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[GodsGrace]

Finally, my dream is coming true after a long wait.

[Growing]

Good luck man. A little early to start a journal though.. lol. That’s like 6 months away.. lol.. I’ll be following.. wishing you much vertical increase.

[GodsGrace]

Ha ha. I know. It's 14 more weeks to be precise. I waited for 7 years but waiting now is really checking my patience. LOL.

I was practicing on how to create a topic and didn't want to type too much. Soon I am going to put a detailed content on how my consultation with Dr. Paley and Dr. Robbins went by.

[GodsGrace]

Does anyone know how to create a footer kind of template. I have seen in many diaries. Is it something like they will copy and paste on their each post or we can set it at the profile level so for each post your footer info gets pulled in?

Any help is appreciated. Still learning!!

[Growing]

Does anyone know how to create a footer kind of template. I have seen in many diaries. Is it something like they will copy and paste on their each post or we can set it at the profile level so for each post your footer info gets pulled in?

Any help is appreciated. Still learning!!

I believe you set that up in your profile settings.

[GodsGrace]

Yep. Thanks Growing. I figured out the same. There is a signature option.

[Growing]

Yep. Thanks Growing. I figured out the same. There is a signature option.

Yes that's it.

[GodsGrace]

Pre-op Day:

Alright, today is my pre-op day with Dr. Robbins. Everything went well including COVID testing. Tomorrow (Jan11th, 2022) morning 8.00 AM is the surgery and I have been asked to be in the hospital by 6.00 AM. Feeling excited and at the same time little antsy. Hope everything goes smoother.

[canterk]

You will be fine, looking forward to your post-op updates

[GodsGrace]

Surgery has been pushed to a week later due to POSITIVE covid testing results. OMG!!

I went to hospital by 6 AM in the morning, checked in at the front desk, have been waiting in the lobby and was all excited. Suddenly a nurse came and took me out mentioned that my covid testing result shows POSITIVE. The hospital must have informed yesterday evening but they forgot to update me. They said sorry that you should have been informed but there's been a miscommunication. Anyways, now I need to wait for a week and reschedule the surgery. They informed the doctors and I also informed them. The new surgery date is 01/18/2022 as of now and again I will be covid tested on 01/17/2022. Hope everything goes smoother by then.

I need to be quarantined for a week which I am doing right now.

[GodsGrace]

Does anyone know how to update the topic's subject? I want to edit the date on the subject. If I click on reply and update the date on the subject field it updates only that particular reply. I want the topic's subject to be updated on all the posts. Any help is appreciated.

[GodsGrace]

Alright guys! the surgery is done. I will summarize as much as possible that I am able to recollect.

Note: I am only willing to post very generic information so please respect my privacy. Having said that I will definitely post my xrays as this diary would be my only source of information of my own journey even for me.


01/17/2022 - pre-admission testing day - So I quarantined for a week and was all prepared for the covid test again and I was on the way to the hosptial and 10 mins before I reach I got a call that I don't need to come for a covid test again just come tomorrow directly for the surgery. I was shocked and replied that the last time the chief nurse was so adamant and she won't even talk to me. Then the coordinator on the phone said ok you don't need to worry we will call them and update them since you are here just go and finish up the pre-op blood work.

So I was trying to check in at the front desk and again the same confusion as the receptionist wasn't ready to check me in for pre-op blood work without a covid test again. SMH. Then I had to explain what happened and they called the coordinator she talked to them and clarified again.

Now the third part is also the same with nurse department. LOL. The funny thing is she took my vitals, 4 vials of blood, urine sample. and chest x-ray and after all that she was asking me where is your covid testing report. I said they didn't give and it was done last week and since covid was positive they pushed the surgery to this week and finally they said no need for covid test again as I was asymptomatic and quarantined for a week. Nope she was not even ready to listen to me. Then I said please talk to the chief nurse. She talked to her but she also wanted to talk to the coordinator and finally she had a soft voice and ever since after that she was very kind to me LOL. I don't blame her as she was trying to note down everythinh in the system about all the conversation and trying to save her job.

