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Posted on Oct 30, 2020, 6:43 pm
#351

@SNC: Exactly! and Lee has actually been around the forum with diaries ETC before Giotikas and Debiparshad, he has more years of experience. I would even dare to say If it costs the same amount, I'd still choose Lee over Giotikas.

@BelowTheMean: Yes I'm aware of that fact now but that's no problem for me I'd have a little vacay explore South Korea for a week, have the surgery, have a couple days of rest, then go back. No I didn't ask why they had so many hospital stay days.

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Posted on Nov 1, 2020, 4:54 pm
#352

Day 97 Post-op (Tue., Oct. 27) - Consolidation Day 16
Day 98 Post-op (Wed., Oct. 28) - Consolidation Day 17
Day 99 Post-op (Thurs., Oct. 29) - Consolidation Day 18
Day 100 Post-op (Fri., Oct. 30) - Consolidation Day 19
Day 101 Post-op (Sat., Oct. 31) - Consolidation Day 20
Day 102 Post-op (Sun., Nov. 1) - Consolidation Day 21



First I would like to note that the reason I list all the days in bold, is to make it easier to search for any updates for a certain day. E.g., if you search for Day 87, or Aug. 19, it would hopefully list the link(s) to the updates for the corresponding day.

Pain Management:  I have zero pain since early morning (say 2am or so) till late afternoon, around 5pm or so. Pain then starts to rise to a maximum of 3. The peak typically happens sometime between 10pm and midnight. My way of handling the pain is to stretch, take stairs up and down and do indoor cycling. I also watch something on my laptop or TV to distraction myself. The pain spot is not random any longer! It's typically somewhere close to the bone gap. I would also like to add that sometimes I have this feeling of discomfort, even if I don't feel any pain. My guess is that the healing bone creates that feeling for me!

The feeling of numbness on left tibia (which started while I was on a fast distraction mode of 1.33mm per day, as advised by Dr. M; to avoid premature consolidation as I experienced extreme growth) gradually gets better, but not completely resolved.

I have managed to stay painkiller free since Tue., Oct 10; which is a big success to me; cause I had tried quitting on Tramadol multiple times, but the pain I experienced on my left leg, during the distraction phase, forced me to resume on Tramadol. 

I was also able to reduce the number hot showers/bathtubs from 4 or more per day during the distraction phase, to a maximum of one per day. I also welcome this, cause I did not feel comfortable wasting that much of water and electric/gas energy for my numerous hot showers/bathtubs!

Exercises:  I have continued to stretch at least three times per day. My list of stretching exercises already appears in my diary. Please search for "Version 1" or "Version 2" to find them. I do short sessions of indoor cycling, taking stairs up and down, and also walking on the lawn in a nearby park [to minimize impact on my knees] for at least a mile per day; in addition to walking in the house to run errands, etc.
 
I guess recovery/bone consolidation for 8cm distraction, would take around 2 or 3 months. That means I would probably have 40 to 70 more days before I feel close to normal! any comments to improve my exercises or the estimate on recovery time, etc., would be appreciated!

Gait and Flexibility:  Both have improved since the last day of distraction. However my expectation was to achieve much higher flexibility, and have normal gait by now. Unfortunately none has yet worked. My glutes have definitely gotten better doing the daily exercises, but my legs are generally not strong enough to help me with normal walks. I think my straight knee is perfect by now, but knee bending is far from perfect. My upper thighs (quads) are too stiff to let me me have perfect bending of 180 degrees. My guess is that my right is at about 150~160 and my left at 140~150 degree range.

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Posted on Nov 1, 2020, 10:49 pm
#353

Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on October 26, 2020, 12:36:41 AM
The List of my Stretching Exercises. Version 2:


The List of my Stretching Exercises. Version 2.1:


I do each of the following at least 3 times per day, since the consolidation/recovery phase:

1) My number one exercise looks similar to the one that starts around second 42: 



I try to grab my thighs with my hands on the sides and try to push further. As I got taller, unfortunately I have failed to reach my toes with my hands. I hope someday I can make it happen gain Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020

Update: I can finally touch my toes with my hands!!


