Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[bgreeneee]

Hi Hamza—Styrde is fully weight bearable per design. My doctor as well as the distributor told me to play it safe and not push it... this is mostly just because it’s not as critical for a LLD patient since we still have a “good” leg. I have an appointment with the doctor today and will ask when he thinks he will release me for more weight bearing...but during the growth phase I’m not doing too much weight bearing. I assume it will depend on my bone consolidation in xrays. As I mentioned before, I do weight bear here and there as needed just moving around the house.

Also, just as an FYI for your situation, I asked the device distributor that I see for Stryde about nail failures in the previous versions prior to Stryde and he had only seen 1. He said the patient he knew of that had the failure ignored the weight bearing restrictions and was walking on the nail. He said the guy had an insanely high pain tolerance and did way more than he should have way too early. That gentleman had the nail removed/replaced and started again.

[Michael01]

I'm not posting, but I'm reading your daily update. Very good and thanks to share you experience with us.

[bgreeneee]

For anyone interested, I setup a YouTube channel as well with vlogs of daily progress. I don’t record every day...and these aren’t fancy...but it provides some video progress in tandem with the diary here.

youtube.com/channel/UC3M6CaDHmoGXDoVOtWymJig/videos

I had some issues making the channel a link here...so you’ll have to copy and paste to a browser.

[Movie]

For anyone interested, I setup a YouTube channel as well with vlogs of daily progress. I don’t record every day...and these aren’t fancy...but it provides some video progress in tandem with the diary here.

youtube.com/channel/UC3M6CaDHmoGXDoVOtWymJig/videos

I had some issues making the channel a link here...so you’ll have to copy and paste to a browser.

cool man!

[limewalk]

cool videos!

Not sure if someone asked this, but who is your surgon? Were you the first Stryde patient of this doctor?

Ok I see you will only reveal it via PM. Could you send me a message plz? Thanks

[bgreeneee]

Yes, I am the first Stryde patient of my surgeon. He has used the previous version of the precice nail as well as I think ilizarov. He is a trauma surgeon, limb lengthening is not something he does frequently at this point though he had significant experience in his residency in Southern California.

I imagine that a trauma surgeon has a lot of tools in his belt that are applicable to this as they are charged with putting people back together after some severe accidents. A lot of the complications/risks with limb lengthening are similar to what is dealt with in trauma. I personally met 2 people earlier this year in the SF Bay Area that had been Precice patients, both were LLD patients. I was fortunate to be at an event where I heard about Precice, and I sat in between them (a miracle). 1 had a similar story as mine...1 was a complicated trauma story where a large steel beam fell on him at a construction site. Neither of them used my surgeon. One used a surgeon out of UCSF and I think one used a surgeon out of Davis (I think?).

I did see one surgeon prior to picking my current surgeon. He had never done Precice but was a trauma surgeon and was confident in being able to do the surgery. In the end, I looked more within my network and found my current surgeon. I contacted NuVasive and they were able to help with locating a surgeon with experience with their product.

[limewalk]

Amazing story.

One part I would have to respectfully correct is that limb lengthening is still a specialty and not all trauma surgeons would know all aspects of limb lengthening. Since your surgeon has done a residency I think he should know LL stuff though.

Could you write down all the risks etc you discussed with your surgeon about this surgery? It's good hear this from a doctor outside the CLL world. I am particularly keen on knowing the chances of amputation.

[bgreeneee]

Hi Limewalk-
Good point and I don’t necessarily disagree with you. as far as the surgery goes, a NuVasive rep that I discussed the process with prior to surgery said to me that the surgery itself could be done by pretty much any competent orthopedic surgeon.

The first surgeon I consulted with was a very competent and extremely confident surgeon. I did not pick to consult with him but was referred to him by my primary physician when I asked to investigate this process. He said he would and could do it...but his recommendation was strongly to shorten my longer leg. For an LLD patient with a trauma history, touching our good leg is not something we want to do..leave my good leg alone! I also hate shoe lifts, my balance is not good and I actually would spend as much time as possible just wearing 1 flip flop that was about 1” thick. He too claimed to have some experience in his residency with limb lengthening but not clear to me when and how much. He was very skeptical TBH and especially hit on risks like nerve damage and dropped foot due to the growth...nerves don’t like to be stretched he said. He also spoke of some sort condition with the rod that some people have where they are bothered by it, something like they always feel pain/discomfort where it was inserted. When I pressed him a little on how these risks differed from shortening the good leg...most of them were the same. I think he down deep he thought the risks of either weren’t worth the reward. Basically, “you’ve lived with it for this long, just wear a shoe lift” was his opinion. I appreciated his opinion because I feel like I got a good negative opinion for me to consider. But truthfully, I didn’t like his attitude and his “I can do anything” mentality did not have the voice of experience I was looking for.

