Day 77 (Wed., Oct. 7) - 74.1 mm Taller
Taking too many pills (painkillers, vitamins, calcium, etc.) and also having low mobility due to my surgery and the COVID-19 situation, had me worried that my liver and kidney would be under too much work pressure! I had asked my physician for a checkup. The results were surprising. My liver and kidney were as usual very good, but numbers looked even better than before. My vitamin D deficiency I had last year, is now resolved.
All numbers are normal, with the exception of the LDL (bad cholestrol) which is 124. I am not that surprised, cause I eat crazy including having a lot of red meat. I will go back to a more healthy style of eating I always had soon, after consolidation is over; and try to lower my LDL to below 100.
I have been very lucky my pain has been manageable on 5+cm.
I had heard stories about how hard and close to impossible becomes, when you'd go to the 7cm zone!
Now at 7cm, I am surprised how I can fairly easily pass days! I am not sure why my pain is not much higher, but it's most likely thanks to my stretching routine. I never missed on stretching and always too every sessions seriously.
Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020
Really glad to hear that your pain has been manageable over 7cm. Do you know if lengthening quickly and stretching more during consolidation is different than lengthening slowly and starting consolidation more flexible in the long run? I suppose ultimately our bodies should adjust to a certain level of flexibility given the total amount lengthened, regardless of how fast it was lengthened.
You'll be well into consolidation by my surgery date. With your rate of bone growth I suppose you'll consolidate pretty quickly too. I'm surprised to hear that you have a Vit D deficiency given your rate of bone growth. I guess that makes me feel better as well since I'm most likely a bit deficient in Vit D as well (though I will have taken supplements for 2 months by my surgery date.)
Quote from: BelowTheMean on October 12, 2020, 02:04:54 AMReally glad to hear that your pain has been manageable over 7cm. Do you know if lengthening quickly and stretching more during consolidation is different than lengthening slowly and starting consolidation more flexible in the long run? I suppose ultimately our bodies should adjust to a certain level of flexibility given the total amount lengthened, regardless of how fast it was lengthened.
You'll be well into consolidation by my surgery date. With your rate of bone growth I suppose you'll consolidate pretty quickly too. I'm surprised to hear that you have a Vit D deficiency given your rate of bone growth. I guess that makes me feel better as well since I'm most likely a bit deficient in Vit D as well (though I will have taken supplements for 2 months by my surgery date.)
Thanks BelowTheMean,
I am happy to see you starting surgery asap, cause I believe in doing this surgery during COVID-19 times for all the benefits you'd get.
I avoid the California sun as much as I can! ideally limiting it to less than 5 minutes per day without any sun blocks. In case of sun blocks, I would be okay staying for longer, but I am not a big fan of sun blocks. I therefore make sure I avoid it as much as I can. I think for someone like me, I need daily D supplements. I had a vitamin D deficiency last year (blood test in November 2019). However I started taking supplements since then and at some point, the deficiency must have been resolved, cause now it look like the number is pretty normal.
Day 78 (Thurs., Oct. 
- 75.1 mm Taller
Before the surgery started, I told Dr. M. that I may have a height discrepancy between left and right, with left being shorter. Dr. M. recommended that I take accurate x-ray measurements. I went to the hospital and took the x-ray. The results showed that my right leg upper knee is 5mm taller than my left. Therefore we had planned to stop distraction for the right, as soon as it hits 75mm.
Today is day 78 post-op and day 69 since distraction started and I will be done with lengthening my right leg. I will continue distraction for my left for 5 more days. I am curious is anyone else could achieve 7.5cm in 69 days of distraction. If not, then I may have a world record as a fastest CLL'er to reach 7.5cm distraction.
I repeated the accurate x-ray measurement by asking my physician to refer me to a hospital where they do accurate x-ray measurements. The results will be out in 3 days. My plan is to make adjustments to right, if on day 3 I find out that I have to do more distraction for my right leg.
Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on October 11, 2020, 07:54:11 AMDay 76 (Tue., Oct. 6) - 73.1 mm Taller
I had planned to take care of 3 clinic related items this morning.
I had asked my physician for a checkup and he had put some blood tests for me in the system. I decided to go early to the clinic and do the tests. I was fasting for the tests.
I then went to pick up the new Tramadol and Gabapentin prescription from the pharmacy in the clinic. There was some complication and they somehow had the Tramadol, but not the Gabapentin in their records. I therefore had to call Dr. M.'s office to have them call the pharmacy once more.
My PT appointment was also today in the same clinic. As I expected my PT found out that my quad flexibility got worse compared to last week. My bending knees were at about 100+ degrees which is terrible. I hope I can quickly improve this after my distraction is over, but at this point, when I to push it while bending knees, the pain starts to be unbearable, so I give up. The rest was okay. He checked my hamstring flexibility and he was okay with that. He measured my straight knees as at minus 8 degrees.
