on this forum get what I am saying.
I salute to what you are going through now and fingers crossed for the best outcome.
Hi Obsever, thank you for acknowledging this comment. It was difficult for me not to feel some guilt. So much can be said on this topic.
Thank you for your well wishes. I am positive and ready to work hard to gain my 3" and recover. So far so good. Easy? No, but no regrets.
DAY 3
5:03 AM , I have been up since 3 AM trying to pee in the plastic container, it just won't come.
The pain really came in last night to about a 9, constant and throbbing, not sharp. Finally I just accepted that I'll have to take 2 Norcos every 4 hours. I plan to do this for the first couple of weeks.
I fell asleep at 9:45pm and woke up 2:45am, so I went 5 hours between meds, you want to try to avoid that, and stay ahead of the pain.
I've been up twice on my feet and taken a few steps, wow!! Not easy. Just to turn out of bed takes me a good 30 minutes with the PT and my wife.
My biggest challenge so far? How to get to the toilet and sit to go "2". The pain on the underside of your thighs makes it very difficult as you put a lot of pressure on the freshly broken femur bone.
I'll post more later. Hard to sit in bed and type.
Thank you all.
PEEING
For any of your reading this later as you go through your journey or in the process of researching, if you are having trouble peeing into the bottle after the catheter had come out, which you WILL, have someone turn on the faucet in your room, I don't know why but it works. It will bring the urge to go quickly.
Also, empty your bladder well the morning of the surgery and try not to eat heavy the day/days before, that way your system is not packed and bowels full. It all helps.
Quote from: MirinHeight on January 21, 2018, 01:41:31 AMhey man, did Dr. M give you the option of getting surgery on one leg at a time? So that you will have one working leg at all times to help move around
It was never discussed, nor would it be an option for me. I cannot be out of commission that long. Even with one leg, with what I do, I'd technically be out of commission even with one good leg.
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