So I looked for an experienced 2nd opinion and selected my current surgeon based on the fact he was experienced (got name from NuVasive). He’s about an hour away from me but who cares! Night and day difference of opinion and he had the experience I was looking for. Any surgery has risks...trust me, I’m living proof. But he saw the risks as low risk for me and thought I was a good candidate. I raised all the concerns I had heard and he really downplayed them all. I liked his attitude and some side research came back positive with him being a well respected surgeon.

So it was up to me. My faith was a huge part of my decision...I don’t believe in coincidences and there were just so many things that miraculously lined up. Sitting between the 2 recent precice patients at an unplanned dinner was absolutely amazing and there were more things like that. After much prayer, my wife and I were at peace and here I am. But I will add, we are at peace with the risks too, meaning I’m ready to accept failure. I trust in God’s will and am ready for either good or bad outcomes.

In my reading/research, including this forum, the risks escalate with greater growth. My discrepancy is on the lower risk side from what I’ve read. 5cm seems to be a tipping point for escalation of risks and pain from what I’ve read, but there are others on the forum more researched and experienced than I on that. I haven’t heard a lot of amputations but I suppose that is an extreme risk/possibility.

That’s my perspective, hope it’s helpful.

[Michael01]

brgreene, what's your weight, how tall are you and what nail diameter they used on you?

By the way, good videos on youtube. You have the old ERC. I prefer other model of crutches.

[bgreeneee]

I’m 5’6”ish—maybe 5’7” when I even out and about 205 pounds. I’m a thick build but consider myself about 20 pounds over where I should be...hopefully i’ll knock off some pounds during rehab! I have no idea what size nail they used.

[Michael01]

Maybe they used 11.5mm https://www.nuvasive.com/procedures/featured-offerings/precice-stryde/ And that's why it's not recommended to full weightbear.

[bgreeneee]

Days 13-14: This was an exciting day...did my first preop post surgery visit. I have corresponded via email but no in person visits until now. I went to a more local clinic yesterday to get X-rays though the X-ray tech wouldn’t let me see the images (grrrr) so I didn’t get to see anything until the visit this AM. At the time of the X-ray, I had done 6.5mm using the erc at home and the surgeon did 1mm in the hospital. Growth on the X-ray shows about 6.9mm so seems like everything is going as planned, possible that the bone osteotomy is the small difference.  I still have very manageable pain...only thing that feels a little tight is my quads so I continue stretch them most. Somewhat relieved to have the photo evidence...you use the machine every day..... wrrrr, wrrrr, wrrrr, wrrrr, wrrrr...but without the xrays I was still a little nervous about “am I doing it right?” Phewwww...keep going...next in clinic visit on 10/14....projected to be at ~2cm by then so close to my end goal.

https://m.imgur.com/a/2S7pT7S

[Hamza]

Hi Hamza—Styrde is fully weight bearable per design. My doctor as well as the distributor told me to play it safe and not push it... this is mostly just because it’s not as critical for a LLD patient since we still have a “good” leg. I have an appointment with the doctor today and will ask when he thinks he will release me for more weight bearing...but during the growth phase I’m not doing too much weight bearing. I assume it will depend on my bone consolidation in xrays. As I mentioned before, I do weight bear here and there as needed just moving around the house.

Also, just as an FYI for your situation, I asked the device distributor that I see for Stryde about nail failures in the previous versions prior to Stryde and he had only seen 1. He said the patient he knew of that had the failure ignored the weight bearing restrictions and was walking on the nail. He said the guy had an insanely high pain tolerance and did way more than he should have way too early. That gentleman had the nail removed/replaced and started again.

In my case I didnt walk on it untill Dr allowed me to do after 10 weeks on crutches and still the distraction was lost.
I think in my case the nail malfunctioned and very late union is due to nail instability ( 2 Dr s said that).
 
The surgery itself was successful also the lengthening process. when I started walking I had a great feeling as I felt balanced finally and without any insoles or shoes modification. 

well my correction surgery with Dr Betz using solid nail is on the 10th of OCT.

Keep strong !! u will love the feeling when walking and forget everything that passed.

