My diary of quadrilateral Precice2 LL with Dr. Gokhan

Quote from: guzman on January 08, 2024, 02:55:48 PMFollowing your diary, very interesting. I also did LL in Istanbul a few years ago (with different doctor), so I can feel and share everything you say.

Keep strong, you got this. Please continue your diary as often as possible, I'm sure there are a lot of silent readers.

Hello, Guzman...
Thank you for your good wishes.
If you have time, just send me a message in pm and to tell me your story and how do you feel now !

Chapter 6 – LEAVING THE HOSPITAL AND THE DAILY ROUTINE IN THE HOTEL ROOM

On the morning of 26 Dec they brought me back to the hotel, with an ambulance.
In the room I found everything not touched, because I asked Batu to let them know that.
They brought me from the main floor a wheelchair and a walker.
I organized everything to be easy accessible.
I moved on wheelchair and Batu went with me to show me how is the buffet area. I took a dish with me and I picked something to bring it home. He told me that I can call them to order food to my bed. I never did that yet.
On the way back from buffet, the entry card stopped working, so we had to go back to reception to re-activation…

PT guy came and brought a special massage bed and few other devices and he started to teach me how to use the new walker. But, guys, in the hotel rooms all the floors are slippery and the wheels of the walker has a kind of hard plastic wheels, not real rubber, so it has ZERO grip. I couldn’t lift my body safely at all, because at any simple accidentally push, the wheels run fast forward and when you try to lift your body… the walker is gone and you are suddenly down on the floor. I got nervous and the PT guy got irritated because my “attitude” and I said: “Sorry, man, if the hotel didn’t care about us, I don’t risk my nails and my health using this unsafely walker !... I will ONLY use the wheelchair from now on !... and after he left I pushed the walker in the cabinet and I forgot about it.

Wheelchair has a much better grip !
I also got a bunch of drugs that I have to take daily, with different schedules:
RANEX, CONTRAMAL, GERALGINE, CIPRO, CORASPIN, LYRICA, LAROXYL,
I set 4 daily alarms on my phone to remind me about the drugs and magnet, at: 8:00 / 16:00 / 20:00 / 00:00, because some are one/day, or two/day, or three/day

27 dec

I woke up at 8 and I moved to wheelchair, so to go to food area.
I put 2 big towels on me and I went there to pick some food. On the way back, the card stopped working, now in the elevator. And me, with the dish of food on my lap, I had to go again to reactivate the card…

At 4 pm the nurse came to my room with a guy. He opened a big plastic case and showed me the wonder: a special device called External Remote Controller (ERC) that is used to make the Precice nail slowly lengthen. The ERC has a magnet inside it that rotates. He put it on my point of osteotomy and showed me how to use it. I did the whole time loop on the other leg and done. Then asked me to give a signature that I am responsible for the machine… and he left.
BTW, doctor Ghokan told me that the space between bones after surgery is 4-5 mm. So, starting today I have to add these mm to total calculation.
I negotiated with doctor and he accepted 3 times a day, instead of 4, because I really want to sleep at night, not to wake up at 3 am !
So, every session has 0.35 mm and total per day is 1.05 mm.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT ADVICE:
Never drink water before sleeping, because you have to use the duck or to get more pain moving yourself to the bathroom, instead of sleeping !
And, guys, duck is not for us !... Nobody can do it perfect so not peeing himself !
I did it twice, because I thought is "convenient"... but actually its only a pain and you will hate yourself about how stupid you are... and then going to bathroom anyways, to clean yourself and change your underwear + bed sheet !

Respect man

Quote from: 4cm on January 08, 2024, 03:29:20 PMRespect man

Thanks, man !

