Day 24:
No major changes, I will hit 18mm today. I’m sore to the touch more at top of the knee and generally all over the quad though the outer side is less tender than it has been. I never sleep more than a few hours at a time but piece together 4-5 hours by moving around the house from bed to couch.
Psychologically I’m tired of being sore and sitting around. I got out of the house last night and went to a local college (Stanford) volleyball game. In the end, I don’t think that really helped my psyche but it was worth a shot. It’s a cycle...I can see the end of the growth journey which is awesome but I know there’s another rehab journey right behind it. Very few people around me who know about what I’m doing really understand this journey and have moved on. Even with a “small” LLD correction like me, this is marathon, not a sprint, and you have to push through the cramps along the way. Thankful as always for my faithful wife who is patient with and encouraging to me.
Keep growing....
Diary: 1" LLD Femur - Stryde - September 2019
Day 26:
I had X-rays today and an office visit with the doctor. It’s getting hard to see a discrepancy when I stand. He measured growth at about 21mm and my shoe lift was originally 22mm. I am going to keep growing today and have a full standing X-ray with the radiologist’s analysis tomorrow. Bottom line, I’m within a few days max of being done with growth and being able to start recovery. I haven’t done much PT during the growth phase...he sent the referral today and I will start that later this week. This part of the journey is almost over...looking forward to putting it in the rear view mirror.
https://imgur.com/gallery/FTifvFe
Day 28:
The full LLD analysis X-ray yesterday still shows almost a cm discrepancy. The doctor’s visual comparison in the office on day 26 showed the femurs equal but didn’t easily show the unlevel hips. After looking at the subsequent LLD X-ray, he recommended I keep going. It wasn’t a surprise to me due to my initial calculations but I still had to remotivate myself after the “looks like you are done but let’s get some xrays” I got in the office visit.
I’m going to lengthen until Saturday (4 additional days) and do another LLD X-ray. My femurs are now about even so I’m getting some extra length in my femur to make up for the short tibia as I described in a previous post.
Pain remains consistent... not horrible but enough to continue to affect sleep. In comparison to the CLL cases this is easy, but it still stretches one’s mental toughness. My emotions have been up and down this week, I have a number of counters and charts to keep me motivated and visually show how close I’m getting. Almost there....
Quote from: bgreeneee on October 16, 2019, 08:47:22 PMDay 28:
The full LLD analysis X-ray yesterday still shows almost a cm discrepancy. The doctor’s visual comparison in the office on day 26 showed the femurs equal but didn’t easily show the unlevel hips. After looking at the subsequent LLD X-ray, he recommended I keep going. It wasn’t a surprise to me due to my initial calculations but I still had to remotivate myself after the “looks like you are done but let’s get some xrays” I got in the office visit.
I’m going to lengthen until Saturday (4 additional days) and do another LLD X-ray. My femurs are now about even so I’m getting some extra length in my femur to make up for the short tibia as I described in a previous post.
Pain remains consistent... not horrible but enough to continue to affect sleep. In comparison to the CLL cases this is easy, but it still stretches one’s mental toughness. My emotions have been up and down this week, I have a number of counters and charts to keep me motivated and visually show how close I’m getting. Almost there....
Dont stop lengthening untill ur pelvis is leveled. even if u reached even femurs, continue to correct the small amount in tibia from femur.
I am walking now on 1 crutch, pain is still there but getting better day after day.
I saw a similar case like urs at Betz Institute, 27 mm difference between femurs, he was using betz bone and was fine and happy also.
wish u all the best !
Day 33:
I am DONE with distraction. Total distraction ended up at 26.5mm. My hips are level and my feet line up. I bought my first pair of shoes (no lifts) a few days ago and just about cried...well actually I did cry. After living with this for almost 30 years...at age 47 I’m level again. Truly life changing and I will have to watch myself so that I don’t go crazy buying new shoes. Due to insurance (thankfully!!!), the most expensive part of this will definitely be the new shoe shopping.
As far as how I feel physically:
* I got my best night sleep yet last night due to not distracting before I went to bed.
* I feel dramatically better today after stopping the distraction almost 30 hours ago.
* I had my PT this morning and by far the weakest muscles are the abductors that control moving the leg to the side.