I then went back to the pharmacy and picked up my Tramadol and Gabapentin.
Overall I was there at the clinic for about 3 hours. Fasting, feeling cold in the clinic and walking quite a bit, quickly resulted in severe pain and discomfort, but I started to recover while driving back home.
I am on day 65 of the distraction phase. Seven more days and I'd be done at 8cm!
There is a typo here. I was on day 67 (not day 65) when I was at 73.1mm distraction. Sorry about the typo.
Day 79 (Fri., Oct. 9) - 76.1 mm Taller
Day 80 (Sat., Oct. 10) - 77.1 mm Taller
My right leg has graduated from the Stryde Nail Challenge at 7.5cm distraction and now officially in the consolidation phase!
By the time my left is at 8cm, I hope they are closer to being equal in length.
On day 79 (day 70 since distraction started), I started the distraction sessions that would be on left only. I assumed that after the left distraction session is done, and when the device automatically takes it to the right lengthening session, if I turn off the devices, things would be saved properly. Therefore every time I do the distraction, all I plan to do is lengthen my left and then turn off the device, to avoid messing up with the numbers recorded for the right and left.
However on day 80 (day 71 since distraction started), I realized that the numbers are indeed incorrect on the device, as somehow the device my have turned on, asking for the right leg lengthening and I must have used that towards my left on Sat. morning. I had already checked with the company that both right and left are basically the same rotation direction and amount, so it's completely safe to use a distraction session that appears for a certain leg, on the other one!
I have made an excel sheet for my distraction days and I have recorded all the numbers, therefore inaccurate numbers on the device would not be a problem.
I have three more days for my left to be at 8cm 
Day 81 Post-op (Sun., Oct. 10) - 78.1 mm 80 mm Taller [ magic happens, 8cm Taller on distraction day 72 
]
As I said, my right is already done (max 7.5 cm distraction) and in the consolidation phase!
I expected to be at 78.1 mm distraction on left by the end of the day and to have two more days to be at 8cm.
However this afternoon while i was sitting and doing my second distraction of day, I heard a big sound coming from the left rod area. I thought I made a misheard but when I stood up, the sound was repeated. It felt like a pop or clicking sound.
Then tonight while doing the third extraction of the day, around half time, my leg started moving a bit with a sound like the rod has a hard time proceeding. I felt like the rod was trying to lengthen but then would go back to where it was.
None of the sounds resulted any pain. The night time sounds were like something clicks but then gets released and makes my leg jump or move a bit.
I was first concerned that perhaps the rod was broken, but having no pain made me feel good that at least it's not a dangerous situation. My suspicion was that I already hit 8cm and the rod was just trying, but could not lengthen any further. This would match what Dr. M. figured during our last appointment on Sep. 29th; that my left grew faster than right by a few mms. Also the results of my Thursday x-ray was emailed to me by my physician this afternoon; which showed there was not much difference between right and left. This also confirms that my left grew faster and could catch up by about 5mm that it had been short of whole my life.
I immediately emailed Dr. M. He said it sounds like the rod has reached the end of its lengthening potential [of 8cm]. He also said that If I want to continue distraction for another couple of days, that should be OK and should not have any consequences.
Considering all the evidence, and my own feeling I get while the rod was not proceeding, I believe I have reached the 8cm!
I took this challenge with some goals in mind. One milestone was to achieve 8cm and it seems I achieved it. There is a high chance I am the fasted in the world to reach 8cm in 72 days. There is actually a good chance I reached 8cm on Thursday (distraction day 69), cause the x-ray results on that day show that my left and right are almost same height. Since my right was at 7.5 by the end of that day, my left must have been at 8cm by the end of that day. Dr. M. had also observed in late Sept, that my left was ahead of schedule by about 5mm [somehow, I still don't know how the device works exactly].
In any case, I am happy to officially call 8cm as completed by Distraction Day 72 
My next milestone is to go back to the normal (pre-op) condition or something similar [cause my new leg dimensions may define a new normal] in a short time.
I would like to thanks IFS, Movie, ghkid2019, Tartar, BelowTheMean, Sunshine, wannabeidol, readyprecisestryde, bondo, BoneStretching, m7liam, asian and many other brothers and here who have helped me with their advice and support.
I hope to continue my diary and I hope it helps many CLL'ers achieve their goals.
SNC
Congratulations Bro!
I'm amazed at your pain management during your journey. You reached your 8cm target relatively easy. Enjoy your new height and new life!
Wow...You are beating everyone's record to reach 8cm the fastest and congrats!!! Thank you and enjoy your new height. Wishing you a quick recovery
congrats dude!
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