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[--]

Hi Phoenix ,How are you these days , What is your daily routine generally and can you post some pics of your legs bro?

I am good. I will try to post weekly update from now on.

[--]

Weekly Updates:

22nd Apr to 25th Apr

Coming home from hospital feels good. My life is back to normal. I know it cannot be normal for a year, so I just trained my mind to pretend frames are my new normal, and deal with it.

In my apartment, bathroom is just adjacent to my bed, so I used a chair to go to bathroom, with itzRammi’s help. He used to push the chair into the bathroom, and I could just move onto the potty myself.

Started walking from April 23rd. It was difficult, but managed it. Now I can use walker to go to the bathroom and sit on potty. But getting up is difficult, as I need to put a lot of pressure on my knees to getup. Getting up from bed is different, as the height of the bed is same as my knee level. But potty height is below my knee level and its very difficult. Still need some help in getting up from potty.

I started taking bath. I cover my frames with towels so that they do not get wet.

The whole week was fun, as itzRammi was there to help me out, and not much pain as I am taking painkillers this week. Did not face any big problems.

[--]

26th Apr to May 2nd :

I stopped taking painkillers from starting of this week. Will take when needed.

I started distraction on April 26th . 1 mm per day (0.25mm rotation 4 times in a day) for the next 30 days, then for 10 days I will do bowleg correction. itzRammi was so excited, so I let him do my first distraction. Initially, we were really not sure how much we should rotate to get 0.25mm. There is no indication; we have to do it approximately. Initially it was difficult, but after a couple of days, it became very easy. It hardly takes one minute to distract both the legs.

On April 29th, I compared the stud values to the distraction schedule sheet that Dr. Dhawan gave me and marked what is complete. I should have checked the sheets properly before. My left leg starts distraction on April 25th, one day before my right leg, but I didn’t notice it and started distracting both on April 26th. So, I am behind schedule on one leg. Also, I was distracting approximately and I am going behind on 1 mm rotations, and was not really following the sheet exactly.

As I was behind schedule due to initial confusion, over the next three days, I distracted more than 1 mm to reach the schedule. I know this will bring on some pain, but I wanted to come back on schedule. Ultimately I brought everything on schedule over 3 days, but it increased pain.

Initially, there was no pain; I was walking fine. But, on May 1st the pain started, mostly due to distracting over the 1 mm limit, and it was really difficult to walk, so I stopped walking.

In this week, itzRammi had to go away due to his personal tasks. Now I started being alone, and doing things independently. After many attempts, now I am able to getup from the potty too. ☺

[--]

May 3rd to May 9th


On May 4th, Dr. Dhawan sent his house boy, Hansraj, to do dressing, and also remove the stitches. Happy to get rid of the stitches, I am just waiting for them to heal completely to see if I will need a laser scar removal, or not.

My first doctor visit, post surgery, was on May 5th. It is the 10th day of distraction, so 1 cm growth on paper. The hospital is very near to my apartment. On the advice of Hansraj, I hired an electric rickshaw to take me to the hospital. It seems that is the preferred mode of transportation for someone like me. When it came to pick me up, I realized it was the best mode of transport for me. It has very low seats, and it was mostly open on the sides, so it was easy for me to get into it. My apartment landlord accompanied me to the hospital. It is very difficult to go to the hospital alone, as it is a very big hospital with hundreds of people and going alone on a wheel chair is impossible.

At the hospital, initially I did not cover my frames. When they were taking me on wheel chair for X-Ray, few people screamed, and some were looking at me like a freak. So, on my way back from X-Ray, I covered my frames with a towel.

We took some new X-Rays, and visited the doctor. He said the distraction looks good. Not much callus formation, but it is expected. He gave me calcium and vitamin supplements.

Also, I was not walking from a few days now, but had to walk a lot today. But did not really experience any pain.

On May 7th, I started Physiotherapy sessions with Dr. Arvind. He comes to my apartment everyday, and charges Rs 600 (Approx $10) per visit. I transfer money to his bank account every week or so.

He first uses an electrical instrument and places its cords (Not sure what they are called) around my knees for around 10 mins to send electrical pulses. It helps in muscle growth and stretching. Then he helps me do some ankle stretching, and some leg exercises. That’s his daily routine. Altogether he stays for 30 to 40 minutes.

[--]

May 10th to May 16th :

Physiotherapy is going on everyday. I am not walking from my last doctor visit. Doctor has asked me to walk as much as possible. But, unlike before, I am really not that confident or enthusiastic to walk. Nothing happened which can shatter my confidence, but slowly I stopped walking unless it is needed. I can walk, but I loose a lot of energy due to it and I feel helpless after that. So, I found ways to get things done with out walking, like using a chair to go around. So, practically I don’t find any need to walk. But sometimes I stand up for few minutes and weight bear. I know I should walk, in future I will try to walk more.

