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: DaddyLongerLegs on September 19, 2020, 06:07:23 PMBro 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?
Thanks bro appreciate it! My advice is just mentally prepare yourself for several months of pain and accept it, no pain no gain, keep pushing.
Quote from: DaddyLongerLegs on September 19, 2020, 06:24:54 PMMuch 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
Brother 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
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: DaddyLongerLegs on September 21, 2020, 06:36:39 PMThanks 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
DLL Bro,
I am glad some of my tips may help. Just a warning on tight pants. Please don't wear them for long durations, if they are too tight. I am just afraid they may block the blood flow.
I remember long ago, I had knee pain and someone suggested knee braces or stabilizers. I tried them. They feel so good at start, but I later heard that wearing them for a long time, may make the knees lazy. I therefore stopped. I am very careful on tight pants or underpants as well. I wear them for short and as soon as pain subsides a bit I take them off!
The stationary bike is a great idea. I tried it a few times a couple weeks after surgery and I got a lot of knee pain. I am not sure if the stationary bike or some stretches were the reason, but I stopped biking and certain stretches or my knee pain disappeared.
Today I as at a PT and they also suggested stationary bike with low resistance. I believe I am going to start again biking, hoping I would not get knee pain this time.
Hey 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
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
Good point BeYourBest,
I forgot to list that pre and post distraction stretching sessions both have helped me cope with the pain.
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: DaddyLongerLegs on September 24, 2020, 04:23:00 PMI 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
CONGRATS DLL!
are you going for the full 8?
if so 25% of the way there!
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