Thanks for the update, BTM! Way to hang in there through all the nerve stuff...appreciate the info since I’m planning on starting my journey - now fubar’d by the whole stryde mess. Good luck finishing that nail! Stay strong 💪
Quote from: ifadshoifhfdaoaihjagfdggdgdgadad on February 19, 2021, 03:29:14 AMGait looks good
"Sadly, this type of pain is nothing for an LL vet and I just ignored it. "
Good luck fam it's almost over
Yep, pain tolerance threshold increased through LL.
Quote from: las vegas baby on February 19, 2021, 07:15:42 AMThis is some fine work of Kevin Debiparshad.
I can't complain too much.
Quote from: L8GrowthSpurt on February 19, 2021, 10:18:25 PMThanks for the update, BTM! Way to hang in there through all the nerve stuff...appreciate the info since I’m planning on starting my journey - now fubar’d by the whole stryde mess. Good luck finishing that nail! Stay strong
Yeah, it really sucks that Stryde is off the market when you wanted to do your surgery 
I’ve noticed that I messed up the count on lengthening days toward the end of my last entry, which I’ve corrected going forward. I started lengthening on day 5, so there should be a 4 day difference between the two counts. However, there have been several days where I’ve done no lengthening sessions or even negative lengthening, so I wonder if those should even count as lengthening days...
Surgery Day +95, Lengthening Day 91 (+0.66mm, 60.72mm total)
Last night I watched YouTube and slept later than I should have. The nerve sensations in my leg turned out to be nothing. I was massaging my legs a bunch with a massage gun which probably helped. The massage gun is great on my hamstrings and calves, but I’m not sure how effective it is on my quads. It could be just that my quads are atrophied so there’s not a lot of muscle to massage.
I woke up to my alarm this morning just in time to call into a very early meeting. I was unable to stretch or lengthen during the meeting but at least it ended early. I quickly did my morning routine and ate breakfast, then did my stretches and lengthened each leg with the ERC. This was the earliest I’ve managed to lengthen in over a month. Hopefully I can get 3 lengthening sessions done today. I checked my sleep app and I got a 70% sleep rating with 5.4 hours of sleep and 0.8 hours of deep sleep. However, the app seems to think that I woke up about 40 minutes before I actually woke up so maybe there was a problem with the tracking. Looking back at my sleep history, I haven’t slept restlessly even once for about 4 weeks, and I haven’t consistently slept poorly since 6 weeks ago. I guess once I got past the 8 week mark post-surgery I no longer had any issues with falling asleep or staying asleep.
After lengthening I continued to work until it was time for PT. At PT today I warmed up on the bike as usual, but I only set it to resistance level 4 and did a very lazy ride. I think my legs are probably getting a little weaker and grow tired and sore a lot easier, so I don’t want to waste too much energy on my warmup. I did all my PT stretches and a lot of exercises with resistance bands and I didn’t have to do the leg press fortunately. The PT worked on me toward the end of the session and I could really feel it when she was stretching my quads. After PT I got my usual takeout and went home. I worked for the remainder of the afternoon. In the late afternoon it was time for my second lengthening of the day. I had already grown stiff since it had been a few hours since PT so I did a full stretching session before lengthening. I had no issues with lengthening.
After that I watched some TV and then cooked and ate dinner. I took a hot bath after dinner, but I think I stayed in it for too long because my right shin started to have some tingling and pulsing to the degree that it could be considered nerve pain. It made me a bit nervous so I got out of the bath quickly and did a basic stretching session once I dried off. I felt a little better, but it was like last night at this point where I still had a bunch of nerve sensations sitting in bed. These lasted until late at night when it was time to lengthen. I did one final pre-lengthening stretching session and decided not to do a third lengthening. I have a gut feeling that the nerve pain was caused by doing two lengthenings early in the day today and that my body can’t handle one session every 8 hours. It doesn’t help that my hamstrings and quads are incredibly tight as well. I used the massage gun on my legs for a bit then went to bed. Hopefully my body can continue to handle 0.66/day. I’m not going to try 1mm/day until I’m back to zero nerve pain.
Surgery Day +96, Lengthening Day 92 (+0.66mm, 61.38mm total)
I was a little restless in my sleep last night, tossing and turning a bit and waking up a few times. I got a 76% sleep rating with 6.9 hours of sleep and 0.7 hours of deep sleep. My right shin still had some nerve activity this morning, but it was not tingling hard enough for me to consider it pain. Still, I’m glad I didn’t try to push through and do the third lengthening last night. It looks like I’m already having enough trouble with 0.66mm/day. I got up and did my morning routine, then plopped back down in bed and played on the computer for a while. When it was finally time to lengthen I started my stretching session. I did the lengthening halfway between my stretches, and did a full 30 minutes of stretches. I felt pretty good by the time I was lengthening, with no adverse nerve activity in my lower legs.
While I was stretching I noticed that the scar gel I applied last night had created a rash around one of my scars. I must have applied it too liberally and left it on there for too long without wiping it off. The scar itself was fine, but there were some red bumps around it. It’s a bit strange since none of the other scars were irritated at all and I’ve been using this gel on all of my scars for a month now. I think it’s starting to work a little and the scars look slightly more faded than before. Of course that could also just be due to the passage of time. Hopefully in the long term this helps minimize the scars. I know that I’ll have to open up the scars again during the nail removal surgery, but Dr. D says he only needs to open 3 out of the 6 scars on each leg to get the nails out. So only half my scars will be fresh after the second surgery. I had a bunch of stuff to do today and some work to catch up on, so I got busy for the afternoon.
In the late afternoon after taking my meds I went grocery shopping. I was running out of fresh food again, and I’m starting to get tired of stir frying frozen meat and canned vegetables. Walking around was surprisingly easy once I was warmed up, and I felt very natural walking while pushing the shopping cart. I don’t think anyone noticed an issue with my gait while I was using the shopping cart as a walker. After getting home and unloading my groceries I was already a bit tired. I definitely get tired more easily with any physical activity, though PT during the day doesn’t seem to drain me that much. I did some light stretches and then worked until late at night when it was time to lengthen again. I did another full stretching session before I got sleepy and ran the ERC on each leg. The nail in my left leg clicked once while I was lengthening right before the ERC hit 0.32mm. I remember the doctor said this could be related to premature consolidation. I’m not too worried since it’s the first time, but it happens again I’ll ask about it. Since I had woken up pretty early in the morning I was tired enough to go straight to bed.
While I was sleepy I decided to play with my phone for a bit in bed. That was a bad idea. I ended up sleeping very late, and when I actually tried to sleep I wasn’t sleepy at all. I did notice though that I’m 100% okay sleeping on my side now. I mean before it wasn’t bad sleeping on my side but now I really don’t feel any discomfort at all in my legs when I sleep on the side, so it feels very natural. I actually ended up using the massage gun on my legs and that somehow made me sleepy. It has an automatic shutdown timer so it’s perfect for use right before falling asleep.
Surgery Day +97, Lengthening Day 93 (+0.66mm, 62.04mm total)
I woke up a few times this morning, but managed to fall back asleep since I could sleep in. I ultimately got an 84% on the sleep app with 6.7 hours of sleep and 1.2 hours of deep sleep. When I finally got up I took my pills and then sat in bed watching some YouTube. I was supposed to lengthen already, but I didn’t really feel like it. After about 2 hours I finally mustered enough motivation to start my stretching session. I did a focused 30 minute session and ran the ERC on both legs in the middle. This time I didn’t hear any clicks on either leg fortunately. I ate lunch after that, then kept busy all afternoon.
Before I knew it, it was dinner time already. I did a mini-stretching session, then cooked dinner and after eating I went back to work for the rest of the night. I felt some minor nerve activity on my right shin while sitting in bed working, but otherwise I’m feeling okay in the legs aside from the usual tightness and stiffness. Getting up to do the occasional stretch helped a little bit. I did a full stretching session and lengthened late at night and this time my right nail made a clicking sound when the ERC hit 0.32mm. It’s strange that it has happened exactly once on both legs one day apart and I’m not sure what’s going on but I really hope it’s not premature consolidation. After lengthening I ran the massage gun on my legs for a bit and then went to sleep.
Surgery Day +98, Lengthening Day 94 (+1.00mm, 63.04mm total)
Last night I had a weird dream, but overall I slept like a log. With 7.1 hours of sleep and 1.8 hours of deep sleep I got a 93% sleep rating. I woke up just in time to do my morning routine and eat breakfast before my first meeting. The call ended early so I started a stretching session right away since I had a short break before my next meeting. After 20 minutes of stretching I ran the ERC on each leg and then I followed-up with some additional stretches. This time the right nail clicked when the ERC hit 0.29mm. I suppose I’m getting X-rays soon so I hope it doesn’t show signs of even more accelerated bone growth. After that I continued working until it was time for PT.
At PT I warmed up on the treadmill. I walked about 0.3 miles in 11 minutes and then went on to do stretches. After that I did some strength training with elastic bands and some balancing exercises. Overall it was a pretty light day. At the end, the PT manually stretched me and could tell that I was noticeably tighter than before. The stretches were a bit painful, but I don’t mind since I need the extra stretching. She also rolled out my quads with the painful rolling pin thing; it was bad enough that I wanted ice packs on my thighs after. After leaving PT I got some food and then went home.
I ate and then worked for the rest of the afternoon. I also reached out to Dr. D’s office regarding the clicking in the nails and it seems like they are also concerned about the risk of premature consolidation. While just a few days ago I was unable to increase my lengthening rate to 1mm, now that I heard the words “premature consolidation” I think I can overpower whatever pain comes my way to make sure that I can keep growing and finishing out these nails.
In the late afternoon I started stretching to get ready for a second lengthening session. This time, on my left leg the nail clicked three times when the ERC hit 0.19mm and a fourth time when the nail hit 0.32mm. On my right leg, the nail clicked two times when I hit 0.29mm. All of this clicking is making me quite nervous. Unless I have extreme nerve pain later tonight I’m definitely doing a third lengthening today. I’m also going to go to the hospital to get X-rays tomorrow. Hopefully nothing has consolidated yet and if it’s close to consolidating I hope increasing to 1mm/day is enough to open the bone gap again. For now I can only take things one step at a time.