[bgreeneee]

Day 17: Today will be ~11.5mm of growth which is about 1/2 way to my goal. There is some art with the science for LLD target growth.

First of all, it’s hard to get the exact difference with xrays...so every time I’ve had measurements they’ve been slightly different. I’ve heard anywhere from 3/4” to 1.1”....though I know it’s over an inch. The latest xrays had like 3/4” in the femurs and the remainder in the tibia which was new news for me but makes sense...looks like when my body shut down growth in the femur it also shutdown growth in the tibia and foot (my foot is a half size smaller). This makes perfect sense...an intelligent designer (God) would build this in to work that way to keep proportions in line.

Second of all, my body has adjusted to not a complete correction. For the past 20 years or so I have lifted my shoes 7/8” (~22.2mm). This has been sufficient but I felt a little short. The art was lifting the shoe as little as possible for my body since the lift adds weight and instability. So, if I go too much farther past 22mm I risk my body not liking it after 20 years of only this amount of correction.

What my doctor says is it’s up to me. So as I get close, each day will be “how do I feel?” If I were to speculate at this point, I think I stop around 24mm but time will tell. Ironically, this will make my femurs inequal (again) but I’m not touching my tibias for something so small so this makes the most sense.

In regards to how I feel now...I’m definitely sorer the past few days. I’m feeling the stretch in my groin which winces some when I use it and I’m tight and tender to the touch on the outside of my quad. It’s not unbearable but I feel like I’ve gone backwards some in terms of “recovery”...the reality is recovery doesn’t start for a couple more weeks when I stop growth.

Keep growing...turning on my erc now.

[Hamza]

Day 17: Today will be ~11.5mm of growth which is about 1/2 way to my goal. There is some art with the science for LLD target growth.

First of all, it’s hard to get the exact difference with xrays...so every time I’ve had measurements they’ve been slightly different. I’ve heard anywhere from 3/4” to 1.1”....though I know it’s over an inch. The latest xrays had like 3/4” in the femurs and the remainder in the tibia which was new news for me but makes sense...looks like when my body shut down growth in the femur it also shutdown growth in the tibia and foot (my foot is a half size smaller). This makes perfect sense...an intelligent designer (God) would build this in to work that way to keep proportions in line.

Second of all, my body has adjusted to not a complete correction. For the past 20 years or so I have lifted my shoes 7/8” (~22.2mm). This has been sufficient but I felt a little short. The art was lifting the shoe as little as possible for my body since the lift adds weight and instability. So, if I go too much farther past 22mm I risk my body not liking it after 20 years of only this amount of correction.

What my doctor says is it’s up to me. So as I get close, each day will be “how do I feel?” If I were to speculate at this point, I think I stop around 24mm but time will tell. Ironically, this will make my femurs inequal (again) but I’m not touching my tibias for something so small so this makes the most sense.

In regards to how I feel now...I’m definitely sorer the past few days. I’m feeling the stretch in my groin which winces some when I use it and I’m tight and tender to the touch on the outside of my quad. It’s not unbearable but I feel like I’ve gone backwards some in terms of “recovery”...the reality is recovery doesn’t start for a couple more weeks when I stop growth.

Keep growing...turning on my erc now.

Same for me as Dr Rozbruch picked up 10 mm, Dr Betz Picked up 14 mm and in my country they picked up 11 mm.
I decided to correct 10 mm despite that they r not all in femur.
Femur measurements alone showed 6 to 9 mm in 3 xrays done in 3 different countries.
My advice is to correct as much as the least XRAY showed.
The most important thing is to equalize your pelvis, small difference between knees will not affect Your walk.

From my experience with 18 years LLD patient I strongly believe that for an active person, any difference more than 3 mm may result in injuries and discomfort.

My correction surgery is on Thursday 10th. so i will keep u updated.

[bgreeneee]

Day 19: I’ve hit a pain wall I haven’t experienced yet. I’m at about 13mm and this is the first time I’ve had to get out the stronger meds. The meds really don’t touch the sharp pain on the upper quad by the hip when I try to move, very intense. I’m just chilling moving as little as possible right now and hoping this passes. I was out all day yesterday...about 3 hours in a car and about 8 hours as a spectator at an event in a gym in bleachers. I felt fine yesterday but started to feel worse on the 1.5 hour drive home. After the erc last night I got worse and had a pretty rocky night with very little sleep. So maybe I overdid it, not sure...or maybe I’m just at a point where that muscle/soft tissue is aggravated a lot in that area.

