Quote from: youyin12 on May 18, 2023, 04:04:36 AMDo you think less lengthening would speed up recovery and preserve more athleticism? For example, 5-6cm on femurs.
no sh*t
Quote from: youyin12 on May 15, 2023, 01:01:43 AMI am preparing for surgery with Dr Paley after the new stryde becomes available.
A smart decision.
Quote from: hippo60 on May 18, 2023, 02:20:28 AMRight?? It's rough. I think it'll improve but you don't wanna specifically work on it? I imagine it'll speed things up...
I am being very conservative probably. I read from someone else's diary that it is better to rest as much as possible before the bone is healed 100%. I stood and walked for too long today, like 2 hours, because of moving, and my legs are not feeling the best.
Quote from: youyin12 on May 18, 2023, 04:04:36 AMDo you think less lengthening would speed up recovery and preserve more athleticism? For example, 5-6cm on femurs.
I was told that less lengthening will result in faster recovery but I don't think it is linear. I would say go for the full 8 cm. Most people can walk after 3 months of consolidation.
Quote from: sphenopetroclival on May 18, 2023, 09:46:17 AMA smart decision.
Yeah being able to weight bear will be huge. If I were you and decided to wait for the weight bearing nail, wait a few more years after it comes out and let other people try it out first and make sure nothing will go terribily wrong. You definitely don't want to be the first one getting these nails. It is sort of a prisoner's dillema here.
Quote from: erenyeager1 on May 19, 2023, 02:36:48 AMIf I were you and decided to wait for the weight bearing nail, wait a few more years after it comes out and let other people try it out first and make sure nothing will go terribily wrong. You definitely don't want to be the first one getting these nails. It is sort of a prisoner's dillema here.
Totally agree.
I am waiting for the weight bearing nail and I was told that new strydenail will return very soon(maybe November). But I want to wait 2-3 years and make sure nothing will go wrong.
Quote from: erenyeager1 on May 19, 2023, 02:36:48 AMI am being very conservative probably. I read from someone else's diary that it is better to rest as much as possible before the bone is healed 100%. I stood and walked for too long today, like 2 hours, because of moving, and my legs are not feeling the best.
I don't think that's true at all, activity is helpful for bone growth. Definitely need to listen to your body tho, and rest if you overdid it a bit (I just did as well 
).
Quote from: erenyeager1 on September 02, 2022, 09:45:43 AMIntroduction
Hi everyone. I have been reading diaries on this forum since early 2018 when I first found out about this procedure. I have been thinking about this ever since 2018, and it's been almost 5 years now. I can say that I've read almost all the diaries of those who did the surgery in the US. After visiting Paley's institute at WPB last summer, I decided to do it this year. Surgery is scheduled in late Nov 2022. I will update here around the time I begin the procedure. BTW, I stole this formatting from a diary by "belowthemean", credit to him/her.
I am going to do bilateral femur lengthening with precice 2.2. My goal is to reach 8 cm, but would be happy as long as I got above 7 cm.
Basic Stats
Demographics: early 20s, male, Chinese
Starting Height: 174 cm (5'8.5")
Wingspan: about 6 feet
Lengthening Goal: 7-8 cm
Starting weight: 197 lbs (I am pretty fit. Weight mostly come from muscle)
Starting Height and Lengthening Goal
174 cm. Goal is to reach 182 cm.
Physical Shape
My weight is pretty high - 197lbs. I love benchlifting so I have big chest muscle. I also do snowboarding in winter, so my thigh is pretty bulky. I plan to do some cardio to bring my weight down a little, but not sure how much I could lose without losing some muscle as well. Will update my weight again before the surgery.
Sports
Nothing regularly. On-snow sports in winter.
Flexibility
I've been doing PT since June, twice a week. It is covered by my insurance because of my back injury. I just ask my PT trainer to include half an hour of hamstring and front-of-thigh stretch. He's happy to do it. My flexibility was rated "tight, like everyone else" when I visited last summer. We will see how it goes. Not sure if it will help.
Health Status
Overall healthy, other than I have herinated disc l5/s1. It's been a few years since the incident happened (from snowboarding). This is also the main reason why I visited last summer. Back then, Dr. Robbins told me that this injury shouldn't have any impact on my lengthening.
My Backstory
I've been thinking about this since around the end of high school. It's been so long that I am convinced that if I don't do it I would regret it for the rest of my life. Jeff Bezo mentioned this regret minimization framework in one of his early interviews:
I am pretty much a follower of this framework.
Who Knows About This
Every one in my family and my extended family (think of grandparents, parents' sibliings and their kids). All my close friends who are at least my height and my girlfriend. My mental health consoler (I've known her for years). I am pretty open about it. I just don't want my choice to have an impact on other people.
Cost of the Procedure
97.5k plus room and board and food (budget is 30k). If you stay in one of Paley's partner hotel, it will cost around 15k for the time I am doing the surgery because it's peak season in FL. All is in USD.
How I’m Paying
My parents pay for room and board. My savings can pay for the surgery.
Time Off Work
I work in tech so I can work remotely. Also for the past 1.5 years, I didn't use a single day of vacation or holidays or sick days, so that summed up to be around 50 days of PTO (unused PTO days roll over). My company also has very generous PTO policy for short-term disability, which I am waiting on the result of my application.
Why Dr. Paley?
Paley is widely recognized as the best. I also visited the hospital last summer and really liked it. At the end of the day, you pay premium for his experience. If everything goes well, maybe the experience and the result would be the same if I do it somewhere cheaper. The premium goes to the possibility where things don't go as planned, and I trust Paley's experience on dealing with these.
Next Steps
Just booked tickets to WPB yesterday and arranged my hotel stay at the SHS I95. I will update more as we get closer to the surgery date.
Some Motivation
Sometimes late at night I would get scared thinking about the procedure. I would watch this video:
Vader was my favourite Star Wars character when I was a kid. Picturing this procedure as Anakin's transformation to Darth Vader would give me strength to move forward.
If you have recent imaging data please put it at this thread.
Update: I've been walking and things are improving pretty well. I can walk 2 miles before my legs become stiff and getting too tired.
Quote from: erenyeager1 on May 24, 2023, 06:12:56 AMUpdate: I've been walking and things are improving pretty well. I can walk 2 miles before my legs become stiff and getting too tired.
Are these normal walks without too much of a weird gait? Considering you just started weight bearing a couple weeks ago that's pretty nice progress.
I'm about 10 weeks out of surgery on 5.5cm (lengthening 0.75/day femur) but other than that, pretty much exact same specs as you in terms of height and ethnicity etc. I'm hoping 7 months post surgery is enough to have a normal walking gait cause I have a friend's wedding then. Would you say 7 months post surgery will be enough for YOU to travel around without an issue (with occasional sitting breaks)?
Quote from: erenyeager1 on May 24, 2023, 06:12:56 AMUpdate: I've been walking and things are improving pretty well. I can walk 2 miles before my legs become stiff and getting too tired.
I am glad to know things are improving well with u.
How about your proportion now? Are your longer femurs natural? I prefer bilateral femurs surgery because it is safer, less complications and easier healing, but I worry about the proportion.
Best Wishes! Hope u can regain your athletic ability very soon.
After the femur is lengthened by 8cm, how is your leg line of alignment? I heard that the change of leg alignment will affect the joints. Did the doctor and pt do anything to manage and adjust it?
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