In the evening I ate, watched some TV, worked for a bit, did some light stretches, and played some video games. However, I was very distracted the whole time and kept thinking about the clicking feeling in my leg that happens sometimes while the ERC is running. I know it can’t just happen spontaneously and only happens when I’m running the ERC, and that it has no detrimental effect on my leg, but I can’t help but cringe when I think about it due to the unpleasant nature of the sound and the vibrating feeling in my thigh when it happens. It’s also a clear reminder that there are mechanical things implanted inside my legs, which is not something I have felt before this.
Before going to bed I did a full stretching session and ran the ERC on each leg again. This time the left nail did not click at all while I lengthened, but my right nail was a completely different story. It clicked once at 0.16mm on the ERC, then clicked almost continuously from 0.21mm to the end. I counted a total of 16 clicks. It seems like a clear indication to me that the nail is torquing out when trying to lengthen. Could this be an indication that I have gone from no signs of preconsolidated bone to not being able to lengthen anymore in the course of two days? Also the drastic difference between my two legs is concerning as well. There’s some light nerve activity in my lower legs as I write this, but I’m so concerned about premature consolidation that it’s just an afterthought. If it doesn’t get worse I can completely ignore it. There’s not much I can do about any of this in the middle of the night, so for now all I can do is go to sleep.
Surgery Day +99, Lengthening Day 95 (+1.00mm, 64.04mm total)
I fell asleep quickly last night and woke up before my alarm this morning. After I woke up I immediately knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again. I had gotten enough sleep though, so I got up, did my morning routine, then ate breakfast. I wasn’t able to finish my breakfast because I was feeling a little excited and nervous. I haven’t felt this way about LL since just before the surgery. I checked my sleep tracker and I had gotten 7 hours of sleep and 2 hours of deep sleep for a 95% sleep rating. After breakfast I had 30 minutes before my first meeting, so it was perfect timing for a stretching and lengthening session. This time my left leg had zero clicks again, so it seems like that leg is in the clear for now. My right leg clicked 12 times starting from the 0.16mm mark, it wasn’t as consistent as last night, but that’s still a lot of clicks. Hopefully the fact that there’s less clicks means that the nail is still working and that I still have a chance to outpace the bone growth. I felt a little bit of nerve activity in both legs, though I think it was a little worse on the right side.
I stretched a bit more during my call when I wasn’t talking and after the meeting I immediately headed out to the hospital to do a walk-in X-ray. Apparently hospitals are ridiculously busy on weekday mornings. I could barely find a parking spot and had to park far from the elevator. I think my gait is getting better because no one was staring at me when I was walking through the hospital today. Last time there were lots of people staring at me as I walked through the lobby and all the waiting areas on my way to radiology. When I got to the radiology area the line was longer than usual. However, they got through it quickly and I think I may have had a shorter wait because my X-rays were probably relatively quick and simple compared to the imaging needs of some of the other patients. I waited a bit longer for them to burn me a CD with a copy of the X-rays and then headed home. In all it took about two hours.
On the car ride home from the hospital my right leg felt a bit of nerve pain, so it’s not something that has gone away completely. I’m still a bit wary of lengthening 1mm/day, but at this point it seems like I have to if I want to finish lengthening this nail. When I got home I loaded the CD and took screenshots of all the views and sent them to Dr. D’s team. They got back to me and said that the bone formation was not to the extent that I was having premature consolidation and that the nail should still be lengthening. Therefore, I still don’t know what’s going on with the clicking sounds or if the right nail is lengthening slower than the left nail. All the instructions I have at this point are to just keep going at 1mm/day.
I had to call into another meeting, but after that I rushed to the post office. I had already printed an overnight shipping label, so I just needed to get a flat rate envelope to ship the disc out. Dr. D should be able to measure the amount of lengthening on each leg based on the data contained in the CDs. After that I went home and resumed my day. I had more meetings before the end of the day but I tried to stretch whenever I didn’t have to talk during the meetings. After my last meeting it was time for my second lengthening of the day, so I started a timed 30 minute stretching session.
After stretching I ran the ERC on both legs. This time the number of clicks was ridiculous. I got two on my left leg and 48(!) on my right leg. That’s more magnet spins with clicking than without clicking. I don’t know what’s going on, but I reported it to Dr. D’s office. They had the Nuvasive representative reach out to me to ask more specific questions about the clicking. Now I’m getting a new ERC device to rule out the small possibility that the ERC is not working properly. I think everyone is fairly certain that the issue is in the nail though. And it seems likely to me that the torque limiter is preventing the magnet from telescoping the nail or something along those lines. However, based on other patient experiences it seems like it’s possible that I’m still getting part of or all of the 0.33mm per session. So until Dr. D sees the X-ray tomorrow there won’t be any additional information and all I can do is continue lengthening and worrying about preconsolidation. Still, the fact that the doctor’s office and Nuvasive have both been very communicative with me regarding this issue has put me more at ease.
I was somewhat distracted by work in the evening so I didn’t have to think too much about my lengthening issues. I also took a break to cook dinner and watched some TV. About 90 minutes before I was planning to lengthen and go to bed I got super sleepy. I was sitting in bed with my work laptop and I closed my eyes briefly and the next thing I knew I had slept for almost 2 hours. I got up to drink some water and eat a snack, then forced myself to do one more lengthening session. If I wasn’t worried about preconsolidation I would definitely have skipped this session and went back to sleep. Instead I did a full 30 minute stretching session to warm up before running the ERC. This time on my left leg the ERC clicked 24 times pretty randomly throughout the lengthening. On the right leg it clicked 23 times, spread throughout the second half of the lengthening. If there really is preconsolidation (which the X-rays do not appear to show) how it’s affecting the ERC is really weird. I took a video clip of the lengthening, and in the audio I can clearly hear the clicking sound. I plan to send it to Dr. D’s team tomorrow, though I don’t know if it’ll help at all. After that I ran the massage gun on my legs for a bit and then passed out.
Surgery Day +100, Lengthening Day 96 (+1.00mm, 65.04mm total)
I woke up to my alarm this morning feeling quite groggy. My legs were incredibly sore, tight, and generally very tired this morning. Just to straighten them in bed I had to stretch for a while. I got a 99% sleep rating with 8.1 hours of sleep and 1.9 hours of deep sleep thanks to taking a nap last night. I got up slowly and did my morning routine, then ate breakfast. After walking around a bit my legs felt much better. I sat back down in bed and browsed the web for a bit and then started stretching for lengthening. This first lengthening session happened later than I originally planned, so hopefully there will be no impact from condensing my lengthenings today. This time the left nail clicked 6 times toward the end of the session and the right nail clicked 22 times mostly in the second half of the session. I’m still cautiously optimistic that my nails are still lengthening though, especially since the clicking sound is not happening during the entire session.
I can’t believe it’s been 100 days since my surgery. I know it’s just an arbitrary number and humans just like seeing patterns, but it still feels like I’m passing a milestone since I originally expected to be done lengthening by now. Getting to almost 6.5 cm (and possibly more if the X-ray measurements are accurate) is not that bad though. I can almost see the finish line, especially now that I’m going at 1mm/day. It’s the final sprint of the marathon and I hope I didn’t start it too early and can keep pace all the way to the end. The thing about doing 1mm/day is that I have to lengthen right before going to bed and right after getting up, which are the two points in the day that I am the most tired. Lengthening three times a day is also psychologically difficult as well since I’m so used to one or two sessions a day. It feels like I’m pushing my limits even though it has barely been 48 hours since I started the 1mm/day rate. My legs are so sore and tired that it definitely feels like I’m getting the full 1mm/day regardless of the clicking sounds.
Aside from my morning lengthening I also remembered to call the laboratory billing company again. This was the 6th time I called them and this time someone actually picked up after 5 minutes of holding. They confirmed that the bill I received was a duplicate and that I had already paid the original bill, so that matter is resolved. This morning I also sent the video I took last night with the clicking noises to Dr. D’s team, though I don’t know how useful it is since it’s literally just showing exactly what I described with words. After that I was busy with work until it was time for PT.
Today at PT I warmed up on the stationary bike. I felt very sore and didn’t pedal too hard. I only rode 1.21 miles at resistance level 5. Then the PT worked on me with the roller and manual stretches for over 15 minutes. I feel like the amount of time spent on this each session has been increasing as my muscles are getting tighter. After that I did my stretches and regular exercises. I had to do the leg press today, but fortunately did not have to increase the weights. I did 30 reps of 130 lbs with both legs, and 20 reps on 110 lbs on each leg. I could barely do 20 reps on my left leg. In fact, by the end of PT after all the exercises the back of my left knee was hurting a bit when I put weight on it. I stretched it out a little and was able to limp out of PT to my car with my cane. I got some takeout and then went home.
At home after I ate I got busy with work. I had plenty of work to do before my next lengthening session. Over the course of the afternoon I felt a tiny bit of nerve pain in my legs, especially in my right inner ankle, but it was still manageable at this point. It’s the worst when I sit in a chair, but if I’m sitting in bed it’s not as much of a problem. After regular work hours it was time for my second lengthening of the day. I did a full stretching session as usual and then lengthened. This time I had no clicks on the left side, and 13 clicks on the right side during the second half of running the ERC.
After cooking a simple dinner and watching TV while eating I was feeling really tired, but I continued to work for a bit. I planned to go to sleep pretty early tonight, so if I was going to lengthen a third time then it would be a pretty short interval since the afternoon lengthening. I suppose as long as it’s 3 sessions per 24 hour period the total lengthening rate would still be consistent regardless of spacing within the day.
I ended up staying up later than I originally wanted to. Before going to bed I checked the tracking on the X-ray disc that I shipped overnight. It’s still in a local USPS distribution center almost 36 hours after I dropped it off. It was supposed to arrive by 3pm at the doctor’s office today so maybe I can get a refund on the shipping fee. I will definitely use UPS or FedEx next time if I need to ship something important overnight. I also got my stretching and lengthening session in. This time on the left side I got zero clicks and on the right side I got 16 clicks. I’m still not 100% sure what is going on with the nail, but I’m confident the nail is lengthening at least part of the 0.33mm each time because some of the magnet spins are normal and not torquing out. Maybe the problem isn’t the bone, and it’s that my quad and hamstring are too strong. I can blame the PT for that with all my hardcore leg workouts.
