Diary - January 2019 - In Full Stryde with Dr. Mahboubian of North Hollywood.

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Quote from: 184dream on December 08, 2020, 08:32:52 AMmay be the best diary i ve read thanks
one question before you get on with your life 
did you have a fear of arthritis ? dr franz says that with every cm there is a deviation by one mm . does you have malalignment or valgus deformity ? what does yr xray says or can you share it ?
do you still have knee or hip pain ?

Greetings 184Dream,

Thank you for your kind words.    Fortunately, I do not have a malalignment or valgus deformity.  The one side-effect, I did experience after about 1-month post-op was Anterior Pelvic Tilt (Duck ass) and I also was unable to put my legs together. Both conditions resulted from having tight quadriceps.   After about month 6-7, both conditions seemed mostly resolved (undetected by the eye).  After one year, neither condition existed and all felt normal, as it did before surgery.   One area that I continue to work on is my overall flexibility.  I had very poor flexibility before surgery, so my tightness was greater compared to other CLL'ers.   I'm about 80% Flexibility so I'm working on this.  Otherwise, everything looks and feels normal.  No knee or hip pain at all.  I am only tighter than in the past.  This improves as I stay dedicated to my stretching exercises.    At this point, I'm not concerned with arthritis, but I have heard there is some risk in that.  Feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions.

All the best,

IFS

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Hi IFS, truly amazing diary-- you're such a gem to this community. HUGE congrats on completing your LL journey and beginning a new one.

As it's been over 1.5 years now post op, how is your scarring doing? Do you have any images?

Are they superficial scars or are they keloid-type or indented?

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Quote from: Frogger on December 21, 2020, 10:03:51 PMHi IFS, truly amazing diary-- you're such a gem to this community. HUGE congrats on completing your LL journey and beginning a new one.

As it's been over 1.5 years now post op, how is your scarring doing? Do you have any images?

Are they superficial scars or are they keloid-type or indented?

Hi Frogger,

Thank you for the kind words and for reaching out. Great question.  Fortunately, I am now just a couple of weeks prior to my 2 year anniversary of my CLL surgery.  1 month ago, I had my Styrde nails removed.   The marks before Stryde removal we're so faint and fading nicely.  They were flat, non-raised and were healing nice.  During, my rod removal surgery, Dr. M went through the same incisions as he did to insert the nail and fortunately, the marks are very small, are non-raised and healing nicely.  I'm going to let some time go by and will post the ultimate results.   I was thinking of using some scar lightening cream as well.  All in all, the marks are minimal and not that noticeable after a year+, as long as the doctor made clean cuts and post-surgery care as far as cleaning was done right.  I'll return soon with images.

Thank you again and All the Best,

IFS.

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Amazing results! Do you think that similar minimal incisions are possible with Dr. Paley & Dr. Rozbruch compared to Dr. M?

How many individual scars per leg do you have?

Also, I recommend Bio-Oil if you’re looking for a good scar treatment. I’ve used it many times before on some other bodily scarring from sports and it works wonders.

Cheers.

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Quote from: Frogger on December 21, 2020, 11:26:50 PMAmazing results! Do you think that similar minimal incisions are possible with Dr. Paley & Dr. Rozbruch compared to Dr. M?

How many individual scars per leg do you have?

Also, I recommend Bio-Oil if you’re looking for a good scar treatment. I’ve used it many times before on some other bodily scarring from sports and it works wonders.

Cheers.

Hi Frogger!

Thank you for the great tip. I just ordered myself some Bio-Oil!  For the 1st surgery to implant the nails, I didn't use any special creams and the incisions still healed nicely and faded away.  I'm excited to use the Bio-Oil since I'm sure that the marks will barely be visible at all if I'm using something that will help the skin heal.

Dr. Paley and Dr. Rozbruch are top-of-class surgeons and you can't go wrong with either of them.  They leave very minimal scarring.  Both surgeons are on record, commenting that they make every effort to reduce any post operative scaring since they understand many patients are self-conscious about that.  Dr. Mahboubian, did a fantastic job in limiting the scarring on my body and I have no doubt that other experienced CLL surgeons will do the same.  It's definitely worth asking about prior to the procedure taking place.

As far incisions - For each leg, you have one approximate 2 cm, thin-line incision where the nail is inserted near top of hip.  You then have two thin line 1cm incisions proximal and distal (upper and lower, femur), where the screws were inserted to fix the nail in place.  You will also have a 1-2cm incision above knee, to the side, where your IT Band was cut so that it can easily lengthen with you as you lengthen your femur.

I will emphasize that for the femur lengthening, the superficial scarring is not much and appears to heal nicely in the months after surgery.  If one throws in some scar cream/oils, then I can imagine that the scarring is barely noticeable after a year or two. We shall see.   As for me, I don't mind the faint lines. They are a very subtle reminder of the CLL battle I undertook and overcame, successfully. 

Thank you again for your help.

All the Best,

IFS

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Hey bro congrats on being post op!

Since you used Stryde, could you see yourself performing above average in kicking such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing etc. You dont have to be elite performer (you'd be training since childhood for that lol), but just above average and give consistent good performance if that makes sense?

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Quote from: Tokito_Ohma on December 26, 2020, 12:46:52 PMHey bro congrats on being post op!

Since you used Stryde, could you see yourself performing above average in kicking such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing etc. You dont have to be elite performer (you'd be training since childhood for that lol), but just above average and give consistent good performance if that makes sense?

Hi Tokito!

Thank you for the question.  I am able to kick now with no pain or issue.  My legs feel perfectly normal and the only deficit I am experiencing is that I'm still training to regain flexibility and strength in my legs.  As long as one keeps strengthening and stretching; I have zero doubts that they can perform any kick they wanted and even compete again.  I will say also that I believe it would take 2-3 years post-surgery before any kind of serious competing could take place.  It takes that long to recover to competitive sports. It takes no more than 5-7 months to recover to regular function, like walking with a fully comfortable and regular looking gait. 

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

All the best,

IFS

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Hi IFS,

So how are you feeling 2 months after taking the rods out?

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Greetings CLL Team,

I hope all is well.  2020...psh, what the hell was that?!  Now that that's over, we're on to 2021 and we'll see how this year shapes up.   I wanted to check-in and report that I am now at 64 Days Post nail removal surgery (2 Months), and I'm feeling back to 100% .   As a quick note, I was able to walk normally, and back to my regular walking gate within 5 days after the nail removal.   At this point I am back to regular jogging, flexibility is back to pre-op shape and has improved a bit and my legs feel much lighter and looser.  I will begin to weight train and run more aggressively, begging in about 2 weeks.  Per Dr. Mahboubian, it is safest to wait about 12 weeks before one performs high impact activity with legs, post-surgery.  I look forward to getting back to normal leg training in February. The nails really do weigh a pound or two and by removing them, you're lighter on your feet.  I advise to anyone who is hesitating to get the nails removed to get those nails out ASAP, after waiting about 12 - 18 months.  You won't regret it and the impact of the nail removal surgery is not even remotely close to the initial CLL surgery you had.   In other news...my confidence and comfort-ability is sky-high.   I'm doing well in business, well with woman, and thankfully family is healthy, strong, and has been free from any COVID complications.  I'm happier than ever and CLL definitely had a hand in that.   I'll reach out again soon when time permits to add additional notes and perspective on the CLL experience, the impact that a successful outcome has had on my life, and I'll also touch on height dysphoria as well.   Feel free reach out to me if you have any questions or feedback in the meantime.

All the Best,

IFS

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so happy to read this IFS!! can't wait for my removal 2 month recovery is great for removal