QuoteThanks for the response. The input of your PT is valuable, but I will say that speaking with Dr. Assayag most of his patients that willingly stop short of 8CM are satisfied. In a weird way, your PT's opinion carries more weight with me since they are working closer with patients day in and day out.
We get caught up with numbers in these spaces: lengthening 8CM, being 180CM, 6 feet. It's more of a feeling we should be aiming for w/ this process, or a lack of a worry about our height.
A major downside of the non-stryde nails is that you don't get to experience your new height as it comes , unless you are using your walker around other people. You're usually not out in normal social situations that would trigger your height dysphoria, so how do you know if its still there? How do we know if that "feeling" has been reached?
I am sure at your starting height you get people asking why you would even bother with this surgery, but you have the same dysphoria that anyone else getting this surgery has. In my opinion, once you've reached a point where that dysphoria is gone, you've won, and it is time to move onto other things. Statistically, going from 179 to 185 is jumping 23 percentiles in height. That is a pretty big difference. That additional 2 CM bumps you up another 4.4 percentiles. Its definitely a case of diminishing returns. Listen to your body, and do what feels right. You'll have my support regardless.
The way I look at it, is will I ever be in a situation where I will think "Darn, If I was 1.7CM taller I would feel so much better right now"? I can't see it. Its more likely I am in a situation where I think I need 4 CM more and need to go get my tibias done. I hope that day never comes, but I can't completely rule it out. Truthfully I am human and I will probably rationalize whatever decision I make.
My experience with CLL is that so many aspects are individualized: pain (I have a LOT), bone growth (mine is literally through the roof), sleep (12 hours a day with no issues other than pain), and so on. My femurs were VERY short before this procedure, so much so that people close to me observed on that, and so did Dr. Rozbruch. More than having the height increase, the procedure brought me into a better proportional ratio overall.
I walk around on my walker quite a bit. My height neurosis went away immediately after the surgery, literally, because I knew I was able to finally control the situation and do something about it. I've been very open about the surgery with many people in family and friend circle. They come over to visit and the change thus far is startling. I can actually see it myself, so I can gauge the difference on a daily basis, in real time. It's not about a number for me. It's about doing this once and putting the procedure in the rearview mirror. For that aspect, and that aspect alone, as long as my body allows, I'm going to finish. Once I'm done, I want to be able to say I did everything I set out to do.
That's it. For you, only you can know what's right. Whatever choice you make, as long as you're happy with that, it's the right one.
