Hey everyone! So I finally went thru with the procedure with Dr M. Surgery date was 8/28/2020 and I'm officially 3 weeks post op today. I wanted to start my diary here sooner but tbh I was focused on getting rest and pain management these past few weeks.
I have read some amazing journeys on this forum and hopefully mines will give the next person that push to get this done. So far I am over 15mm distracted which is more than half an inch of growth 
Day 1: Surgery date I arrive to the hospital at 5:30 AM. I register and get sent up to my room to change clothes. The doctors assistant comes in to shave my legs and soon after the anesthesiologist comes to ask me a few standard questions. At this point it’s probably right around 7 o’clock and Dr. M comes in to let me know we are soon about to start the procedure. Minutes later I am being rolled out on my bed to the operating room. The next thing I know I wake up around 1pm with the nurses saying that my procedure went well.
Because of anesthesia & meds there was not much pain I felt at that point. Hours later a physical therapist comes into my room and ask me if I wanted to try to walk. I replied “yes let’s give it a try”. I didn’t think I would truly be able to walk on the same day as the procedure but with some help from the walker and some motivation from the therapist I was very capable. 
I stayed in bed the rest of the evening.
Day 2: Dr M spoke with me and told me everything went well. He also mentioned that I have tough bones (harder to cut thru for the osteotomy). Nevertheless all is good.
Rested most of the day and did physical therapy twice. Physical therapy consisted mostly walking from bed to bath, bed to room door, room door to near by exit sign.
Again, I’m still shocked af i could walked this much with 1 day old broken legs.
Day 3: Rest and PT. Had the option to discharge but I didn’t feel 100% confident in my condition
Day 4-6: Discharge from the hospital early and back at home! Pain levels are high but that’s expected. Sitting on the toilet is not comfortable. Right now there is only one thing I wanna do — Rest, rest, rest!
Day 7: picked the ERC from Dr M’s office. The nurse showed me how to use it. It’s literally so easy it requires no thought. Turn it on, place it on your left leg at the marker line, then press the green start button. 60 seconds later it’s time to switch to your right leg and do the same thing.
For the next 5 days I had to used the ERC 4 times daily. After that it’s 3 times daily.
Yes, distraction is uncomfortable EVERY time I use the ERC. A lot of stretching is a MUST!
I have a Physical therapist that Dr. M recommended who comes to my house 3 to 4 times a week for PT sessions. The therapist really helps you push your limits without overdoing it.
Day 12: Walking unassisted for the first time because my therapist motivated me to do so. She said “the mind will trick you to think you can’t but trust your body & take a step”.... I let go of the fear and sure enough I could walk without a walker, crutches, or cane! Mind blown 🤯
Next few days are similar — Rest, PT, walk, rest, PT, walk.. I also added 15 mins of stationary Bike to my daily routine. Pain levels are still pretty high so meds are certainly needed (especially after PT & lengthening).
Day 21: today makes 3 weeks post op. I had a check up appointment with Dr M. The new x rays look good. My flexibility and range of motion is excellent. Dr M said I’m walking really good already. I have another follow up appointment in 3 weeks. Right now I’m 15.89mm distracted.
BTW 3 days ago I started feeling some discomfort on the left leg near the osteotomy site. Dr M mentioned it could be the IT band release. It's getting slightly better each day but i wanted to share with you all. Has anyone here experience this?
Starting height: 5'8"
Current height (today): 5'8.5"
End height goal: 5'11"
NEW! Bi lateral femurs w/ Dr Mahboubian
Here are my 3 week X-Rays
https://ibb.co/ZVhCV9q
https://ibb.co/8XTdV5Q
https://ibb.co/PMWvdmW
https://ibb.co/F6pR12B
Thanks Brondo.. I hired the PT that Dr M recommended. The cost to come over my house is $80 per session. As of now I just pay upfront weekly so it's 3 sessions for $240 (or 4 sessions for $320). And it's worth every penny!
Thank you. I'll post a few videos soon
Quote from: Movie on September 19, 2020, 01:17:58 PMso far so good. keep it up
Bro tbh your videos made me do this!! I already wanted to get this done for years now but once i watched your journey I immediately scheduled my procedure. NO LIE! You were playing soccer after 5 months 
You're the man bro! LL ICON
I'm penguin walking, my muscles are hella tight, and I get 2-4 hours a sleep daily (at best). Any advice to make life a little easier at this stage?
Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on September 19, 2020, 09:41:10 AMDear DDL,
I am very happy for you and your amazing recovery, and x rays looking good! Keep up the great work 
SNC
Much appreciated. I've been following your journey as well. Seems like you have less than a month of distraction left, yea? I'm excited for you bro
Quote from: StrydeNailChallenge on September 19, 2020, 09:29:58 PMBrother DLL, I hope you found some of the tips in my diary helpful in managing the pain. My diary has them all, but here I am going to try to list as many as I remember (Gabapentin has some side effects, one of which is memory loss, so I am not sure if I can remember them now 
) :
1) Whenever you feel pain, try to do stretching no matter middle or night, etc.