Finally, she gave me a tag with my name and bar-codes in it. I was asked not to eat anything after 12.00 AM and not to drink after 4.00 AM. and I can drink clear water drinks such as water, gato, and apple juice. She asked me to shave my legs if possible. I know my legs are hairy.

I was back home bought few necessary stuff, shaved my legs and trimmed my entire body. Oh boy I felt very light weight without hair in my body.

Had a heavy lunch and dinner and fruits. As usual I didn't get the sleep until 2.30 AM as I was very excited and at the same time I know I am getting into an unknown. All the knowledge you gain over 6 or 7 years will help you after the surgery but not the day before the surgery, LOL. But it was a great feeling!!

[GodsGrace]

I even took a covid testing at a private facility on friday (01/14/2022 - 4th day of my quarantine) to make sure my quarantine works. I was only able to do a Rapid test and even for that they charged me 100 bucks but guys the rapid testing result is no good for anything except for your personal satisfaction. The CVS and walgreens and few other pharmacies they have shortage of testing kits and I wasn't able to get a free appointment for about a month with 25 testing centers near me. Crazy. Beware that this private testing facilities are charging a crazy money. If you want PCR testing it starts with 250$ for report in 48 hours, 350$ for report with in 24 hours and 400$ for report in 5 hours.  I am only recording his information maybe it could help someone.

Alright, enough about my pre-op day, moving on to surgery day.....

[GodsGrace]

Surgery Day - 18-Jan-2022 - Part 1:


Woke up at 3.30 AM (started sleeping at 2.30 AM, LOL). Had almost one full bottle of gato and again went to bed and woke up at 3.55 AM and again forced myself to drink 3/4 of 500 ml gato and 100 ml water. Guys trust me it works great and it worked great on me. Because I wanted to have a very good bowel movement before I go to the hospital. Again slept at 4 AM and woke up at 5.00 AM. I didn't have to push anything my No.2 was a smooth outcome as I expected. Got ready and reached the hospital at 6.10 AM, checked in, and waited for about 15 mins that's when I saw few other guys. I am already commenting on "motoboarder" diary. Glad he is doing the Quadrilateral same as me.

A nurse stopped by and took me inside the nurses room and assigned me a bed and asked me to wear the sugical gown. Boy, at that moment I felt 100% that things are happening. Took a deep breath and a big sigh!! I am in the gown now and was asked to laydown on the bed. I didn't want anyone staying with me in the hospital after surgery. But I brought my laptop and few energy bars and my wallet inside my backpack. So they had to call a security guy who will check all your stuff and give a recepit and also attach a tag with the same details on your wrist band.

Then she started checking my vitals again and pressure was little high maybe because of the excitement so she gave me some anti-depression something through my IV inlet. She attached 2 IV inlets one on your right and one on your left. Then the anastheseloigists came by and explained that the surgery would be held under local anasthesia and once surgery is done they will give numbness injection(s) in your hip that will keep your lower part of the body numb for about 6-8 hours.

After anastheseloigists left, the nurse gave me 1 gabapantin and 2 tylenol. I asked why is this for and she was kind enough to explain me that studies have been found it does some chemical reaction in your liver which will help absorb pain main medication effectively. Somethings were too technical and at this moment I was already 40% passed out because of the anti depression drug. I was just simply nodding my head.

She checked on my leg and asked me did you shave your leg? In a half sleep I said yes, then she started saying oh no you should not be doing that and it will give you very tiny /micro scratches under your skin and they may stop the surgery..blah..blah..blah..I know she was joking but I was unable to reciporacte with her as I was drowsy and I was simply looking at her and keep smiling. Then the other nurse came by and said she is only trying to give a hard time as I asked you to shave (she was the one asked me to shave the previous day). It was just for fun. She was rubbing my leg under the knee and near the calf area to make sure there is no tiny hair left where the incision sites will be made. I just wanted to make it a bit more fun and asked her it's smooth and soft right? that's it she started laughing and asked me are you trying to flirt with me? I said I wish I could but I am already sleeping and I am not even looking at you when I am making these comments. She said good luck and they will be here shortly to take you to the OP room.

