Day 109 Post-op (Sun., Nov. 8 ) - Consolidation Day 28
Day 110 Post-op (Mon., Nov. 9) - Consolidation Day 29
Day 111 Post-op (Tue., Nov. 10) - Consolidation Day 30
Day 112 Post-op (Wed., Nov. 11) - Consolidation Day 31
Day 113 Post-op (Thurs., Nov. 12) - Consolidation Day 32
Day 114 Post-op (Fri., Nov. 13) - Consolidation Day 33
Day 115 Post-op (Sat., Nov. 14) - Consolidation Day 34
Day 116 Post-op (Sun., Nov. 15) - Consolidation Day 35 ** Weekly updates make more sense (than daily updates) during consolidation. I still list all the days; just in case someone would like to search for a certain day. E.g., searching for "112" would hopefully point at the post with the updates related to Day 112.
Updates:
Exercises: I have continued to do the stretching exercises I had posted here. Typically 3 sessions per day with each session taking about 20 minutes. I also do a couple short indoor cycling sessions per day. In addition to walking here and there at home to do my work and run errands, I make sure to walk 1.5 miles daily in a park nearby. I am sure I can walk for much longer distances, but I get bored walking in the park doing nothing
Gait and Flexibility:Walks: I have experienced major improvement since distraction stopped and that has continued in the last week. My wait is getting close to normal. There is a high chance for most of my walks, others may not notice anything abnormal. I also walk a lot faster and my speed is back to normal (speed pre-surgery). I used to walk fast pre-surgery; much faster than typical; now I am back at it!
Running: I cannot yet run, but I can kinda do a marathon looking run.
Stairs: Going downstairs has been fairly manageable for weeks now, but climbing upstairs unassisted was not easy for my right leg. That is resolved. I can now climb upstairs with right leg having sufficient strength so I can make it look normal. I am still slow. I have to build up more strength and I know it's gonna happen soon.
Flexibility: I think I can now keep my legs very straight without any knee bending issues, while standing tall.
As for bending legs, I see major improvement: I can now bend my right knee all the way to 170 degrees or so. It's very close to my right foot touching my butt. My left is still lagging behind and I think I can bend my left to 160 degrees or so. My quads get a bit sore. At times they feel like rocks, and they are the major barrier for not getting the full 180 degrees bending yet. I hope this will happen in a week or two.
I suffered from flat butt post-op. However, my gluteus muscles (butt muscles) grew fairly quickly post distraction. My butt does not look normal like pre-op normal, but definitely not flat either! By Day 180, I hope to have developed stronger gluteus muscles (than before the surgery) cause of the regular stretching and walking I do every day.
As I said before my goal is to be back to pre-surgery status by Day 180. Swimming is a major part of it. I hope to try swimming for the first time next week and see where I am!
Pain: I have been painkiller free since Oct 20th (Day 90 Post-op, also Consolidation Day 9). I still experience discomfort, but the times has shifted from late afternoon to late evening, i.e., starting around 7~8pm or so and continues till post-midnight. I don't describe it as pain, but a feeling of discomfort. If I were to number the discomfort based on comparison to pain out of a max level 10, I would say the discomfort at night times ranges between 1 and 3 on each leg, almost equally; almost, cause I feel numb in the left tibia (minor, not too bad).
Numbness: I have overall had 19 fast distraction days with 1.33mm daily distractions: 5 days at the beginning and 14 more later on following Dr. M.'s plan to avoid any premature consolidation, after he found out I had extreme callus growth!
As a result I may be one of the fastest (if not exactly the fastest) CLL'ers to achieve 8cm [My record of 8cm is 72 days!!]. That however must have come with some side effects, e.g., I experienced more pain during the fast distraction days. Also the numbness on my left tibia could be the result of fast distraction. Unfortunately the numbness is not yet resolved. Dr. M. told me that it would resolve over time. I hope it will!
Night Sleeps: My night sleeps have improved quickly post distraction phase. Overall I sleep more than 8 hours per day, but I still wake up one to three times during the 8 hours, not because of pain, but just randomly or to go to restroom!
Please let me know if I missed on any updates!