Surgery Day +101, Lengthening Day 97 (+1.00mm, 66.04mm total)
This morning I had a very early meeting and when my alarm woke me up I was still feeling very tired and sleepy. I actually dreamed about post-consolidation last night and I don’t remember the exact dream but I must have been frolicking in a field with my functional legs or something because I remember being super happy in the dream. It was probably the best dream I’ve had since surgery. On the sleep tracker I got 5.8 hours of sleep and 1.8 hours of deep sleep for a 86% sleep rating. I forced myself to get up and do my morning routine. My legs were tired as I walked around, but gradually warmed up a little. I ate breakfast as I called into the meeting. The meeting ended early fortunately, so I had a chance to stretch and lengthen before the next meeting. On this lengthening there was one click on my left nail that almost scared me because I wasn’t expecting it since it was on the very last spin. On my right nail I heard and felt 18 clicks, which is more or less “normal” to me now. Like I said, all I can do is hope that there is little to no impact from this on the actual amount lengthened and if there is an impact then hopefully the ERC can be adjusted to ultimately give me the correct lengthening amount.
After lengthening I worked for the whole day, only taking a break for lunch. Since I had no PT today, I also did a few extra stretches during the day, though I did not do a formal stretching session. In the late afternoon it was time for lengthening again. This time I ran the massage gun on my thighs for a bit before stretching. That helps with nerve issues and loosening my muscles up before any exercises. After my stretching session I ran the ERC on each leg and I got no clicks on my left leg and 35 clicks on my right leg. After lengthening I also saw that I had received the new ERC in the mail, so I went to pick that up. That reminded me to check my X-ray disc’s tracking and I saw that it was out for delivery so I guess the doctor’s office should have it soon.
I had a ton of extra work to do tonight so I cooked a simple dinner and ate, and after that it was back to work. At some point I realized that I had forgotten to take my afternoon meds, but it was too late to catch up so I just skipped them. I was also too lazy to go get the package with my ERC, so I’ll do that tomorrow when I get back from PT or something. Later at night I got a bit sleepy and decided to try and get up early the next day to finish my work. I struggled to finish a 20 minute stretching session and then ran the ERC on each leg. On my left leg the nail did not click even once. On my right leg it only clicked once in the first 20 seconds of lengthening, then clicked continuously for the remainder of the session, totalling 34 clicks. After lengthening I changed out of my compression pants into pajamas and went to bed. I figure I can’t wear compression pants every day or maybe the effect will be reduced as my body adapts to it. I was very sleepy at this time and I passed out quickly.
Surgery Day +102, Lengthening Day 98 (+0.99mm, 67.03mm total)
In the morning I was awakened by my alarm which I set very early, but I kept hitting snooze and didn’t get up until I felt much less tired. My legs were pretty much the most stiff that I remember in recent times. I stretched them out in bed for a bit before I could even get up to do my morning routine. I got up and realized that my left shin had some nerve pain. I tried to stretch it away but that only kind of worked, so I just ignored it for a while. I made breakfast and then went back to bed to eat. After taking a quick look at my work inbox I realized I had quite a bit to do, so I tried to finish getting ready as quickly as possible. I ran the massage gun along my legs following what I thought was the sciatic nerve and it actually helped a little with the nerve pain. Next I started a stretching session and then lengthened. On my left leg I had no clicks again. On the right leg I only had 6 clicks, which was the fewest I’ve had in days. Hopefully both legs have been lengthening fairly symmetrically. After lengthening I worked until it was time for PT.
At PT today I warmed up on the bike. I did 1.34 miles at resistance level 5. I had a bit more energy today than I did at my last PT session. After that The PT rolled out my quads and hamstrings and then I did my basic stretches and exercises. I went up in weight again on the leg press, doing 30 reps of 137.5 lbs on both legs and 117.5 lbs on each leg individually. I could do 20 reps pretty easily on my right leg, but I’m definitely pushing the limit on my left leg for 20 reps. I also had to do squats today, though the PT doesn’t expect me to go all the way down. It’s hard to keep balance without moving my knees forward though. I think in the long run I’m going to have to move my knees forward to keep my center of gravity while squatting with the longer thighs. I also had to do planks, holding it for 30 seconds three times. This was harder than I remember, but it has also been quite a while since I’ve been regularly working out. I’m definitely looking forward to a bigger variety of exercises once I can bear weight and my flexibility recovers. I will work hard to recover quickly and get back to normal.
After PT I got some takeout as usual and headed home. I grabbed the ERC from the mailroom on my way up and it came in the same type of suitcase as my current one. I’ll have to figure out some way to keep track of which is which. I had some meetings to attend in the afternoon, so I got busy preparing for those after eating lunch. Around the end of the work day it was time to lengthen again. I got my second ERC out and put it in a different spot so I would remember to use the new one and then started my stretching session. I lengthened with the new ERC and I got zero clicks on my left leg and 18 clicks on the right leg. I feel like the lengthening sound this ERC makes is slightly different from the original one, but both ERCs create a clicking noise in the nail sometimes so it seems like the ERC itself isn’t what’s causing the clicking sound.
After lengthening I made some food and then watched TV for a bit. After that I kept myself busy until pretty late at night at which point it was time to lengthen again. I stretched for a full focused 30 minutes and then ran the new ERC on both legs. Again, there were no clicks on the left side, but I had 12 clicks on the right side. Overall today the right side seems to be distracting better today than it was yesterday. One possibility that the doctor says is that my leg muscles are too strong and the nail is having trouble telescoping against the resistance. My next appointment is in less than two weeks and I think at that point we can finally get accurate measurements. I’m pretty sure that my right leg is going to be shorter than my left leg, but as long as I’m getting a partial lengthening during each session it means that I haven’t consolidated yet and I can continue on my right leg after my left leg finishes. I’m taking quite a bit of ibuprofen right now to inhibit bone growth, as consolidating while both legs are not the same length would be very bad. After lengthening I stretched a bit more and then went to bed.
Surgery Day +103, Lengthening Day 99 (+1.00mm, 68.03mm total)
Today I woke up to my alarm and couldn’t get up at all. I fell asleep for another hour and woke up naturally. Lately I’ve just been so tired from this whole lengthening process. I definitely felt every bit of lengthening pain this morning. It’s a combination of the soreness, tightness, stiffness, random nerve pains, muscles twitching when I try to stretch, and general psychological trauma from running the ERC with all the clicking in the nail. Basically all of it added together makes me chronically tired both physically and mentally and feeling overall stressed. I’m shedding more hair than usual too, but fortunately I don’t have baldness genes so it’s not a big concern for me. I really hope all of this starts to subside once I reach the consolidation phase. Maybe it’ll get half as difficult if my left leg finishes lengthening first and starts consolidating. I know I’m taking a risk lengthening both legs to the max when one leg is likely lengthening slower, but I still think it’s very unlikely that my right leg will preconsolidate before it eventually catches up to the left.
I was one of those people who had worse conditions in my left leg for the first few months after surgery as my right leg is the dominant one. My left leg hurt more after surgery, it wobbled more, it was weaker overall, and both my mild and severe nerve pain were on the left side. I thought that there was no way in the world that at any point my right leg would be the “worse” leg, but here we are today. My right leg is not strictly worse because my left leg is still physically weaker and my left knee hurts sometimes when I bear weight on it, but my right leg is the one that has the clicking nail (therefore likely not lengthening correctly) and it’s the leg that I’m currently feeling random bouts of nerve pain on. So now I 100% believe all the past journals who said their better leg became their worse leg in the middle of lengthening. I will say overall this has been a helluva journey for me with something or another going wrong at pretty much every point during the distraction phase. If I manage to get 8cm on both legs I will definitely be proud of myself for persevering and not letting any of the complications stop me.
After getting up and doing my morning routine, I checked my sleep stats and saw that I got a solid 7.5 hours of sleep and 2 hours of deep sleep for a 99% sleep rating. Given that I slept in a bit that means I must have fallen asleep kind of late last night. I did a full stretching session in preparation for lengthening and then ran the ERC on both legs. No clicks on the left side, but the right nail had 16 clicks. I’m thinking that the ERC should be rotating the magnet in the nail about 60-70 times during a 0.33 mm lengthening session, so if a click means the nail completely failed to telescope I should still be getting 3/4 of the 0.33mm on my right leg with 16 clicks. I’m also not even sure that a click means it’s not lengthening at all, because the magnet could still be extending the nail a little bit before torquing out. Therefore, based on this and the fact that my right leg feels like it’s lengthening at 1mm/day I think I’m still definitely getting a decent amount of lengthening in. If not, then I just hope my right leg hasn’t consolidated on my next set of X-rays in Dr. D’s office and I can keep going on it and catch up with my left leg.
I watched some TV after my lengthening session and eventually logged onto my work laptop to catch up on some of the stuff that I fell behind on during the week. I didn’t manage to get too much work done and went back to watching TV for a while. On my last lengthening I noticed that the new ERC had switched time zones, so it was a little past midnight and I was technically doing my first lengthening of the next day according to the ERC. This would actually cause a problem if I was trying to do my third lengthening before midnight tomorrow. Fortunately I still have the old ERC in case I run into this issue, but I highly doubt any of my third lengthenings of the day will be before midnight anyway. While lengthening I had 18 clicks on the right nail this time. After stretching and lengthening I felt very sleepy and went straight to bed.
