Day 57 - 5 CM
Just hit 5 CM. I'm just a hair under 5'11 in the morning and around 5'10.5 in the evening. At this stage I'm starting to count down the days to finishing distracting (goal is 7 to 8 cm). It's a battle everyday but I'm locked in and trying to finish strong! Let's get it!
Pain
The numbness and nerve pain in my left shin has persisted. Numbness occurs throughout the day and a painful shooting burning / electric shock pain (level 6 or 7) occurs a couple times a day for a few seconds. The pain is aggravated when I'm in certain positions (e.g. when my feet are dangling). I've been taking Gabapentin, a nerve medication prescribed by the doc, for the past few days and hoping this helps, will keep you guys posted.
Everything feels a lot stiffer.....quads, hamstrings, hip abductors, and groin and I feel like it's going to get tougher and tougher down the final stretch. As a result my gait has gotten a bit more robotic and I tend to waddle due to the tightness of my hips and weakness in my glutes.
The general nagging, dull pain persists which consists of a combination of the stiffness, random muscle/ligament pains throughout my legs, and the nerve pain. Probably a 2 or 3 at its worst, but very challenging as it is impossible to ignore and leaves you uncomfortable throughout the day.
PT pain is certainly there and can go up to a 4 or 5 in a deep stretch but I don't mind it as it's a concentrated and controllable pain. I go into each PT session with the mentality that pain is my b1tch and go through the motions. The nagging, dull pain throughout the day, although much lower, is by far a lot worse than the PT pain because it never goes away and is impossible to ignore.
Flexibility
Every day everything gets stiffer. It's hard to stay motivated and stretch but I've pushed through and upped my stretches to 6x a day- consisting of 3 big ones that involve both strength and stretching, and 3 little ones that focus on stretching hamstrings and quads.
I try to keep a cadence where I do a stretch every 3 to 4 hours during the day. I find that if you take a long break from stretching, your body gets stiff really quick, and it's difficult to catch up and PT becomes an uphill battle. Increasing the frequency of stretching keeps things loose. Seems like common sense but I've met LLers who do 3 stretches in the morning over a 3 hour span and call it day and complain about stiffness.
PT said I'm doing well and my range of motion is good, going to try to keep it going.
Sleep
Averaging about 5 hrs of sleep a night. Tylenol PM still does the job. Heating pads help me ease into the deep sleep. I continue to make sure to do a stretch session right before going to bed to keep me loose through the night.
Mood / Mindset
Definitely the hardest part. The monotony and general boredom gets to you. I would love to engage in a mentally stimulating activity or hobbie but as I've said in previous entries, the dull nagging pain makes it hard to focus on anything or perform cognitive work. I would say at 5 CM, knowing I'm > the half way point helps me stay positive. I can't wait to get out in the real world again although I know I'm far from it.
Although I'm only at 5 cm, I can happily say that the height dysphoria is fading away. Going from 5'9 to 5'11 is huge as I've transitioned from being statistically just under average to just on the verge of becoming tall. 90% of women are all shorter than me, and 6 ft guys, who used to feel like giants, all seem within range. I used to wear lifts every day and don't see the need to going forward....great feeling. I look in the mirror and am happy with my height. My overall body proportions feel better, I've always had a longer torso/longer arms. My leg proportions definitely look as though my femurs are on the longer side, but I don't mind as situations where this would come up are rare.
I still have another inch to go so I'm looking forward to the final outcome.
Author
Topic: Diary: Stryde Femurs with Dr. Paley September 2019 (Read 47374 times)