Femurs with Dr. Shahab Mahboubian - July 2020

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Day 160 Post-op (Tue., Dec. 29) - Consolidation Day 79
Day 161 Post-op (Wed., Dec. 30) - Consolidation Day 80
Day 162 Post-op (Thurs., Dec. 31) - Consolidation Day 81
Day 163 Post-op (Fri., Jan. 1) - Consolidation Day 82
Day 164 Post-op (Sat., Jan. 2) - Consolidation Day 83
Day 165 Post-op (Sun., Jan. 3) - Consolidation Day 84
Day 166 Post-op (Mon., Jan. 4) - Consolidation Day 85
Day 167 Post-op (Tue, Jan. 5) - Consolidation Day 86


The major update is that in the last few days, I have felt like I am already back to normal life in every aspect, including walking and running. For most of the times, I feel pretty normal as I see progress daily on my strength. E.g., while walking, I feel like my legs are even stronger than before the surgery.

I feel like the key to fast recovery is prior physical fitness. Without prior physical fitness it would be hard to imagine a fast recovery (of say 5 or 6 months). However prior physical fitness is not sufficient. It is necessary to follow a carefully designed exercise routine, consistently, until full recovery is observed. Also a rich diet seems to be necessary. I would say for those CLL'ers who were not that fit before the surgery, the recovery may take a few months longer. I should also add that all this based on the assumption that the surgery goes well. If there are issues or complications, recovery may unfortunately take years. Finally I should note that the definition of "normal" is subjective. E.g., for a pro-athlete normal means to be able to compete in Olympics and win a medal. I don't know how long it takes to get to that kinda "normal", cause I am not a pro. My definition of normal is to be back to how I felt about my body before the surgery and being to do all the things I used to do, especially swimming which I am fairly good at.
I hope this information helps the current and future CLL'ers. 


Swimming::   I went to swimming for a third time on Dec. 30th.

This is a short video of my freestyle on that day. The guy on my right was pretty fast. I don't think I could take him on multiple laps, but I felt I had a good chance of beating him on one lap:




The following is a short video of my butterfly on Dec. 30th:



I am not at my max speed yet. I feel like more than my legs, I need to work on my upper body to be able to get back to the speed I was back in early 2020. It typically takes me a couple weeks to get my speed back, if I don't go to swimming for a fairly long time. However I feel like swimming in public pools within a couple feet from others could be very risky. I may therefore have to focus only on running/jogging, walking, biking and stretching and wait for COVID-19 to pass before I start swimming regularly. 
 

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Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on January 06, 2021, 09:40:18 AM
I feel like the key to fast recovery is prior physical fitness. Without prior physical fitness it would be hard to imagine a fast recovery (of say 5 or 6 months). However prior physical fitness is not sufficient. It is necessary to follow a carefully designed exercise routine, consistently, until full recovery is observed. Also a rich diet seems to be necessary. I would say for those CLL'ers who were not that fit before the surgery, the recovery may take a few months longer.


Beautiful Diary. When you say prior physical fitness, can you specify a little more? Do you mean cardio, muscle mass, or flexibility? Or do you believe that all of them are equally important.

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Quote from: questpeanut on January 06, 2021, 01:33:28 PMBeautiful Diary. When you say prior physical fitness, can you specify a little more? Do you mean cardio, muscle mass, or flexibility? Or do you believe that all of them are equally important.

Hi questpeanut,

There are many online resources which define the physical fitness. I am listing the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_fitness

Flexibility and cardio are definitely part of it, but muscle mass does not need to be crazy. Bruce Lee is an extreme example of physical fitness, who did not have bulky muscles.