Surgery Day +104, Lengthening Day 100 (+1.00mm, 69.03mm total)
This morning I woke up even more sore than yesterday. My legs were super sore and tight and I could barely straighten them in bed. I can’t believe that every morning my legs feel tighter and stiffer than the previous day because the previous day I feel like I’m the most sore, stiff, and tight than I’ve ever been. My legs were also quite a bit swollen. I ended up sleeping a little, but managed to wake up at a reasonable time. I don’t want to mess up my sleep schedule too much on days that I don’t need to get up early because there are more days that I do need to get up early. My sleep rating was 78% with 6.6 hours of sleep and 1 hour of deep sleep. I got up and did my morning routine and ate all my pills. I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast, but I ate a snack so I wouldn’t be taking the pills on an empty stomach. After that it was time to lengthen. I started tracking the time on my watch and stretching. After my stretching session I ran the ERC on my legs and I got 10 clicks on my right leg. I ran the massager on my legs before and after stretching as well and I feel like it helped a bit overall.
I sat in bed watching videos on my laptop and playing with my phone for a bit and then passed out briefly because apparently I was still sleepy. When I got up it was mid afternoon and I hadn’t eaten anything yet today. I got up just to walk around for a bit and made some food for a late lunch. I entertained myself for a bit and then it was already time for my next lengthening. I did a full stretching session and then ran the ERC on each leg. I got 10 clicks again on my right leg, which I feel isn’t all that bad. At this rate, I’m sure as long as the right leg is less than 1cm shorter than the left leg, I shouldn’t have to spend too much extra time to lengthen it to match the left side. I felt a bit uncomfortable in the nerve in my right ankle but running the massage gun on my right leg reduced that feeling after a while.
After lengthening I cooked and ate dinner and then took a hot bath with my legs elevated, hoping that it could help reduce my swelling a bit. After I got out of the bath I did some extra work all the way until almost bedtime so that I could have an easier time next week. I did my final lengthening of the day right after midnight since my afternoon lengthening is my final lengthening of each day according to the ERC (so I can’t do another one until after midnight.) This time I heard and felt 38 clicks in my right nail. I noticed that some clicks were lounder and vibrated harder than other clicks, so I wonder if that supports my theory that there could be partial lengthening occurring even when the magnet torques out. I guess I’ll find out when I get my next X-rays. It was time to go to sleep since I had to get up early for work tomorrow. I lay in bed running the massage gun on my legs and eventually passed out.
Surgery Day +105, Lengthening Day 101 (+1.00mm, 70.03mm total)
This morning I woke to my alarm going off but I couldn’t get up because I was too tired yet again. My legs felt as heavy as lead and super swollen. After a couple of snoozes I managed to get up, but it wasn’t very early in the morning anymore. I think that both the scheduling of lengthening 3 times a day and the tiredness it causes is making it difficult for me to sleep. My tracker showed a 72% sleep rating with 6.3 hours of sleep and 0.8 hours of deep sleep. In the last five days I’ve gotten one day of good sleep and four days of bad sleep. Still, I don’t really have trouble falling asleep and when I’m asleep I can stay asleep, so my sleep is still much better than early on in the lengthening process. I remember having a dream that I was at a beach park with friends and I was surfing. I don’t even know how to surf, but someday when my legs are working again I think I’d like to learn. I got up and did my morning routine, but it was still a little too early for my morning pills. I worked for a bit and then got ready for a stretching and lengthening session.
After my pre-lengthening workout I ran the ERC on both legs. On my right nail I got 38 clicks again. This time they weren’t concentrated in the second half though. They were sporadically spread throughout the lengthening and started right from the beginning when I hit the run button on the ERC. This right nail is so weird. After lengthening I had a lot of work to do. Of course my right shin started getting 4/10 nerve pain which was very annoying, but running the massage gun for 5 minutes on each leg made it go away mostly. I continued to work all day, only taking a break for lunch, where I walked around and stretched as well. I’m almost fully caught up on work, which is good since I’ll have less stress from adhering to a very difficult lengthening schedule.
In the late afternoon it was time for lengthening again. Lately, every time I need to get ready for lengthening I feel like it comes too soon. At the start of each new lengthening session I feel like I haven’t recovered from all the prior lengthening sessions yet. I stretched for a while and then ran the ERC. On my left leg I had one loud click right at the end that surprised me again. On my right leg I had 16 clicks, which was a bit less than average. After lengthening I stretched some more and then sat down to finish work for the day. While sitting in place I had nerve pain on my right shin again. I think it’s getting worse, but the massage gun is still working for now. After less than an hour I signed off work and changed into my LL video clothes. My legs are hella stiff and tight right now, so I feel like my gait is going to be terrible, but we’ll see what it looks like on video.
I think my gait is a little worse now than it was when I was at 6cm. My flexibility is definitely much worse, especially in the quads. I can’t bend my knees as much, to the point where it’s actually limiting my range of motion when I walk. I feel quite stiff when I walk and I’m getting a little bit of balance issues as if I’m walking on stilts. However, I think that has more to do with my current flexibility at 7cm than the amount lengthened itself. My hip flexibility is also a bit worse as well; as you can see I can’t even lift my leg up as high as the last video. I think at this rate I’m going to have my worst possible gait right when I reach 8cm. I might have been able to maintain my gait and flexibility if I was still going at 0.5-0.66mm/day, but not at the current rate. However, I think this is actually better in the long run because I’m hoping to see big improvements quickly after I finish lengthening, just like the two times I took lengthening breaks around 5cm. Of course stopping at 5cm and 8cm are very different beasts so I can’t necessarily take the results of one and extrapolate it out to the other. Hopefully my PT sessions over the next two weeks can be focused on flexibility rather than strength. There’s plenty of time to regain muscle strength after I finish lengthening.
After recording, editing, and uploading the video, I’m going to post this update to my journal. Afterwards I’ll make dinner and then relax for a bit in the evening. I want to go to bed early but I also need to wait until midnight to do my last lengthening so I guess it won’t happen. Maybe I should look into taking naps during the day. I’m on the final centimeter, boys! And I think I can make it to the end and get the full value out of the nail. I just need to last 10 more days in my current condition (though that’s easier said than done.) I will likely need to lengthen more than 80mm on the ERC on my right leg to get to 8cm, but it should be close when my left leg hits 8cm. But I’ll take it one step at a time as I’ve been doing for nearly four months.
Almost there my friend!! Nice to see your almost at the summit 😁
Surgery Day +106, Lengthening Day 102 (+1.00mm, 71.03mm total)
I woke naturally this morning right before my alarm. My legs felt like lead but I forced myself to stretch a bit in bed and then got up for my morning routine. My sleep data showed a 91% sleep rating with 6.9 hours asleep and 1.8 hours of deep sleep. I started a full stretching session to get my first lengthening in early in the morning. While running the ERC I had no clicks on my left leg and 28 clicks spread out through the lengthening on my right leg. After lengthening I realized I was hungry to the point where my stomach was growling. I got up and prepared some snacks for breakfast. Afterwards I was busy with work until it was time for PT.
PT was a bit earlier in the day today, and after I arrived I did 1.4 miles on the stationary bike at resistance level 5, which was decent given the soreness of my legs. I definitely feel like my legs get sore much more quickly now and PT is very tiring regardless of what kind of exercise they make me do. Today I did mostly resistance band training instead of using weights, which was a bit easier. I’m glad I didn’t have to do the leg press. After PT I got my usual takeout and went home to eat and work. I continued to work until late afternoon, at which point it was time for lengthening again. After my stretching session I ran the ERC with 3 clicks on my left nail and 16 clicks on my right nail. I also felt some nerve activity on my right leg during lengthening, but otherwise pretty uneventful overall.
After lengthening I heated up leftovers from yesterday for dinner and watched TV while I ate, then spent some time reading. I haven’t read anything offline in a while, but I figured now is as good of a time as any to start. I had consumed my fair share of mindless entertainment early on in the LL process when I really couldn’t focus on other things, but now even with my tight and sore legs I don’t really have an excuse to just watch random stuff and wait for time to pass. I could be more productive. I managed to focus for a couple of hours until it was time for my final lengthening of the day. After stretching, this time while running the ERC I got no clicks on the left side and 22 on the right side. After lengthening I stretched a little more and then I realized I felt very sleepy so I went to bed.
Surgery Day +107, Lengthening Day 103 (+1.00mm, 72.03mm total)
I woke up a few times in the middle of the night with incredibly tight and stiff legs. In some ways it feels like the early distraction phase all over again. I also had some weird dreams but I don’t remember the details. I forgot to turn off my activity tracker from my lengthening session last night so I don’t have any sleep data. I was probably asleep for about 6.5-7 hours though. I stretched a bit in bed and then forced myself to get up to start the day since I needed to lengthen soon. I ran the massage gun on my quads since they were so tight then got out of bed for my morning routine. After breakfast I started my pre-lengthening workout. I stretched for a solid 30 minutes and then ran the ERC on each leg. This time I had one click on the left side and 22 on the right side. After lengthening I worked until it was time to head to PT.
At PT I was a little more tired than yesterday. I did 1.32 miles on the bike at level 5. Then the PT rolled out my quads and hamstrings for quite a while. After doing all the laying and standing stretches I then had to do the leg press. I did the same weight and reps as the last time and it was still quite difficult for my left leg. After that I did some more exercises with resistance bands and then left PT feeling very tired. As I was walking through the strip mall to get some lunch, my left leg started hurting when I put weight on it. The PTs were probably pushing me too hard. Fortunately I was walking with my cane so it wasn’t very risky and I kept going. I got my food and went home and worked for the rest of the afternoon.
I lost track of time and lengthened pretty late in the afternoon, almost in the evening. I rushed through my stretches, though it’s hard to rush through something that’s timed. Afterwards while running the ERC I got 24 ticks on the right side. I also counted the total ERC magnet spinning sounds on the left side, which seems to be around 70. So I would estimate that I’ve actually lost less than 1/3 of the distraction on my right leg since the clicking sounds started around 64mm, maybe even less if some of the clicks are partially or fully increasing the telescoping of the nail. If it continues at this rate to 80mm and my estimation is correct, I should be done with my left leg, and will need to do one additional week of lengthening at 1mm/day (on the ERC) to finish my right leg, which would be about 5mm behind. Now that I’m getting closer I wonder if the nail will click continuously after it’s done lengthening. My understanding is that the nail lengthens with a screw-like mechanism which extends one side of the nail when the magnet inside rotates. If the nail reaches 8cm there shouldn’t be any more thread to lengthening along any further, so no amount of torque that the ERC produces could extend the nail. Since the nail isn’t extending, I would imagine that running the ERC and rotating the magnet would just cause the nail to click continuously while not lengthening.
