Quote from: PANDA:BEAR.. on June 30, 2019, 05:39:56 PM
Hey Bishopcheck ...Did you really get injured in a explosion in Iraq?
Yup
Quote from: InFullStryde on June 30, 2019, 05:29:32 PM
6) Not sure if you have tried this; but I don't suggest trying to sleep on the side at all, this early. You could aggravate your surgical pain and the next day will be washed up dealing with that pain. Fortunately, all goes away; but my big thing with CLL is "Don't hurt yourself" any more than you have ot. It doesn't help to hurt yourself and aggravate inflammation this, especially this early.
IFS
Haha Yah I tried getting on my side, but the pain made it impossible to say on it, and I was stuck on my side like an upside down turtle for 20 minutes while I figured out a way to roll over onto my back without hurting myself even more.
Alright these past few days were rough, but I had some relief with the help of Marijuana.
Day 2-3 distraction, June 29 - June 30. The pain was intense, the sleep was non existent and it seems like there is no relief of pain or discomfort as I've tried every body + leg position possible and nothing helps.
Day 4-5 distraction, July 1 - July 2 - I would have updated on the July 2nd but I wanted to make sure what happened wasn't a fluke.
Monday the 1st - So I contacted Dr M about using Marijuana for pain relief since opiates just don't work that well on me. His nurse got back to me and said that Dr M says edible marijuana use and vaping are fine, but no smoking. So I went to weedmaps and found a supplier that would deliver to my door.
I went with 3 types just to test things out. One type is Sativa, and two are Indica's, one with high CBD. There's a study done with rats that showed CBD increased fracture healing. So I've been taking some of the CBD strain with both the other two. The Marijuana helps tremendously with the pain almost too well actually. I felt almost no pain while stoned, but that meant I was 'using' my legs more and manipulating them more w/o realizing that the pain is there, I just couldn't feel it. When the high wore off sometime around midnight, and then the pain came back worse then ever. I had to take some more to fall asleep.
Tuesday the 2nd - I woke up wondering if I slept because I was so sleep deprived or because the MJ was actually helping. I'm still dialing in the dose and frequency, but it definitely helps. Still, having gone 15 years without using MJ makes figuring out how much to eat kinda difficult.
Day 6 distraction - July 3 Last night I took some marijuana and also two benadryl. I slept so heavy that my first alarm at 5am didn't wake me up so I missed a lengthening session. Hopefully I can add that session to the end of the cycle. Or maybe I'll just do another 4 lengthening sessions tomorrow, I'll decide tonight depending on how I feel.
That being said, when I woke up I felt pretty good. A little drowsy, but otherwise much better than the previous few days. Hmm I'm also feeling a bit of tightness in my hamstrings, I doubt that's a good sign feeling tightness this early. Anyways. The VA is giving me the run around about getting PT, so I might have to pay out of pocket for a bit until someone at the VA get's off their lazy butts and gets me a referral. This Friday I'll try and measure myself to compare it to before measurements which are found in the picture below.
Diary - June 2019 - Stryde with Dr. Mahboubian of North Hollywood
I long suspected that marijuana would help with LL pain, its great to hear that its helped you so much
Congrats on your surgery!!!
Does Mahboubian do IT band release ?
Great info on here Bishop!
I think the MJ may be beneficial. If you find it is helping with sleep etc and your doctor says it’s fine to have it then you should.
I have been smoking MJ on and off for 9 years and can say the benefits are great! But yeah I will be moving onto edibles as I edge closer to a surgery date.
All the best on your journey!
Quote from: Bonez on July 03, 2019, 08:13:43 PMI long suspected that marijuana would help with LL pain, its great to hear that its helped you so much
Congrats on your surgery!!!
I seriously think the pain is the fun part for me ... as I love pain 🤣
Is not smoking bad for LL?!
Quote from: Lalbadshah on July 05, 2019, 05:12:47 PMIs not smoking bad for LL?!
yes u should stop smoking atleast 1 year before surgery
Distraction days 6 - 8, July 3 - 5
Where to start. Alright guys, so the pain is still here, the marijuana helps, but it really just makes the intolerable, tolerable. There is the surgery-site pains ie the anchoring screws are still too painful to sleep on, so it's still back only for laying down.
That said, most of the pain now is in the muscles and tendons. The pain comes in waves after each lengthening session. I believe that if you are flexible, ie you can touch your toes kinda of flexible then you won't have nearly as much pain.