* I am not on ANY pain medicine, not even Tylenol. I did take some Tylenol before PT but only precautionary
* My knee flexion was measured at ~114 degrees. It hurts of course pushing beyond that.
* I started using a cane yesterday and dropped the crutches. It’s way easier today after stopping distraction. I can even walk without the cane but prefer the cane for now. Per doctor’s instructions, I did not walk during the distraction phase
I will continue to update this diary occasionally during recovery. I’m absolutely amazed and grateful, life changing to be level again.
Yay. I read this diary and watched all your videos. Now your journey is complete. After all this time you will live with no discrepancy for the rest of your life. This is very good, enjoy it! Your lengthening was somewhat easy because it was unilateral and not too much. Please keep us update about your consolidation and tell us when you take the rod out.
Congratulations you deserve it!!
Yay! You did it! Congrats! Enjoy your new shoes, lots of new shoes!! 
Update -- Day 48 post surgery:
I am now 2 weeks and a day post completion of distraction. In short, coming along though the impatient person in me wishes it was faster! I did go to the beach last week and put my toes in the sand which was blissful :-)
* I am still using a cane. I stopped using one last week, but have enough pain as I continue to stretch and strengthen that I am using it again. My gait was not smooth with or without a cane and so my PT is working on getting it back to a more natural walk which will come with more strength and flexibility.
* I only go to in-office PT 1X a week. Everything else is on my own.
* I am in consistent need of over the counter pain meds (Advil) to manage the pain at this point. Not severe but consistent due to the increased physical activity.
* I spent a lot of time in the pool last week, swimming and water walking, which was very helpful
* My knee flexion has improved in 2 weeks from 113 to 133 degrees
* I have consistent pain in my knee. I had periodic pain in this same place (below the knee cap) prior to the lengthening but it's more consistent and intense now. I didn't have a great/tight ACL prior so not too surprised by the pain, but certainly hoping the pain subsides once I get my strength back.
* I started back to work at 50% for the month of November. As others have said, I wouldn't recommend working during distraction if you don't have to. Now that I'm working on rehab, I'm thankful that I can go back at a reduced schedule. I could do 100% if I had to, but this gives me some focused time to rehab...after my stretching and exercises, I'm pretty beat.
I'll do a video on my youtube channel later today to show my progress (link in earlier update)
Quote from: bgreeneee on November 05, 2019, 08:26:31 PMUpdate -- Day 48 post surgery:
I am now 2 weeks and a day post completion of distraction. In short, coming along though the impatient person in me wishes it was faster! I did go to the beach last week and put my toes in the sand which was blissful :-)
* I am still using a cane. I stopped using one last week, but have enough pain as I continue to stretch and strengthen that I am using it again. My gait was not smooth with or without a cane and so my PT is working on getting it back to a more natural walk which will come with more strength and flexibility.
* I only go to in-office PT 1X a week. Everything else is on my own.
* I am in consistent need of over the counter pain meds (Advil) to manage the pain at this point. Not severe but consistent due to the increased physical activity.
* I spent a lot of time in the pool last week, swimming and water walking, which was very helpful
* My knee flexion has improved in 2 weeks from 113 to 133 degrees
* I have consistent pain in my knee. I had periodic pain in this same place (below the knee cap) prior to the lengthening but it's more consistent and intense now. I didn't have a great/tight ACL prior so not too surprised by the pain, but certainly hoping the pain subsides once I get my strength back.
* I started back to work at 50% for the month of November. As others have said, I wouldn't recommend working during distraction if you don't have to. Now that I'm working on rehab, I'm thankful that I can go back at a reduced schedule. I could do 100% if I had to, but this gives me some focused time to rehab...after my stretching and exercises, I'm pretty beat.
I'll do a video on my youtube channel later today to show my progress (link in earlier update)
I am approx 3 weeks post surgery and still feel the same pain as u r taking about and when walking without 1 crutch I sway and limp a little bit due to pain above knee and in different thigh places.
I am back to office work since 1 week and definitely my colleagues noticed my swaying but I am obliged to leave the crutch as Dr Betz asked me in order to start relying on myself.
I am stretching 3 times per day by myself and strengthen using elastic cord fixed in the wall for 4 thigh sides, squat with ball on wall use treadmill in 2.5 km/h speed and this is a good training because ur hands can help reduce ur weight.
It will need time definitely to get back to normal situation.
Good luck !!
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