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Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on January 05, 2021, 07:42:53 PMSorry to hear that Tartar! Did you doctor recommend using crutches and use your right leg to move around? just to keep your body mobility at a minimum level to avoid any health complications?  I hope your consolidation phase passes soon successfully.
You are right! I’m waiting hopefully for a quick development. I’m very careful, I could even walk a bit but I want to avoid until there’s a solid bridge in the left too.
At the moment I delight watching to your jogging videos

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Quote from: Tartar on January 09, 2021, 03:40:08 AMYou are right! I’m waiting hopefully for a quick development. I’m very careful, I could even walk a bit but I want to avoid until there’s a solid bridge in the left too.
At the moment I delight watching to your jogging videos

I assume your diet is also full of protein, calcium, vitamin D, etc. Hope all goes well and you'll be back to walking and running quickly.

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Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on January 06, 2021, 09:40:18 AMDay 160 Post-op (Tue., Dec. 29) - Consolidation Day 79
Day 161 Post-op (Wed., Dec. 30) - Consolidation Day 80
Day 162 Post-op (Thurs., Dec. 31) - Consolidation Day 81
...


Hello All,

I had planned to post updates regularly until my full recovery back to "normal".

My definition of "normal" is to be back to pre-op conditions in every aspects of life, including feeling and looking normal [as we no surgery were done] while walking, running, cycling, swimming, etc., with no feeling of pain, discomfort, and no feeling of the nails. E.g., I was also able to run for 3.3 miles non-stop yesterday, and I felt like I could continue to run for several more miles with no feeling of discomfort, etc.. Also my CRT time (defined CRT on page 15 of my diary) is 0 to a few seconds max.

I believe I got back to "normal" in every aspects in about 5 month after post-op (Day 150+). I have monitored my status since then to make sure the state of being back to normal is permanent with no issues. In fact in some aspects, I am better than normal, thanks to the consistent care and exercise I have had for months.

I therefore stop posting regularly here as I feel my job in reporting every details, is now done. Meanwhile I will still respond to any questions here and post any major updates, but not on a regular basis.

I have added all the information needed, in case anyone were to follow my steps into a fast recovery. In short, it's a combination of 1) good care and support from family and friends, 2) rich diet, 3) consistent daily exercise plan, 4) prior physical fitness and 5) passion to push limits and go beyond what others have been able to achieve.

I'd be curious to know whether anyone else could observe full recovery in 5 months or so. It would be great to find out that my diary helped anyone towards a complete and hopefully fast recovery.

Wish you all the best,
SNC

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Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on January 09, 2021, 09:18:54 PMI assume your diet is also full of protein, calcium, vitamin D, etc. Hope all goes well and you'll be back to walking and running quickly.



Yes I'm taking Calcium and vit D, I've taken for a while proteins too but now I've given up with them, but unfortunately my only period of fast bone growth was for the most between september and october (when I wasn't taking none of them lol), after that it has decreased, maybe due to the stress, maybe due to the cold winter or the more aggressive PT with rubber bands, I don't know. Probably I have just to walk more even if aided to improve callus on the femur axis, has Dr. M talked about this? What I've understood is that unfortunately many things during LL are very individual.
Anyway I think you're already done! I think that for hard runs and contact sports at a good level nails have to be removed.

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Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on January 06, 2021, 09:25:28 AM
Day 158 Post-op (Sun., Dec. 27 ) - Consolidation Day 77
Day 159 Post-op (Mon., Dec. 28 ) - Consolidation Day 78



Jogging and Walking: I have recently been jogging for a minimum of 1.5 mile (daily) in intervals of 0.1 to 0.5 miles, without pushing it too much. This is because, I'll have an appt. with Dr. M on Jan 12th.  I hope I will have excellent bone consolidation and hardening with no nail bending, or any other complications, therefore have not pushed on jogging.

While jogging, I make sure stay below 30% of what I can do in terms of max speed and force; just to be safe, but figured doing a big zig zagging is totally safe, while helping me strengthen my legs. This is an example of how I do that:



I also try to do indoor biking daily.