But If you are like me, someone who could bend over and barley touch my shins, then you'll be in for quite a bit more pain as your legs are stretched. Speaking of which here is my semi-official new height after 1 week. 
By my count that's 5.5mm, which is lower than it should be. I should be at least 7mm. But things of note are, I can't quite put both my feet together so I can't stand completely straight up for the measuring. So maybe the missing millimeters are there.
But maybe the ERC requires very precise placement and I've missed it a few times or maybe I wasn't pushing the ERC down with enough force. Either way there's nothing to do but wait until I see the doc.
The VA is getting me some physical therapy with a third party, so hopefully I can start PT soon. Otherwise I've simply been getting up and stretching my legs at least once every hour and taking a few steps. I've also started stretching before and after each lengthening session. Now that there's only 3 lengthening sessions a day hopefully the pain subsides a bit more.
Quote from: bishopcheck on July 06, 2019, 12:08:31 AMDistraction days 6 - 8, July 3 - 5
Where to start. Alright guys, so the pain is still here, the marijuana helps, but it really just makes the intolerable, tolerable. There is the surgery-site pains ie the anchoring screws are still too painful to sleep on, so it's still back only for laying down.
That said, most of the pain now is in the muscles and tendons. The pain comes in waves after each lengthening session. I believe that if you are flexible, ie you can touch your toes kinda of flexible then you won't have nearly as much pain.
But If you are like me, someone who could bend over and barley touch my shins, then you'll be in for quite a bit more pain as your legs are stretched. Speaking of which here is my semi-official new height after 1 week.
By my count that's 5.5mm, which is lower than it should be. I should be at least 7mm. But things of note are, I can't quite put both my feet together so I can't stand completely straight up for the measuring. So maybe the missing millimeters are there.
But maybe the ERC requires very precise placement and I've missed it a few times or maybe I wasn't pushing the ERC down with enough force. Either way there's nothing to do but wait until I see the doc.
The VA is getting me some physical therapy with a third party, so hopefully I can start PT soon. Otherwise I've simply been getting up and stretching my legs at least once every hour and taking a few steps. I've also started stretching before and after each lengthening session. Now that there's only 3 lengthening sessions a day hopefully the pain subsides a bit more.
Hi Bishop, It is all good. Your muscles are going to feel pretty tight due to the post-surgery implications as well. Continue to do those stretches and things will be okay. Also, since you mention tight hamstrings I'll tell you that at the end of lengthening I had a very slight; yet still existent bend in the knee (could not straighten fully) due to tight hamstrings. All straightened out nicely once I stopped lengthening. Please message me if you have any questions or need advice.
Thank you,
Big news I got 5 hours of sleep the past 2 nights. This is not my desired amount, but it's far better than the 3 hours I had been getting. This is thanks to Ambien + Norco right before bedtime.
Distraction 9-17, July 6-14 The pain was pretty terrible for the past week since I ran out of meds on the 4th of July weekend so getting a refill wasn't possible. When I told Dr M that I had only been getting 3 hours of sleep because of the pain, he gave me some Ambien and refilled my script for Norco. And oh boy, five hours feels like heaven compared to three.
I have been taking a shower an hour before and an hour after every lengthening session to loosen up and attempt deep stretches. These showers really help with the lightening pains, but they aggravate the surgery sites, so I'm still icing most of the day.
Distraction day 15, July 12 Dr M said, I am between 15-18 millimeters taller, and by my count I am exactly 15 2/3 millimeters taller. Taking the rate of my femurs healing, Dr M says I should keep lengthening three times a day, and I should cut back on the marijuana use now that I have refilled my norco script. I took an Uber to and from DR M's office. I also drove 6 miles to and from Walgreens to pic up my meds. Driving a short distance seems easy enough, but I doubt driving over an hour with traffic would be a good idea.
The VA is trying to get me PT between now and September, so until they make it happen I'll be doing PT at Dr Mahboubian's office starting monday July 15.
Quote from: InFullStryde on July 06, 2019, 05:25:51 PMHi Bishop, It is all good. Your muscles are going to feel pretty tight due to the post-surgery implications as well. Continue to do those stretches and things will be okay. Also, since you mention tight hamstrings I'll tell you that at the end of lengthening I had a very slight; yet still existent bend in the knee (could not straighten fully) due to tight hamstrings. All straightened out nicely once I stopped lengthening. Please message me if you have any questions or need advice.
Thank you,
Thanks for the support. I'm having serious issues transitioning from sitting to standing and vice versa, so hopefully the PT helps with that. Otherwise, I just hope it eases up a bit.
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