On May 11th I started experiencing severe pain at the outer side of left ankle-tibia joint. Physio Arvind was not able to recognize the reason for the pain. He was advising me to take painkillers. But, I was not willing to take them, as it will just numb the pain, and I will not get a chance to know the real reason for pain. If it was a pin site pain, I have no option but to take painkillers. But as it looks like a joint pain, I expect it to be resolved by physiotherapy. At least my physio should be able to identify the cause.

I did not take painkillers for 2 days, and hence did not get sleep for 2 nights. The pain level was not high, but it was recurring every few minutes. I just forget about pain when I was watching movies or doing something else. But, once I plan to sleep, my brain has nothing to think about, and my concentration goes towards the pain, and I will involuntarily move around my leg to reduce the pain, but that actually increases it, and once this happens, I loose sleep and I return to doing something else. This happened both the nights. I was taking short naps during day.

So, after 2 days of bearing pain, I figured out the reason for pain at that particular location. I am just lengthening my legs right now. My legs are still bowed. And left leg has 8 degree bend. By increasing the tibia length at an angle, I am actually changing the angle of tibia ankle joint and that is putting a lot of pressure on outer side of the ankle- tibia joint. I can feel the nerves are bulged, and lot of pain at that location. I am sure physiotherapy cannot fix this issue completely, only bowleg correction can.

Now I have 2 ways to deal with this issue. First is to stop lengthening, and talk to Dr. Dhawan and start bowleg correction immediately, and then later restart the lengthening. Second is to just take painkillers and follow the schedule, as after 10 more days, I have bowleg correction already scheduled.

I decided to go with second option, as rescheduling bowleg correction is a big task; I need to go to hospital and take new X-Rays, and Dr. Dhawan needs to check the new X-Rays and redo all the calculations. I figured I could just wait 10 more days, take painkillers, and do not put more weight on ankles. I am not walking much, so that is not a problem.

May 14th evening itzRammi came to visit me. It's always good to have a friend to talk to. I took a painkiller in the night and had a sound sleep.

May 15th, I reached 2 cm distraction on paper.

itzRammi will be with me till the weekend, so its fun. Also I just kept taking painkillers when ever needed.

[--]

My Landlord and their family:

My Landlords’ family has 6 members; an old couple, a single daughter and a married daughter, who lives there with her husband and a kid. They all are very good. My landlord came to hospital couple of times when I was admitted for surgery just to check on me. His wife is a bit tough to handle, but she is good at heart. The old couple own a tailor shop downstairs beside my apartment. So, they keep walking in front of my room all the time. My front door has an extra grill door for security. As it is very difficult for me to open the door all the time for my maid, physiotherapist, or anyone else, In the day, I just let them lock the grill door from outside and keep my actual door open. So, I can see who ever are passing by my door, and whenever anyone from their family passes by, they talk to me. They check on me if I am eating properly, they offer tea or food or fruits sometimes. They help me in everything I ask them of. Their unmarried daughter is very funny; she gives me company, watches movies or game of thrones with me. The married daughter too is very sweet. She calls me a brother, and actually treats me like one. She is pregnant, but still she comes and talks to me almost every day; she is fun to talk to.

Whenever I talk to her, I can see many uncanny similarities between pregnant women and LLers. She walks slowly; she needs to sleep straight on the back, eat good nutritious food, take lot of medicines, visit doctor regularly, and bare a lot of pain for many months. She has many sleepless nights and struggles to sleep. Except the pregnancy part, almost all the other issues are very similar to any LLer. End result in both the cases is also a new life and a new beginning.

Her kid comes everyday to play video games. He is a good distraction for me from being alone, but he makes a mess out of my house if left untamed. So, I discourage him from coming often. Her husband is a very good guy, and he gets me money from ATM when needed, or brings in service men to fix any issues in my apartment.

Being in touch with their family is making me forget the fact that I am alone in an alien place.

[KiloKAHN]

That's great you have people around you for support. One of the most difficult parts for me was having barely social interaction at the hotel I stayed in because I was the only foreigner there. How long is Dr Dhawan saying you need to keep your frames on?

[Boxer4748]

Yea, Man there you go ..... you are making a grate dairy with full of details ..keep it up ,

26th Apr to May 2nd :

I stopped taking painkillers from starting of this week. Will take when needed.

I started distraction on April 26th . 1 mm per day (0.25mm rotation 4 times in a day) for the next 30 days, then for 10 days I will do bowleg correction. itzRammi was so excited, so I let him do my first distraction. Initially, we were really not sure how much we should rotate to get 0.25mm. There is no indication; we have to do it approximately. Initially it was difficult, but after a couple of days, it became very easy. It hardly takes one minute to distract both the legs.

