8cm on femurs - Dr. Mahboubian

Sorry for the disappearance guys. I'm on my 37th day post-op now and let me tell you: things WILL get better. Trust me. No amount of diaries reading would make me believe it until I actually went through it. The first 3 weeks are tough. Don't get overconfident and try doing things by yourself on the first few days, you will definitely need help, and you must give your body time to heal. Do PT, but take it easy on the beginning. Your legs went through a HUGE trauma and they will heal, just don't push it too hard.

My initial idea is that I'd be able to update this thread every day. Now, I see that's highly unlikely. The downsides of this surgery are not only physical but also psychological. I had 0 energy or motivation to do things. Sometimes I'd catch myself just staring at the wall and waiting for time to pass. Yes, it varies from person to person, but I really got into this emotional limbo. I would even get lazy about turning on the TV. I just didn't want to do anything.

The reason I'm conjugating those verbs in the past is that I honestly believe I'm on a better path now. After staying in LA for almost 6 weeks, I'm going back to the Bay Area tomorrow. I'm really excited about going back to work and I think it'll keep my mind busy. I miss doing things and going out and seeing my friends and although I'm still bounded to a wheelchair/walker, going to my workplace is something I'm really looking forward to.

Now, if you read my previous posts, you remember the drama I had with ER. Looking backwards, I can honestly say that that was one of the major obstacles of this process. The pain level was definitely high and I did have my right leg swollen for weeks after that. My range of motion on the right leg was really poor compared to the left one and I was pessimist to think that I wouldn't gain it back. Just to give you an idea of how messed up my right leg was, look at these pictures: https://imgur.com/a/NhMKBpf. Needless to say that now, both my legs are the same.

Regarding the femur rotation that I also did, here's a before/after pictures of how my legs used to be when rested and how they are now: https://imgur.com/a/6gTZrw7. I'm really happy with the results

My lengthening started on April 14th and I lengthened 4 times a day for the first 5 days, and then went to 3 times a day. My second appointment with Dr. M was on April 27th, and by then I had lengthened 1.6cm. He told me to keep the pace of 3 times a day. Back then, I wasn't relying much on the walker and wasn't taking any sunbath -- but on the other hand, I was doing PT every single day. After that appointment I decided to mostly walk and take at least 1 hour of sunbath every day. That seemed to work, as I had my third appointment earlier today and my bone growth is really good -- https://imgur.com/a/txNa99D. So good that he asked me to go 4 times a day for 14 days, and come back to see him. He is really worried that I might have premature consolidation, so we'll see how things go from here. I decided that instead of mailing him the X-Rays, I'll catch a flight once every 2 or 3 weeks. The Bay Area is pretty close to Los Angeles and the flight is no longer than 1 hour.

I'm at 3cm as of today and my mobility is really good, I'm able to walk fast with the walker and actually got a compliment from the PT. He said that he was really impressed by the way I was walking at this point, which made me pretty happy :-)

I'm taking Vitamin D and Os-Cal 2 times a day, and Norco as needed -- as few as possible. I stopped taking Norco before the PT and I'm mostly using it before bedtime. I'm starting to feel tight on my hamstrings, on my abductors and a little bit of pain on my right knee, but I'm stretching a lot and doing as much PT as possible. Massage also helps a lot with the tightness. I'm already able to sleep with my belly down without any pain (which I really had on the first few weeks), which is the only way I can properly sleep, but it only lasts for 2-3 hours. I always wake in the middle of the night with my legs feeling really tight, and then I force myself back to sleep. I'm taking Ambien to aid me with that and let me tell you, it REALLY works. Try asking your doctor to prescribe you that if you have trouble sleeping.

Finally, here's a spreadsheet that I'm organizing with all the days, the expected gains and the real gains -- https://imgur.com/a/poZXJW4. Any feedback on how to improve it would be really helpful. So far all the measures from the X-Rays are matching the expected gains and my real height I'm measuring once every few days also matches it. I plan on going up to 7cm (yes, the title of this thread was made by the pre-op naïve me), but if I get there and I see I can do more, I'll do it. If I see I'm not able to get up to 7cm, I'll stop earlier. That all depends on how my next weeks will go.
Btw, I'm using this stadiometer to measure my height and it's really good: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B68C638/.

That's all for today folks, feel free to ask me any questions and I'll try to be more active here going forward!

Glad to hear that things have calmed down for you, fallen. Good thing you're relatively close to your doctor, definitely a short flight; being in the same time zone even helps.

Great news that both legs are acting fine now. Amazing how a few weeks can turn things around, body and mind!

Can't really think of improvements for the progress spreadsheet, except perhaps having a few visual milestones to keep you motivated. Every X days, every X cm, or a visually pleasing number (e.g. 170 cm) would work.

Very inspiring, thanks for your time. I wish you a good recovery.. Has your fathers opinion on the procedure changed much?

Quote from: fallen774 on May 12, 2018, 05:34:49 AMThat's all for today folks, feel free to ask me any questions and I'll try to be more active here going forward!

Can you describe it in a little more detail how sleeping was this time around, and how did it compare to the other previous instances you had more trouble with it? What difference Ambien made too?

Also if your sleep has followed a certain pattern of difficulty, or if it felt more like ups and downs so far, in your opinion.

Quote from: myloginacct on May 12, 2018, 10:06:42 PMCan you describe it in a little more detail how sleeping was this time around, and how did it compare to the other previous instances you had more trouble with it? What difference Ambien made too?

Also if your sleep has followed a certain pattern of difficulty, or if it felt more like ups and downs so far, in your opinion.

