Well I have been debating whether to start up a new diary or not for my 2nd surgery as I'm not much of a writer and really InFullStryde's awesome diary is all you need to know about the Stryde nail but since I don't really see any internal tibia diaries around I figured mine would still be somewhat helpful.
Anyway a little background, I did my femurs using the partial weight bearing Precise nail back in August 2017 with Dr. Rozbruch in NYC and lengthened to 6.7cm to go from 5'1.5 to 5'4. I got the nail removed in October 2018 so it's been about 1.5 years and it honestly has been the best decision I ever made. I do not have any pain whatsoever and the new height feels great, the downsides have been I have obviously lost some flexibility, my butt is still pretty flat, my thighs are toothpick skinny, and running still feels weird and slow. But those things can be worked on. Since the first surgery went so well and with the weight bearing Stryde nail now available, I went ahead and did my tibia using the smallest 10mm Stryde nail. So here we go -
Pre Op Day: I had to come to NYC 4 days before my surgery for some pre op blood work and met with the team to go over the procedure. It was pretty standard and quick as I had already gone thru it for my femur surgery. Afterwards I took this opportunity to meet 3 prospective LLers and a vet LLer Puru. The guys had alot of questions for Puru and I. It was a blast and everyone was in good spirits and was well adjusted in their lives with legitimate reasons to do LL, unlike some mentally ill dudes in here who are already tall but still want to get taller and "mog" everyone else in sight. 2 of the guys will be doing LL with Dr. R and they might start their own diaries in here in the near future.
Surgery Day: I'm not from NYC so I took a 4hr bus ride and arrived at the hospital around 5:30am and checked in. The nurses shaved me down and Dr. R came in to have a chat. He asked if I wanted to do a gastroc release which is to loosen the calf muscle to help with tightness which people typically experience after 4cm lengthening. It's similar to the ITB release for the femur. I decided to do it since I was aiming for 6cm. I didn't want to have to stop after 4cm. We also discussed how my bowed legs would also be straightened in the same procedure and I would gain an additional .5cm from that as well which is pretty awesome. I was then rolled into the op room. There was a team of at least 10 people in there.
The anesthesiologist did his magic and I went under. The next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. A catheter was hooked up so I could pee freely. I didn't really feel any pain as I was on a ton of painkillers, my legs were hooked up to a machine that kept my legs moving to have good blood flow. I was pretty tired so I ate a quick dinner and fell asleep.
Day 1 post op: The PT team came by and had me get up and move around using the walker and damn it was rough. My legs were inflamed and it hurt pretty badly as I forgot to have the nurses give me an oxycodone right before hand. Dr. R. also stopped by to do some post surgery checks and informed me that the surgery went well. The night was pretty brutal pain wise even with the painkillers.
Day 2 post op: Same as the prior day, the PT came by again and had me walk around again with the walker. The Stryde representative stopped by to give the ERC device and did a lengthening demonstration. this ERC device was heavier than the Precise device but had a much better UI that displayed all sorts of information like how much have you lengthened for the day and how much have you lengthened total. I was to lengthen 4x a day at a rate of .2mm each time for a total of .8mm. I was then discharged and had my parents pick me up. The staff rolled me down to the hospital entrance in a wheelchair and I transferred into the car using a walker. I laid in the backseat and went to sleep. 4hrs later we arrived home and I got out of the car and into a wheelchair and was rolled into my house as I was too weak to use the walker to get to my bed.
First week post op: my legs were still pretty inflamed and swollen but I wanted to recover quickly so I started using the walker aggressively, big mistake, this only made the inflammation worse. I also had a scary fall as I was pushing the walker too quickly on an uneven surface and it toppled and fell over over. I was suddenly without any support and my legs were still too weak to stand on their own so I fell to the ground. Thankfully it was the full weight bearing Stryde nail, would have been bad otherwise. This set me back a week as the still inflamed legs screamed in agony for having to stand without any support for several seconds.
Second week: Legs were now getting better, swelling and pain had gone down and I was moving around using the walker with little difficulty. I started to settle into a routine of eating, stretching, using the lengthening machine and napping as I cannot sleep for more than 1-2 hrs at night before waking up and having to move/stretch the legs. They get locked after staying in the same position and it hurts like a bitch to move them after I wake up. The longer I had been asleep, the more painful it was to move them after waking up.
Third week: I had a post op visit with Dr. R. We checked the x-rays and things were looking good, I had lengthened about .8 cm and there was good callus formation on the tibia and fibula. We also confirmed that my bowed legs had been fixed which was amazing. Back at home, my legs were continuing to improve and I could now stand without any support. I decided to ditch the walker and switch to crutches as I need to improve quickly as I was planning to return to work in 2 weeks. Hopefully I can transition to a cane by then.
Well that's all I got for now, let me know if you have any questions. The Stryde nail is indeed a game changer, I am now completely independent due to the ability to fully weight bear.
SLM Stryde Internal Tibia with Dr. Rozbruch March 2019
Thanks for starting this diary SLM! You are a great writer.
You have a real privilege of being in a country which has some of the best surgeons and the best hospitals. I am confident you will do great.
Quick question - how was it that the 10mm Precice nails didn't fit your femurs but the 10mm Stryde nails fit your tibias? Because tibias are supposed to be thinner.
Thank you
Thanks for making a new diary. It’s much easier to keep track of!
And it was really nice meeting you!
Hey SLM
Congrats on your second lengthening! You are a true warrior!! Yes, Stryde is the game changer! I am also very happy that I was able to use Stryde for myself. You will enjoy the benefit of full weight bearing!!
Wish you the best of luck for your journey!!
Thanks for doing a new diary. Good luck on your journey.
Why did you stop at 6.7 on femurs?
Thank you for all the support guys, I appreciate it 
. I used the 8.5mm Precise nail on my femur as the 10.5mm one was a little too big and would have required more reaming of the canal which you should try to avoid. We all saw what happened with Unicorn when Guichet put in a 13mm nail on her small bones. While the tibia is indeed smaller than the femur, the benefits of the 10mm Stryde nail outweighed the smaller 8.5mm Precise nail so Dr. R. did do some reaming to fit it in there, he did say it was quite a tight fit.
I stopped at 6.7cm with the femurs as I was getting pretty tight and my bone growth was slow and I was sick of LL by that time and wanted to start consolidation. Hopefully I will have better results with the tibia as the ability to walk should help with flexibility and have better bone formation.
Going to try to get some shut eye now as I only got about 2-3 hrs of sleep last night, the pain was really rough even with the oxycodone. It wasn't a small constant dull pain but rather a very sharp one every couple of seconds, I think it was because I pushed myself too hard and walked around with crutches too much yesterday.
I'm rooting for you to get the full 8cm with tibias if thats what you want.
Really excited for you, SLM. I'll be a regular follower of your diary and I'm very interested to learn about the tibia experience through your steps.
All the best!
IFS
So I have made some pretty nice improvements since the last update. I am now walking confidently on crutches. I was able to stand up from my bed without any support and took a few steps unaided today. I have another week before I return to work so need to get my strength back. I will most probably use crutches when I do return as I am terrified of someone bumping into me and even a slight breeze will probably make me fall over.
Unfortunately all is not well, the sharp shooting pain on my left leg is still present and comes and goes throughout the day but is most prevalent at night when I'm trying to sleep. The only way to alleviate it is taking an oxy which I'm trying to stop but it's near impossible. Hopefully it will get better soon.
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