28-30 Dec

All these days was same. I pushed drugs in me, I had an acceptable 4/10 pain, I was same groggy and I used the ERC on schedule.
Also, almost every day the card stopped working in elevator or at the front of my door. So embarrassing for the hotel !... and they never apologized for that, saying I kept it near phone, near metals, etc… but actually I never touched the card to anything.
I was embarrassed to go for food wrapped in big towels, so I asked for a bathrobe, but everybody said that they don’t have. Hmmm, how come ?
So I found a flier of hotel with the massage service and bathrobes in picture. I showed
to my nurse and suddenly she remembered “Yes, we have it”…. No kidding !
She called somebody and in 5 minutes I had 2 clean bathrobes. Next day I went to the buffet, proud like a king with a new white bathrobe… with the dish on my lap.
Guys, I am telling you all these, so you can understand that YOU HAVE TO CREATE YOUR CONDITIONS, YOUR HOME, otherwise nobody cares !

31 Dec - 2 Jan

After those days of normal suffer and adapting to the new condition... in the morning i woke up and my body was full of sweat !.... Man, I never seen that sweat on my body, ever !  All my hair, face, clothes, bed sheets, pillow.... just full of sweat !
I lift my torso vertically and I felt next second a BAD nausea ... I started to vomit in bed, hopefully I had a bag.... and i went to the bathroom to take a shower.
I had the special chair there, but I never took a shower before, because the bandages.
I took the shower, and I vomit again, in the shower !.....and I did it 4 times !
I was scared, desperate and confused... everything worked well and predictable, so far…
Other big problem was the constipation, because was a silent one for 7 days ...
First hours I thought I was eating some rotten food, I got toxi-infection and... done. But NOT, was much worse !!
I finished vomiting, I washed my body, I pushed lots of warm water in my full colon and I started the enema... eliminated most of them, but I found a big piece of rock and I wondered how it get there... but actually was my poop transformed in a hard rock. So,  I put lubricant, I prayed to God and I started pushing. After 20 minutets was out.... I was lucky was no bleeding, but I still felt the pain after 3 days !
Guys, doctor didn't tell me 3 bad reactions after taking 2 painkillers, 3 times a day, plus a Morphine sticker:  MASSIVE SWEATING, NAUSEA WITH VOMITING AND SOLID ROCK CONSTIPATION !
I had all of them for all my life, but on a much lower level...
Doctor came to see me and he explained to me told me that happened because the high Adrenaline after the surgery my body fought a lot. Once the Adrenaline decreased, the body became vulnerable to anything... So, I got it, IN A BAD WAY !
After taking pain killers again, I realized had nothing to do with the food and toxi-infection... it was because the Morphine !
I said to doctor that I will never take those 2 pain killers and he accepted. Actually I stopped 24 h to take any pills. But now my anus was extremely affected and swelled, so finally he gave me a cream to heal it...
So, these 3 days was worse than the days after surgery !

3-4 Jan – everything was stable

5 Jan

I started to feel an increased pain in the right thigh and I couldn’t sleep anymore. Usually I sleep with the lower legs on a pillow and another 2 pillows onbsides. But now, whatever I put, nothing worked !
For my continuous increased pain, the PT guy suggested me to take Geralgine only, not Contramal, because Geralgine is a light analgesic and doesn’t give those bad effects as the morphine is giving. Yes, I checked and contain only Paracetamol + Codeine. So, I started to take 3/day…
6 January
The Geralgine did NOTHING !... I have the same continuous pain in the right thigh. I am so stressed about, because is too much !
Today afternoon I did enema, again, because its been 7 days and I suspect that the constipation is back. And it was a good decision, because I had only few hard small stones, but if I had delayed few more days, it could have been much worse !
The pain increased in the right thigh and is permanent. I cannot sleep and I cannot do PT normally !
When going to sleep tonight, I will start to take Melatonine.
Today I should have around of 15 mm longer gap, as I calculated…

