Posted on May 19, 2019, 12:49 am
#1
Hey guys,
While I wasn't planning to start a diary before this procedure, I feel the need to do so now as my way to give back to the forum. This diary won't be as detailed as some of the great ones, like IFS's diary, but I will try to update on new developments and answer questions you have, so long as I find them appropriate.
My stats: 5'3, male, 145lb. Stryde nail size used is 11.5, which is one size larger than the smallest size of 10. I hope to achieve 3 inches.
So, I had surgery on Monday and was discharged Wednesday. After waking up, I felt no pain and was still under anesthesia. There are leg pumps on each leg used to circulate the blood in the legs so as to prevent blood clots. An additional device is placed on each leg which bends the knee slowly throughout the day. This device isn't on all day unlike the pump, but is used for about an hour and half each time, 2 - 3 times a day. I have had no problems with sleep so far. I have been averaging about 4-6 hrs at the hospital, and that is because of nurses constantly talking by my room and waking me up for meds or to take blood. Now that I am home, I sleep 6-8 hrs every night and wake up not because of pain but to empty my bowels or because of discomfort from laying in the same position.
For what its worth, I am quite used to sleeping on my back for prolonged periods of time, though it does get quite annoying at times.
In the hospital I barely took any oxy. On day 2 after anesthesia wears off, I think I took about 2 or 3 oxys, and that wasn't because I had pain but it was because I was afraid of having some and therefore tried to keep ahead of the pain. The PT came in at 11 am and I had prepared in advance by taking 2 oxys. This is where I was to get up and take about 10 steps. As soon as I sat down on the bed with my legs on the floor, I immediately felt nauseous, to a point where my color changed. I was seconds away from vomiting but this subsided quickly when I was allowed to get back in bed. The PT came in again at 4 pm, but this time I had taken only 1 oxy, and also anti-nausea medicine through the IV. I was able to get up and take 10 steps, but as soon as I finished, I felt immediately nauseous and got back to bed. The pain was about a 3 while walking. The first thing you notice when waking up from surgery are just how heavy your legs feel, its as if you have 100lbs on each of your legs accompanied with pain and discomfort when moving them. Because of the nausea during this 2nd PT, I had not technically cleared PT in order to be discharged. I knew I had to do better the next day to be able to get a discharge, so as not to incur an additional nightly hospital stay. I know this question will come up so here is the response: my insurance did NOT cover any of the fees except for routine medication, wheel chair rental, walker and crutches. I will not list what I have paid but can say that the prices listed on this site are more or less accurate.
Thus the following day I had prepared in advance. I took 1 oxy, anti nausea medicine and also sat up on the bed in upright position throughout the day. I did some minor stretches also which the PT gave me the day before, including the heel slide, etc. This PT session was a success and I was discharged as planned. After you get dressed, they roll you down on wheelchair and then you get into the car. I had taken an oxy beforehand because I knew getting into the car would be painful, I was right. Id say the pain jumped to about a 5 during one wrong movement when getting into the car, but it quickly subsided once I positioned myself properly. Got home, got into the bed and rested the rest of that day without doing any PT because I was already exhausted from all the PT in the hospital and the struggle with getting into and out of the car. I actually had 2 PT sessions on the day of discharge, 1 was to learn to use the walker and the other was for the crutches only.
That night I had my regular of about 6 hrs of sleep and just woke up once at night because of discomfort due to sleeping on my back. But I was happy that there was no longer nurses talking near me or other noise that interrupted my sleep. Pain that day was anywhere from 0 at rest to about 2 or 3 when doing PT. I am doing PT on my own at home and just following the exercises given to me by my dr. You can find some of those in IFS's diary, if you want specifics.
I started officially lengthening yesterday, the sessions aren't painful but I found my left leg to react adversely after the day's session. I have a dull pain in that leg of about a 3 with no oxy in my system. Pain comes down to 0 after one 5mg oxy. The right leg has no pain whatsoever during rest and during PT it jumps to about 2 with oxy. The left leg during PT is at about a 4-6 without oxy. I guess its worth it to mention that I have high pain tolerance just based on my knowledge of how my body reacts to surgeries I had in the past. I will not specify what those surgeries were, because that is irrelevant for our purposes here.
Today has been relatively painful for my left leg, mostly because I did NOT use any oxy this morning when doing PT. The reason for that is I had severe constipation. I had not taken a poop since morning of surgery, and today was day 5. I was afraid to take more pain meds because I knew that would make the constipation worse, so I sucked it up and did some exercises, though not as successfully as I would have liked. Long story short, I resolved the constipation this afternoon and immediately took 1 oxy to do PT. The pain went down to about a 2 for both legs and I was ecstatic to be free of that burden. My left leg also feels tighter when I walk sometimes. I get a tightening behind my left knee, as if a muscle is bulging out. I had a family member massage it after I got on my stomach so that helped. Frankly I am concerned about it and expect things to get worse. I will keep my eye on it as things progress. I also don't want to jinx my right leg and I expect things to worsen significantly on that front as well. Will keep you updated of major developments.
I am using strictly the walker right now, I don't feel confident to use crutches at this time. I can fully weight bear and standing on my legs is not painful at all. Pain only starts when actual steps are taken. While I can technically fully weight bare, I do not do so when taking steps and try to re-distribute some of my weight to my upper body.
Anyway this is it for now. I am due now for another PT and my last lengthening for the day. I still cant believe I actually went through with this procedure, sometimes it feels surreal. At the same time I am glad to finally put it behind me because ive been carrying the weight of this surgery with me for the last 7 or so yrs. Lets see what the future holds...