Finally, the stretcher guy came and they started rolling me to op room. Here is the part I don't understand. Most of the guys mentioned that they went to the OP room, saw the big lights, and few said hi to the doctors. For me nothing of that sort I remember. No matter how hard I try I am unable to recollect my memories on that part. The moment they started rolling me the next thing I know is I was in a place where there were lots of operated people like me and the nurses/physician assistants shouting like a fish market fighting for the room, clearance,,dah..dah...dah and I remember staying there for about 30 mins. They even made fun of my full name LOL and funny thing is I remember that part rock solid as I was regaining my consiousness back.

The guy's name is Alex and he helped me move to my room. He was mentioning that he had to handle 4 patients today and I was the smoothest of all for that day as I didn't require more local anasthesia for my surgery. Others were little old and different surgeries it seems so they had to give them more but there is an approval process if someone needs more anasthesia than the recommended quantity and it's not easy. Anyways, all I said was thanks for taking care of me. He dropped me in the room and not sure if I can ask but asked him anyways do you accept tips? He said sorry sir none of us would accept a tip here. I said once my process is over I will take you out for drinks. He smiled and left me in the room.

[tallerwouldbenice]

Are you staying at one of the partner hotels?

You must be about to be discharged from the hospital. They will give you a prescription for strong painkillers. Use them sparingly! If you take the maximum amount, they will last you a mere 1 to 2 weeks, but your post-op pain might not subside before week 3 or 4. If you're still in pain at that time and without painkillers, you will be up shxt creek without a paddle, my friend.

[GodsGrace]

Hey tallerwouldbenice, yes I am well aware of that situation based on my readings from lot of diaries in the past few years. Thanks for the heads up though. I was discharged yesterday (11/22/2022) and I am not staying in one of the partner hotels. I am trying to save on oxycodone and they recommended me to take 1 for every 6 hours when in pain. I am trying to take only 1 for every 12 hours for now. With the help of tylenol 650 mg every 4 hours I am able to manage for now.

So far I would say the swelling part is the worst and which makes things horrible for now. Also the tightness of the plasters with the swelling wow what a deadly combination it's like a balloon that's about to be burst or something that is about to explode under your knees. The Polar Bear ice pack machine is the savior so far with swelling. In my case it doesn't reduce the swelling it just numbs the area so I can feel 30-40% less swelling pain. But if I don't keep the ice pack on my leg even for 20 mins forget it and it goes back to 100% swelling pain. So keeping that for more than 20 hours in a day for now.

[GodsGrace]

Surgery day part 2, day 2, day 3, day 4, and day 5(discharge day) updates are still pending. I need to verify my notes and compose the content but I am finding it really hard with my current pain and the things that I do to keep the pain bearable. I will definitely update those info as soon as my time permits.

By the way, my first PT has been scheduled for tomorrow (01/24). That's going to be another super fun stuff, 

[motoboarder]

Hey tallerwouldbenice, yes I am well aware of that situation based on my readings from lot of diaries in the past few years. Thanks for the heads up though. I was discharged yesterday (11/22/2022) and I am not staying in one of the partner hotels. I am trying to save on oxycodone and they recommended me to take 1 for every 6 hours when in pain. I am trying to take only 1 for every 12 hours for now. With the help of tylenol 650 mg every 4 hours I am able to manage for now.

So far I would say the swelling part is the worst and which makes things horrible for now. Also the tightness of the plasters with the swelling wow what a deadly combination it's like a balloon that's about to be burst or something that is about to explode under your knees. The Polar Bear ice pack machine is the savior so far with swelling. In my case it doesn't reduce the swelling it just numbs the area so I can feel 30-40% less swelling pain. But if I don't keep the ice pack on my leg even for 20 mins forget it and it goes back to 100% swelling pain. So keeping that for more than 20 hours in a day for now.

Gad to hear you got back. For me I tried to control my pain med as 3 times a day, each time Tylenol 650mg (2 325mg pills). Oxycodone gave me some negative illusion like some naughty cousins jumping on my legs as joke (I'll write more details in my diary).

Do you start wearing the required boots for tibia patient yet?

You sure we should stay on the ice machine >=20h a day? I was a bit slack on that guess I should do more..

