Surgery Week +18, Consolidation Week 1
Day 1
Nothing has changed yet (unsurprisingly) and I still woke up with incredibly sore and tight legs this morning. I had to run the massage gun on my legs before I could even get out of bed and stand up. I have decided to stop lengthening on the right side as well. I don’t think there is a noticeable discrepancy between my femurs. I have to stop at some point and I suppose that point was yesterday. I don’t expect my recovery to be instant, but I’m certainly hoping to see some signs of improvement over the coming days at least, so I can feel some hope.
I took Norco before PT today because I knew it was going to be rough in my current condition. At PT I walked 450 meters on the treadmill in 10 minutes. I started slowly at only 1.2mph, but gradually increased my speed and ended at 2.1mph, which is actually a decent pace for walking. My gait actually felt okay given how tight my legs are and I think my leg muscles are getting stronger. My main problem right now is just tightness/lack of flexibility. For all the other exercises at PT I felt pretty much the same as last week.
Day 2
I passed out pretty early the night before and I woke up at dawn this morning feeling like absolute crap even though I got a ton of sleep. I was sleeping on my back and my hamstrings were so tight that my legs weren’t fully straight so my heels were digging into the bed all night and actually hurt a little. I had to run the massage gun on my legs before I could get up, but it felt really good, which just goes to show how sore I was even while sleeping. I still had some trouble walking though.
I took Norco again before PT, but this time it did absolutely nothing. I didn’t feel any pain relief from the medication during PT. I was tired, even at the start of PT. I rode the stationary bike for 5 minutes at resistance level 4 and only went 0.55 miles. All of the other exercises also felt very difficult compared to usual. I actually felt worse today than any other day during the distraction phase (after recovering from the initial surgery.) While I was doing deadlifts with a 35 lb dumbbell, at the end of 20 reps I heard a loud popping sound in my right leg. Even the PT heard it clearly and was concerned for me. However, I didn’t feel any pain and nothing felt loose or wobbly, so I don’t think it was the nail. Hopefully it was just my hip joint popping, or if it was the nail then hopefully nothing is broken. It’s going to be a while before my next set of X-rays, so I really hope it’s not a structural issue with the nail or a broken screw. At least now that I’m done lengthening I (hopefully) don’t have to worry about mechanical issues with the nail, but until I consolidate I still have to worry about the integrity of the nail itself.
Nothing else interesting has happened so far in consolidation. I need to continue stretching more outside of PT. I definitely don’t have as much motivation to stretch as during the distraction phase since I’m not stretching so I can more easily run the ERC. However, I do hope to have a good recovery by the two month mark post-consolidation so I must keep pushing myself to stretch. I only managed to do one more stretching session at night, but hopefully as my legs feel better it will continually get easier for me to stretch.
Day 3
I woke up feeling a little bit better in my legs this morning, but still very stiff and sore. I think I had a slightly easier time walking around right after getting up, but I’m not even sure. I have a stuffy nose and headache and I’ve been a bit sleepy all morning. Hopefully it’s just a cold and not COVID-19. At least I don’t have a fever so I’m hoping that’s a good sign.
I was very busy with work, and didn’t get a chance to stretch until the late afternoon, but at that time I did a full stretching session even though I wasn’t feeling so great. Overall my legs still don’t feel very good yet, and I can’t get LL off my mind since nothing has changed since last week. I didn’t really have the energy to stretch today, but I know I need to stretch more.
Day 4
I was still feeling a bit below the weather this morning, but at least I think my legs felt a bit better when I woke up. For the first time in days I didn’t need to run the massage gun on my legs just to be able to straighten them out and stand up. I actually slept through my alarm and was awakened by a work message from a colleague, so I got up quickly and stayed busy with work all the way through lunchtime. Everything was okay at lunch, but then in the afternoon I realized that I had lost my sense of smell. I tried eating something and realized that I lost my sense of taste as well! So much for not having COVID-19. I must have gotten it from going to PT! After that I called PT to let them know I might have COVID-19 and then scheduled a rapid test online for the following morning.
