I said I was going to update only weekly, but if my notes are long it may be twice weekly
Day 12: feeling much better, when resting or moving I don’t have much complaints. The top right pinsite has healed from being sore and pretty painful which is great. Knees still slightly stiff/ache from laying down too much. Left leg bending almost like right knee bending, it was very hard to bend a couple days ago but got much better.
Did physical therapy yesterday, sessions getting harder because physical therapist increasing intensity slowly with each session, but still fairly easy.
I am basically independent at this point although slow, but if I didn’t have my wife I could use restroom and wash by myself, answer door for food delivery, get in / out my wheelchair by myself. Still hard to get a good nights rest and about every hour I’ll get 1-3 minutes of nerve pain but besides that I’m okay. Went to emaar avm mall again and it was dreadfully boring, it’s like my 5th time there, but my wife wanted something there she saw last time and forced me to go.
Day 13: small quiet clicking sound when I bend my right knee when walking unassisted, non painful. Thinking it’s the bone clicking everyone talks about, not painful but just sounds cringy, like chewing cartilage. Learning to ignore it. Legs no longer swollen. Biggest complaint is there is pain to the bone left of my private, that inner fold there, when walking unassisted. Only left side, Always been there but figured it would be gone by now. Only there when putting a lot of weight on that leg when walking without a walker. 3/10 maybe, not a big deal. Had bandages changed today, stung but no infections so far. Currently looking for small ways to cheat the discomfort, such as sleeping backwards with my feet pushing against the headpost so I can fall asleep with my knees bent. I’m even tempted to cut out a piece of the mattress to fit my fixator in sideways so I can sleep sideways since it doesn’t hurt rolling over/putting weight on it anymore, but probably won’t take it that far. Hey, resourcefulness is 1/4 of the battle.
Update* pain in right thigh top pinsite came at midnight. Feel a heartbeat in the area by pin and a 6/10 pain when putting pressure like sitting up/walking. Hoping it’ll be better tomorrow morning after I get some rest
Day 14: I’m a week into lengthening now, should be 1/3 of an inch taller now lol, can’t tell, except I was 1cm taller than my wife and now it seems like I have about an inch. most people don’t notice considerable difference till 2’ . Pain got somewhat better but still hurts near right leg top pinsite considerably when sitting and standing up/down, and pain starting near top left pinsite now. Pinsite pain seems to go into the surrounding area down to bottom thigh. It mainly hurts when trying to sit up and stand down, and when walking hurts but much less. At rest you don’t feel it.
A couple days Ago I felt pretty good actually, no complaints really except that I couldn’t sleep on my side with knees bent like I’ve been doing all my life.
I hope this isn’t a constant cycle of healing, being good for a couple days, then having problems/pain again. It probably is since there are open wounds in your thighs trying to constantly heal. There is a white goey substance around the pins, most likely white blood cells trying to heal. Pins look kind of gory, I avoid looking at them. I feel like one of the
bandages purpose is that as well.
Was told I could shower now but have to change bandages every time I do. Very happy I can shower, I hand wash daily face chest and armpits, but I only do a full body cleaning every 3 days. My privates smell like aged cheese after day 2. I don’t mind changing my bandages every day if I can shower every day. Tomorrow they will be giving me two months worth of bandage supplies. I had a burning itching sensation near my bandages, I think they are too tight, not sure but I took them off. I smelled the bandages for infection and they smell clear and clean. Hopefully doesn’t affect anything negatively by taking them off. I left the doctors supplied hotel as my 10 days are finished, was happy because the internet barely worked there so couldn’t binge watch movies when bored. Staying at Marriott Asia hotel and going to my Airbnb tomorrow.
Today was a really bad day, I went to a shopping center regardless of pinsite pain. Had a really bad taxi driver. There was a lot of speed bumps in the area and he didn’t slow down for them much which really hurt because I already had pain near pinsites. Not to mention he almost crashed literally 4 times. Someone would be coming fast and he would take a turn and cut them off no signal, one car slammed on their breaks and was about 2-3 feet from hitting us. What a stupid idiot, no consideration driving like that with a post surgery patient. My wife said something to him in English but he didn’t understand. All the other taxi drivers were good so far but today was the day. Then when leaving the mall, it was a steep hill and very windy and while standing I lost my footing for a second, stepped down the curb, I put all my weight on one leg and it hurt pretty bad. Pain went away eventually, feels ok now.
I probably shouldnt be going out so much in my condition, it is very risky
but I also hate being in a room all day, was never much of a homebody, and it also combats my knee pain/aches since I am in sitting position all day with them bent in wheelchair.
I’ve had NO problems at all going out every day since hospital release except during the weekend curfew but today I faced a lot of obstacles. To top it all off, I had a bowel movement since I drank coffee today, the Marriott hotel toilet seat is so low to the ground it’s lower than my knees when I am standing up. It looks almost like a kid toilet. I was trying to sit down and atcertain point of bending my legs give out and have no strength, and my wife was helping but could not hold my weight and I basically plopped on it from 12 inches which gave me 7/10 pain, enough to make me verbally yell. I was stuck after I finished, my knees were way higher than my hips, that’s how small the stupid toilet was. Terrible construction. It took a lot of pain and effort from me and my wife to get off the toilet and stand. For a second I thought I was going to have to call the hotel staff to help. Thank the lord I didn’t have to
On June 3rd I will have my first lengthening xray.
Picture of Marriott toilet
https://imgur.com/gallery/D2auRUdDay 15: I had showered and left my bandages off after the night before. The shower felt amazing, after 2 weeks of handwashing. Definitely improved blood flow to my legs. Although it was exhausting, I stood the whole time for 45 minutes with a walker and starting feeling very dizzy sometimes. Afterwards I went to sleep after drying everything, but the fixator is very hard to dry, it has so many inner crevices that hold water.
Woke up with all my pins oozing a lot of a yellow clearish substance. Even after cleaning it off, it would ooze again. Scared me quite a bit, substance was slightly sticky, but did not have a smell or smell of infection. Assistant came with 2 months worth of bandages supplies, and dropped them off. Paid about 90$ usd. I started by showering again and getting all the dried substance with a q tip. Washed it with water pressure but no soap. After I dried it off I cleaned it very well with the antibacterial and bandaged it again. Felt way better, I did the bandages myself very good for my first try. Do not feel it oozing or anything.
Extremely cautious when showering with my walker, if I fall or slip it will be the end of me The bandages prevent your pins from moving in and out and actually help with discomfort and pain. I will not be leaving them off at all.
A lot of my pinsite pain went away but now I have knee pain on left leg and pain in the inner fold of the left leg. I guess this is going to be a cycle of different pain. I wish I could get a good nights rest so bad, I don’t feel completely satisfied with my sleeping. Still have like 2 months to go, gonna be tough but I’ll have to push through it. Seems when something heals, another pops up. A few days ago I felt good as I could be at rest, now I have different pains coming and going, they are bearable but affect my quality of life, getting in and out of taxis is considerably painful with pinsite pain. I’m the most comfortable when sitting in my wheelchair with a pillow under me honestly. At the moment I’m happy I can now shower and that I think my pinsites are good and clean now, and hopefully will not have any liquid substance coming out anymore.
Author
Topic: LON Femur 7.5cm with halil buldu may 13th, 2021 God-Willing (Read 47653 times)