Day 10 (Sat., August 1) - 1.66 mm taller
For me, sleeping is the biggest challenge of the surgery so far. I have a hard time managing it. However with the help of Tylenol I had a better handle of it tonight. I took one more Tylenol around 3:30am.
I did my first at-home ERC session today at 6 am. I am supposedly 0.33*2=0.66 mm taller!
I did my second ERC at 12 pm, 0.33*3=0.99 mm taller
Third at 6 pm: 0.33*4=1.33 mm
Fourth at 11:58 pm: 0.33*5=1.66 mm
I walked longer than previous days. Also for the first time I took the wheelchair out in the evening to exercise my arms and shoulders.
The last time I took Tylenol was last night at 3:30 am.
My left leg has becomes so painful. I could not help but taking Norco again. I took 1/4th of a tablet and it helped.
Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020
Day 11 (Sunday, August 2) - 0.33 + 2*1.33 =1.99 mm taller
Today was the most painful day so far. I had this dull pain ranging between 5 and 8 for almost the whole time. I took Tylenol at 12pm, then 6 pm.
At night time I resumed taking Norco at midnight: Started with 1 at 11:40pm, then half at 12 am and then another half at 12:30am.
After trying so many different exercises and positions on bed, I found out that sleeping on sofa may work better. I set my leg to lean on the sofa back while my head was leaning to the side. With some pillow support, I had the best sleep post-surgery 
Unfortunately my several attempts to continue this journey with no help from any pain killer has failed so far. It seems my body cannot handle the pain on its own or even with the help of ice packs. In addition Norco or Tylenol seems to be necessary for my body. I have decided to not pause on pain killers for a while until I have healed much better.
Day 12 (Monday, August 3) - 4.29 mm taller
I took a Norco shortly before each 0.33 lengthening sessions (i.e., 6am, 12pm, 6pm, and 12am).
Today so far has been the most productive day for me. Since I was regularly on the pain killer, I could do some work. The pain level for most of the day has been 0 to 3.
LL'ers and All,
I hope everyone is doing great!
I am wondering if any one of you can help me with the following:
1) Ideally I would like to not get out of the house nor to ask a PT to come to my house, considering the covid-19 risks. Do you know a good online resource that lists all the exercises, hopefully based on a general time table designed for LL'ers to better heal?
2) Is there any accurate method to validate the correctness of the ERC device and process? Apparently the device does not communicate with the nail. Is therefore the only way to measure the 0.33 lengthening session accuracy, to wait a couple days and measure your height? or wait for the doctor to measure it using X-rays? But what if after a week or so your doctor finds out you have not been lengthening at all and the bone has already healed?!
1) walking is the best PT, or in your case walking with walker/crutches, going upstairs with upper body assistance but using legs as much as I can helped me. I did my own PT as many of you know. Feel free to PM me for the routine I used (as best I can remember)
2)If it hurts shortly after your lengthening sessions or feel tightness, it's working. Bones won't usually consolidate that fast to cause pre-consolidation issues and stop lengthening. There has been people here that stop lengthening and decide to keep going after a couple weeks or even after a month's time and they still successfully lengthen the nails.
Quote from: Movie on August 04, 2020, 05:06:23 AM1) walking is the best PT, or in your case walking with walker/crutches, going upstairs with upper body assistance but using legs as much as I can helped me. I did my own PT as many of you know. Feel free to PM me for the routine I used (as best I can remember)
Thanks Movie! This is very helpful. I'll also PM you to get your suggestions.
2)If it hurts shortly after your lengthening sessions or feel tightness, it's working. Bones won't usually consolidate that fast to cause pre-consolidation issues and stop lengthening. There has been people here that stop lengthening and decide to keep going after a couple weeks or even after a month's time and they still successfully lengthen the nails.
Thanks very much! Knowing that bone consolidation is not too fast to create problems in case of failed lengthening sessions is a big relief. I was a bit concerned about no feeling on the right leg, so I emailed Dr. M. about it and he said it should be ok and he would see me in about two weeks to do the X-rays. Later this evening the feeling of tightness/soreness gradually appeared on the right leg as well. The pain level on left shortly after the lenghtening is 3-6 and on the right is 1-3.
Day 13 (Tuesday, August 4) - 5.65 mm Taller
I plan to continue taking one Norco a few minutes before each lengthening session (i.e., 6am, 12pm, 6pm, and 12am, which makes it 4 5mg Norco pills per day). This allow me to manage the pain and also lets me walk as much as I want. I feel a bit of tightness on the right, but for most of the part pain is at 0. Left is very sore and tight with the pain level at 0-3 and peaking to 7 a few times per day.
I still have the blood thinner to take, which I do every morning. Around noon-time, I take multi-vitamins, Calcium+D and Calcium+Magnesium, D/D3, Vitamin C, Turmeric, Biotin and starting today also B-complex. I also drink 3 tea spoons of Psyllium powder in warm water every night to avoid constipation.
In the last few days, if pain is unbearable, my last resort is to stand up on my feet for a few minutes or walk. Either way, the pain goes away! I am not sure how this works, cause it's not like I get distracted by the pressure of standing or walking on my legs! the pain really stops!!
Starting day 11 (Sunday at noon) I did not bring the wheelchair inside the house. This forces me to use the walker all the time, My walking range has dramatically increased since Sunday. I have lost track of how much I walk per day, but a rough estimate would be more than a 1000 feet. I drink a lot of tea/water, therefore a good part of the walking is to/from the restroom 
Movie's response to my self-PT'ing query further motivated me to go for it. I plan to continue to self-PT! This allows me to mentally not worry about COVID-19. I use my common sense to create stretching techniques that I can do on the walker, sofa, and bed.
I wish all the LL'ers the best. Please let me know if you have any questions for me.
SNC
hi SNC, I am glad that you are doing great! lengthening 1.33mm a day seems a little aggressive, did Dr. M mention when you will slow down?
I am also curious if you would still need get a PT to help you with the stretching, or self-PT would be enough?
Quote from: dreamBig on August 05, 2020, 04:45:37 AMhi SNC, I am glad that you are doing great! lengthening 1.33mm a day seems a little aggressive, did Dr. M mention when you will slow down?
I am also curious if you would still need get a PT to help you with the stretching, or self-PT would be enough?
Hi dreamBig,
Dr. M.'s lengthening schedule and many other doctors' follow the same plan as far as I have seen. E.g., look at IFS, Movie, etc. who did their surgery with Dr. M.: 5 days @ 1.33 and then slow down to 1 per day till the end (say 8 cm). The reason is that the 5 times of extra .33 gives the bone an extra gap (about 1.65mm) that prevents the two broken bones to somehow connect and heal prematurely before the final length is achieved.
As for the PT, in this COVID-19 times I would try my best to avoid unnecessary interactions. Dr. M.'s evaluation last Friday was that I was doing great, but if I wanted, I could get two PT sessions per week. I am trying to eliminate even those two PT sessions, by doing extra walks and stretches of my own. Also seeing Movie who PT'ed on his own and how great his results are, further inspired me.
I did stryde femurs with Giotikas about 1 week before you.
Just hit 3 weeks yesterday and for the first time start to take steps by myself without crutches
Unfortunately walking like a penguin with huge swinging body... hopefully that reduces over time
You must be logged in to post a reply.