2) The one that starts around second 1:25, in the same video for exercise 1:   




These days, since I cannot bend my knees that much, it looks like what the guy in the video does, but I would like to improve in bending one legs further during consolidation.

3) The one that starts around second 2:04 in the same video:



However instead of towels, I use my hands to bring the leg up. Also when up, I try to tilt the leg as an extra exercise.

4) I think this exercise is similar to squats, but I do this on the bed. while sitting with my legs straightened at start, I bend my knees and try to sit up on my toes, using my hands on the floor as support. This is very difficult for me, cause of my stiff quads.

5) Thomas stretch:   



However I use my hands behind my thighs to push them further towards my chest.

6) While sitting on the bed, I make a diamond shape with legs (bent knees, toes touching). I push my chest towards my tibias, while my hands are on my toes.
Update: Now my toes a lot closer to my body, as I can bend my knees a lot more than the distraction times.

7) I lie down on my back, with knees bent and legs far apart by as much as my shoulders. I then roll my legs to the right all the way to the floor and then repeat for the left side. This exercises makes me feel relaxed a bit, otherwise, it's not as important as others.

8 ) This is like a set of exercises:
8a) I do the one that starts around second 1:25 in:



8b) I lie down on my side at the edge of the bed, with my back facing the side of the bed. I then take on leg slightly up and then moving back from bed and down towards the side wall of the bed. I do that for several times for each side.

8c) I lie down on my back close to the edge of the bed, then move the leg that is closer to the edge down along the sidewall of the bed, while the other leg is on the bed, bent to support the move.

9) This is like a set of exercises.
I would like to clarify that my list mostly focuses on the legs, but there are some moves that are generally helpful for the body to stay flexible.

9a) Cobra:



9b) Cat:




But I also add this fellow's move around second 17 Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020  :



9c) I had recommended this to Movie, for knee pain. I had learnt this from a PT a few years ago, and it helped me manage the knee pain I had at the time:   I start with a plank like around second 38 in this video:




I then move my body up and down for 40 to 60 times each time.

10) I sit with my legs bent towards my chest. I then use a stretch band to tie my knees together right at the upper knee parts. I then try to move the knees apart by as much as I can.

11) A set:

11a)  I use a towel and do the exercise that starts around second 1.31 in the video of exercise 1:



11b) I wrap a towel around my ankle, and try to pull the towel towards myself (which makes my knee bend), while keeping the other leg straight. I do this several times for each leg.

12) I sit at the edge of a bed, chair, sofa, etc., with both legs on the ground, one bent and one straight. I then move my body forward. The more forward, the higher the pressure on hamstrings.

13) Standing next to the bed for support, I bend to touch the ground with my hands. This is my comfort zone, as it takes me a few second to warm up and easily touch the ground with both hands, or one hand, while trying to keep my knees straight using the bed sidewall as support.

14) I had lost my six-packs in the last couple years, but still had ab tones, and some horizontal lines that made it look athletic. One negative impact of this surgery was losing  too much weight for me, out of which something good came out: I've got my six-packs back. The weight loss could partially be caused by the painkillers and the pain itself, but I have not read a reliable article about that. It's just what I have heard or red in blogs.
 To maintain my six-packs I do a lot of quick short sit-ups. By short, I mean my sit-ups are like half way what a normal sit-up is. I barely get up from the floor, but my trick is that I do it many times (e.g., 200 times each round). While doing the fast sit-ups, I also move my face to the left and right, every ew sit-ups, to have the jawline and avoid getting double chins. I hope this helps those who would like to lose their love handles and abs' fat and create or maintain their jawline.

15) I have recently started doing this just once per day: I lie on my back and lift one leg up and down several times. I also do this while standing and using a chair or wall as support to life one leg towards back or sides. This is for butt guys like me (butt guy is an official name BoneStretching gave us on Movie's diary for those guys like us with flat butts Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020) to try to reclaim their butt muscles.

Update: My butt muscles are a lot stronger now Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020  the muscle loss of at least 1cm I had is gradually compensated. However not yet back to normal, as I can feel the lower butt muscles are not as strong as before surgery:P

16) last but not least, walking, indoor cycling, and going uptrains and downstairs, are very helpful in stretching and strengthening leg muscles.