I completed a few more stretching sessions in the afternoon and evening, but I wasn’t really in the mood to stretch or do much of anything at all.
Day 5
I woke up feeling just a tiny bit looser (like less than 1%) in my legs, and while it does feel like I’m improving, it’s not happening very quickly at all. I also felt very sick this morning, and I couldn’t even taste the mint flavor in my toothpaste. I took an early lunch break to go and get tested for COVID-19. I can’t believe it still takes multiple days to get test results one year into the pandemic; it must be one of the reasons why there are so many cases in the US.
I felt like absolute crap today and only managed to do one full stretching session done the whole day. I took a warm bath in the evening both for my legs and for my infection. Unfortunately it didn’t really make me feel any better. However, I noticed that it was a bit easier to get in and out of the tub than last week, which is a small victory. My hamstring and quad flexibility is definitely improving even though I’m not stretching as much as I could be. I guess the worst case scenario at this point is if it takes longer than expected to recover, but I don’t see why I wouldn’t continue to recover slowly over time regardless of how hard I work toward it.
Day 6
I slept in today, but didn’t feel all that refreshed. I’ve gotten more than 8 hours of sleep most days this week, but it’s hard to feel refreshed when I’m feeling this sick. However, even though I still have symptoms I believe things are a little better today since my nose is runny instead of stuffy today. Even if overall I don’t feel great, at least my symptoms are progressing. I guess I’ll be more sure that things are going in the right direction if I feel better instead of worse tomorrow. As for my legs, they feel about the same as yesterday, but I didn’t really stretch all that much yesterday. I think I can stretch more today since I feel a little better.
I took my last Xarelto pill today, so I’m completely off all limb lengthening meds now! This early spring weather outside is perfect today. Too bad I can’t go outside and take a walk. Although I’m sick I actually feel like I somehow have plenty of energy in my legs to work out. I guess I should be doing some PT leg training at home since I’m not getting it anywhere else.
I got my COVID-19 test results late at night. I tested positive and I’m not surprised at all. Guess I’ll have to call the PT on Monday to cancel my appointments for the next week or so. At this rate, my legs might be recovered to the point where I don’t need to go to PT anymore by the time it’s okay for me to go outside again haha.
Day 7
This morning I woke up feeling okay in terms of my COVID-19 infection. I can’t tell if it’s getting worse or better, so I assume it’s still just coming along. My legs felt a little tighter this morning than yesterday, but definitely still better than a week ago when I was at my peak tightness. I did a stretching session early in the day and then proceeded with the rest of my day normally (well, normal for someone with two broken legs and COVID-19.)
Today I noticed that while standing up with my thighs straight and bending my knee, both of my heels are able to come up higher than they did one week ago. I strongly believe there should be clear evidence of progress when I record another gait video one week from now. I’m not so sure about the improvement on the hamstring flexibility and raising my knees higher while standing, but my hamstrings are definitely a bit looser today. I can actually bend over and reach kind of close to my feet now. I also feel almost no tightness in the back of my knee when my legs are straightened all the way, which was not the case last week.
The inside half of my shins are still numb on both legs. It would actually be unnoticeable if it was just numbness, but it’s actually simultaneously numb and sensitive at the same time. For example, when I’m sitting in bed under the covers I can feel the blanket rubbing against the shin and it’s actually sensitive to that and a little uncomfortable. However, if I touch the bare skin on my shins with my hands, it’s not sensitive/uncomfortable and it just feels a little numb. At one point during the distraction phase when I was experiencing more nerve issues, the numb part of my shins was actually extra sensitive to hot and cold. It was especially noticeable when I took ice baths and hot baths. However, later on they were no longer temperature sensitive but still retained some numbness to touch. Generally when I wear compression pants I don’t feel weird in my shins, which is why I wore them a lot during the distraction phase (well that and it helped with swelling.) However, now that the weather is getting warmer I’m not really going to be able to wear compression pants normally.
