Quote from: 6CMFemurs on April 08, 2022, 04:27:27 AMI disagree my friend!! LL is both a mental and physical game. Why sabotage the mental aspect of the game by sitting inside your room all day? As someone currently in the process of lengthening, I recommend going out to dinner or for a little ride with your partner or friends as often as possible.
@Femurs2022: As a native Marylander, I do admit Baltimore can be kind of boring, but the weather should be getting nicer now. See if your partner can take you down to the Inner Harbor or even just to a coffee shop or brewery in Hampden.
Yes, if you are able to go outside and explore outside places while lengthening, then by all means do so. Usually Stryde (when it was available) patients and staged lengthening patients with one strong leg can do this. However, if you are lengthening bilaterally with the Precice nails, it's extremely difficult to explore outside, unless you have someone that can help you, drive you around, and push your wheelchair.
precise 2.2 femurs w/ Dr. Assayag
Days +10 and +11
I think I might have had some unrealistic expectations for my recovery based on my experience with the first surgery. Mornings are really rough and the pain is somewhat intolerable until I break down and take an oxy. I'll admit if I was less stubborn about taking the oxy I probably would be a lot less miserable. Pain is really my biggest issue by far at the moment. I welcome any suggestions of non-pharmacological methods of managing the pain since what I am doing (lots of icing, nightly warm bath, stretching) is clearly not working. Tylenol actually works the best for the pain (better than oxy by far) but for some reason, it lasts less than 4 hours for me and I can't take it that often safely.
It is not all bad though. I got out of the hotel a few times this weekend and the weather has been less dreary in Baltimore. It is actually easier in some ways to be out and about in the wheelchair compared to crutches and it is really easy to wheel myself even up inclines. And honestly compared to how I was doing last weekend I am in a much better place. I also get to go home this week which I think will be much better for me.
Days +12 and +13
I had my follow up appointment with Dr. Assayag and my left leg is at 42 mm and right leg is at 5 mm. The difference looks even bigger in real life (I'll try to attach some photos). I'll continue lengthening my left leg at 0.5 mm/day and right leg at 0.75 mm/day. I also need to work on eating more. After the first surgery, I found I had to basically double my caloric intake from my baseline to not lose weight very quickly (I think my body just needs the extra calories to make new tissue/bone). I truly felt like my full time job was just to eat all day. I'm struggling to even eat 2000 calories a day right now (and realistically I think I need to double that to stop losing weight) so I am losing weight quickly which I guess is impacting my bone regeneration. My goal is to increase my caloric intake back to at least 3500 calories a day by next week.
Pain remains a challenge for me but seems to be improving slightly on a daily basis. My energy level is good, I'm sleeping OK, and I'm able to concentrate and get work done efficiently. The biggest issues for me are just my lack of appetite and pain which I hope will improve in time.
I get to go home this week! I am so happy about this and so grateful I am able to lengthen from home. It has been really hard for me to be away from friends during this time and I'm ready to get home. I live either a long drive or short flight from Baltimore. I will share information on the process of flying while lengthening bilaterally with precise after my flight home.
it's nice to see a journal from a female since most of these are mens.
how did you handle going to the bathroom right after surgery or the first few days after surgery? i see that most men can just pee in a bottle but the option isn't there unless youre born with a male parts.
how soon were you able to shower?
with the oxy are you getting oxycontin or something like percocet? I have concerns with my body getting used to those as well after a surgery like this.
what size nails were you able to get ?
http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=69753.0
How much does Dr. Assayag charge for rebreaking tibias? Ex: if we only did like 2cm on tibias before and want to rebreak the tibias to go from 2cm to 5-6cm on tibias?
With precise 2
Thanks for posting this! In your experience, since precise 2 is not weight bearing, what are the life/daily chore situations that are the most dangerous and what can you do to mitigate the chance of an accident?
Quote from: SpGrows on April 14, 2022, 06:15:23 PMit's nice to see a journal from a female since most of these are mens.
how did you handle going to the bathroom right after surgery or the first few days after surgery? i see that most men can just pee in a bottle but the option isn't there unless youre born with a male parts.
how soon were you able to shower?
with the oxy are you getting oxycontin or something like percocet? I have concerns with my body getting used to those as well after a surgery like this.
what size nails were you able to get ?
For using the bathroom, for the first 24 hours in the hospital I used the bedside commode and the nurse helped me transfer from bed to commode. I definitely was too weak to do this myself. After discharge, at the hotel I used the toilet in the bathroom. I needed help for the first day or 2 to transfer from the wheelchair to the toilet but this was mainly just due to how the bathroom was set up and how tired I was. Within a few days I was strong enough to transfer from the wheelchair to the toilet without any help.
For showering, I was allowed to shower 5 days post op. I think this probably varies by surgeon I just went based on what my discharge instructions stated.
I was/am prescribed oxycodone. Percocet is just oxycodone + acetaminophen (tylenol). I'm personally not a big fan of meds that combine opioids and acetaminophen because if you take the med as prescribed you are likely underdosing the acetaminophen component and if the patient takes it more frequently than prescribed then you can easily overdose the acetaminophen. Obviously, do whatever your surgeon recommends but I personally prefer having the acetaminophen and opioid as separate medications which avoids the underdosing/overdosing problem.
I have 10.7 mm nails. I was worried my femurs wouldn't be wide enough for the 10.7 mm nails but Dr. Assayag reviewed my x-rays (well technically I got an EOS scan) pre op and assured me he could fit them.
I'm happy to answer any other questions you have as well 
Hi! Is this the second surgery? I am a bit confused! I wish you an healthy and good recovery.
Quote from: SpeedDialer on April 14, 2022, 07:07:04 PMThanks for posting this! In your experience, since precise 2 is not weight bearing, what are the life/daily chore situations that are the most dangerous and what can you do to mitigate the chance of an accident?
Your welcome! I'm only a little over 2 weeks in so not the most experienced patient but I think transferring in and out of the shower is probably the most dangerous since things can be wet and slippery and there are a lot of hard surfaces to hit if you fall. I think you can mitigate the risks by using a shower transfer bench and considering installing bars to hold onto. Also by having someone around to help as needed at least early on. Otherwise, wet floors are pretty scary on crutches or a walker but I'm not sure how to mitigate this other than avoiding them.
Quote from: scandinavian15 on April 14, 2022, 07:48:00 PMHi! Is this the second surgery? I am a bit confused! I wish you an healthy and good recovery.
Yes second surgery! I did the first surgery on my left leg then a few weeks later the second surgery on my right leg. And thank you so much!!
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