Update: In addition to walking in the house or outside to run errands, etc., I make sure to walk in a nearby park on the lawn [to minimize knee impact]. I stop every few minutes and try to do something like exercise 13. That has helped a lot with my back strength.

17) Clamshell exercises: I do the exercises that start around second 1:05, second 1:20, and 1:38 in this video:



Update:   17.1:  I like the recommendation in this video to internally rotate tibia while externally rotating the hip:





18) Prone knee bend: like this:

   

However since I am on my own, I do this with no help; which makes it not that great!

19) bridge: I do the first exercise in this video:



20) Side Straight Leg Raise: Like this one:




Hope this helps! Feel free to add more to this list or make changes, if you think necessary. If so, it would be nice to know your idea here.

Acknowledgement: @readyprecisestryde, thanks once again for helping me with exercises 17 to 20.   @ Movie and @IFS, thanks for the motivation and support. You helped the LL community here a lot, and that inspired me to write my own diary.

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Posted on Nov 7, 2020, 4:54 pm
#354

Day 103 Post-op (Mon., Nov. 2) - Consolidation Day 22
Day 104 Post-op (Tue., Nov. 3) - Consolidation Day 23
Day 105 Post-op (Wed., Nov. 4) - Consolidation Day 24
Day 106 Post-op (Thurs., Nov. 5) - Consolidation Day 25
Day 107 Post-op (Fri., Nov. 6) - Consolidation Day 26
Day 108 Post-op (Sat., Nov. 7) - Consolidation Day 27 *


* I list all days, cause it would make it easier to search for a certain day. E.g., if you type Consolidation Day 13, hopefully you would easily find the corresponding updates.  However it seems like I don't have much daily updates. Weekly updates seem more reasonable during my recovery phase.

Gait:
My walking looks much more normal, especially morning to late afternoon, when I don't have any discomfort.

I am at a state that I can make my walks look close to normal, even at times when I have discomfort; but for short walks. I mean I have gained enough strength to pull it off and show an almost normal walk! However for most of the evening to late night times, I end up walking a bit wobbly cause of discomfort in the bone gap area. E.g., yesterday when I was at a small grocery after like 6 months, they guy there remembered me from old times, asked me what was going on and if I was okay! so I had to tell them that I had done a leg surgery.

I was able to start driving I think in week 3 post-op, however my goal is to be back to normal in terms of my swimming, walks, taking stairs, and cycling.  by Day 180. 

I can take stairs up and down unassisted and I make progress on that on a daily basis. However my left is stronger. I can also do in-door cycling, but for stair climbing and cycling I need to develop more strength and for walks I need to show better gait.  I have no doubt I can swim normally as fast as before by Day 180.

I was never a runner, but I'll try to run and make sure I can do a normal run by Day 180. My quest for complete recovery to "Normal" has begun and I am overall happy with my progress.


Pain:
I don't have discomfort typically starting 3am or so (if I am awake) and till late afternoon. However starting 4pm or so and all the way to midnight for as long as  I am awake, I feel uncomfortable at times. I think a better term for the feeling is "discomfort" (not exactly pain) in the bone gap area. At times that area on each leg feels like a rock! it is a feeling that you would get after a tense soccer or basketball game, or if you do a serious hiking! I have the same feeling almost equally on both legs. My left leg has started to show more strength than my right during the consolidation phase. This is despite the fact that since Day 1 all the way to last day of distraction phase, my left leg was the one with pain and my right with almost zero levels of pain!


My goal is to post a video by the end of Nov to visually show the community my progress!  I just need to ask a friend to take the video and be careful on privacy matters.


CLL'ers, I hope you all are doing well! let me know if you have any questions for me!  and one last thing: I am happy the high election participation in the US broke a 120 year record!!  I wish peace and happiness for the US and the whole world!

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Posted on Nov 11, 2020, 12:51 am
#355

 Hey All!

 I would like to open a new discussion topic here about any height shrink possibility post-op.

 I was just at a clinic so they could measure my height accurately. I am measured at 179.7 mid-day around 3pm. Pre-surgery I was at least at 173.5 in the morning and 172.5 mid-day. That means I should be at 180.5 mid-day, given the 8cm distraction. 

