Quote from: Tall on November 25, 2013, 05:32:32 AMThanks again for your answers, mate. I apologize if I'm grilling you with questions. Knowing old forum trends though, I really don't know if I'll ever have the chance to get questions answered by a LL vet ever again, let alone one who went to Beijing, so here are a few more questions, if you don't mind.
1. How long did it take for your bones to feel strong and for marrow to come back after IM nail removal?
2. (Asked on behalf of the more ambitious/crazier lengtheners out there) After Dong Mei's successful 12cm LL stunt, I seem to see more and more people say they will shoot for ~10cm. Did you see this much in Beijing? Of the people that went for it, do you know about how many were successful and around how many actually recovered well?
3. Six years later, do you feel as though you are still recovering from LL, or do you think that you have stopped recovering and have either plateaued recovery wise or moved into improving your health beyond your "recovered" levels.
4. Do you feel that physiotherapy beyond the typically recommended walking, biking, and sandbagging is necessary for 7.5cm?
5. Did your IM nails trigger any metal detectors?
6. Do the Beijing frames lock the ankles in place to lengthen the Achilles' tendon? If so, is walking still manageable with level of restricted ankle motion caused by the frames?
7. Did the Beijing doctors affix each cut fibula to its corresponding tibia in one place or two? It's hard to tell from the X-rays in some patients' diaries.
8. Did the majority of patients who went home with IM nails, leave in wheelchairs (and are they provided by the hospital), walk with braces and crutches, or walk unaided?
9. Last and not least, did 3 inches feel like a major change in height to you, personally? This one's pretty subjective but I'd still love to hear your response.
Again, a great many thanks! You have no idea how much I appreciate this, and how helpful your responses may be to me and others considering LL in Beijing in the future. I seriously feel that this thread informed me as much as, if not more than, all the Beijing diaries on old forum combined.
Awww... all this praise is gonna start going to my head. 
1. I don't know how long it took for the marrow to come back. My bones were fully consolidated when the nails came out so strength wasn't an issue. All I had to do was recover from the soreness of the surgery (which did take a few weeks) and then I was feeling great. Make no mistake, that 3rd surgery is major surgery that's only minor in comparison to the first two.
2. Yes! Lots of people went in there with the 10cm goal. I even considered going for it. The clinic's sales pitch was (up to) 10cm in 4 months for $25,000 at that time, and you could stay longer for free if you needed to. Some got to 8, some got to 9, and some did end up doing the full 10. I don't know how any of them are doing long-term yet. I recently managed to get in touch with a girl who did 10cm. Once she gets back to me, and if she gives me permission, I'll let LL Forum how she's doing after 5 years. Perhaps I'll invite her here too if she's interested.
3. I thought I had plateaued a while ago, but in the last several months I started doing kickboxing exercises and yoga which took my fitness and recovery to another level. Now I'm not sure what my recovery potential is, but it's higher than I thought it was even six months ago.
4. I think it's adequate in the beginning since most PTs don't know anything about LL anyway. A few months after your 2nd surgery, I think PT can be helpful to address any specific problems you're having. That's how it was for me anyway. Maybe there's some PTs who are LL specialists and can do great things for you right away, but I don't know who they are. I had to just use the PTs who worked for my HMO anyway since money was so tight after the operation.
5. They never triggered any metal detectors.
6. In Beijing they have a spring-loaded heel attachment that lengthens the Achilles. You can adjust the tension on it to be really tight when you're in bed, then loosen it when you want to walk. I posted pics of it on this board, possibly in the clinic's thread in the doctor directory.
7. I seriously do not remember, and I don't have any of my old x-rays to check.
8. Everyone gets a brand new wheelchair included in the fee. Most people left in their wheelchairs, especially if they were leaving 2 weeks after their 2nd surgery, which is the minimum the clinic recommends. Some people chose to stay longer until they'd managed to get strong enough to leave with crutches. Only one idiot was walking around unaided, and he started doing it within a day or two after his 2nd surgery, against doctor's orders. Like I was saying in another thread, you can stand on a weight-bearing nail immediately, but that doesn't mean you should.
9. A thousand times yes! 3 inches changed my life. I am not even the same person who went into that hospital at 5'7.
If you have more questions, please don't be shy about asking them. Even stupid ones! I just love talking about LL and could do it all day, which is why my falling out with old forum was such a bummer. 
I was so happy when this forum started up that I decided to do whatever I could to help it succeed and grow.