After lengthening I stayed busy for the rest of the evening. I got a chance to talk to my parents for a bit and they obviously could not tell that there was anything wrong with me over video chat since they can only see my face. I suppose I have been hiding my suffering well, hah. I stayed up pretty late and did my last lengthening session quite late as well. While running the ERC I got 20 clicks on the right side. I finished up with some extra stretching, ate a snack and then went to bed very tired. I ran the massage gun on my legs until I fell asleep.
Surgery Day +108, Lengthening Day 104 (+1.00mm, 73.03mm total)
This morning I woke up when my alarm went off but I was very tired and hit snooze. I woke up 45 minutes later and suddenly remembered that I hadn’t signed into work yet. I have been a bit behind on sleep over the last few days so the extra bit of sleep was probably worth it. With 7.6 hours of sleep and 1.8 hours of deep sleep I got a 98% sleep rating. I hurriedly signed onto my work computer and then got up to do my morning routine. After eating a snack for breakfast I sat back in bed to check my emails. Fortunately there was nothing urgent this morning. My right leg randomly started having 3-4/10 persistent nerve pain. I ran the massage gun on my hamstrings and calves for a while and it went away. Afterwards I started a stretching session and then lengthened. I got one click on the left side and 30 on the right side. After lengthening I ran the massage gun on my legs for 15 minutes and I felt pretty comfortable overall at that point. I strongly recommend the massage gun for internal femurs!
I had a lot of work to catch up on, so I stayed busy for the rest of the day, only taking a quick break for lunch. I also randomly confirmed with Dr. D’s team that the nail does indeed click continuously once you hit the max so it looks like I guessed correctly. Depending on how much of the 4mm I managed to contract earlier in the distraction phase, I could be done on the left side as soon as the end of the weekend, and now I know what to look out for! In the early evening, I did a second stretching and lengthening session. This time I got 8 clicks on my left side, all at the end. Could I be done?!? Probably not, but if I run it tonight and it’s 70 clicks in a row, then I just might be. On the right side I got 34 clicks, but that side is definitely not done. I measured my height on the wall and I was almost 1cm higher on both legs than I was when I measured at 64mm lengthened on the ERC. It makes sense since my left nail has been lengthening fine without many clicks. I guess I’m just unsure of everything right now, and I’m really looking forward to getting X-rays that can be measured six days from now. After lengthening I cooked dinner and ate while watching TV as usual.
In the evening I kept busy until it was time to lengthen again. I did a full stretching session and then lengthened. I was very curious if my left nail would click continuously this time, but it did not. The left nail lengthened normally with just two clicks and the right nail had 38 clicks. Unfortunately the right side seems to be trending toward more clicks over the last few days. I suppose the good thing about the left side still lengthening is that I’m still getting a little more height. At this point I’m already pretty happy with my current height, but I’ll take the extra few mm since it really won’t make much of a difference at this point. After lengthening I ran the massage gun on my legs for a while and then passed out.
Surgery Day +109, Lengthening Day 105 (+1.00mm, 74.03mm total)
This morning I woke up just before my alarm and managed to get out of bed and start my day. I got 7.3 hours of sleep and 2 hours of deep sleep for a 98% sleep rating, so that’s probably why I felt so refreshed. I did my morning routine and took my pills, then started working. I was focused and got through a lot of stuff in one hour and remembered that I had to lengthen. Although I was mentally refreshed, physically I was still sore and stiff. I forced myself to do a stretching session, and noticed my flexibility being clearly worse than before. I stretched for an efficient 20 minutes and then ran the ERC on each leg. I got 4 clicks on the left side and 34 on the right side. After lengthening I went back to work until PT time.
At PT I walked on the treadmill for 10 minutes as a warmup, doing just under 0.25mi (400m) at a very slow pace. I can’t walk as well as I could at 5cm because my legs are much tighter now and I don’t have as good of a range of motion for walking. Fortunately I didn’t have any left knee pain after the treadmill, and the PT worked on me for a bit after that, and then I stretched and did a bunch of strength training exercises. Toward the end of the session she asked if I had enough energy to do the leg press today and I was like heck no (when do I ever have enough energy for that) so she had me do a couple of core exercises instead and then I left. I got my usual takeout and then went home.
It was looking to be a pretty busy afternoon, so I ate lunch quickly and then worked until it was almost dark. At this point I had taken my afternoon meds already and I was ready to lengthen. I started stretching and after hitting all the important muscle groups I ran the ERC on each leg. This time on the left side I had 16 clicks and on the left side I had 53 clicks, which is a new record. My right nail really seems to be having trouble lengthening. I think if it continues like this, I may have to ask Dr. D if I can do an extra long lengthening session in the office to ensure the nail is working. I’m hoping whatever my X-rays show at the next visit renders this point moot, but I still have a long 6 days of lengthening before my next office visit.
After lengthening I went out grocery shopping. I got a lot of food since I want to minimize the number of times that I have to go outside. At the store no one stared at me, but I personally think that I was walking a little funny. I’m just glad the grocery cart can act as a walker and support a lot of my weight. Right when I got to the checkout though, my right leg started experiencing 3/10 persistent nerve pain inside the calf. I ignored it figuring I could deal with it when I got back to my car, but it was a reminder that I’m not even close to recovered yet even if I can go grocery shopping by myself like a “normal” person. When I got to my car and put all my groceries in the trunk, I sat down in the driver’s seat and did a couple of stretches which helped relieve the pain a little. Then I thought since the massage gun helps with nerve pain, what if I rub the area on my inner thigh that’s connected to the nerve pain? Boy was that a bad idea. Stroking that area just once with my thumb caused an 8/10 spike in the nerve pain in my calf that made me shout out. Fortunately the car door was closed so I’m sure no one in the parking lot heard. I stretched my right leg again and quickly drove home so I could use the massage gun to deal with the pain. It looks like I’m going to have to carry the massage gun with me wherever I go until I fully heal.
When I got home the first thing I did after unloading all the groceries was to sit down in bed and run the massage gun on my legs. It worked, though when I got to that spot on my thigh connected to the nerve in my lower leg I noticed that it was actually very sensitive. I couldn’t use any pressure with the massage gun or it would hurt (regular pain just under the skin, not cause nerve pain.) Overall it was still very helpful to massage my legs. Once the nerve pain subsided I made and ate dinner, then played some games for a while until it was nearly bedtime and time for stretching and lengthening. On the final lengthening of the day I got 9 clicks on the left side and 45 clicks on the right side. The right nail definitely seems to be fighting an uphill battle trying to lengthen. If each click represents zero lengthening, then today I would have lengthened only 0.37mm out of 1mm on the ERC on my right leg. The left leg should still be close to what the ERC reads though. I’m really looking forward to being done with the distraction phase! A few days is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but when my legs are more tight and sore every day, lengthening for “just a few more days” feels like a lot. I ran the massage gun on my legs before going to sleep.
Surgery Day +110, Lengthening Day 106 (+1.00mm, 75.03mm total)
This morning I woke up naturally at dawn and got up to use the restroom. It was too early for my pills so I went back to bed and passed out. I didn’t wake up again until late in the morning. I got 6.7 hours of sleep out of 7.6 hours in bed, with 1.8 hours of sleep for a 91% sleep rating. It turns out that I went to sleep pretty late last night reading about useless stuff on the internet. I got up and took my morning pills and then sat in bed replying to messages on my phone before starting a stretching session for lengthening. It was getting quite late, nearly 12 hours since my last lengthening. I need to get better at immediately going to sleep after my 3rd lengthening of each day, so I can do my first lengthening of the next day around 8 hours later. I’m not sure I can complete three lengthenings today, but I’ll try for the sake of my right leg. For the first lengthening I got 2 clicks on the left side and 42 clicks on the right side. At this rate, it’s going to take quite a bit longer to finish my right leg if each click represents no telescoping at all. I’m getting more anxious for the results of my next X-ray.
After my lengthening session I stretched a little bit more and then kept busy for the afternoon. I also walked around a little and did another stretching session in the early afternoon since I would have to lengthen twice in the 12 hours after my first lengthening of the day. In the early evening I did my second session. This time I got 11 clicks on the left side and 58 on the right side. That’s yet another new record for the right side, and the nail was basically clicking almost the entire time I was lengthening it. I felt the nerve in my left shin pulsating for five minutes after lengthening, though it just felt a bit weird and didn’t hurt at all. Still, a normal person isn’t going to feel these things in their legs so it’s noteworthy. After lengthening I continued to stretch for a few more minutes and then I went downstairs to get my packages.
I had ordered a new set of bathing equipment. I have only showered in the last few weeks and haven’t taken any hot baths because the original bath mattress I got a month or two ago had become moldy. There is no way I could have cleaned it frequently in my current condition but it’s still kind of my own fault, but I took the loss and threw it away. The new set I got was an inflatable rubber ring with good reviews on it’s sturdiness that I can sit on. My glutes are non-existent so it still hurts to sit on the bare floor of the bathtub for an extended period. I also got a non-cloth bath pillow that should dry off or can be wiped off easily after it gets wet. I set everything up and then took a hot bath. Everything worked well and I was able to relax for a while in the tub feeling much less strain on my legs.
After I got out of the tub I applied the scar removal cream again. The rash on my left leg from the last time I used it had gone away. I was more careful this time and made sure not to get it on my skin outside of the scars. Afterwards I stayed busy until it was nearly bedtime. I did a stretching session and lengthened again. This time my left nail didn’t click at all and the right nail clicked 35 times, which is pretty much par for the course. It was pretty late so I passed out quickly.