[GodsGrace]

Gad to hear you got back. For me I tried to control my pain med as 3 times a day, each time Tylenol 650mg (2 325mg pills). Oxycodone gave me some negative illusion like some naughty cousins jumping on my legs as joke (I'll write more details in my diary).

Ha ha ha. I am not getting a negative illusion like you but as soon as I take tylenol and oxy I immediately pass out for like 30 mins to an hour with full of dreams and suddenly will wake up with an acute pain bcoz my legs will be in different positions and some other things and it will take about another 30 mins or so for that deadly pain to subside. It's very wierd things but learning to live with that.[/size][/size]


Do you start wearing the required boots for tibia patient yet?

They forgot to order the dorsiflexion boot for me as it needs to be readily available before your PT starts at least that's what the guy by name Edward from Falks prosthetics told me. He visited me on thursday (01/20/2022) and prepared a mould with my swollen legs and told me that my braces would be ready by next wednedsay (01/25/2022) and the patient need to come to their Jupiter (branch) office to pick it up and that's when they will tell you how to use that also.

You sure we should stay on the ice machine >=20h a day? I was a bit slack on that guess I should do more..

I am pretty sure about it and Pam was very adamant about that. Pam and Noor are the in-patient PTs available. At least for me they visited me every  day from day 2 of the surgery. They kept the 2 pads of the polar bear machine right on top of the incision sites using a pillow cover and for the first 30 mins it was feeling good but as the time goes on since the cold water keeps on circulating inside the pads I felt very heavy and it was pressing my incision/wound sites and i could not bear the heaviness. I thought screw it and didn't use the whole night and the next day until 4 PM as  that's when my PT session will be. I told her I felt heavy so I didn't use it, that's it. She didn't like my answer at all and told me clearly like a warning there's a reason why we are giving this ice pack machine and this is the only natural remedy to keep the swelling under control and medicines will only help a bit. Ever since after that I made sure at least it stays on for 20 hours but in a more comfortable way for me. Trust me they don't understand the discomfort or pain that you suffer so we need to learn as we try out things. So I keep it on the knee first and when the discomfort starts, I will move it down towards the ankle, then to under the calf, then to above the knee. I will keep in each position until I feel the discomfort and repeat the cycles in this way most swelling areas will get the cooling therapy. At night mostly I will keep under my calf for about 6-8 hours because that is the only place where you don't feel any discomfort at all or at least for a longer period of times. Hope you get the point.

[GodsGrace]

I started composing from my notes , oh boy I am completely drowsy and tired bcoz of the medications and I realized that I was making lots of mistakes in the dates and explanations and it took me 20 mins just to post replies for motoboarder Qs. I will try and post it tomorrow. Good night and peace.

[GodsGrace]

A Good and a bad thing. The ice cubes in ice pack machine will last only for 4 to 5 hours. Every 5 hours you need to drain the water and refill it with ice cubes again and only then it can produce the required coolness. I am buying 2 icecube bags of 10 lbs from publix and it's good for 24 hours.

Good - I had a sound sleep for about 7 hours. 4 hours + 3 hours
Bad -  All icecubes melted after the first round of sleep and I woke up at around 2.30 AM to pee and came back to bed. I didn't want to disturb my wife for the refill. Oh boy that's a mistake. After the second round of sleep I woke up with heavy tightness from knee to toe and I can't even slightly bend my knee or ankle at all. I immediately asked my wife to refill the icecubes and kept the pads for about 15 mins then the tighness came down.

[ReadRothbard]

How much do you plan on doing with your tibias?

[GodsGrace]

My target is 10.5 cms in total. 4.5 cms in tibia and 6 cms in femur. But if my body gives me a cushion to push then I will do 5 cms in tibia and 6.5 in femurs max.

[ReadRothbard]

Oh, I didn't realize this was quadrilateral.

[GodsGrace]

I am new to posting on this site so I don't know how to edit the subject. I was asking for help and since nobody responded I just left it like that. Even I tried few options but no luck.

I updated that info on motoboarder's diary as him and I had the tibia surgery on the same day and going to have the femurs done on the same day as well.

[ReadRothbard]

Well, I envy you. I wish I could afford to do 15 cm with Dr. Paley.

