i finished my the lengthening on my left leg 3 days ago, making me 8.5cm taller on that respective side. Will have an xray appointment with Dr.Koehne on wednesday to see how far my bone growth is doing.
Having finally completed the first half of my lengthening journey with 3.5cm on my tibia and 5cm on my femur, I can now look back and say it really was not that bad. Pain-wise only the first 2-3 weeks were intense, but overall pretty manageable with painkillers. After 4 weeks of my femur surgery I was able to stop taking all my painkillers. If this partly due to my conservative lengthening I cant say, maybe I would have resumed my painkillers If I had tried 7-8cm on femurs.
The reason I had such an easy time was for the most part my pre-surgery flexibility. Having practiced yoga and having done solely cardio for the past years, gave me an extreme advantage going into lengthening. I can't stress it enough how important pre-surgery flexibility is for all future LLers.
Koehne Diary 21/22 | Unilateral Tibia + Femur
Hey Siegfried, congrats on finishing! How is your ballerina foot at this point. Hope you have been able to enjoy life a little bit on crutches! Have you driven since the operation?
Thx for asking 6cm. I had another checkup with the Doc today. Im 1 week into femur consolidation and about 1 month into tibia consolidation.
Bonegrowth is happening at a steady rate. However the doc thinks i should be able to weightbear in 6-8 weeks. Then we could go ahead with the next surgery for the right side. So I guess it wont happen before April.
Quote from: 6CMFemurs on January 18, 2022, 08:07:44 PMHey Siegfried, congrats on finishing! How is your ballerina foot at this point. Hope you have been able to enjoy life a little bit on crutches! Have you driven since the operation?
Dr. Koehne examined me today and complimented me on my flexiblity, so I guess the Ballerina has basically resolved.
Can you please post some pics and videos of you standing or walking or sitting? I badly want to see how a 8.5cm difference looks like. thanks
Can you share where you lived during the distraction phase? Did you stay in Pullach (near Kohne) or in Munich or somewhere else? Was it easy to travel and meet Kohne for follow ups? How did you travel (train or car or ...)? Did you have a caretaker or family member with you?
Your journey is very inspiring to me as I don't want to use a wheelchair either. I am not German so I am a bit apprehensive about whether I can travel easily around Pullach and Munich without knowing the language.
Im German, so i was able to stay with my parents in the north during this time. It takes me about 5-6 hours by train to get to the dr for follow-ups. Travelling to follow ups is no problem.
Quote from: Siegfried on April 01, 2022, 10:00:49 AMIm German, so i was able to stay with my parents in the north during this time. It takes me about 5-6 hours by train to get to the dr for follow-ups. Travelling to follow ups is no problem.
Thanks.
1. Were you traveling alone for follow-ups?
2. Did you use a wheelchair in the train or just walker/crutches?
3. From the train station to Kohne's clinic is about 2km right? (I checked on Google maps) How did you travel that distance? In Munich it is easy to get a cab, but Pullach is a bit remote right?
4. For an international patient looking to follow your footsteps, would you recommend staying in central Munich or in Pullach?
5. Do people speak in English in Pullach and Munich?
1) yes
2) no, crutches always
3) from the train station to Koenes main practice in Pullach its about 400m. From munich main station, Pullach is a 20min ride with the public transportation train
4) Maybe stay there for 2-3 weeks. After that you will have follow ups 1x month. Pullach is basically in München, its just on the outskirts and very easy to get to.
5) I wouldnt know, i think they do speak some english there, I dont think it should be a problem for international patients.
Hi Siegfried, when do you plan to do the other side?
Surgery is scheduled in 6 weeks.
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