Surgery Day +111, Lengthening Day 107 (+1.00mm, 76.03mm total)
Last night I dreamt about seeing people after LL and in my dream the reactions were mixed. Some immediately called me out on it and others were quiet but suspicious. I’m not sure how things will be in the future, but I will have to see family and friends at some point going forward. I forgot to end my exercise tracking last night, so I didn’t have any sleep data again. I would estimate that I got around 7 hours of sleep though. My legs felt a little tired this morning but not nearly as bad as the last few days. I’m not sure if it’s actually getting better or if I just got used to this level of tightness and stiffness in the mornings. I stretched a little in bed and then got up quickly to start my morning routine. After that I started a full stretching session right away to get my first lengthening in as early in the morning as possible. While running the ERC on my legs this time my left leg I got two clicks and on my right leg “only” 23 clicks, which is the least I’ve gotten in one session since four days ago. Hopefully that means going forward my right leg can lengthen at a faster rate than in the last three days.
After lengthening I stayed busy until the early afternoon, at which time I ate a late lunch. I also did some light stretching after lunch. I continued staying busy in the afternoon, including doing one thing related to LL: my first X-ray at the local hospital triggered an automatic subrogation inquiry from lawyers representing my insurance company. It was a pretty big law firm and this procedure seems very standardized. I was able to log onto their website and fill in a form including the fact that the injury (if you can call it that) that I got the X-ray for was not caused by a third party. Hopefully that’s the end of that.
I experienced some very minor random nerve pain in my left shin sporadically in the afternoon, literally 1/10 pain. I just ignored it since it wasn’t even worth running the massage gun for. However, I also had some pain in my left knee, probably my current lengthening rate. It triggers whenever I try to walk with proper gait and bend my knee more than usual. I think the pain is actually in the joint connecting my quads to my knee. The massage gun helps a little with it, but only temporarily. If I start walking and raising my knee again it still triggers the pain. Hopefully this is something that goes away as I regain flexibility after the distraction phase.
In the late afternoon I was ready for my second lengthening session. I did a full stretching workout and then ran the ERC. My left nail had 6 clicks and my right nail had 33. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the left nail is still not done lengthening. For all I know the 4mm that I shortened earlier in the distraction phase actually shortened the nail by a full 4mm and I’m not even going to be done in time for my next visit to the doctor’s office. I’m certainly psychologically prepared to go for another 4-5 days on my left leg, even if I’m secretly hoping to be done in the next day or two. However, I’m also slightly worried that my left leg isn’t quite at the ERC reading due to soft tissue resistance, so I’m really not sure when it’ll be done.
After lengthening I cooked and ate dinner. Then I reviewed my last few days of LL notes and decided to post an update on the forum. Although I haven’t hit 80mm yet, I figured I would make an update now and another one next weekend after I get X-rays and hopefully gain more information about how close I really am to being done. There is no walking video because my gait really hasn’t changed all that much. It’s probably a little worse, and a little stiffer. I’ll definitely record a video of some sort for the update next weekend though. I’m going to spend the rest of the evening quietly, maybe try to read for a bit and get one more lengthening in tonight before going to bed early.
Thanks for the update, BTM! Almost there 👍. Would be curious to hear about how your new height feels and whether anyone has noticed; sounds like these last days of your journey have been a LOT better than before - glad to hear it!
Quote from: L8GrowthSpurt on March 08, 2021, 03:12:32 AMThanks for the update, BTM! Almost there. Would be curious to hear about how your new height feels and whether anyone has noticed; sounds like these last days of your journey have been a LOT better than before - glad to hear it!
I haven't seen anyone that knows me very well from before, so I haven't gotten any reactions yet. I'll definitely write about any reactions I get in the future. I didn't tell anyone about it and I have a decent number of good friends that I haven't seen in almost a year, so I'm sure I'll get some interesting reactions. Like I said, I'm trying to get more muscular as well, so I can play it off as having worked out a lot during the pandemic.
As for my personal perspective, I can definitely feel the new height and I really started feeling it after 5cm. It's mostly in the small things from day to day at home, like in the kitchen I'll feel a lot taller because all the appliances seem lower than what I'm used to. All the cabinets, tables, counters, shelves, and even my bed feel much lower than they used to. The only person I've been able to compare my height to is Dr. D and I went from shorter than him to taller than him, so I can definitely imagine how drastic the difference will be when I see my friends.
Quote from: BelowTheMean on March 08, 2021, 08:30:42 PMI haven't seen anyone that knows me very well from before, so I haven't gotten any reactions yet. I'll definitely write about any reactions I get in the future. I didn't tell anyone about it and I have a decent number of good friends that I haven't seen in almost a year, so I'm sure I'll get some interesting reactions. Like I said, I'm trying to get more muscular as well, so I can play it off as having worked out a lot during the pandemic.
As for my personal perspective, I can definitely feel the new height and I really started feeling it after 5cm. It's mostly in the small things from day to day at home, like in the kitchen I'll feel a lot taller because all the appliances seem lower than what I'm used to. All the cabinets, tables, counters, shelves, and even my bed feel much lower than they used to. The only person I've been able to compare my height to is Dr. D and I went from shorter than him to taller than him, so I can definitely imagine how drastic the difference will be when I see my friends.
Well done mate, almost at the finish line!
Interesting take on comparing your height to Dr D haha. How tall would you say he is?
Quote from: RB on March 09, 2021, 08:25:31 AMWell done mate, almost at the finish line!
Interesting take on comparing your height to Dr D haha. How tall would you say he is?
Probably around 173-174cm.
Surgery Day +112, Lengthening Day 108 (+1.00mm, 77.03mm total)
Last night I managed to be productive for a few hours, then stretched and lengthened right before going to bed. While lengthening, I got 4 clicks on my left nail and 24 clicks on my right nail. As usual I used the massage gun on my legs for a while and then passed out. I slept a bit worse than usual, waking up a few times before dawn and falling back asleep immediately. The sleep tracker showed a 97% sleep rating though, with 7.4 hours of sleep and 2.2 hours of deep sleep.
In the morning I got up when my alarm went off and immediately started my morning routine. I had to sign onto work and respond to an urgent email, but after that I started stretching so I could do a lengthening session. This time my nails flipped on the click count. I got 15 on the left side and only 11 on the right side. I guess I’ll never understand how the clicking works, but I still hope that my left side finishes before I see the doctor so I can get X-rays with a completed nail. After lengthening I ate some snacks for breakfast and worked until it was time to leave for PT.
Today at PT I warmed up on the treadmill, walking about 0.25 miles in 10 minutes at 1.5mph. My gait started out pretty bad, but after a few minutes I was actually able to improve my gait a little and get back to walking with a decent gait. I guess I don’t walk for a long enough duration at home to ever reach this point, so I will need to walk outside or on a treadmill to train my gait once I finish the distraction phase. After my warmup I did my stretches, in the middle of which my right leg started having some nerve pain. I just ignored it, and afterwards the PT had me do the cat and camel stretch on a yoga mat, and interestingly when I did that exercise it actually stopped the nerve pain. I had previously done this exercise in order to stretch my sciatic nerve so I can see why it would help. I also did some other hip exercises on the yoga mat and then the PT had me do some more core exercises. Finally she wanted me to do some partial body weight squats and lunges. On the lunges, when my left leg was bending, I had quite a bit of muscle pain from the stretching, so I was not able to work that side very well. The PT says it should get better quickly after I’m done distracting and my muscle fibers are able to stretch a bit more. Finally, we took measurements to send to the doctor. My knee bend was still over 120 degrees and almost as high as before, which I was surprised by. However, my leg lift (hip flexibility) was down to 80 degrees and it was over 110 degrees when I was at 5cm. My hamstrings still seem to be my tightest muscle, and I think I’ll have to continue stretching those long past the end of the distraction phase.
After PT I had lunch and then continued to work into the afternoon. I wasn’t paying attention to the time but after signing off work I was a bit overdue to lengthen again. I can’t wait until I’m no longer on the three lengthenings a day schedule, it feels like so much work right now. As usual I did a 30 minute stretching session and then ran the ERC. On my left leg the nail only clicked once this time, but I got 44 clicks on the right side. After lengthening I made some food and ate. Then I stayed busy until late at night when it was time to lengthen again. I ran the massage gun on my legs because my legs were pretty stiff, and then stretched and ran the ERC. I got no clicks on the left side and 28 on the right side. Also, for about five minutes after lengthening I felt some nerve activity in my left shin, though like last time it was not painful at all. Note that I had taken my last Gabapentin pill in the morning and I am not taking that anymore. I did some extra stretches afterwards, then ran the massage gun on my legs for a bit and went to sleep.
Surgery Day +113, Lengthening Day 109 (+1.00mm, 78.03mm total)
I woke up many times after dawn this morning and I was unable to fall back asleep continuously. I also had some crazy dreams, but I don’t remember the exact details of any, except for one of the dreams which was literally of people arguing on the LL forum about whether sex during the distraction phase was safe. Yes, I know that’s a weird dream. I got up about 30 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off and got ready for the morning. My sleep tracker showed a terrible 77% rating with 5.6 hours of sleep and 1.2 hours of deep sleep. I’m not sure if the lack of sleep was because I’m flying to Vegas soon for what is possibly my last post-op visit and my mind was racing a little due to the excitement, or if my legs were stiffer than usual last night and this morning making it harder to sleep. It was probably a combination of the two.
Even though I had gotten up pretty early, time flew by quickly and more than 8 hours had elapsed since my last lengthening the previous night, so I started a stretching session. After stretching I ran the ERC on both legs as usual and this time my click count was zero on the left side and 11 on the right side, so quite low. I suppose there are still no signs that I’m near 8cm, but I suppose there wouldn’t really be any sign until I actually hit 8cm. Regardless, I’m hoping that the X-rays will provide all the answers I seek soon. I continued to stretch for a little bit after lengthening and then made some food and focused on work for the rest of the day.
In the late afternoon it was time for another lengthening session and I started stretching again. Stretching has been much harder for me lately than it was just a week or two ago. It’s almost like I can feel the toll of every additional mm past 6.5cm. I think the recovery time for 6.5cm is a bit more than 5cm, but the recovery time for 8cm will be much more than that of 6.5cm. Still, based on my perception of my new height from a purely visual standpoint, so far it’s been worth it (with the understanding that I’ll eventually recover) but I can’t definitively say that it’s worth it until I recover to a point that I’m happy with, or at least to a point where I’m certain that I will recover to the point that I’m happy. Although I struggled with every stretch, I did finish all of the usual ones and started running the ERC. This time there were no clicks on the left side and 28 clicks on the right side. I’m kind of surprised that the left side is still going, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised since that’s what it’s supposed to do.
