Quote from: Android on April 02, 2018, 06:11:24 AMPhew, that's intense. Maybe once it's all said and done you'll be happy, but at this moment in time, it's painful and excruciating. These are the kinds of things we tend to forget after some time has passed, so it's good to have it in writing now that it's a real struggle that should be avoided if at all possible.
Sorry to hear about the troubles you're having with your business. When it rains, it pours... But it will eventually stop.
Ibuprofen seems to be the serial offender these last few updates in the diaries. Were you not warned against taking them? It's such a common pain reliever that you'd think patients would be dissuaded from using it by now. I think most Americans would reach for it when in pain, since it's OTC and is for the most part harmless.
Sucks to not have an appetite, but eat anyway. Make it your job to eat, a box you have to check off by end of day. Let your body do the heavy work by feeding it.
And good tip about sleep, no need to stick to the once a night schedule like everyone else. Every minute helps!
Best of luck.
Android,
I wasn’t warned about it or I’d have never taken it. My primary care doctor recommended it. ;(
Bilateral Internal Tib/Fib and Bilateral Internal Femurs with Dr. Mahboubian.
7th week post-op on tib/fib and 3rd week post-op on femurs: My pain is improving but I still can't sleep at night. I get about 2 hours per night so I try to get some sleep during the day which is difficult for me as I have to to PT, exercise, and work. The pain on my left thigh is improving a little bit. I experience more tightness now. PT is painful and exhausted and I'm having it 5 days a week now. My PT guy is getting better. His wife is also a PT and a professor at a University. I think he consults with her about my condition so he has a lot of new stretching routines that help me with my sciatic nerve. I'm not eating that well so I'm drinking whole milk, soybean milk, and Ensure milk. I also take Vit. D, Cal., Vit. K1 & K2, and Salica.
I had my x-ray yesterday. Looks like I have some bone growth in my Tib/Fib but I can't confirm until I hear back from the doctor. You can click on the links so see the images. The first link has my tib/fib images and the second link has my femur images.
https://imgur.com/gallery/dPAXT
https://imgur.com/gallery/PrYyV
I'm still lengthening 2x/day on my Tib/Fib at the rate of .25 mm each and 3x/day on my Femurs at the rate of .33 each. I don't mind distracting slowly because it will help with the tightness. I just saw OverrideYourGenetics' diary and he is also doing bilateral Tib/Fib and Femurs. What a brave man. I'll be following his diary to see if he has any tips. For now, I don't have any new tips.
Thanks for the update, x-rays are great to see too. Hard to see much callus formation, the images are a bit small. Odds are you're fine.
Keep it up, milkman! I actually drink Schmilk a lot (I like chocolate flavor, just add milk; I also add whey protein), I might lean on it often during my journey.
Hi Optimistic1. Hope that things have improved for you a little. I admire your courage to get both of these surgeries out of the way together. It will be over before you know it and you'll be consolidating.
I stopped distracting just over 1 week ago and already feel a huge improvement in my legs (within the past few days).
Keep us posted. Wishing you well.
Hi Optimistic1,
Wondering how you are doing ? Hope things have improved for you. I'm sure you are coming to the end of your lengthening soon?
Wishing you all the best.
Quote from: LAGrowin on May 03, 2018, 09:13:01 PMHi Optimistic1,
Wondering how you are doing ? Hope things have improved for you. I'm sure you are coming to the end of your lengthening soon?
Wishing you all the best.
Hi LAGrowin,
Thank you for checking in. I've been dealing with a lot of business matters and personal life lately. Also, I'm not really in a good mood due to the fact that I don't think my lack of bone growth situation is improving. The bone growth in my femurs is okay but I don't see anything in my fibula bones. This really scares me as I don't like stem cell injections or undergoing a bone graft procedure. Dr. M instructed me to keep my lengthening rate in my tib/fib at .25mm each and 2x a day. This really slows down my progress. Therefore, I think I'm just barely half way done and this is my third month (11th week) for the tib/fib and second month (7th week) for the femurs.
How's your recovery? Are you experiencing any tightness anymore? If so, to what degree? Any pain and where? I'm so happy for you. Are you walking unassisted soon?
Optimistic1
Hi Everyone,
It’s been awhile since I last updated my diary. I’ve been dealing with a lot of matters in by business and personal life. I just had my x-ray done and looks like there’s no progress on my bone growth or the lack thereof. This worries me as I do not want to undergo stem cell injections or bone graft procedure(s). I’ve been doing almost everything instructed. I guess it’s just my body that doesn’t generate bone sufficiently. I posted the x-ray images here for everyone to see. Please take a look and let me know especially in my fibula region if there's still hope. Looks like there’s no progress in there.
