My Vertical Push with Dr. Debiparshad (Strydes in Femurs)

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Hi Vertical Push, WOW walking like that and only 14 days after surgery! You look great. Thank you for sharing this video. Amazing progress after only 14 days with Stryde. Congratulations, your progress is truly amazing! It is so encouraging and motivating to read all your updates.  I was in a 'take shoes off' situation last week and kept thinking of all your posts and how things like this would change too for me in the near future. All the best.

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Quote from: verticalpush on June 08, 2019, 03:15:23 AMOk everyone, I posted a very short video of me walking unassisted at the PT clinic. This is 14 days post-surgery, and I've lengthened 1cm. I still have a LONG way to go, and I have the classic penguin walk. My gait is awful and will need a lot of work in the coming months. But to me, this is huge progress. Before today I took at most 2 steps unassisted. If this is the baseline after 14 days, I'll take it!

Short clip of me walking like a penguin

Amazing. Just 2 weeks after surgery and already walking. Stryde is a game changer.This is very motivating. Awesome progress. Keep pushing verticalpush!

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Quote from: verticalpush on June 08, 2019, 05:02:17 PMThank you so much for the encouragement and the awesome words, ghostfish! That’s very true, my walking will continue to improve. This stryde nail is just amazing — walking after just two weeks!

I'm excited to keep everyone posted. Let’s hope the xrays on Wednesday look good! All the positivity on this thread has encouraged me to push myself even when my body wants to stop. Friends - those of you who will start your CLL journeys soon I will be on your threads encouraging you just as you're all encouraging me!

Great job bro - keep going!

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Quote from: verticalpush on June 08, 2019, 03:15:23 AMShort clip of me walking like a penguin

verticalpush-

I've asked everyone who undergo's STRYDE lengthening to post videos throughout their process. This is exactly why, words can't accurately describe what a simple video reveals in a matter of seconds. Keep up with the excellent documentation you are providing about your experience.

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BeYourBest, Movie, ActionSpeaks, TheAlchemist, MichaelJose, and Leggs --

Your words mean so much to me, thank you!!! This feels like a team effort and that we're all in this together. You guys (and really everyone on this thread) have encouraged me to go beyond where my mind wants me to stop. Your mind matters so much. Just as it can be your biggest ally, it can also be your biggest hurdle.

Realizing I could walk unassisted literally flipped a switch. Yesterday (Saturday) I walked around my hotel room as much as I could unassisted. I know the risk in doing this without a cane, which is why I will get one ASAP,.

I'm so excited to see what the x-rays show. I'm now at the 1.1 cm mark. I will say that when I do my third lengthening of the day in bed (I learned from other diaries that laying flat in bed while lengthening is the best) I'm starting to get a bit of pain during that last lengthening session. I'm sure that's normal, and it's nothing I can't handle.

For anyone else who's about to do this - don't see the wheelchair as your friend. See it as something you want to get out of ASAP. I borrowed one from Dr. D. -- I'm not going to have one with me when I return home on Wednesday. The transition from wheelchair to walker was far more difficult than going from walker to no walker. 

Thanks EVERYONE on this thread for your support - I'll keep pushing and will keep posting x-rays and updated walking videos.

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verticalpush-

If I remember correctly you are now back home or are in the process of traveling back home from Vegas. Hope all goes well for you during your travels. Probably won't be easy, but well worth it once you're back in the familiar and comfortable surroundings of your own home.

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Quote from: Leggs on June 14, 2019, 01:32:35 PMverticalpush-

If I remember correctly you are now back home or are in the process of traveling back home from Vegas. Hope all goes well for you during your travels. Probably won't be easy, but well worth it once you're back in the familiar and comfortable surroundings of your own home.
Thanks for remembering, Leggs! I actually started writing a diary post last night but fell asleep before posting.

As I write this, I am just over 1/2 an inch taller than I was when I started my journey. I'm also very comfortably writing this update from home. I'd be lying if I said the airport and flying experience was easy, but I'll get into that later.

On Wednesday June 12th, I had my follow up with Dr. D. Since I had borrowed the wheelchair, I left that back in Nevada but still had to manage lugging around 1 large checked bag for clothes, 1 surprisingly heavy checked bag for the ERC device, plus my backpack and walker. I managed to bring that all down to leave at the front desk while I took a Lyft to LimbplastX for my x-rays and follow up.

The big update is that I had my 2.5 weeks post-surgery x-rays done. Here are my x-rays -- it looks like I apparently have a zipper embedded near my pelvis  . I'm having problems pulling up the other 4 x-ray pictures right now but I'll update once I get that resolved. (Update: resolved! All x-rays are posted.) Dr. D. is happy with my progress so far, he says everything looks good and that new bone is starting to grow. I'll admit I haven't been taking many calcium pills - from reading a few other diaries I was afraid of pre-consolidation. I'll be sure to take my pills now! I expected to be in the office longer than I was - but it was just a little over an hour for x-rays and the consult. My next appointment is July 9, but he wants me to get x-rays done locally about midway between now and then. I was then off to the Costco pharmacy (I don't think I could've picked a pharmacy with a longer walk between the entrance and the pharmacy counter! Ouch!) to fill my scripts before returning to the hotel to collect my bags.