On April 29th, I compared the stud values to the distraction schedule sheet that Dr. Dhawan gave me and marked what is complete. I should have checked the sheets properly before. My left leg starts distraction on April 25th, one day before my right leg, but I didn’t notice it and started distracting both on April 26th. So, I am behind schedule on one leg. Also, I was distracting approximately and I am going behind on 1 mm rotations, and was not really following the sheet exactly.

As I was behind schedule due to initial confusion, over the next three days, I distracted more than 1 mm to reach the schedule. I know this will bring on some pain, but I wanted to come back on schedule. Ultimately I brought everything on schedule over 3 days, but it increased pain.

Initially, there was no pain; I was walking fine. But, on May 1st the pain started, mostly due to distracting over the 1 mm limit, and it was really difficult to walk, so I stopped walking.

In this week, itzRammi had to go away due to his personal tasks. Now I started being alone, and doing things independently. After many attempts, now I am able to getup from the potty too. ☺

Phoenix did you talk to doc before distracting more than 1mm to reach schedule, You have to be very careful with lengthening if any thing goes wrong talk to your doc at first place.........

[--]

That's great you have people around you for support. One of the most difficult parts for me was having barely social interaction at the hotel I stayed in because I was the only foreigner there. How long is Dr Dhawan saying you need to keep your frames on?

Yea, its always good to have people around. Dr. Dhawan did not give any specific time frame yet. As per initial discussion it should be around 8 to 9 months for 5cm. I did not really ask him after surgery, but I assume its till the end of this year.

[--]

Yea, Man there you go ..... you are making a grate dairy with full of details ..keep it up , Phoenix did you talk to doc before distracting more than 1mm to reach schedule, You have to be very careful with lengthening if any thing goes wrong talk to your doc at first place.........

Thanks Boxer.

I did not talk to the doctor about it 
As it was during the initial 1 cm lengthening, I just assumed my legs will cooperate with me.. 

I should have asked him, but sometimes I just do it, and worry later!

[--]

My pre-op legs:

[--]

Post surgery pics:

[--]

More Pics:

[just_me]

Good pictures. Can you show any X-rays of your legs before your surgery?

[crimsontide]

that looks very, idk how to say it


the bottom bolts look enormous though?

[--]

Good pictures. Can you show any X-rays of your legs before your surgery?

Yea, I will post X-Rays too..

that looks very, idk how to say it


the bottom bolts look enormous though?

  

Bottom bolt was added for stability. It was either that or, a third ring at the ankle. I would prefer a bolt over a big ring any day.

Yes, the bottom bolt looks big in the pictures, but it doesn't feel that enormous on my leg. May be I got used to it.

[--]

May 17th to May 23rd:

Left leg ankle is still in pain, a bit of swelling and stiff. Right leg is absolutely fine; No issues at all. Initially after surgery, right leg ankle was stiff, and created problems, but left leg was good. But, now miraculously right leg is fixed, and left leg is killing me.

I went to visit the doctor on May 20th, took X-Rays as usual, Doctor was happy with the X-Rays, but I asked him about my callus formation. I hardly see any callus formation. According to him, during lengthening not much callus would be formed, so he asked me not to worry about it. The callus is better than that in the last X-Ray though.

He gave me some medication for the nerve pain in left leg, and painkiller Ultraset.

Physio did not come most of the week due to some personal reasons; I tried to do exercises, but I could not really get rid of left ankle stiffness on my own.

[--]

Completed 3 cm lengthening today.. 

Started Bowleg correction.. It will be completed in a week.

[just_me]

The X-rays I have seen from other patients while they lengthen also show no callus formation - so don't worry. You will be fine - You seems to have a good Doctor. Good luck. 

[KiloKAHN]

Those are some pretty cool looking frames. I'm still surprised that there are TSF's available for that price in India. My local ortho is a trauma surgeon who has used TSF's before and he was very sure that India doesn't even have a patent for their use. I guess there are ways to get around that though 

I was also given the Ultracet painkiller. It's very mild but it was enough for me on most days. Did Dr Dhawan say he can give you stronger ones if you need or does he not like to use strong painkillers as well?

[just_me]

There are several places in India where they use Taylor Spatial Frame - They have been using it in India at least since 2002. Also other none western country apart from India use Taylor Spatial Frame. All over the world (in western and none western country) when they want to use Taylor Spatial Frame the Hospital/Doctor buy it from a Company just as they do with all other Orthopedic devices.

[--]

The X-rays I have seen from other patients while they lengthen also show no callus formation - so don't worry. You will be fine - You seems to have a good Doctor. Good luck. 

Thanks Just_Me, I was worried about it a lot. May be my genes itself has some slow bone healing problem.

