Precise 2.2 CLL (femurs) with Dr. Rozbruch - February 2023

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Quote from: uponly on July 08, 2023, 12:01:41 AM(breaking rule to post as hopefully my experience will help some folks)

I'm 6.5 weeks post distraction. Bone growth continues to be "astonishing", per Dr. Rozbruch. I was in the wheelchair for a month as a precaution since the x-ray at 8 cm showed some possible bending of my left nail, and Dr. R was worried about me overloading the nail. At 4.5 weeks, I took another x-ray, and the nail was fine. Dr. R said he had seen this before given the slight flexibility of Precise 2.2.

X-rays at 4.5 weeks were amazing. Dr. R told me to go directly to crutches for one week, then one crutch/cane alternating sides for another week or so, then walking unassisted. No jumping or running for 3 months. If bone growth continues at the same rate, he expects to clear me for all activities at the 3 month mark and schedule nail removal.

Flexibility and ROM are literally almost back to pre-surgery levels - and I was SUPER flexible before surgery. I still do PT every day and I'm so grateful to have found one of the best orthopedic PTs in the world completely out of the blind.

After a week on two crutches, I am now one one crutch/cane indoors and two outdoors just out of precaution until I get stronger. I sent a video to Dr. R and that's what Maxine (one of Dr. R's PAs) advised, which makes sense. Zero waddle, literally none. No pain other than muscle soreness. I expect to be walking unassisted with my normal gait back in 1-2 weeks per my PT. He said he can barely notice a difference as is.

I'm cleared to do leg press, leg extension and leg curls with basically zero weight and progress gradually. I do hip flexibility and hip strength exercises with my PT and alone, and pool squats and pool lunges, assisted. Today I got another exercise from my PT to strengthen my lower front quads and calves, that's done assisted, as my body doesn't yet trust my quads and my foot is hitting the ground a bit planar.

My keys to success, aside from doing surgery with Dr. R - I cannot be more grateful for choosing him for this procedure:

- Slow distraction and patience at .8 mm/day
- Maniacal and regular dedication to nutrition and supplements (see my other post)
- LOTS of sleep and rest. Lots and lots of sleep.
- PT every day, which I still do, with a specialized Physical Therapist
 --- This bears repeating. Invest in 7 days a week with a specialized PT. You will not be able to get the leverage to perform the ROM exercises needed on your own, and your PT will be able to feel muscle and body response in a way you do not.
- Pool walking and pool exercises and rehab
- Focus on hip flexibility during distraction and after. Both my PT and Dr. R said this is the absolute key to walking normally again and thus far it turns out they've been right
- Keeping a positive attitude every day and bantering with hippo06 the entire time .
- Listening to my Dr., PT and other health professionals that treated me

If you're thinking about this surgery and planning ahead, I'd recommend:

- Stop smoking, drinking, drugs at least a year in advance. I'm a lifelong nope for all of those, and it helped to have a healthy body to recover from such a tough surgery
- Come in as flexible as possible. Work on this every day, every part of your body, obviously legs and hips specifically
- Eat an incredibly healthy diet and take Vitamin D, calcium and a great multivitamin supplement daily for a year

Good luck to those going through this. I'm off crutches/cane in a week to 10 days.

oh nice, this whiny soy chugger is back with his updates. glad to see you are out of your diapers there, soy chugger

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I walked unassisted today after 7 days of crutches and 3 days of crutch/cane. Just across my living room and back. Gait is totally normal. Slight wobble, which my PT says is from lack of strength in quads, hips and glutes. No soreness. Just... walked.

I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I will stay on cane/crutch inside and two crutches outside this week as Dr. Rozbruch recommended but feel much more confident dropping both and gradually increasing unassisted walking after another week, and continuing to strength train.

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Hey, thanks for sharing your experience with Dr. Rozbruch I appreciate it! Do you know if his clinic accepts insurance for the internal nail removal surgery?

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any update with your nail removal?