Let me know if you have any questions.
While I wasn't planning to start a diary before this procedure, I feel the need to do so now as my way to give back to the forum. This diary won't be as detailed as some of the great ones, like IFS's diary, but I will try to update on new developments and answer questions you have, so long as I find them appropriate.
My stats: 5'3, male, 145lb. Stryde nail size used is 11.5, which is one size larger than the smallest size of 10. I hope to achieve 3 inches.
So, I had surgery on Monday and was discharged Wednesday. After waking up, I felt no pain and was still under anesthesia. There are leg pumps on each leg used to circulate the blood in the legs so as to prevent blood clots. An additional device is placed on each leg which bends the knee slowly throughout the day. This device isn't on all day unlike the pump, but is used for about an hour and half each time, 2 - 3 times a day. I have had no problems with sleep so far. I have been averaging about 4-6 hrs at the hospital, and that is because of nurses constantly talking by my room and waking me up for meds or to take blood. Now that I am home, I sleep 6-8 hrs every night and wake up not because of pain but to empty my bowels or because of discomfort from laying in the same position.
For what its worth, I am quite used to sleeping on my back for prolonged periods of time, though it does get quite annoying at times.
In the hospital I barely took any oxy. On day 2 after anesthesia wears off, I think I took about 2 or 3 oxys, and that wasn't because I had pain but it was because I was afraid of having some and therefore tried to keep ahead of the pain. The PT came in at 11 am and I had prepared in advance by taking 2 oxys. This is where I was to get up and take about 10 steps. As soon as I sat down on the bed with my legs on the floor, I immediately felt nauseous, to a point where my color changed. I was seconds away from vomiting but this subsided quickly when I was allowed to get back in bed. The PT came in again at 4 pm, but this time I had taken only 1 oxy, and also anti-nausea medicine through the IV. I was able to get up and take 10 steps, but as soon as I finished, I felt immediately nauseous and got back to bed. The pain was about a 3 while walking. The first thing you notice when waking up from surgery are just how heavy your legs feel, its as if you have 100lbs on each of your legs accompanied with pain and discomfort when moving them. Because of the nausea during this 2nd PT, I had not technically cleared PT in order to be discharged. I knew I had to do better the next day to be able to get a discharge, so as not to incur an additional nightly hospital stay. I know this question will come up so here is the response: my insurance did NOT cover any of the fees except for routine medication, wheel chair rental, walker and crutches. I will not list what I have paid but can say that the prices listed on this site are more or less accurate.
Thus the following day I had prepared in advance. I took 1 oxy, anti nausea medicine and also sat up on the bed in upright position throughout the day. I did some minor stretches also which the PT gave me the day before, including the heel slide, etc. This PT session was a success and I was discharged as planned. After you get dressed, they roll you down on wheelchair and then you get into the car. I had taken an oxy beforehand because I knew getting into the car would be painful, I was right. Id say the pain jumped to about a 5 during one wrong movement when getting into the car, but it quickly subsided once I positioned myself properly. Got home, got into the bed and rested the rest of that day without doing any PT because I was already exhausted from all the PT in the hospital and the struggle with getting into and out of the car. I actually had 2 PT sessions on the day of discharge, 1 was to learn to use the walker and the other was for the crutches only.
That night I had my regular of about 6 hrs of sleep and just woke up once at night because of discomfort due to sleeping on my back. But I was happy that there was no longer nurses talking near me or other noise that interrupted my sleep. Pain that day was anywhere from 0 at rest to about 2 or 3 when doing PT. I am doing PT on my own at home and just following the exercises given to me by my dr. You can find some of those in IFS's diary, if you want specifics.
I started officially lengthening yesterday, the sessions aren't painful but I found my left leg to react adversely after the day's session. I have a dull pain in that leg of about a 3 with no oxy in my system. Pain comes down to 0 after one 5mg oxy. The right leg has no pain whatsoever during rest and during PT it jumps to about 2 with oxy. The left leg during PT is at about a 4-6 without oxy. I guess its worth it to mention that I have high pain tolerance just based on my knowledge of how my body reacts to surgeries I had in the past. I will not specify what those surgeries were, because that is irrelevant for our purposes here.
Today has been relatively painful for my left leg, mostly because I did NOT use any oxy this morning when doing PT. The reason for that is I had severe constipation. I had not taken a poop since morning of surgery, and today was day 5. I was afraid to take more pain meds because I knew that would make the constipation worse, so I sucked it up and did some exercises, though not as successfully as I would have liked. Long story short, I resolved the constipation this afternoon and immediately took 1 oxy to do PT. The pain went down to about a 2 for both legs and I was ecstatic to be free of that burden. My left leg also feels tighter when I walk sometimes. I get a tightening behind my left knee, as if a muscle is bulging out. I had a family member massage it after I got on my stomach so that helped. Frankly I am concerned about it and expect things to get worse. I will keep my eye on it as things progress. I also don't want to jinx my right leg and I expect things to worsen significantly on that front as well. Will keep you updated of major developments.
I am using strictly the walker right now, I don't feel confident to use crutches at this time. I can fully weight bear and standing on my legs is not painful at all. Pain only starts when actual steps are taken. While I can technically fully weight bare, I do not do so when taking steps and try to re-distribute some of my weight to my upper body.
Anyway this is it for now. I am due now for another PT and my last lengthening for the day. I still cant believe I actually went through with this procedure, sometimes it feels surreal. At the same time I am glad to finally put it behind me because ive been carrying the weight of this surgery with me for the last 7 or so yrs. Lets see what the future holds...
Let me know if you have any questions.