I’ve been lengthening very slowly in my tib/fib region: .25mm and 2x a day. I’m currently lengthening at a rate of .33mm and 3x a day in my femurs. Currently, I’m down to 3 Norco a day and I work every day for 4-5 hours a day. I eat 3 meals a day. I take Vit. C, D, Cal, and Celica. I also started taking Vit. B12 to give myself some energy to go to work. I drink 2 glasses of almond milk and 1 Ensure protein shake a day. I do PT 6 days a week and stretch on my own 4-5 times a day. I stretch every time I distract/lengthen. The only thing I think I’m lacking is sunlight. I don’t go in the sun that much. Any advice on how to increase the rate of new bone formation is much appreciated. Thank you.
Tib/Fib
https://imgur.com/gallery/rmYOnFq
Femurs
https://imgur.com/gallery/h8YMPQO
Optimistic1
I wouldn't say there's zero growth in your tibias, there is definitely some clouding in there. I would really try to get some sun Optimistic, it seems to help a lot.
both look good.
New Update:
I saw Dr. M last week for my post-op for both tib/fib and femurs. Dr. M examined my x-ray and confirmed that my condition, lack of bone growth, has improved a little. Therefore, he doesn't feel the need for a bone stimulator and also did not mention stem cell injections. He said that I should get more sunlight. I didn't have any sunlight since the first surgery (February 15, 2018). The most sunlight I ever received was through the windows of my car while driving to work (10-15 minutes each trip). However, it's being weakened by the tints on my widows and my pants. Besides the Ibuprofen I initially took for about 2-3 weeks, the lack of sunlight could also be the reason why my bone growth was weak. No wonder why I couldn't grow any new bone even when I was eating healthy, taking all kinds of supplement, and drinking 3 different kinds of milk daily. I'm now sunbathing 15 minutes a day and I've been doing it for the last 3 days. We'll see if my bone growth will improve at the next post-op.
I don't know if it happens to you as well but my measurement is always a little off compared to Dr. M's. He measures the gap on my bones from the x-ray and I measure by multiplying the number of days I've lengthened by the number of times I lengthen per day and the amount I lengthen each time to get the total centimeters. However, Dr. M's number is always about half a centimeter more than mine. Maybe there's something wrong with my ERC machines.
According to Dr. M, I have lengthened about 9 centimeters in total (5 in my femurs and 4 in my tib/fib). According to my own measurement, I only got about 8 centimeters. That's a big difference. My physical therapist measured my height last Friday (May 11, 2018) with his own tape measure. He measured very carefully and by each segment such as lower leg, upper leg, and from there to my head in addition to the typical measurement from head to toe. I was so surprised when he said he got 70 inches (5'10) and that I'm 2 inches short of being 6 feet. I told him it's impossible because based on my own measurement, I should be around 5'8 or 5'8.5. My female friend measured me about a month ago and I was at 5'7.5. Remember, I started out at 5'5 or 5'5.5. Just to recap, I started lengthening my tib/fib on February 23 but took a break for 2 weeks due to lack of bone growth and can only lengthen 2x a day at .25 mm each. I started lengthening my femurs on March 23 at 3x a day and .33 mm each time. I'll have Dr. M measure me at the next post op just to be sure.
My legs/knees are really tight and it's all from my femurs. I have knee pain more often now. I started having problems with my femurs from the get go. Tib/fib seems like a walk in the park after the first 3-4 weeks. No pain, just some discomfort. I can no longer stretch my legs out all the way. I get about 150 to 160 degrees. I can do all other stretches without any major problems except that I lose my flexibility slowly every day. I can still get my heels to pretty close to my butt, about 2-3 inches away. Based on my reading of the diaries on here, the tightness with stretching the legs out all the way is common after 5 centimeters have been lengthened and it varies from person to person. However, it's so tight now that I'm worried I might pop my nerves. When I stretch my legs out all the way, every inch of my legs is very tight. My PT said last Friday "wow, you're so tight, are you sure you still want to keep going?" What do you guys think?
I still can't sleep for more than 1-2 hours a night. Sometimes I'm able to sleep for 4 hours but it's rare. Last night was really bad. The pain escalated to about 7-8 and it prevented me from getting any good sleep. I took a Norco at 1:39 am I was able to sleep a little after that. Of course, I woke up every 1-2 hours. I feel much better this morning. Currently, I don't have any pain and I just finished my stretching session (45 minutes) and riding my indoor bicycle (10 minutes). Thank you for reading. Let me know if you have any questions. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Optimistic1
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