[GodsGrace]

Well, I envy you. I wish I could afford to do 15 cm with Dr. Paley.

It took me 6 years to save up this money brother. Of course I could have done it 2 years ago but I would have done only femurs at that point. I wanted to do both segments with safe limits so that the recovery would be faster. Just didn't want to lengthen only one segment too much. Considering my starting height is only 5'2" I wanted to gain 4 inches for sure so waited for few more years to save up the money. I was able to stay focused on my dream mainly with the help of this forum and the old one.

[GodsGrace]

Tomorrow is a big and busy day for me. I have an appointment with Nuvasive team to get my lengthening device and I would officially start my tibial lengthening tomorrow. Also at 4 PM my first out-patient PT session. Hope everything goes well tomorrow.

[GodsGrace]

Surgery Day - 18-Jan-2022 - Part 2:

Once I was moved to the room the nurse came and introduced herself to me. I was half sleepy and after 6 PM I slowly started to feel the pain. One nurse to check your vitals like every 3 to 4 hours and another one to give you the medications as needed. They checked my vitals around 7 PM and by that time I would say my pain level is around 3 to 4. After 8 PM the pain level I had was around 8 and they gave me oxycodone. That's it from there till morning 7 AM I was in the severe pain ranging from 8 to 10 all the time. I got fever and lots of chills through out the night. I keep calling them every 2 hours as other LL veterans mentioned in their diaries. After midnight I had to call them every 90 mins. The cycle was like this, started with oxy, 2 hours after 2 tylenol, 2 hours after morphine, and some valium in between for muscle spasms however I don't remember the exact details. All I can is I was in a lot of pain and kept calling them and told the nurse I am having so much of pain and he checked the system and there are notes for different pain levels that the doctors have recommended for me and he referred to that and said I can give you this and that and I said please I can take anything that helps reduce the pain. Some part of the nights there were very acute and sharp pains I would say 10/10 which lasted for about 10 mins. Somehow I survived the night and I kept saying to myself every single second that everything is going to be alright in the morning and just live through the pain.


When we read the diaries we all will come to an understanding to ourselves that ok the pain is going to be like this much or something of that sort but do a 2x to 3x to your understanding because the pain will be worse more than your imagination if the pain killers don't work for you. In my case, the pain killers did not alleviate much pain for me. But yes the only way to conquer the pain is to go through the pain.

[GodsGrace]

Day 2 - Jan-19-2022


Dr Robbins stopped by around 7.30 AM and asked me hey sleepy head how are you doing? LOL. I said I am in lot of pain and he replied I know, I know...He asked me do you remember I was talking to you after the surgery in the operation theatre? I didn't remember anything and I said no. He checked my feet and asked me to push his hands and he was touching different parts of the feet and asking if I could feel and I was able to. He started explaining everything went well but there are 2 fingers in your left foot that are dropping. It may take few days/weeks/months to come back to its original state. The thumb and 4th finger from the thumb are dropping on my left foot. I don't have any issues on my right foot. If I try to pull my toe towards my body all 5 fingers on my right are pointing towards my body. But on my left the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th fingers are pointing towards my body but the 1st (thumb) and 4 th fingers are dropping towards ground. I asked him should I be worried about this and is this a complication? He said no it is not a complication and usually with the constant PT it will wake up and regain its senses. Hope that's the case. Fingers crossed. He asked me any other questions and left.

Nurse stopped by after Dr.Robbins left and asked me how was your sleep? I said I could not sleep even for a single second bcoz of lot of pain. She said I will see if I can change your pain med a little bit and if that helps. Along with Tylenol, valium, and morphine she added the tonadol also and it helped me a bit. Again I am not too sure about all these medicines they talk too fast with drug names and I was very drowsy/sleepy and it was hard for me to follow her. I asked her could you please write the names in a paper and share it with me. She wrote Tylenol, Valium, Tonadol, Protonix, and Miralax. The protonix is for avoid acidity or acid formation and miralax is a laxative (Stool softner) and along with that an antibiotic in the IV.

