DAY 14 - END OF WEEK 2 (UPDATES)
- For those who perhaps thought I sugarcoated things about LL, or wrote a flowery account of what I'm going through, I'd like to state that everything isn't as easy as I make it seem. There is pain from time to time. Usually I go to sleep around 1 AM, and almost always wake up around 3:40 AM. The rest of the night is painful, unless I take additional pain medication. I try not to, but I do when I have to. Contramal (Tramadol) really helps.
- My family insisted that I needed someone to stay and take care of me at all times, so they shifted their schedule accordingly. I lost my temper during the past few days, even threatening to throw the TV remote controller. I'm glad my family's there for me when I need it, but I don't want someone staying with me at all times. I'm a strict person about my own schedule and I can take care of myself. When others (even distant relatives and friends) want to visit, I try to avoid them. I wanted this journey to be a self-reflectory one. Not 47262 people in a room wishing me to get well soon. The reason why I haven't been able to write an update recently is this. I've been dealing with so many people I don't have the proper time for myself. And you don't want that during something like LL. I don't want to crawl in front of others from pain around 4 AM, I want to face the pain myself, I want to beat the out of the pain myself. People try to help; they hold the doors when I go to the lobby for breakfast every morning, it's a kind gesture and I understand it, but nevertheless I can't help but be annoyed from extra kindness. I'm not the kind of guy who asks for help often. I like to take care of things myself. I went through with this surgery to free myself from others' subliminal judgement of regarding me as insufficient or less competent (vertically challenged). When people assume the same thing because I'm on a wheelchair, it doesn't help. I'm strong, but not strong enough to accept weakness. Weakness of any sort.
- I take a shower every day. It's a great relief. I bring the wheelchair to parallel to the sitting stool on the handicapped shower, I switch seats, then I push the wheelchair to a distance where it won't get wet, but a distance close enough I can reach. Then I place the towels on the wheelchair. I take the shower in "pulses" - head first, upper body later, legs last. Leave one minute intervals between each part. It feels cold but I have to, in order to let the excess water go down the drain and avoid messing the bathroom floor. I shave before my ex-girlfriend visits. She's an amazing girl and I have to be the same. I put on some perfume. I'm not letting go of myself. I'm a normal person who can do all sorts of things with his wheelchair. A 5 minute task may take 15 minutes, true, but the job gets done.
- Another cause of stress recently has been all the people with good intentions bringing in sweets, desserts and food. I understand the good intention beneath, but results are more important than intentions. One can easily gain weight during LL, a period with lesser mobility than ever. Therefore, I finally decided to switch to my old "athlete's menu" with extra focus on protein in a daily meal. My dietitian will prepare daily menus according to my basal metabolic rate. A typical daily meal consists of breakfast-snack 1-lunch-snack 2-dinner. This will bring a new level of discipline to my current state, a thing I'm trying to elevate. I want things working like a clock - every meal at a certain hour. Routine yes, boring maybe, but good for boosting metabolism.
- A funny thing happened today. It started to rain in the hotel. Inside my room. The ceiling started leaking water. It's a very good 4 star hotel actually, what a terrible thing to happen on their account. Anyway.. Apparently a pipe was broken down upstairs. They'll fix it tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I'm switching rooms for the night.
- I was lengthening a wee bit faster than 1 mm daily to avoid premature bone consolidation during the first week. Today we slowed it down to its normal rate, 1 mm daily. Here are the post-op X-rays of my legs showing the Fitbone nails. Notice how thick they are in diameter. This minimizes mail breaking/bending risk, which is one of the reasons why I chose Fitbone over the Precice. Nevertheless, I admit that Fitbone isn't a popular nail in cosmetic lengthenings. It's usually used in leg length discrepancy surgeries (on a single leg) since it's not weightbearing and is relatively expensive. I thought I had taken the photo of my most recent X-rays showing the amount I distracted, but apparently I haven't. Couldn't find them on my iPhone camera roll. I'll upload them as well, as soon as possible.
No pain, no gain. Bring it on.
, of course the fact that its weight bearing is also important -)
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