Afonso - Precice II Internal Femurs - Dr. Mahboubian - Sept 2014

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What kind of pictures/video would you like to see? 

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We are all mostly concerned with your physical recovery. Perhaps a few videos that show how you walk, run, jump, your flexibility and agility. Of course you can hide your face if you feel awkward.

Some people (including myself) are also interested in how it looks when one's legs have been lenghtened. Most people look normal especially to an unaware eye but we're always interested in more real life pictures to show how proportions are affected.

All this is optional and we're already grateful you've shared your experience but it would help many people who feel frightened by this surgery (again myself among them) to be more prepared and to know what they're getting themselves into.

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Week 12 (Dec 8-14)
Post Op:  87 days
Achieved: 7.9 cm
Goal: 8cm
Days to completion: 1

By 11:59PM Monday 12/15 I get to put away my proverbial rack and bring the detracting phase of my LL to an end.  Words can’t describe how happy I am to reach this point both from a sense of accomplishment and more immediate an end to pain and sleepless nights.   Luckily for me it has so far been a relatively uncomplicated process with few unhappy surprises.  Although I must admit I wasn’t prepared for sleep deprivation or how tight my legs would get on the road to 8cm. 
 
Flexibility/Mobility:   As expected all the flexibility gains from last week are long gone.  My soft tissue feels like the suspension cables holding up the George Washington Bridge.   My bent knees are slightly worse and if it wasn’t for how quickly things loosened up during the 3 day break I would be concerned. 

Pain: By the end of the week pain med intake was slightly higher than before the break. With meds pain level is manageable. 

Overall Mood:    Ecstatic!!! The tunnel is almost clear and the light is bright.  On to consolidation and recovery
Bone Growth and Consolidation:  Will know how much upping Vitamin D and adding Silica has contributed to this when I see Dr. M on Friday, December 19.

Lessons learned – none worthy of mention this week

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Congratulation. I am happy for you. Hopefully you pain/flexibility/sleep will improve in the next few days. Enjoy the new height and keep us updated.

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Quote from: Plzen on December 14, 2014, 04:12:45 PMCongratulation. I am happy for you. Hopefully you pain/flexibility/sleep will improve in the next few days. Enjoy the new height and keep us updated.

Thanks I look forward to sleep the most

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Afonso,
Reading your diary, it looks like bent knees were your biggest problems in terms of flexibility.
Did your PT tell you that your bent knees were mostly due to tight hamstring muscles?
Exactly what exercises did you do to solve the problem of bent knees?
Did you have problems with tight Quad muscles? Piriformis muscles problems?

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Unfortunately the problem persists and yes my PT told me its my hamstrings.  He's confident the problem is resolvable with some PT after LL.  Currently doing several hamstring stretches 3x per day.  The main one is in bed on my stomach with legs below knee dangling over bed.  Letting the weight of my legs force them down.  I do this until tolerable which has been about 3-5 minutes.   I'm also going to start using the pool at a local gym to walk.  I haven't done this yet because I haven't had the courage to drive.  Will start doing that towards the end of the month. 

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Done – 8CM !!!!!
Just finished last detraction.  The attached picture is the Ellipse detraction device (a.k.a. The Rack). If you look closely the total detracted is 166.70mm (both legs) or 83.35mm (8.335cm) single leg and limb lengthened.  The reason for the additional 3.35mm.  The last time I saw Dr. M I was told that there was a 2.5mm discrepancy between actual and Ellipse device. That was at 7cm.  I calculated that 8.3cm on the machine would equal 8cm (8cm is the Precice II maximum). 
Ok now I can go back to bed and not  sleep.  Hooray - these sleepless nights are numbered!!!

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congrats mate!

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Did it go faster or slower than you thought?