The best I found is to straighten your legs while sitting on bed and then bend your body towards your knees. The next one that helps me is to lie down on your bed, or sit up a bit with your forearms on your side on the bed, while straightening your leg, then lift one leg at a time, doing two practices: one keeping both legs straight and pulling one as high as possible. The other practice, is to try to bring one close to your chest, even if both legs start to bend. Another helpful one for me is to have floppies on (which adds about 1.5cm to my height), stand straight on the floor and then bend to try to touch the floor. Recently instead of keep pushing my hands down to touch the floor in one shot, I have to frequently push and let go many times and each time
getting closer to the ground and usually in about 30 seconds to a minutes, my fingers finally touch the floor. Ideally every time you have pain you would want to repeat your PT sessions. However some of our folks here suggest that it is a good practice to avoid those exercises that create nerve pain. I do not know which exercise would give me nerve pain, therefore every time I experience pain and also before and after every distraction session, I try to repeat my PT routine which is about 10 exercises.
2) Use BIOFREEZE Cold Therapy Pain Relief [pack of 3] (Costco, Sam's Club, etc.) and roll it on the painful area with a bit of pressure to not only apply the gel, but also massage your legs with the roller. This is the best ointment I have been using.
I also got Capzasin Arthritis Pain Relief, Quick Relief Gel 1.5 oz (42.5 g) [pack of 2] from Amazon. This has one problem. After the few hours at some point it would make your leg fired up! You'd feel that your legs are on fire If you try to wash it off your legs, your legs would burn real bad! you better wash them with fairly cold water (and body gel/soap).
I have tried some ointments from European and Asian countries, and since you'd not be able to find them here, I don't mention them. However as I said BIOFREEZE is the best of them, and I would say just having that as an ointment for local pain relief would be sufficient.
3) If you cannot sleep, watch a movie on TV or your computer, while you are set in a nice sleeping position. There is a high chance you'd go to sleep quickly. I typically watch Friends on my computer. I typically fall asleep as early as a couple minutes, and as late as an episode or two later.
4) I put on skiing under pants to get warmed up and also tight jeans and they both somehow help me manage pain! I know it sounds crazy but I think skiing under pants warm up your legs so they act similarly to local pain relief ointments. Tight jeans, most likely put pressure on your legs, and help you forget the pain I guess.
5) Eating/drinking may work like a distraction from pain. I notice that most of the times while eating or drinking and a while after, my pain goes away.
6) Try all sleeping positions including face down, side, face up with a pillow or two under your knee or without any pillows, with or with blankets, etc. frequently. Body preference may change, so hopefully you would find the optimum sleeping position every night.
I hope these help,
SNC
Thanks a lot for the info brother! This is super helpful. I ordered the Biofreeze waiting on that to arrive. I finally was able to sleep on my side last night for the first time. I got more sleep than any other night since the surgery.
The tight jeans sounds interested. I may buy some tight workout pants to see if this works for pain too. I ride the stationary bike for 15 minutes each day. This helps with overall movement and range of motion
Here is a 2 week post op video of me walking btw...
Update - DAY 24: PAIN PAIN PAIN!!!! I am having trouble with pain. Left leg is worse than the right leg. Both hurt. For some reason my pain levels never drop lower than 6 or 7 (and that's with meds). Once medication starts to wear off I'm back at severe 9/10 pain levels. It's VERY uncomfortable. I can barely think.
At 6:00am I used the ERC which required a Percocet to manage pain.
10:00am my PT arrives at my house. PT session for 30 minutes and another Percocet is needed.
2:00pm I used the ERC again. The pain from lengthening requires another Percocet (but I only took half this time) Barely helps but I'm trying to limit the meds when I can (which seems like a joke when I have 2 broken legs that I must walk on, lengthen, AND work out daily) 
I'm really curious to hear more stories on how you guys dealt with pain, what medications work best, etc etc??
I saw this video with Cyborg4Life & Alfonso who had surgery with Dr D in Las Vegas. He stated that Dr D put him on cycle of meds such as dilaudid, toradol, & morphine that had him feeling virtually no pain. Here's the video link (the pain convo starts around 10:50):
Did anyone else manage pain this way? Thanks in advance for the input everyone. Much appreciated
Quote from: BeYourBest on September 22, 2020, 10:02:09 PMHey man, thanks for the diary. I hope you you’re doing better with the pain
Did you do any stretching pre op or prepare your body in any other way?
All the best
I literally stretch like all day. BTW i'm 35, slim athletic build, and very flexible. Prior to surgery I could not only touch my toes but also place my palms on the ground (without bending knees).
As of today I am 21.50mm distracted
Quote from: wannabeidol on September 24, 2020, 05:12:34 PMCONGRATS DLL!
are you going for the full 8?
if so 25% of the way there!
Yes I am going for the full 8. I'm excited
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