Those are some pretty cool looking frames. I'm still surprised that there are TSF's available for that price in India. My local ortho is a trauma surgeon who has used TSF's before and he was very sure that India doesn't even have a patent for their use. I guess there are ways to get around that though 

I was also given the Ultracet painkiller. It's very mild but it was enough for me on most days. Did Dr Dhawan say he can give you stronger ones if you need or does he not like to use strong painkillers as well?

Thanks Kilokhan, Indian surgeons do use TSF, in fact apart from Dr.Dhawan, I contacted Dr. Milind chaudhary too over email, and he offered TSF too. Not sure if they get it directly from company or from different sources. I will try to ask Dr. Dhawan when I meet him on Wednesday, but I am mostly sure they get it directly from company; at least that's what the impression I got from few discussions with Dr. Dhawan.

Dr Dhawan initially gave me Hifenac D for pain, it is stronger. But 2 weeks back he asked me to take Ultracet only for pain from now on. It is good for me for current ankle pain. He might advice against taking strong painkillers, but I am sure he will give stronger pills if absolutely needed.

[itzrammi]

http://www.cellublue.com/index_en.html#home check this out for scar healing hehe

[maximize]

Whenever I talk to her, I can see many uncanny similarities between pregnant women and LLers. She walks slowly; she needs to sleep straight on the back, eat good nutritious food, take lot of medicines, visit doctor regularly, and bare a lot of pain for many months. She has many sleepless nights and struggles to sleep. Except the pregnancy part, almost all the other issues are very similar to any LLer. End result in both the cases is also a new life and a new beginning.

That's a fun comparison.

Also, I can see the TSF looks quite impressive. I can see why people in the hospital were freaked out. I'm surprised he didn't use smaller rings. Congrats on your progress so far. The TSF should give you great results if well done.

[upandaway]

I coming to delhi end of June/July for a consult!

[--]

Those are some pretty cool looking frames. I'm still surprised that there are TSF's available for that price in India. My local ortho is a trauma surgeon who has used TSF's before and he was very sure that India doesn't even have a patent for their use. I guess there are ways to get around that though 

Kilokhan, I checked with the doctor yesterday. He said, he will directly deal with the manufacturer, and there are no middle men. I guess India got the patent now.

http://www.cellublue.com/index_en.html#home check this out for scar healing hehe

LOL.. Are you sure it is for scar healing??! It is for fighting cellulite it seems.. Here's a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulite

Where do you find all such things bro.. 

That's a fun comparison.

Also, I can see the TSF looks quite impressive. I can see why people in the hospital were freaked out. I'm surprised he didn't use smaller rings. Congrats on your progress so far. The TSF should give you great results if well done.

   Thanks dude..

The frames are available in many ring sizes : 80, 105, 130, 155, 180, 205, 230, 255 & 300 mm.

Mine are 155mm frames. Pre-op, since I couldn't exactly imagine the sizes with out actually seeing the frames, I asked doctor to pick a small size in adults category. He picked 155mm, and said the smaller sizes are mostly used for children. Given a choice, i would have chosen the 130mm frames. But may be they would have been too small. Not sure.

Anyways 155mm are not that huge, they only look huge due to my thin legs. And I have enough room to clean the pin sites easily.

I coming to delhi end of June/July for a consult!

Great.. Let me know if you need any help bro. You can PM me anytime.

[--]

My Pre-Surgery X-Ray:

[--]

Post-Surgery X-Ray (20th April):

Right Leg:



Left Leg:

[just_me]

IMO your tibia and femur shown in your pre-surgery X-ray has a good shape to get two straight legs after you finish your bowleg correction. I believe you wrote that you will complete your bowleg correction next week. So I think you will have two straight legs next week - Good luck.   

[microman]

I thought you could not do 1mm/day with tibia, only with femur, is it possible to do this with tibia because of TSF?

how does the doctor feel about leaving for consolidation, is he okay with that, and you can send him x-ray etc.

[--]

IMO your tibia and femur shown in your pre-surgery X-ray has a good shape to get two straight legs after you finish your bowleg correction. I believe you wrote that you will complete your bowleg correction next week. So I think you will have two straight legs next week - Good luck.   

Thanks just_me, I have completed straightening my legs today. They look straight to me, but we can only be sure after taking the X-Rays in a couple of days.

I thought you could not do 1mm/day with tibia, only with femur, is it possible to do this with tibia because of TSF?

how does the doctor feel about leaving for consolidation, is he okay with that, and you can send him x-ray etc.

We can do 1mm with Tibia, irrespective of which frame we use. The limit per day depends on the individual lengthening capability. Soft tissues react in different ways for different people, few people get pain at 1mm, but I did not really get any problem due to it. And it was not my choice, Dr. Dhawan gave the schedule with 1mm lengthening per day as a standard. He might have reduced the limit if I complained of pain, but I didn't.

I am planning to stay here throughout consolidation, so did not ask him, but I am sure he will approve a request to stay away during consolidation. Will cross check with him in the next visit.