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Thoughts after the surgery


Pediatric dwarfism clinic

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[Congenital diseases] (3) My Ilizarov surgery that I received by takin..

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30 Jan 2023
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  • (3)My Ilizarov surgery that I received by taking KTX

 

 

Kim Gwang-Hu

 

This world judges people by appearance

Everything was over. I was 8cm taller after the first surgery and 9cm taller after the second, which means that I am 17cm taller now. My height used to be around 135cm before the surgery and is around 150cm right now so people who knew me since I was young were also happy that I had the surgery. My grandmother also told me that I should always be thankful to be living in a world where I could get taller by surgery.

I also agree with her. I think in this world, where appearance counts a lot, a height of 15cm is still considered short. Sometimes I wish I was 180cm tall. But I became 150cm from 130cm, 20cm taller! Of course it’s not like there are no side effects. I had hard time scrooching down at first. The bathroom at my grandmother’s place was a conventional type, and I couldn’t use it. It was also hard for me to go to public bathroom as well. Till now, I can’t sit for a long time. Also I can’t sit cross legged for a long time. I usually have to choose to sit on a table at a restaurant since my calves start hurting if I sit cross legged on the floor. I couldn’t even run at first, but now I do run sometimes nowadays. I can’t run with fast speed but, I try to run slowly for a long time. Scrooching also got better these days so I can use the restroom now.

2 years, considering to the amount of height I gained, I think the amount of pain I had was nothing. It is not comparable to 2 years of military service, but I still think that I went through the similar agony as my friends. Of course, I do feel sorry for my friends. I feel sorry for comparing their military experience with my surgery, but my friends still understood me and called me up sometimes to ask how I was doing. I always feel thankful to those friends.

I also feel grateful to the employees at Seoul Station, Gwangmyeong Station, and Busan Station. They were very considerate and also helped me with pushing the wheelchair. I am thankful to the taxi drivers, most thankful to the friends who called me and hope that our friendship can last forever. There are also friends who are still in the military, and I hope they can be discharged safely.

I am aware that a lot of people want this surgery and go to Professor Song for consultation. Sometimes, I also get calls from the parents whose children wish to be operated. So I tell them about my experience. Well, these days not too many people call me since I don’t go to the hospital that often, but when I get a call I try to explain my experience as much as I know.

When my mom talks to other people, she leans towards not having the surgery if the child’s height is not too bad. As parents, it is tough to see child suffer and they can’t do their own work properly. She can’t do much but tell them to think very carefully for the damage the family is going to get for a long period of 2 years. But I think people should confront things. I would like to tell them to be calm and be strong if they have decided to have the surgery. Because it will hurt them so much that they wouldn’t even be able to go to sleep at night. They have to think it as a 1~2 year long investment and relax.

In my case, I blamed my parents a lot. I think that was because I was lack of strong will. You really have to set your mind to it and work very hard. I would also like to tell middle or high schoolers to have it as fast as they can. Because I had the surgery when I was a sophomore in high school, it was hard for me to catch up with schoolwork later on. Or I think having the surgery after entering a university is also a good idea. After the surgery they have to eat well and exercise hard. I know it is easier said than done, but because of my lack of will I didn’t exercise much and ended up having to have a surgery for tendon release and can’t sit cross legged even now.

I wish the people who get surgery can think that this is for the better and not pay attention to people’s stares. People will see you only for a minute and forget about you the next minute. So you shouldn’t be so embarrassed by how you look and be a little bit brazen-faced.

These days, physical appearance is competitive power. Especially among men, it has become one important factor. Some call short people losers or look down on short people, but it’s not something that people can change. Everyone always wishes to be healthy, good looking, tall, but aren’t there people who are ill, ugly, and short? This world judges people too much by their appearance, but this has got to change and start looking at positive sides of people instead.

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