Of course any discrepancy could be due to wrong height measurements. Also the 8cm distraction is measured using the x-rays. There is a chance the actual height increase may not be exactly 8cm.

Another reason I could think of is the slightly bent knees post-op.

Another could be weaker abs that may not allow you to stand straight as you used to, pre-surgery.

One more reason could be the considerable weight loss some of us experience; which may result in height loss as well. I am however not sure, cause there are online articles, etc. that argue weight loss would make people taller, while some resources claim that it would result in height loss, e.g., because of foot heel fat loss! 


I should say that my height was even lower post distraction phase. E.g., I remember right after the last day of distraction, I was definitely shorter than 179 mid-day. This means whatever the reason is, things are getting better; but I still have a gap of about 0.8~1 cm to fill in. It's not a big deal, but I am just curious.   


Any comments would be appreciated.

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Posted on Nov 11, 2020, 8:57 am
#356

Dr Giotikas said that femur is not totally straight, so you may "lose" 1 mm per 1 cm gained. I wanted to do 5 cm lenghtening, and he said that would be 4.5-4.7 in height

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Posted on Nov 11, 2020, 9:04 am
#357

By the way, how tall do you thing you were right after disctraction? Now I'm scared to go trought all of it to be like only 2 cm after I finish lenghetining lol

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Posted on Nov 11, 2020, 2:18 pm
#358

Quote from: Giotikas2021 on November 11, 2020, 08:57:55 AMDr Giotikas said that femur is not totally straight, so you may "lose" 1 mm per 1 cm gained. I wanted to do 5 cm lenghtening, and he said that would be 4.5-4.7 in height

You are right. I forgot to consider that; X cm of distraction would not result in X cm of height increase, cause femur is not totally straight.

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Posted on Nov 11, 2020, 2:26 pm
#359

Quote from: Giotikas2021 on November 11, 2020, 09:04:46 AMBy the way, how tall do you thing you were right after disctraction? Now I'm scared to go trought all of it to be like only 2 cm after I finish lenghetining lol

Right after the distraction was over, I think I was definitely shorter than 179.7. But I don't remember exactly how much shorter. I think it was something between 178.5 and 179 cm.
In any case I have definitely gotten taller during consolidation, most likely because my bent knee problem has gradually been resolved. Stretching must have helped.

It could also be that other the knee area, the body can generally not be as straight as it could be right after distraction; and as we go into consolidation and recovery our body posture improves and we can stand straight more comfortably.

I hope I am correct and posture really improves during consolidation; which also implies stretching can help.

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Posted on Nov 11, 2020, 3:28 pm
#360

Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on November 11, 2020, 12:51:00 AM Hey All!

 I would like to open a new discussion topic here about any height shrink possibility post-op.

 I was just at a clinic so they could measure my height accurately. I am measured at 179.7 mid-day around 3pm. Pre-surgery I was at least at 173.5 in the morning and 172.5 mid-day. That means I should be at 180.5 mid-day, given the 8cm distraction. 

Of course any discrepancy could be due to wrong height measurements. Also the 8cm distraction is measured using the x-rays. There is a chance the actual height increase may not be exactly 8cm.

Another reason I could think of is the slightly bent knees post-op.

Another could be weaker abs that may not allow you to stand straight as you used to, pre-surgery.

One more reason could be the considerable weight loss some of us experience; which may result in height loss as well. I am however not sure, cause there are online articles, etc. that argue weight loss would make people taller, while some resources claim that it would result in height loss, e.g., because of foot heel fat loss! 


I should say that my height was even lower post distraction phase. E.g., I remember right after the last day of distraction, I was definitely shorter than 179 mid-day. This means whatever the reason is, things are getting better; but I still have a gap of about 0.8~1 cm to fill in. It's not a big deal, but I am just curious.   


Any comments would be appreciated.

I would like to add one more fact. Right after surgery I am pretty sure I was shorter than pre-op. I think it was because I had a hard time standing straight. I remember when I was in the distraction by about 0.5cm (5mm), instead of gaining height, I was actually still shorter than my pre-op by about 5mm. This means I must have gotten shorter post-op by about about 1cm [I hope temporarily due to the bent knees, and other negative aspects of the CLL surgery which makes your posture to not be as optimal as it used to be before the surgery].

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