7 Jan

The Melatonine didn’t work at all. Same level of pain. I am desperate. This kind of continuous pain can drive you to depression !
Today is Sunday and the second PT guy came !... I appreciate that !
And when the guy started the PT procedures, in my room came a manager or supervisor, telling me “they had today 5 (FIVE) complaints against me because I came in the buffet area in bathrobe”. I asked him: - Sir this is a stupid joke ?... How can I have 5 complaints today, suddenly ? – No, is not and we ask you to dress properly with t-shirt and pants !
I was confuse listening this idiot request and I told him: - Sir, I came in bathrobe more than 10 times and you never reacted against. Also, I have pain 24/7 and I stay only in underwear all the time, and only for 5 minutes in the morning, and not every day, I put my bathrobe. – We ask you to change your clothes. – I said I will not because it gives me more pain. But, in this case I will start to order food in my room ! – OK
I called Batu, he did a research and he found something incredible: it was 5 muslim women together,  who was “horrified” because my bathrobe and because they saw my hair on the chest. Obviously I am sure they also saw my Christian Cross on necklace and that was more horrifying... 
So, guys, I am the only person in the whole hotel who stays for 4 months… and the rest of them stays only few days. So, the hotel didn’t give a s-hit on the most important guest… but they acted right away in favor of people who stays maybe only 2 days !
Another embarrassing moment of the hotel…
…………………………
Coming back to the PT session, the problem is that the pain increased to 7/10 and I crawled like a snake in the bed, moaning loudly, to can get on his special table. I asked him: - Man, WTF is going on, is worse and worse !... Do you have any analgesic cream ?... He looked around, and he found a tube with a cream, which was left by the other PT guy and he said: this is good for you, it has anti-inflammatory and analgesic !  The substance is Ibuprofen.
Right away I used the cream on my right leg…and after  one hour it reduced my pain from 7/10 to 4/10… Unbelievable !
The tragi-comic fact is that cream stayed 3 days up on the shelf and no one of PT guys told me about it… and I was moaning and screaming for 3 days !
So, this is the f-u-c-king life, you know !
At the night,  one hour before sleeping I used it again and, guys…. I COULD SLEEP CONTINUOUSLY, WITH VERY LOW PAIN !
I thanked to God for my inspiration to ask the guy for a cream, otherwise, the PT guys would ignore the cream few more days, until eventually I could die by suicide…
Fortunately, now I have a powerful ally, named Ibuprofen and I feel more confident and  with the will to live !
Again, I resolved by myself something…

8 Jan - finally the up to date diary !

I asked one of the PT guys to bring me some plastic ties so I can hang the soap/shampoo holder that I bought it with Batu in the second day after arriving. So, today he brought ties and I hang it very well by the tap. I put 4, just to be sure will stay, so today I took my first normal shower… because they have nothing on the wall.

So, another problem resolved by myself !

The PT guy was nice always with me and 10 days ago he helped me covering the LED of smoke sensor with a electric tape, which disturbed me every night, being like a flash in my eyes.
Today I have 13 days of lengthening, so that means 14 mm total and in few days I will do the checking x-rays.
Now I want to tell you something about ERC machine. This primitive machine doesn’t show you if actually is doing something. On the display you can see only the lengthen you set and it stops when the countdown finished.
But if the nails are defective or bent, you put it in wrong place on the limb or the rotation is not complete… it doesn’t say.
So, for example me, I struggled to respect the schedule for 2 weeks, I supported the magnet weight on my legs, etc… but I can find in x-rays that it actually did nothing !
So, this Nuvasive company should improve his ERC as soon is possible !

Good thing the Ibuprofen cream works! Hope you get more nights of good sleep.

The hotel setup sounds a bit awkward though as the only person there doing LL mixed with normal guests.

Quote from: TheDream on January 08, 2024, 11:36:17 PMGood thing the Ibuprofen cream works! Hope you get more nights of good sleep.

The hotel setup sounds a bit awkward though as the only person there doing LL mixed with normal guests.

Yes, man, Ibuprofen saved me !
With the hotel I have every day problems... but I prefer to not escalate conflicts.

You had x-rays that showed the nails did not lengthen?