I'm doing tibia lengthening with Dr. Sringari in India.
I am male, early 20's. Initial height is 5'7 and my target height is 5'9 (i. e. ~5 cm of lengthening). I've lengthened 1 cm as of today.
What follows is a brief outline of my experience so far.
The surgeryThe actual surgery has so far been the
easiest part of this whole endeavor. The anesthesiologist made sure I felt zero pain or discomfort throughout the procedure.
The surgery ended around 4pm. By 5pm I was back in the hospital room.
Then, the anesthesia began to wear off, and the pain started to kick in. Probably the most intense pain I have ever felt. The nurses gave me some IV painkiller and then it was fine.
I stayed in the hospital for four days.
Guest HouseThe guest house is pretty decent. There is TV and internet. There is a caretaker 24/7 who helps us with everything. He's a really nice and friendly guy. He seems very experienced in caring for LL patients. He always seems to know exactly how to deal with little things that might be causing discomfort. He makes breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast is usually toast with eggs (hard-boiled or omelette). Lunch and dinner is mostly Indian food, i. e. rice and curry with vegetables and chicken.
Dr. SringariThe doctor visits us every few days. He checks up on everything (pain, discomfort, issues, etc. ) and makes sure we're doing everything we're supposed to (physio, supplements, etc. )
PhysioA physio therapist is here twice a day. Typically ~3pm and ~7pm. We go through a number of exercises and he advises on which exercises I must do throughout each day and how often.
The painFor the first seven days after surgery I was on Tramadol painkillers. Sleeping was practically impossible without it.
I started getting pretty massive headaches and moderately severe constipation, so I made the decision to stop taking the painkillers on day 7. First night was rough, but after that it was ok.
I have not taken any since. Discomfort is still there, but pain is intermittent at worst.
Challenges encountered so far- I have yet to get accustomed to sleeping on my back. I have always slept on my side. With frames on my legs, I have to sleep on my back.
- Going to the bathroom, number twos specifically. It is surprisingly difficult to do with frames on your legs. Until I was able to put my legs down (which was very recently), I've had to do it with both legs fully extended and elevated. I'll leave it up to your imagination how that works. But, needless to say, "Life, uh, finds a way"