I haven't added anything to this thread since shortly before I was discharged from the clinic, so I think it's a good time to update anyone interested in hearing about my experience so far.
So after my surgery my legs felt very good. I had good range of motion, I could walk with my walker for short bursts and stand up. I didn't feel the need to request any pain killers for the first two days because I wasn't feeling any pain other than throbbing, but eventually I had to give in, just so I could get a decent night's sleep from the discomfort.
The clinic had an uncomfortable atmosphere. For the first couple of days after my surgery, I was put in a shared room with another patient. The heat was unbearable, with the only air conditioning being a small electric one fitted to a wall down the corridor, coupled with the second hand smoke from staff members, I just wanted to get discharged as soon as possible.
On the third day after the surgery we went to get an xray so that the Doctor could assess the device and that everything was correctly aligned and in place. By this point I was starting to feel some discomfort in my left leg. It felt like something was popping in and out of place between my fibula and my distraction gap, but everything looked fine on the xray.
Once I got out of the clinic and back to the hotel, it was a load off, and I was able to rest easy. I still had discomfort in my left leg, and the swelling was worse than in my right, but I was still able to move around freely.
On day 6 after the surgery I began lengthening. I performed one surface turn and relaxed for 15 minutes. The moment I went to move, the most excruciating pain went through my left leg causing it to spasm uncontrollably. From that point on I had to keep my left leg and ankle in a stationary position whenever I moved, making it almost impossible to get around. For a few days this pain continued until I was able to meet with Dr. Mitkovic back at the clinic while getting my bandages cleaned.
When I got to the clinic, I explained to Dr. Mitkovic what was happening and I moved my left leg and ankle into different positions at his request and when the pain kicked in, he seemed very puzzled, stating that he hasn't seen this before. Then, He took another look at my xray and went on to say that because of the distance between my fibula and tibia gaps were much close on the left leg, the pain would ease up once further distracting has taken place and the bones are no longer rubbing. After this, he bound my foot to the monorail in a stationary position with a bandage as so to prevent me from moving it around to much.
This seemed to help reduce the pain over the next few days while I continued to distract. Within three days, the pain had subsided significantly and I am once again able to move around much more freely. I'm currently up to about 7 MM of distracting and am hoping to go for a private xray some time next week once I hit the 1 CM mark, which I'm greatly looking forward to.
For now, I'm just working on getting my flexibility back to normal after being pretty much immobilized for four solid days. I'm now able to adequately stretch both legs with little to know discomfort at all.
I'll be sure to post an update with pictures once I've had my xray taken next week.
Thanks.