Looking to the veterans for advice...do you have similar experiences? I’m more than 1/2 way to my goal which is a lot smaller of a target than most of you...is this a cycle in the process where certain muscle groups get aggravated and then it passes? Or do you have to live with pain in the same area for the entire journey or?? Do you grow through the pain and eventually your body catches up?

I really can’t even stretch right now...literally flat on my back trying not to move! Thanks for the advice....

[bgreeneee]

Day 20:

PAIN:
The good news for me is that the upper quad pain is a LOT better compared to yesterday, almost non existent. I’m  pretty tender and sore now in my outside quad mid thigh and towards the knee. So I still need to take caution when moving my leg around or I get a level 8 stab of pain. I feel like I’ve moved back about 2 weeks in regards to current function but I continue to grow so recovery is a moving target. Yesterday felt like day 2 with me needing a lot of assistance from my wife and son just to shift positions. There’s definitely more discomfort that goes with the erc in the past few days....so much so that I’m definitely watching it count up to 0.50 and anxiously waiting for it to end and then putting a heating pad on ASAP.

GROWTH:
I should be at about 14.5mm by end of day...only 1+ week remaining of growth. I got an X-ray today to check on progress. I don’t have a copy yet but saw it on the screen and the gap is widening, ugly and weird but exactly what I want to see! To the novice eye, looked to me like there’s the beginnings of the bone filling in as well.

SLEEP:
It’s sucked the last few nights. I’m pretty exhausted and I think I’ll be able to get some zzz’s. If not it may be time for another Ambien as I can’t go much more than 1 night without getting some decent sleep.

[bgreeneee]

Day 22:

Growth:
I’m going to hit 16mm today. Somewhere ~6-9mm remaining until I can stop.

Pain:
Very happy that the pain has gone down the past few days. After 12mm it’s definitely been harder for me. Days 19-20 sucked...needed a lot of assistance from my family to move around. As of yesterday, I can now do leg lifts again and so have regained some mobility. The pain is higher now than it was before day 19...but I’ve adjusted and know how to deal with it. I think likely for the remainder of my growth, this pain level is the new normal. It’s not so unbearable that I need stronger pain meds (though i did on days 19 and 20)... I am back on Tylenol or Advil. It’s not constant pain but will stab me when I move certain ways.

New video up today here that summarizes a little more detail.

youtube.com/channel/UC3M6CaDHmoGXDoVOtWymJig/videos

[Michael01]

Nice update. Keep going.

[bgreeneee]

Day 24:
No major changes, I will hit 18mm today. I’m sore to the touch more at top of the knee and generally all over the quad though the outer side is less tender than it has been. I never sleep more than a few hours at a time but piece together 4-5 hours by moving around the house from bed to couch.

Psychologically I’m tired of being sore and sitting around. I got out of the house last night and went to a local college (Stanford) volleyball game. In the end, I don’t think that really helped my psyche but it was worth a shot. It’s a cycle...I can see the end of the growth journey which is awesome but I know there’s another rehab journey right behind it. Very few people around me who know about what I’m doing really understand this journey and have moved on. Even with a “small” LLD correction like me, this is marathon, not a sprint, and you have to push through the cramps along the way. Thankful as always for my faithful wife who is patient with and encouraging to me.

Keep growing....

[bgreeneee]

Day 26:
I had X-rays today and an office visit with the doctor. It’s getting hard to see a discrepancy when I stand. He measured growth at about 21mm and my shoe lift was originally 22mm. I am going to keep growing today and have a full standing X-ray with the radiologist’s analysis tomorrow. Bottom line, I’m within a few days max of being done with growth and being able to start recovery. I haven’t done much PT during the growth phase...he sent the referral today and I will start that later this week. This part of the journey is almost over...looking forward to putting it in the rear view mirror.

https://imgur.com/gallery/FTifvFe

[bgreeneee]

Day 28:
The full LLD analysis X-ray yesterday still shows almost a cm discrepancy. The doctor’s visual comparison in the office on day 26 showed the femurs equal but didn’t easily show the unlevel hips. After looking at the subsequent LLD X-ray, he recommended I keep going. It wasn’t a surprise to me due to my initial calculations but I still had to remotivate myself after the “looks like you are done but let’s get some xrays” I got in the office visit.

I’m going to lengthen until Saturday (4 additional days) and do another LLD X-ray. My femurs are now about even so I’m getting some extra length in my femur to make up for the short tibia as I described in a previous post.

