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

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Quote from: Taller on December 20, 2014, 03:40:57 AMIt's funny that the shortest guy (the one most to the right) in this picture appears to be the one with the longest arms, and the tallest guy appears to have the shortest arms of everyone in the image.

When you're tall and in thick shoes your arms tend to sometimes look relatively short compared to the rest of your body.

All these guys are 189-190CM:

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Week 14 (Dec 22-28)
Post Op:  101 days
Goal achieved: 8 cm
Consolidation days: 13


On Monday 12/15 I completed my lengthening goal of 8cm and since then have been consolidating. The highlights so far I’ve finally returned to a relatively normal sleeping pattern and started driving.  I still wake up through out the night but that is happening fewer times and I can usually go right back to sleep.  For example last night I slept 8 hours wokeup 3 time during the night.  That for me is a successful night of sleep.  Being able to drive gives me the freedom to do many things and you can’t imagine what escaping your 4 walls does to moral.

Flexibility/Mobility:   My legs are very weak walking on a walker is still a very slow and slightly painful process.  Even a couple 100 feet is a challenge.  I’m still suffering from bent knees although this is getting better each day.  I’m thinking once I can straighten my legs completely I should be able to walk much better.   The good news is that through stretching, cycling, and walking I’ve seen significant improvements I’m hoping in the next couple of weeks to be able to straighten them completely.  To help accomplish this on Jan 2, 2015 I’m restarting physical therapy 3x a week as an outpatient and have maintained my stretching regiment.   

Pain:  Shortly after stopping detractions that constant dull pain also stopped.  Now I only get pain during and after exercising.  I still take pain medication but at this point I’m down to ½ Norco pill daily and only have 3 pills left.  Once they’re gone I’m off pain medication. 

Overall Mood: Happy that I’m in the consolidation phase and seeing continuous improvements to my recovery. 

Bone Growth and Consolidation:  Will see Dr. M again on January 23 won’t know my bone growth progress till then.  The hopes are that by then I will have enough of a bone bridge to fully weight bear and walk. 

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Hey Alfonso my fellow fossil ! 

I have been holding off on this thread until consolidating before I jumped in to be your cheerleader.

I hope to walk in your footsteps (pun intended) but I am poor  so I am most likely going to Spain to do my internals using Fitbone.

Reading your journal has given hopes to us old guys . It has certainly inspired me.
How is Hollywood? Havent been to LA for many years now. I am hanging out in Tampa.

Going the full 8cm takes guts. I know I will aim for it as well. Are you planning to do the tibs as well?
 

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Quote from: TomD on December 29, 2014, 08:50:55 PMHey Alfonso my fellow fossil ! 

I have been holding off on this thread until consolidating before I jumped in to be your cheerleader.

I hope to walk in your footsteps (pun intended) but I am poor  so I am most likely going to Spain to do my internals using Fitbone.

Reading your journal has given hopes to us old guys . It has certainly inspired me.
How is Hollywood? Havent been to LA for many years now. I am hanging out in Tampa.

Going the full 8cm takes guts. I know I will aim for it as well. Are you planning to do the tibs as well?
 

Thank you for the kind words and greetings fellow relic. I'm happy I could be of inspiration.  Given all the research, preparation, time, effort, pain, and cost doing anything less than the max 8cm wasn't an option. Although no lie it was a harder road than I thought.  As for Tibs lets see but I think I will be happy with 175cm.   

Spain, not a bad place to be- is that with Dr Monegal in Barcelona?  To be honest haven't seen much of LA I'm from the NYC area only here for the procedure.  Will be here till end of February hoping to get better acquainted once I can walk.  In the mean while if there is anything I can answer to help your journey don't hesitate. 

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Good to hear that you are continuing to improve Afonso. I am glad you can drive, that must be a good feeling. Continue to focus on stretching and PT.
Have you considered walking in a swimming pool. I know some pools (YMCA) are handicapped accessible. I think it is called wheelchair lift, which helps you get in and out of the pool. 

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Quote from: Plzen on December 30, 2014, 11:38:59 AMGood to hear that you are continuing to improve Afonso. I am glad you can drive, that must be a good feeling. Continue to focus on stretching and PT.
Have you considered walking in a swimming pool. I know some pools (YMCA) are handicapped accessible. I think it is called wheelchair lift, which helps you get in and out of the pool.

Driving, it's like being a teenager again that sense of freedom after being stuck in a condo for 3 months.  It really helps with this process if you learn to celebrate the milestones.  I use the pool at my local gym that's one of the reasons I wanted to start driving that and outpatient PT (my insurance covers PT as an out patient). 

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Quote from: Uppland on December 20, 2014, 03:21:23 PMWhen you're tall and in thick shoes your arms tend to sometimes look relatively short compared to the rest of your body.

All these guys are 189-190CM:







Idris Elba and Nicholas Hoult according to celeb heights are 6'2.75".(which is exactly 190cms)
Charlie Hunnam is 6'0". But they both look like they have longer legs than most men their height. I could expect to look like that if I make it to 6'3" on my Tibs.

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Week 15 (Dec 29 – Jan 4)
Post Op: 108 days
Goal achieved:  8 cm
Consolidation days: 20


Since last week the changes have been negligible.  Continuous improvement yes but nothing earth shattering to report.  The only real news is that sleep no longer is a problem. 

Flexibility/Mobility:   My legs are getting stronger and I see them getting thicker but over all still weak.  It’s hard to stand still unassisted for more than 1 minute.   Walking on a walker is still slow and slightly painful.  Bent knees still persists but getting much better. After my 1st post LL PT session on Friday they were very close to being straight.  I’m hoping by end of next week this will no longer be a problem. 

Pain: Same as last week only during exercise/stretch or bad movement.  This week I took my last Norco pill but that isn’t a problem I was only taking ½ pill per day and not every day.

Overall Mood:  Happy that I’m seeing improvements but anxious to have I and the wheelchair go our separate ways.   

Bone Growth and Consolidation: No update until I see Dr. M on 1/23

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Hey Afonso,
Slow improvement is still good news. Keep up with your PT and swimming. Hopefully, you can get rid of your wheelchair soon.
As I understand you are still using walker. When do you think, you will start using crutches?

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Quote from: Plzen on January 04, 2015, 08:08:52 PMHey Afonso,
Slow improvement is still good news. Keep up with your PT and swimming. Hopefully, you can get rid of your wheelchair soon.
As I understand you are still using walker. When do you think, you will start using crutches?

Plzen, from your mouth to the Universe can't wait to shed my wheels !!!   This coming week I'm going to ask my PT to help me transition to crutches.  I've been hesitant to do so because of the constant drilling by Dr. M on weight limit.  When I started my LL I weighed approx 165 so it was a real concern. After all a bent nail would be a 20K mistake all on me.   The walker gives you more stability so he wanted me to exclusively use that vs crutches.  Now that I weigh about 150 and I'm going into my 4th week of consolidation I think I can start using crutches.