I took the advice from one of the LLVeterans (his own personal experience) from his diary that I don't want to go to number 2 for 3 days so for the first 3 days I ate very less since all the energy you need you are getting from IV. Also told the nurse no laxatives for me. It worked out very well for me. First 3 days no bowel movement. However, the night of the surgery day (Jan-18-2022) I was literally died to pee. My bladder was really full and I was in lot of pain they gave me a bottle and I kept on trying and nothing comes out. When I tried to push I felt the pain from the bladder and also felt like all the incision sites were ripping apart. I asked the nurse if you could take me to bathroom he said you can't walk until your PT is done the next day but he said you can try to sit and come to the edge of the bed and try from that position (I was anyways going to do that and he suggested the same). It took me a lot of time to come to the edge of the bed and used the support of the dining table and finally pee-ed. After that every 1 to 2 hours I was able to pee from the bed itself.


In the afternoon the in-patient PT guys came (Pam and Noor). They taught me the necessary exercises that I need to do 3 times a day while I am on the bed. There was no walker on that so we didn't do the walking practice. Following are the exercises,

Ankle pumps - 20x - both legs together
Quad sets - 20x - both legs together
Glute sets (butt squeeze) - 20x
Leg lifts - 10x on each leg leg
Knee bends - 10x on each leg
Leg out + in - 10x on each leg
Leg kicks from the edge of the bed - 10x on each leg.

They also set me the Polar Beach ice pack machine and once I started using that I could feel less swelling pain.

After these workouts took pain killers and slept for about 2 hours in the evening.

Again in the night the pain started to shooting up. Constantly 6 and above but not more than 8. Better than the first night after the surgery.

[GodsGrace]

Day 3 - Jan-20-2022


Things have started to become a routine. Had a 2 to 3 hours of sleep yesterday night. Started watching movies in my laptop and few videos in my phone if I don't get the sleep. The ice pack machine was actually helpful as it numbs the area of swelling so you will have a less discomfort in terms of senses but the legs will still be heavy if you try to change directions. I had responded back to motoboarder's question about using the ice pack and I am pasting the same content here as it explains how I was and am still able to use that ice pack machine for more than 20 hours a day


Question from motoboarder: You sure we should stay on the ice machine >=20h a day? I was a bit slack on that guess I should do more..

My answer: I am pretty sure about it and Pam was very adamant about that. Pam and Noor are the in-patient PTs available. At least for me they visited me every  day from day 2 of the surgery. They kept the 2 pads of the polar bear machine right on top of the incision sites using a pillow cover and for the first 30 mins it was feeling good but as the time goes on since the cold water keeps on circulating inside the pads I felt very heavy and it was pressing my incision/wound sites and i could not bear the heaviness. I thought screw it and didn't use the whole night and the next day until 4 PM as  that's when my PT session will be. I told her I felt heavy so I didn't use it, that's it. She didn't like my answer at all and told me clearly like a warning there's a reason why we are giving this ice pack machine and this is the only natural remedy to keep the swelling under control and medicines will only help a bit. Ever since after that I made sure at least it stays on for 20 hours but in a more comfortable way for me. Trust me they don't understand the discomfort or pain that you suffer so we need to learn as we try out things. So I keep it on the knee first and when the discomfort starts, I will move it down towards the ankle, then to under the calf, then to above the knee. I will keep in each position until I feel the discomfort and repeat the cycles in this way most swelling areas will get the cooling therapy. At night mostly I will keep under my calf for about 6-8 hours because that is the only place where you don't feel any discomfort at all or at least for a longer period of times. Hope you get the point.


Got a session on how to use the walker today. Oh boy it freaks me out definitely not the pain part but the nail bending part. Took about 8 to 10 steps and wheeled back to my bed. Also did the PT exercises.

Happily taking all the drugs/tablets what they give to me and saying no to the laxatives. Still haven't eaten any meal. I have eaten so far 5-6 energy bars whenever my stomach rumbles and 1 or 2 bread that came as part of the meal. Also started drinking coffee couple of times a day and more juices whenever I need them.

One thing while using the ice pack machine is that I keep getting chills because of the prolonged usage of the ice pack machine. So I asked the nurse to increase the temperature to 78 and yes that helped a lot. I am sweating and ice pack feels great on my legs while sweating.