I've always had insomnia, even before the surgery, mainly during times when I was stressed out. My poor sleep after the surgery was not only attributed to the pain level but also to my mind not being able to shut down, due to the stress that comes with this process.
The difference from my sleep before and after surgery is simply that before, it would be difficult to shut down my mind due to overthinking about random things and getting anxious about the next day. After the surgery, it would be difficult to shut down my mind due to overthinking about the pain/discomfort that I was feeling and getting anxious about the consequences of my surgery.
Ambien works the same in all the instances. Half an hour after taking it, your mind slowly begins to fade away. Thoughts get more "soft", make way less sense, as if you were dreaming awake. The more you force yourself to stay awake, the less things will make sense. And then when you finally put your head on the pillow and shut your eyes, sleeping is fairly easy. It comes in seconds.
Last night was definitely the best night ever, I was able to sleep for 6 hours straight, without waking up. Usually Ambien lasts 3 hours on my body, so I guess I'm just getting used to this.
Sleep is really tough during the first 3 weeks. Be ready. At least for me, it was really hard staying in the same position for more than 2 hours. Things will get easier with time. Just have patience and endurance and everything will work out and will be worth it in the end.

Quote from: Honore on May 12, 2018, 01:21:12 PMVery inspiring, thanks for your time. I wish you a good recovery.. Has your fathers opinion on the procedure changed much?

Yes, he's changed a lot. He met Dr. Mahboubian and was impressed by the whole medical infrastructure around this surgery. He has a friend that really hates being short and when he got back to Brazil after helping me here for 3 weeks, he told his friend about this procedure. I think he's becoming an advocate for it now, but he still asks me to stop on +-5cm, just to be safe. My mom, on the other hand, is still here helping me physically and is the one motivating me to keep going. She really wants me to achieve my goal :-)
In the end, I'll stop whenever one of the following happens: the pain is simply unbearable OR I'm getting disproportional OR I've reached the technical maximum of 8cm.

Quote from: Android on May 12, 2018, 08:47:47 AMGlad to hear that things have calmed down for you, fallen. Good thing you're relatively close to your doctor, definitely a short flight; being in the same time zone even helps.

Great news that both legs are acting fine now. Amazing how a few weeks can turn things around, body and mind!

Can't really think of improvements for the progress spreadsheet, except perhaps having a few visual milestones to keep you motivated. Every X days, every X cm, or a visually pleasing number (e.g. 170 cm) would work.

Thanks, that's a really nice idea! I'll include it in the spreadsheet

Quote from: fallen774 on May 15, 2018, 10:50:53 PMYes, he's changed a lot. He met Dr. Mahboubian and was impressed by the whole medical infrastructure around this surgery. He has a friend that really hates being short and when he got back to Brazil after helping me here for 3 weeks, he told his friend about this procedure. I think he's becoming an advocate for it now, but he still asks me to stop on +-5cm, just to be safe. My mom, on the other hand, is still here helping me physically and is the one motivating me to keep going. She really wants me to achieve my goal :-)
In the end, I'll stop whenever one of the following happens: the pain is simply unbearable OR I'm getting disproportional OR I've reached the technical maximum of 8cm.

Such a pragmatic approach.

Stay positive, I feel you'll nail it - wherever your goal ends up at!

Quote from: lickerish on April 19, 2018, 06:26:44 AMI am noticing that most cases of extreme pain seem to be with femurs. anyone else?

Same here, while doing quadrilateral. Femur pain has been worse 90% of the time, except of course in the three weeks from the tibias surgery to the femurs surgery when there was no femur pain.

The worst pain I've ever felt was also after the femurs surgery, when I was crying in pain, holding the nurse's hand, waiting for morphine to kick in (it didn't really work; Dilaudid did).

Quote from: fallen774 on May 12, 2018, 05:34:49 AMMy initial idea is that I'd be able to update this thread every day. Now, I see that's highly unlikely. The downsides of this surgery are not only physical but also psychological. I had 0 energy or motivation to do things. Sometimes I'd catch myself just staring at the wall and waiting for time to pass. Yes, it varies from person to person, but I really got into this emotional limbo. I would even get lazy about turning on the TV. I just didn't want to do anything.

I felt exactly the same lack of motivation since after the first surgery. While before the surgery I'd be on my laptop 10+ hours a day, now days would pass without even opening its lid. No interest in checking the news, my portfolio, email or anything really. Fellow Paley patient Purushrottam reported more or less the same:

Quote from: Purushrottam on April 17, 2018, 04:27:15 AMI actually didn't write that often when I was actually lengthening. The lack of sleep totally depresses you. You don't feel motivated to do anything... even physical therapy. You have to push thru. Its not really a physical thing. The majority of the process is mental (fighting your mental inerti[a]).

Quote from: OverrideYourGenetics on May 16, 2018, 10:03:19 PMSame here, while doing quadrilateral. Femur pain has been worse 90% of the time, except of course in the three weeks from the tibias surgery to the femurs surgery when there was no femur pain.

The worst pain I've ever felt was also after the femurs surgery, when I was crying in pain, holding the nurse's hand, waiting for morphine to kick in (it didn't really work; Dilaudid did).

I felt exactly the same lack of motivation since after the first surgery. While before the surgery I'd be on my laptop 10+ hours a day, now days would pass without even opening its lid. No interest in checking the news, my portfolio, email or anything really. Fellow Paley patient Purushrottam reported more or less the same:

Wow, I didn’t know that there was such a significant difference. Did you have major pain spikes for the tibias or was it mainly continuous pain? If you could only choose to lengthen one or the other would you choose tibias due to the less pain (even if it meant lengthening less for tibias)? Thanks by the way, your input has been incredibly helpful.