Hi all, posting my diary with femurs Stryde with Giotikas. Original height 168cm, aiming for 8cm, male 26 years old.
Apologies I will have to come back and write in more detail my first 30 days as I am now 2.5cm in but to quickly summarise
Surgery to t+4 -> very painful, was juiced up on painkillers for 4 days, could barely move, every leg movement gave me pain. I naively thought that I would be able to go home by myself but ended up having a nurse 24 hours with me for the first week as it was extremely difficult to go toilet or do anything. Hospital food sucked!!
Week 1 - Nurse with me whole week, was basically confined in wheelchair, couldn't move. Apparently I was below average in terms of flexibility and first week out of gate
Week 2 - Started to take first steps with crutches. Baby steps. On t+14, it was my first time out of the house with crutches only (previously I had to use a wheelchair to get to PT). Surgery pain at this point had died down but there was a lot of stretching pain from trying to regain your leg mobility. This meant during week 2 I was taking about 4 100mg tramadols and 8 panadols a day. My left leg was more flexible (i.e., I could flex it ~90 degrees) but my right leg was much stronger (left leg would occasionally have spasms)
Week 3 - Getting stronger, by t+17 I could use 1 crutch to move instead of 2. At the end of week 3 (t+21), I took my first steps with no crutches, however, I was walking like a penguin with huge side to side body swings. Pain was better this week although I was still taking 3 tramadols a day.
Week 4 - Getting stronger again, I now can walk without huge body swings although there is a little bit of body swing remaining. The big change was due to using my legs to move instead of my hips which was previously causing the body swing penguin walk. Taking 2 tramadols a day.
Today (t+32) - Today I went outside and walked 30 minutes without crutches which I thought was pretty good. I can't walk very fast (maybe 0.6kmph) but its slowly improving. I'm now at 2.5cm. Pain shot up last night so had to increase dose to 3 tramadols yesterday.
One major problem I have in the last 2 days is I have wide legs. I.e., 3 days ago, my legs were about 40 cm apart with no discomfort and I couldn't bring them together any closer than 10cm. I did some stretching in the last 2 days and now they are maybe 20 cm apart with no discomfort and I can bring them to touch. However, this is one big thing I have to work on and I am a bit worried as I am only 2.5cm in! Will keep you guys updated
Femurs stryde with Giotikas (July 2020)
Saw the doctor today and he implied my wide legs might be self inflicted. Ever since I could walk without crutches I haven’t used them again. But as a result, I have been wide walking for balance.
Very annoying to get wide legs at 2.5cm, not sure if anyone else had it so early.
Also I notice that when I try to move my legs upwards I get a twang in my sides that feels like my muscle is caught on a bone and then suddenly released. Does anything know anything about that?
Not at my knee, it’s actually higher up near my hip. Feels like a rubber band snap
While true there aren’t many diaries, there are 5 other guys currently doing stryde femurs or tibias with me, all at various stages of completion. I see them at PT regularly and all are doing well.
Did you get it every time you bent your leg to walk?
So if I don’t bend the leg when I’m walking I don’t get it. If I deliberately bent the leg like 45 degrees I get the snapping feeling
Quote from: anaverageperson on August 27, 2020, 11:18:48 PMThanks for this! How much is the PT approximately, and are there any quadrilateral lengthening patients you've been able to interact with there? Any advice on budgeting for food?
PT is included in the overall price so I don't know the separate price for it.
Food is pretty cheap in Greece. Maybe like 15 euros a day for UberEasts equivalent.
Yes - we have one quad lengthening patient who is doing it with us. He is an absolute hero - I definitely would not want to do quad lengthening.
Hi guys - I am at surgery + 45 days at the moment (about 3.7cm in) and things haven't really changed in the last 10 days or so.
I still have wide legs which I have been focused on trying to improve but hasn't really changed much. Pain during the day is usually minimal (taking 2 100mg tramals per day and some panadol). My stretching ability has gone down a bit but I have been very busy with work and study (working and studying full time) hence I will admit I have slacked off.
I saw the feedback on the videos so I'll try to post a video in the next few days when I have time.
Quote from: anaverageperson on August 28, 2020, 06:05:27 PMHow is the quality of the PT? I was reading some old posts on here that said Greek PT was no good or something lol. Are they taking care of you and the others? Props to the quad patient...do you know how much he is planning on lengthening or how far along he is right now? What's different from his recovery compared to the others?
Glad to hear that your pains down BTW! I'm planning on doing this in the near future with Giotikas so your diary is giving me some great insights...keep up posted!!
PT is pretty good. I hear from the nurse they have changed the PT because of complaints with the old one. I don’t have any reference points but I enjoy going.
The quad patient did 2 surgeries last year about 3 weeks apart and then lengthened 4cm each. Then came back this year and rebroke femurs and is in process of doing the other 4cm. He plans to rebreak the tibias after and go for the remaining 4cm.
I don’t think anything particularly different with him although he did say if he had his time again, he’d do one by one.
Quote from: TwinMusicom on August 30, 2020, 01:59:39 AMThanks for making this diary.
1. How has covid affected the process for you?
2. What did you do for the Visa? I heard Shengen visa only covers 90 days, is that basically guaranteed to be long enough? What would happen if you weren't fully healed in 90 days?
Hi - very minimal effect from COVID. Probably the biggest one is I have to wear a mask everywhere.
I was on the Greek tourist visa which I think was 90 days. However, after 40 days post-surgery, I actually flew to London to complete my lengthening because I have friends here I wanted to meet. Hence I think my 90 days reset when I flew to London.
We had another guy in our cohort who flew back home (another European country) 2 weeks post-surgery.
Quote from: AllAboutPerspective on August 30, 2020, 10:33:08 PMDr. Giotikas allows you to continue lengthening in the UK?
When do you plan to fly back to Greece?
Yes he does. I don't plan to go back unless something goes wrong. I'll be taking XRAYS at a local hospital and then Skyping with him for my regular check-ups.
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