In the evening I cooked and ate dinner, did some chores, then took a hot bath to hopefully minimize any inflammation on the day before my flight to Las Vegas. I don’t know how well it worked for that, but my right leg had some nerve pain around the ankle area, which the massage gun was only able to partially relieve. It was a good reminder that the hard part isn’t over yet, no matter how close I am. Later at night I did one last stretching and lengthening session for the day. This time I had no clicks on the left side (zero all day) and 31 on the right side. My right ankle was still experiencing a bit of sporadic nerve pain through the stretching and lengthening. After lengthening I went to bed.
Although I am currently very close to finishing (and I should at least be done with my left leg by the time you’re reading this) in real time it still feels like a drag. Every time the ERC lengthens without a hitch I’m both happy that I’m still getting a little taller, and a little upset that the nail still hasn’t maxed out yet. At this point I feel like it doesn’t really matter how much more I lengthen or don’t lengthen, but once I stop I anticipate that my legs muscles will finally start loosening again. I really just want to be done, though I think if I wasn’t going to the doctor’s office for X-rays soon, then I probably wouldn’t feel as rushed. At this point, slowing down a little probably wouldn’t extend things out too long on the left side. I do want to figure out what’s going on with the right side ASAP though.
Surgery Day +114, Lengthening Day 110 (+0.33mm, 78.36mm total)
This morning I woke up to my alarm, hit snooze twice, then turned off the alarm and immediately proceeded to pass out for another 30 minutes. Last night I really slept like a log. I got a 100% sleep rating with 8.3 hours of sleep and 2.8 hours of deep sleep. I had many vivid dreams, but the one I remember with the most clarity was being in a reality dating show where a bunch of men and women were living in what I believe was a big log cabin. I had my new height, but my legs were fully recovered. My subconscious must have been feeling very confident because in my dream I picked out the hottest girl in the group and went after her, and somehow succeeded. Honestly, it made me feel pretty good. I finally got out of bed feeling groggy from all the sleep, and I took my Xarelto. My legs were so stiff that I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to be able to do three lengthening sessions today. At least my right ankle nerve pain was completely gone. At this point how many more sessions I get before going to the doctor’s office probably doesn’t matter that much.
I signed into work and replied to a few emails, then I figured I had enough energy to start stretching. I did a full 30 minute stretching session, though I felt really tired the whole time. I ran the ERC on both legs and this time I got 22 clicks on the right side and none on the left side. After lengthening I made a big snack for breakfast and then continued to work until it was time for PT.
At PT I did a very lazy 1.15 miles at resistance level 4. The name of the game today is conserving energy, because I would need to take a ton of steps for my trip so I don’t want to wear out my legs before I even head out. Fortunately the focus of PT was balance-type exercises today, though even so I was quite tired of doing these after 30 minutes and I actually didn’t mind doing the leg press afterwards since I would be sitting down. However, the PT raised the weight to 145 lbs for both legs, which I could still do 30 reps fairly easily. She also wanted me to do 20 reps of 125 lbs on each individual leg. It wasn’t too hard on my right leg, but I could barely do it on my left leg, and this is with the seat dialed back because I don’t have enough knee flexibility to get the full range of motion. After my exercises, the PT rolled out only my quads and not even my hamstrings! Definitely don’t feel like I got my money’s worth today.
After PT I went to run some errands before my trip. While I was leaving the bank one funny thing I noticed was the height meter on the door (I guess for bank robbers) was off. I was closer to the 6’ mark than the 5’9” mark on there so if that bank were to ever get robbed they would be overestimating the height of the bad guy. After that I drove over to the hair salon to get a haircut and apparently my stylist had already forgotten that I had a “ski accident” even though I told him on my last visit weeks ago. He still noticed the very obvious issue with my gait though, and again asked me what happened. My gait is definitely worse than it was at the 5-6cm range. This also goes to show that most people really don’t pay that much attention to your personal matters. I guess I haven’t met any friends yet so I don’t yet know how someone who knows me well will react.
After the haircut I went home and ate some snacks for lunch and then packed and it was pretty much time to head to the airport already. I really wasn’t in the mood to do another lengthening today, my legs were simply too tired already. I also wasn’t in the mood to carry the ERC to the airport and check it in either. I could just ship it back at the FedEx office next to my PT clinic. Also, with Stryde recalled I can’t imagine Nuvasive currently has a shortage of ERCs in stock. As rideshares were ridiculously expensive during rush hour I decided to take public transportation to the airport, which turned out to be a terrible idea. I walked outside with my cane and by the time I got to the subway station and went down two flights of stairs I was already a little tired. However, I at least got a free ride on the subway because the attendant randomly swiped me into the turnstile while I was replying to a text from a friend. She must have thought that the poor cripple was struggling to pay for his subway fare. The ride was pretty rough and my legs were even more tired by the time I got to the airport and I hadn’t even boarded the flight yet! I ate a big dinner at the airport since I knew I wouldn’t get to the hotel until very late.
The flight itself was okay. I was quite uncomfortable the whole time, but I would say at least I didn't have any severe pain for the first half of the flight. I was very stiff though, and constantly tried to straight out my legs in the seat to help with that. By the end of the flight I had some nerve pain inside my right calf. When I got off the plane I realized that I was not able to walk very quickly anymore. I hobbled over to the rental car shuttle bus at about 0.5 mph with everyone staring at me. Fortunately the line for the shuttle bus was short this time, and I made it to the rental car center fairly quickly. However, I was still so tired I went straight to the hotel after picking up my rental car without even stopping for food.
I checked into the hotel and since I was walking with a cane, they upgraded me to a suite on the first floor (well I also have the highest status with this chain so that was probably the real reason.) As soon as I got into the room I prepared to go to sleep. However, I ended up watching Netflix on my phone for about 30 minutes while running the massage gun on my right leg, which was still suffering from nerve pain that started on the flight. This time it didn’t help much with the nerve pain, but I think it still felt better than if I did nothing. I totaled 8000 steps today, which is a threshold I’ve only passed on two other days since surgery. Although my legs were in pain, I was eventually able to drift off to sleep.
Surgery Day +115, Lengthening Day 111 (+0.33mm, 78.69mm total)
I woke up at dawn, about 90 minutes before my alarm time and I couldn’t fall back asleep. I only had a 62% sleep rating with 4.9 hours of sleep and 0.7 hours of deep sleep. I noticed immediately that the nerve pain from the night before was gone, but when I got out of bed my legs were still incredibly stiff. It was a little less painful to walk than yesterday, but I was still walking very slowly. After my morning routine I got back in bed and ran the massage gun on my legs while watching Netflix. The massage effect only helped a little. Eventually my alarm went off, so I got dressed and packed and went to the lobby to eat the hotel’s free breakfast. I also realized that I forgot to pack my meds for the trip, but the only important one is Xarelto. After breakfast I immediately checked out and drove over to the doctor’s office.
I arrived at the doctor’s office at the exact time for my appointment. I got my weight and height measured and of course grew on both measurements. My height on the stadiometer was only 176cm, but I have really bad APT right now. I feel like I have at least 1cm worth of additional height locked into that issue. I did X-rays like normal, though this time I wasn’t able to stretch out my hip adductors enough to take the lateral views, so we had to improvise. After X-rays I waited for a bit in an exam room for the doctor to see me. Apparently, with all our discussion of the major clicking activity in my nails when running the ERC over the last few weeks, Dr. D was very concerned about preconsolidation. However, the X-rays turned out perfectly fine. The full leg X-ray showed an increase in height almost exactly matching the ERC readout on both legs! Both the doctor and I were quite surprised at this, but it was quite a welcome surprise.
The doctor said that I could either stop here or lengthen another millimeter, so that the ERC hits 80mm, but either way both nails are pretty much maxed out already. I suppose retrospectively I felt the same large increase in tightness on both my left and right legs over the last month, so that should have also demonstrated that they were lengthening at the same rate. Regardless, while I was very excited by the news, my legs have been so stiff that I’m not in the mood to celebrate. I decided that I would see how I felt when I got home at night to decide if I was going to finish out the 80mm on the ERC reading. My mind was a little blank when I left the doctor’s office. I sat in the car outside the office in the parking lot zoned out for a bit. Then it started raining and I realized that I needed to use the restroom pretty badly, so I drove back to the rental car center to return the car.
I had a few hours to burn at the airport and I ended up eating lunch and playing some games on my phone. When the airline staff got to the gate, I walked over to them and asked for wheelchair service after landing. I had walked so much in the last two days that I actually wasn’t sure I could make it home on my own. I used the restroom and bought a bottle of water before boarding the flight. The pilot announced that there was a “minor maintenance issue” which required airport personnel to come fix. It delayed takeoff by about 15 minutes, but we still ended up landing on time. For the flight back I had downloaded some TV episodes to watch, but I only watched one because I wasn’t feeling that good. I tried to rest for a bit but I could only fall asleep for five minutes at a time, so I just rested with my eyes closed and listening to music, generally uncomfortable and unable to fall asleep. I had to continuously adjust my legs as well, but fortunately I didn’t have any nerve pain, just pain from stiffness and sitting continuously in an uncomfortable position.
Finally, the flight landed and I couldn’t wait to get off. I don’t plan on taking any more flights until my legs can easily actually handle it. At the exit of the aircraft I got on the wheelchair, and the airport employee pushed me to the rideshare area. My Uber arrived just in time and I got in and we immediately drove off. Flying with no luggage is nice. When I got home, I hobbled inside and unpacked my bag. After that I immediately sat in bed and started running the massage gun on my legs. The massage gun only helped a little just like the night before. My legs were quite swollen still, so I changed into compression pants. It was getting a bit late so I started a stretching session. My legs were very tired during the exercises, but I managed to get through all of them. I ran the ERC on each leg, with zero clicks on the left side and seven on the right side. Today I walked almost 7000 steps, and that’s with getting wheeled around on a wheelchair at my home airport. It’s clear that two back-to-back days with this much walking, especially when my quads and hamstrings are at their tightest point, is not that great for my legs. I’m really hoping that I’ll see some big improvements in the two weeks after I start consolidating.