The Homewood suites offers a free van to the airport, which came in handy as the driver actually stepped out of the van to try to help me find a cart to put all my baggage on. I would've been overwhelmed if the driver left me there standing on the curb with an impossible amount of bags to navigate to the counter. With the baggage cart, I headed over to the airline counter and the associate was extremely friendly. She did not charge for the ERC (medical) device but I did pay for my one checked bag. The airport offers a free (plus tip) wheelchair service that takes you to the gate and she encouraged me to use it. Feeling overconfident at this point, I decided I'd just use my walker. You'd be amazed how many random strangers come up to you to give you an unexpected compliment "keep it up, young man! You're doing great!" but walking through a large airport the size of Las Vegas-McCarran with a walker is NOT something I'd do again a little after 2 weeks post surgery. I stopped at the Centurion lounge which was a few gates away from my flight and unfortunately they did not offer me any assistance, making it very difficult to actually relax. I had to waddle to get a tiny amount of food and it was very hard to find any space to sit. At this point my legs were beat and I'd say my pain level was around a 5-6.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful. After you're used to having your feet elevated, sitting in a normal airplane seat for over 2 hours isn't the most comfortable thing in the world. Once the plane landed I learned from my experience collecting bags from the Las Vegas airport and found one of the luggage carts. All of my bags arrived!

I caught another Lyft to get back home and pretty much avoided much walking the next day. I have PT lined up for Monday but I'm doing the exercises I learned back from the Las Vegas PT clinic.

I find being home puts me in such a better mood - I'm far more comfortable in my own bed and having my friends who can step in and help if I need it. Finally, being cleared to drive is going to be a game changer. I'm (so far) very pleased with my decision to lengthen at home, but boy let me tell you the airport experience was NOT pleasant. Note to others - use the wheelchair service!!

Remember that I did this entirely by myself. I want to be careful not to make it seem like that is something potential LLers should consider doing UNLESS they have no other choice. I had no caretaker to help me, no family member in town who could step in if there was an emergency, etc. The risk I took with those decisions is pretty insane now that I look back at it. I was LUCKY. But things that would've been relatively easy were exceedingly difficult. I'll close by saying it is POSSIBLE to do this by yourself but you need to be aware of what you're getting yourself into.

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Congrats on that first 0.5 inch! Seems like time is flying by and great progress is being made. Glad you are home, nothing like settling in your own bed.

I am impressed with your determination and will to do all of this by yourself. Personally I'm hiring a caretaker for the first 7 days after leaving the hospital.

Looking back, if you had the option, ideally how long would you have a caretaker and for how long each day? The caretaker fees are huge, so trying to optimize risk and costs, I was thinking the first 3 days after the hospital, 24 hrs a day, and then the next 4 days 12 hours a day. Do you think that is enough or too much?

Couple of other questions:

1) How is pain management now?

2) How has sleep been? Any tips?

Thanks!

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Quote from: TheAlchemist on June 14, 2019, 06:45:53 PMLooking back, if you had the option, ideally how long would you have a caretaker and for how long each day? The caretaker fees are huge, so trying to optimize risk and costs, I was thinking the first 3 days after the hospital, 24 hrs a day, and then the next 4 days 12 hours a day. Do you think that is enough or too much?

Couple of other questions:

1) How is pain management now?

2) How has sleep been? Any tips?

Thanks!
Thanks, TheAlchemist! I agree, time is moving so much faster now post-surgery.

I do think having a caretaker for the first week is beneficial. For me, it would have meant not needing to risk falling every time I needed to empty my urinal. I felt like I was taking my life in my hands every time I did that! Also, it's going to be a million times easier to get food. You won't have to plead with hotel staff to escort your delivery person into the room. The caretaker can also keep track of your medicine intake, which is certainly advantageous. Plus, if you can get a caretaker that has transportation, he/she can take you to/from PT which will certainly save you a bit of money.

Having said that, I don't know that having a caretaker is going to make a major difference for the 8 hours or so that you're sleeping. As long as you have your medicine within arm's reach, it would be hard for me to justify that cost especially after the first 24 hours.

I would probably advise 16 hours the first 2-3 days, followed by 10-12 hours days 4-7. After a week, you probably won't need a caretaker unless you are experiencing complications and can't bear weight. I will say this - you'll know just before you leave the hospital what degree of function you'll have the first few days. Many caretaker agencies, unfortunately, want you to commit upfront to "X" amount of hours per week, and it's very difficult to know how much you'll need to depend on the caretaker until you're out of the hospital.

Pain has honestly never been worse than a 5 or a 6 at tops. Of course, the more you use your legs, the more short term pain you'll have, but the faster recovery will be. So, you face a trade off with almost everything you do recover-wise. I was prescribed long term and short term pain medicine. I stopped taking the long term pain medicine after a day and only take half a dose of the short term pain medicine. With today being the end of week 3, I will start my transition into OTC Tylenol.

Sleep has sadly been a problem for me even before the surgery. I find that taking the short term pain medicine and the muscle relaxer makes me sleepy, but only for the short term. I take a benadryl tablet plus a time-release melatonin tablet and that seems to do the trick. The first couple of weeks you'll wake up a couple times each night not necessarily in pain but in discomfort from the current position you're in. I'm *almost* to the point where I can sleep on my side and I can tell that is going to be a major game-changer.

The important part about all of this is that every single day is better than the last day. You are literally always improving in every facet. Hope this helps!

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Thanks vertical push! Super helpful, going to take your advice and book my care taker hours accordingly. Sorry I forgot to ask, with regards to flexibility, how important do you think building up flexibility is pre op? I can’t touch my toes and my op is 2 months away. How flexible were you before the op? Paley told me pre op flexibility is not a huge factor in putting the odds in my favor.