Swimming:  Swimming has been my main workout for a long time. I however had to stop swimming back in early 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions. I went to swimming for a second time this year, and since the surgery on Dec. 28th:

This video was taken on on that day. It was raining here in LA, which made my swimming experience so special. I don't think the video does justice on how beautiful that evening was, though:



I feel pretty normal in the pool. Can do all the things I used to do with no issues. I could get into the pool and get out of it, without the need of using the stairs; like old times I grabbed the wall and jumped in and also pushed my body out and using my legs to stand up. Felt pretty good. I however am not at my maximum speed yet. I need to work on my upper body. Unfortunately the long duration of no swim, has made my upper body weak.

Hi SNC

Your diary is a great motivation for all current and prospect CLLers, thank you. While it's great seeing you recovering at a fast pace I have noticed something in the video where you are jogging and doing zig-zags and I really don't mean to offend you or to make your success smaller than it actually is. From second 40 on to the end of the video your femur looks quite... long. I mean yeah of course you lengthened it 3 inches/8cm so it is longer than before. To put it in other words: Is it only me and my perception (with the knowledge that you had a femur surgery) or do you get comments on your proportions now? What do the other people on the forum here think about this?
Anyway, it's great to see that you are doing so well! Wish you all the best and a great recovery!

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Quote from: Tartar on January 09, 2021, 10:22:53 PM
 Probably I have just to walk more even if aided to improve callus on the femur axis, has Dr. M talked about this? What I've understood is that unfortunately many things during LL are very individual.

Dr. M. emphasized walking, various stretching exercises, but also a diet full of calcium and vitamin D.  Although he did not mention the impact of whether or stress, I would not be surprised to know that they indeed play a big role.

I also agree with you that above all, mobility may help with callus growth the most. Hope your left legs recovers and your mobility goes to a 100% very soon.

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Quote from: Longer on January 09, 2021, 10:29:12 PMHi SNC

....I have noticed something in the video where you are jogging and doing zig-zags and I really don't mean to offend you or to make your success smaller than it actually is. From second 40 on to the end of the video your femur looks quite... long. I mean yeah of course you lengthened it 3 inches/8cm so it is longer than before. To put it in other words: Is it only me and my perception (with the knowledge that you had a femur surgery) or do you get comments on your proportions now?

Hi Longer,
I checked seconds 40 and later after seeing your post. You are certainly correct that my femurs look abnormally long in that video. As you noted, it's partly because the femurs are 8cm longer.  However it could partly be specific to that video itself (e.g., the way I dressed especially my pants which look white on femurs down to below knees, also walking on the lawn that kinda hides my shoes, etc.). As an example in the other video I had posted, femurs may not look abnormally tall:



 In any case I totally agree with you that my femurs look abnormally tall in the jogging video. I try to post more video with pants that have the same color from top to bottom to get a better perspective of the femur to tibia proportion.


Quote from: Longer on January 09, 2021, 10:29:12 PMWhat do the other people on the forum here think about this?

I guess we wait to find out about others here, but about others who see me in real: No one around me has yet suspected or at least hinted me on abnormally long femurs. This includes friends, colleagues, and relatives who do or do not know about my surgery. It could be that they don't care to carefully analyze me; or that the way I dressed did not reveal it like in that video.

Those who commented, say that I look taller and my answer has been that it's probably my shoes. Also some said I look thinner, which I know is not true, cause I am definitely heavier. [By the way I need to mention that my weight in the last few weeks has ranged between 144 and 148 pounds; which is higher than my pre-surgery weight; and given my fat has not increased at all, the extra weight must be due to additional muscle and callus compared to pre-surgery].

This is what I should add: If my tibias were longer to have perfect proportion, of course that could look best; better than my current now. However comparing my current and before the surgery, I am pretty sure my legs look a lot better. I think the reason is that height is so important to eyes (at least my own eyes) that you would enjoy looking at taller legs, even if the proportion is not perfect and eyes tend to not identify a disproportion of 8cm for most of the part.