Pain remains consistent... not horrible but enough to continue to affect sleep. In comparison to the CLL cases this is easy, but it still stretches one’s mental toughness. My emotions have been up and down this week, I have a number of counters and charts to keep me motivated and visually show how close I’m getting. Almost there....

[Hamza]

Day 28:
The full LLD analysis X-ray yesterday still shows almost a cm discrepancy. The doctor’s visual comparison in the office on day 26 showed the femurs equal but didn’t easily show the unlevel hips. After looking at the subsequent LLD X-ray, he recommended I keep going. It wasn’t a surprise to me due to my initial calculations but I still had to remotivate myself after the “looks like you are done but let’s get some xrays” I got in the office visit.

I’m going to lengthen until Saturday (4 additional days) and do another LLD X-ray. My femurs are now about even so I’m getting some extra length in my femur to make up for the short tibia as I described in a previous post.

Pain remains consistent... not horrible but enough to continue to affect sleep. In comparison to the CLL cases this is easy, but it still stretches one’s mental toughness. My emotions have been up and down this week, I have a number of counters and charts to keep me motivated and visually show how close I’m getting. Almost there....

Dont stop lengthening untill ur pelvis is leveled. even if u reached even femurs, continue to correct the small amount in tibia from femur.
I am walking now on 1 crutch, pain is still there but getting better day after day.

I saw a similar case like urs at Betz Institute, 27 mm difference between femurs, he was using betz bone and was fine and happy also.

wish u all the best !

[bgreeneee]

Day 33:
I am DONE with distraction. Total distraction ended up at 26.5mm. My hips are level and my feet line up. I bought my first pair of shoes (no lifts) a few days ago and just about cried...well actually I did cry. After living with this for almost 30 years...at age 47 I’m level again. Truly life changing and I will have to watch myself so that I don’t go crazy buying new shoes. Due to insurance (thankfully!!!), the most expensive part of this will definitely be the new shoe shopping.

As far as how I feel physically:
* I got my best night sleep yet last night due to not distracting before I went to bed.
* I feel dramatically better today after stopping the distraction almost 30 hours ago.
* I had my PT this morning and by far the weakest muscles are the abductors that control moving the leg to the side.
* I am not on ANY pain medicine, not even Tylenol. I did take some Tylenol before PT but only precautionary
* My knee flexion was measured at ~114 degrees. It hurts of course pushing beyond that.
* I started using a cane yesterday and dropped the crutches. It’s way easier today after stopping distraction. I can even walk without the cane but prefer the cane for now. Per doctor’s instructions, I did not walk during the distraction phase

I will continue to update this diary occasionally during recovery. I’m absolutely amazed and grateful, life changing to be level again.

[Michael01]

Yay. I read this diary and watched all your videos. Now your journey is complete. After all this time you will live with no discrepancy for the rest of your life. This is very good, enjoy it! Your lengthening was somewhat easy because it was unilateral and not too much. Please keep us update about your consolidation and tell us when you take the rod out.

[daikioni]

Congratulations you deserve it!!

[Ghostfish]

Yay!  You did it!  Congrats! Enjoy your new shoes, lots of new shoes!! 

[bgreeneee]

Update -- Day 48 post surgery:
I am now 2 weeks and a day post completion of distraction. In short, coming along though the impatient person in me wishes it was faster! I did go to the beach last week and put my toes in the sand which was blissful :-)

* I am still using a cane. I stopped using one last week, but have enough pain as I continue to stretch and strengthen that I am using it again. My gait was not smooth with or without a cane and so my PT is working on getting it back to a more natural walk which will come with more strength and flexibility.
* I only go to in-office PT 1X a week. Everything else is on my own.
* I am in consistent need of over the counter pain meds (Advil) to manage the pain at this point. Not severe but consistent due to the increased physical activity.
* I spent a lot of time in the pool last week, swimming and water walking, which was very helpful
* My knee flexion has improved in 2 weeks from 113 to 133 degrees
* I have consistent pain in my knee. I had periodic pain in this same place (below the knee cap) prior to the lengthening but it's more consistent and intense now. I didn't have a great/tight ACL prior so not too surprised by the pain, but certainly hoping the pain subsides once I get my strength back.
* I started back to work at 50% for the month of November. As others have said, I wouldn't recommend working during distraction if you don't have to. Now that I'm working on rehab, I'm thankful that I can go back at a reduced schedule. I could do 100% if I had to, but this gives me some focused time to rehab...after my stretching and exercises, I'm pretty beat.

