Koehne Diary 21/22 | Unilateral Tibia + Femur

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 I’ve been mobile on crutches since day 3. works great, since you have one healthy leg

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Quote from: Siegfried on October 18, 2021, 12:24:24 PM I’ve been mobile on crutches since day 3. works great, since you have one healthy leg

Are you using european crutches (forearmas) or american crutches (armpits)?
And how do you wak with them: can you lightly touuch the ground with your lengtheing foot or do you have to keep away all the time, just hopping?

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 Quote from: BetzLandLiberator on October 18, 2021, 12:55:27 PMAre you using european crutches (forearmas) or american crutches (armpits)?
And how do you wak with them: can you lightly touuch the ground with your lengtheing foot or do you have to keep away all the time, just hopping?

European crutches. I'm supposed to step on the ground lightly with my lengthening foot.

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How many days after surgery do you start physical therapy?

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Lengethening starts after 1 week and physio after 2.

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Quote from: 6CMFemurs on October 17, 2021, 11:05:28 PMHey Siegfried,

How is your mobility on one leg? I am doing unilateral tibia lengthening (left leg first) in December and am curious how easy it is to get around/how functional you are in the first few days and week post-op.

Where are you doing it? Are you planning on doing 6cm?

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I will be doing it in the US. I also have deformity on the tibia I am fixing. My doc recommends 5 CM along with gastroc. recession but I am stretching like crazy trying to avoid it if possible. My screen name is 6 CM femurs, because I lengthened around 6 CM on my femurs in 2014.

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Day 5 Post-OP. Feeling surprisingly okay. Pain is not really an issue any more, apart from a continuous numbing sensation in the knee / shin. The excruciating pain from day 1-2 is gone, however I was expecting it to be much worse. The sleeping pills and hard painkiller such as oxycodone made the first few days very manageable. It almost numbed out the pain entirely, but it has some side effects (constipation, brainfog, exhaustion, stomach cramps), which were not too bad on my side. I've been off oxycodone since day 4 and will stick to consuming my other basic pain meds, such as ibuprofen.

I've been on crutches since day 4 as well, it works surprisingly well, since you have one healthy leg to stem most of the bodyweight on and to propel you forward. Contrary to my expectations, you are supposed to step on your lengthening leg lightly instead of "hopping" on the healthy leg. As we know with Stryde, mobilization of the fractured leg promotes bone growth, therefore walking on the fractured leg (within reason) is encouraged.

I'm finally leaving to go home tomorrow and will start lengthening by day 7.

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Awesome man. Glad to hear we can put a tiny amount of weight on 50 lbs nails and won’t have to totally hop. Excited to see how you progress through this journey and glad you aren’t in too much discomfort.

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Hey guys,

I'm about 2 weeks post op now and distracted about 0.5cm in my left tibia so far. I had my first check up appointment yesterday and everything seems fine so far. Pain is absolutely manageable so far. The only meds I'm taking atm is novamin 3x a day.
As a matter of fact, I have taken up working after 1 week from home. Fortunately I'm self-employed and can freely decide when and how much I want to work, which is a blessing during these times.

The next surgery for my left femur will take place next week Friday. I've been told that femur surgery might be more painful than tibia, since it affects a larger portion of the body and the swelling affects sitting and lying down stronger than tibias do. However, ill just take every day as it comes and will try to stay positive. Mindset is everything during such a long and restricting journey.