Surgery Day +116, Lengthening Day 112 (+0.66mm, 79.35mm total)
Today I woke up feeling a tiny bit better in the legs, just like the morning before. The compression pants definitely helped, and I didn’t have any residual pain in my legs. However, I was very tight and stiff and I struggled to straighten out my legs in bed. I dozed off a few more times and woke up about 30 minutes after my alarm. I got a 100% sleep rating with 8.0 hours of sleep and 2.7 hours of deep sleep. I signed into work and then started my morning routine. I have just enough Xarelto pills left that I don’t need to get a refill. I’m also starting back up on Vitamin D and calcium. I don’t need to take any other medication anymore.
I was very busy with work all day since I took time off to fly to Vegas. I actually had to call into PT to cancel my session today. I didn’t have time due to some last minute meetings at work and I also didn’t have the strength to do PT today. I haven’t recovered from my traveling as quickly as I did the last two times I flew. If I was going to go to PT today, I think I would definitely have to take Norco to make it through the hour. Since I was skipping PT, I signed up for a block of gym time tomorrow, where I can walk on the treadmill for a bit and then lift some weights. I still have some time to achieve my upper body muscle gains while my bones finish consolidating so I can just say I got “bigger” when anyone points out that I’m taller. “Clearly, it’s an optical illusion, you see!”
In the late afternoon when I was finally done with work, I started a stretching session and then ran the ERC. I got no clicks on the left side and 35 on the right side. After that, I cooked dinner and then watched TV for a bit. I’m still not sure why I’m bothering to lengthen this last bit. I don’t believe 1-2mm actually makes a big difference, but I suppose an extra two days of suffering won’t make a difference either at this point. I guess I’m just so dead set on getting to 8cm to get the maximum value out of the nails that I can push for just two more days even while I’m at a very low energy level.
I decided if I was watching TV then I might as well do it inside the bathtub. I think my swelling might have already subsided a little from the compression pants I’ve been wearing, but I could elevate my legs for a bit in the tub to hopefully help with that. I’m happy that I didn’t get any nerve pinching issues with the swelling over the last few days. The first few times I flew it was pretty bad and I think some of the nerve issues were caused by swelling. Flying during the distraction phase is really not easy. After my bath I kept busy for the rest of the evening, mostly reading and eating snacks.
Before going to bed I had to get another lengthening session in. I stretched a lot and then ran the ERC. Again, no clicks on the left side, and 33 on the right side. After that I used the massage gun for a bit on my legs. Finally, I didn’t need to get up early for once, so I went to bed without an alarm and fell asleep quickly.
Surgery Day +117, Lengthening Day 113 (+0.65mm, 80.00mm total)
I woke up at dawn again, but was able to fall asleep for a while longer. I woke up again before my alarm though. I slept pretty well, with 7.4 hours of sleep and just over 3 hours of deep sleep for a 98% rating. My legs were so stiff and sore when I woke up that the first thing I did was run the massage gun on them for a few minutes. I think it helped a bit. After that I got up for my morning routine and ate breakfast. I took acetaminophen with my Xarelto, which I think actually helped a little. I can’t wait until I wake up in the morning with legs that aren’t sore. Even back when I was at 5-6cm I woke up feeling only a little stiff.
I played some games for a while and then started stretching for a lengthening session. I got through a full 30 minutes of stretching and then ran the ERC on each side. I got 16 clicks on the right side. One more session today and I’ll be done! However, I am still a little afraid that my right leg is shorter than my left. It was up to 0.5cm shorter before the surgery, and now it may be up to 1cm shorter based on my height measurements on each leg yesterday, though I really don’t know how accurate my measurements are. The X-rays earlier this week looked like they were the same length and measured at the same length. I don’t think a 3% margin of error on the X-ray measurement would produce a full centimeter of difference though, but for whatever reason when I walk around it feels like the right side is shorter. I think that it could be because the right side is not as strong and I have more hip sway or something. I always thought that my right side was stronger than my left side, but on some metrics it’s doing worse now.
While I was thinking about this topic, I measured my height on each side again and this time the right side was only 0.3cm shorter. I don’t think my methodology is very scientific, but I still felt much better seeing the smaller number than last time, and I can definitely live with a discrepancy less than half a centimeter if it’s already been like that for over 30 years. I think I’m going to run the ERC for maybe one extra mm on the right side tomorrow so I can feel better about the situation. I don’t think it’ll make any difference whatsoever, but from a psychological standpoint it’ll help since I’ll feel like I did something about it. Then after that I’m calling it quits on the distraction phase!
In the early afternoon I went down to the gym at my allotted time. I took five steps outside the door and realized that my left knee was hurting a bit if I put weight on it, so I went inside to get my cane and headed back out. In the gym I was only able to walk on the treadmill for about five minutes at 1mph. Any faster or any longer and my knee would have hurt even more. I wasn’t planning on taking any painkillers in order to do a leg workout today, so I spent the rest of the time at the gym working out my upper body with dumbbells. I’m definitely looking forward to when I’ll be able to lift heavy again. After I got home I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading, watching TV, and eating.
At night it was time for my final lengthening session (at least on the left side.) I did a 25 minute stretching session and then managed to lengthen before midnight so I could get the extra 0.01mm (which really doesn’t matter.) On this final run, I got zero clicks on the left side, and nine clicks on the right side. I’m actually surprised the left side isn’t clicking at all, given that it should have hit 80mm according to the ERC now. I think I’m okay stopping here though. If the left nail is not at 80mm already, it should be extremely close since I haven’t had much clicking on the left side. I’m ready to start consolidating, so even if there’s a few mm left on the nail I’m okay with stopping as long as both legs are even in length, and if one is longer than the other, it's the left leg. I don't feel like my body can easily handle any more lengthening anyway, so I'm definitely done with the longer leg. To celebrate finishing on the left side, I ate some ice cream for a late night snack. I went to bed shortly after.
Surgery Day +118, Lengthening Day 114 (Bonus Lengthening)
This morning I was so tired I didn’t even hear my alarm go off. I woke up 80 minutes after my alarm. According to the sleep tracker I got 8.3 hours of sleep and 1.5 hours of deep sleep for a 94% rating. My legs were so sore and tired this morning that I couldn’t even fully stretch out when laying down. I sat up and straightened my legs, then I got up for my morning routine. After that I sat back down in bed and ran the massage gun on my legs for a bit, which made me feel better. At this point I still hadn’t decided if I wanted to run any extra sessions of the ERC to reduce the likelihood that I have a limb length discrepancy. The impact would be so small that I probably wouldn’t notice, but I definitely don’t want a bigger discrepancy than I started with.
I decided that I would start with a 30 minute stretching session and then decide if I wanted to run the ERC on the right side. It would make me feel much better if the right nail was not able to be lengthened anymore since that means I did everything I could to reduce the likelihood of any LLD. After my stretching session I lengthened on my right leg, getting only one click. Clearly the nail hasn’t maxed out yet. I’m not sure what to think about this. I will do one more on the right leg tonight and decide from there. I’m definitely done with the left leg. Even if it’s not maxed out, I’m okay with the right being lengthened the same amount or slightly more because it started out shorter.
I actually had some work to do today, so I stayed busy for most of the afternoon. Then in the late afternoon I changed into my LL video clothes and went out to record a walking video.
As with before, my gait feels much worse than it looks in the video. My legs feel stiff while walking and I have to try my best not to swing my legs around and actually bend my knees properly. Somehow I have more flexibility on my hip abductors than my hip adductors so my legs actually don’t have much trouble staying together. However, they have trouble splitting apart, but that’s not really required for walking. I clearly have a limp right now, and I think part of it is that my left knee is having a little pain when bearing a lot of weight, so I’m kind of slacking off when I walk on that side. My leg raise is still far from horizontal, and my knee bend can’t hit 90 degrees anymore. It’s worse on the left side than the right side. This should give you a pretty good idea of how tight I am at 8cm lengthened. Now that I’m done lengthening though, I really hope my next gait video (maybe in two weeks) will look much better, at least as good as when I was at 6cm lengthened. My immediate goals on flexibility are to get my thighs past 90 degrees relative to my upper body when lifting my knees up while standing, and to be able to lift my lower leg enough to grab my foot with my hand (and eventually touch my butt.)
After recording, editing, and uploading the video, I went out to get some takeout and I didn’t have to get out of my car so it was very convenient. After eating, I prepared to update my journal. I have some more work to do tonight, so after I post I’ll probably be busy until bedtime. I think I’ll do one more lengthening on my right side tonight and consider it done as well.
Technically, based on the ERC reading I lengthened over 80mm on both the left and right side, and based on my final X-rays I’m thinking I should be very close to, if not having maxed out both nails, at least to the point where I can confidently call the final gain 8cm. Lengthening took almost four full months for me and I ran into so many complications, including but not limited to shin numbness, mild/moderate/severe nerve pain, nail mechanism clicking, risk of premature consolidation, potential lengthening discrepancy, and major loss of flexibility. That’s not even counting the guaranteed everyday issues such as muscle and joint pain, stiffness, and general tightness. Even with all the problems I ran into, not all of the last four months were low points. I suppose I’m currently pretty happy that I did the surgery, even though I feel like I can barely walk at the moment.
I’m also happy closing this chapter of my life, and I really look forward to consolidating and generally feeling better in my legs, not taking any more medication, and permanently recovering my gait. These things might take some time, but I hope I can get somewhat close to normal in two months! I don’t think I will frequent the forum as often during the consolidation phase, but it’ll depend on how fast I recover. If I recover slowly then I’ll definitely come back here to complain. Once the weather gets nice again and I can start walking outside normally, and eventually have to go back into the office, I think naturally I’ll be on the forum less and less like other LL patients before me.
Thanks to everyone who has followed along so far. I hope this journal has been useful to you and I hope I’ll be able to provide some useful data points on my rate of recovery during consolidation.
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