I'll do a video on my youtube channel later today to show my progress (link in earlier update)

[Hamza]

Update -- Day 48 post surgery:
I am now 2 weeks and a day post completion of distraction. In short, coming along though the impatient person in me wishes it was faster! I did go to the beach last week and put my toes in the sand which was blissful :-)

* I am still using a cane. I stopped using one last week, but have enough pain as I continue to stretch and strengthen that I am using it again. My gait was not smooth with or without a cane and so my PT is working on getting it back to a more natural walk which will come with more strength and flexibility.
* I only go to in-office PT 1X a week. Everything else is on my own.
* I am in consistent need of over the counter pain meds (Advil) to manage the pain at this point. Not severe but consistent due to the increased physical activity.
* I spent a lot of time in the pool last week, swimming and water walking, which was very helpful
* My knee flexion has improved in 2 weeks from 113 to 133 degrees
* I have consistent pain in my knee. I had periodic pain in this same place (below the knee cap) prior to the lengthening but it's more consistent and intense now. I didn't have a great/tight ACL prior so not too surprised by the pain, but certainly hoping the pain subsides once I get my strength back.
* I started back to work at 50% for the month of November. As others have said, I wouldn't recommend working during distraction if you don't have to. Now that I'm working on rehab, I'm thankful that I can go back at a reduced schedule. I could do 100% if I had to, but this gives me some focused time to rehab...after my stretching and exercises, I'm pretty beat.

I'll do a video on my youtube channel later today to show my progress (link in earlier update)

I am approx 3 weeks post surgery and still feel the same pain as u r taking about and when walking without 1 crutch I sway and limp a little bit due to pain above knee and in different thigh places.

I am back to office work since 1 week and definitely my colleagues noticed my swaying but I am obliged to leave the crutch as Dr Betz asked me in order to start relying on myself.

I am stretching 3 times per day by myself and strengthen using elastic cord fixed in the wall for 4 thigh sides, squat with ball on wall use treadmill in 2.5 km/h speed and this is a good training because ur hands can help reduce ur weight.

It will need time definitely to get back to normal situation.
Good luck !!

[bgreeneee]

Day 58 since surgery, almost 4 weeks post distraction
An update on my progress:

* I am still using a cane. I can get along without it for short distances, but my walk is much more natural with it so I maintain use for now. I don’t need a ton of support from the cane so hopefully I’m getting close to dropping it.
* I will be getting an X-ray in a few days to check on the bone growth
* PT has revealed just how much I have compensated with my “good” leg for so long. My gluts especially are very weak...this is definitely slowing my recovery. Quads and hamstring strength coming along.
* My knee flexion is about 140 degrees... more to go but functional
* I tried to stand on one leg at PT a few days ago... I’m definitely not ready for this. My balance is not good on the Stryde leg and I get a shot of pain kind of from the knee up. It took me a few days to recover from trying this, I just took it easy with no formal exercise
* I still have consistent pain in the quad when I do certain things. I’m not sure if it’s just generally strained/tight and needs time to heal or if it needs more strength or what. My PT doesn’t really know either.
*  I’m not consistently on Advil or Tylenol now. I probably average about 2x a day, usually at least one of those is around bedtime
* I ride a stationary bike about 3-5 miles a day. It’s my favorite exercise, feels so much more normal than boring leg lifts :-)

Overall, I will admit to being a little down about my progress this week. Honestly, it’s hard to know what to expect but I wanted more.  It’s hard to see daily progress but looked at over a couple of weeks I can see the small improvements in flexibility and strength. Did I expect to be walking without a cane by now...yes. In the grand scheme of things, a few weeks more won’t matter.

I was reading an daily reading/devotional from the Bible and was reminded to count my blessings. There is an old hymn that says to count your blessings and “name them one by one”. I did just that today. The mental battles don’t stop with distraction, easy to get down without the right focus...there’s so much to be thankful for!

[bgreeneee]

An X-Ray update. Bone healing coming along!!

1. Pre-surgery xray. Easy to see the discrepancy by looking at the top of the hips. The top of the left hip is not even on the xray since it's so much higher.
https://imgur.com/NNyxe5w

2. X-ray from 11/18/2019 - Angle 1. Good bone growth 4 weeks post distraction.
https://imgur.com/cnye5JK

3. X-ray from 11/18/2019 - Angle 2
https://imgur.com/k776qlT