This first week of consolidation actually passed by pretty quickly in retrospect. Sometimes I felt the drag of how slowly my legs were improving and the restriction of not being able to go outside. Going to PT over the last few months was definitely a necessity for me as it was pretty much my only social interaction outside of digital communication. I hope I can quickly improve a lot over the new few weeks so I can start seeing family and friends in person, especially since I’ll be immune to COVID-19 and I won’t have any excuses to hide inside anymore. I’m sure you guys are looking forward to hearing about my interactions with people close to me for the first time after lengthening. I’m certainly interested in their reactions as well! As I get closer to having a normal gait, I’m hoping you guys can also help review how passable my gait is in my videos.
Surgery Week +19, Consolidation Week 2
Day 1
This morning I woke up feeling quite lethargic. Even though I slept for over 8 hours I still didn’t want to get up. Recovering from LL and COVID-19 at the same time is not easy. I think my legs have returned to the level of tightness I felt when I was at around 7cm lengthened. Wearing compression pants last night definitely helped my legs feel better in general. I was quite busy with work today, but I took the time to call PT to inform them about my positive test result and reschedule my future appointments. In the afternoon and evening I did a bit of stretching. I think most of my COVID-19 cold-like symptoms have gone away, but I still feel tired all the time.
Day 2
I woke up feeling so tired this morning. I think one of the worst things about having COVID-19 is sleeping for over 8 hours each night but not feeling refreshed when I wake up. This lack of energy is making me less productive at work, less capable of stretching my legs, and I just don’t feel motivated to do anything. My legs feel about the same level of stiffness as yesterday, so the rate of improvement is very slow. I think if I started walking major distances I would improve faster, but that’s not really possible when I can’t go outside. I guess there’s the possibility of going out for a walk this weekend if I’m asymptomatic. It was a little easier to put on my socks this morning; I have been struggling for a while with socks on the left side due to the lack of flexibility in my left quadricep. I’ll take one small victory at a time I guess. Again, I was too busy at work (and really didn’t have enough energy) to stretch during the day, but I did a longer stretching session in the evening while watching TV. I’m guessing it might be better to spread out my stretching throughout the day if possible though.
Day 3
This morning I woke up feeling very tired again even though I got plenty of sleep. Not having energy is making it difficult to get work done or to work out, both of which are important to me right now. I feel like my legs were actually a little tighter this morning, so it looks like even in the consolidation phase there are some good days and some bad days. I wish that I was still going to PT and that I had more energy so I could stretch every day. Hopefully next week will be better for both my infection and my legs.
In the evening after taking a hot bath, I clipped my toenails for the first time since consolidating. It was much easier to do than when I did it about two weeks ago. Last time I had to sit on a chair and elevate my foot onto another chair to reach my foot. This time I was flexible enough to stand in the bathroom and put each foot on the toilet while maintaining balance. I think overall things are getting easier and easier. I am having less and less trouble doing things that require balance on one leg. I definitely think my improvement would be quicker if I didn't catch COVID-19.
Day 4
It was difficult to get up yet again this morning. I had to force myself to get out of bed and sign into work. I hope I don’t have long COVID. My legs are still pretty tight in the morning, though it’s not as hard to stretch them out as before. Running the massage gun in the morning helps a bit as well, but I’m able to get out of bed immediately and walk to the bathroom without stretching if necessary. I just end up swinging my legs a little more and walk with a terrible gait. I’m really looking forward to when I can walk longer distances and return to PT to help build up more leg strength. I’m not hoping for much at the two week mark post-lengthening, but if I recover from COVID-19 soon then I see a lot of potential for bigger improvements at the four week mark.
Later in the night I gained at least some sense of smell and taste back. Maybe I am finally recovering from COVID-19. Unfortunately, before I went to sleep I felt a bit of nerve discomfort on the bottom of both my shins near my feet. I guess my legs still have some recovering to do in terms of nerve stretching. Hopefully these lingering issues all go away eventually. Putting on compression pants helped with the issue and I ran the massage gun on my legs before falling asleep. I feel like my quads are “looser” than before in that I finally have some slack in the quad muscles when I run the massage gun on them, whereas not too long ago they were tight regardless of whether the muscle was relaxed or flexed.
Day 5
This morning I continued to have trouble getting up due to being tired. My legs are doing okay, though I still feel a little stiff walking around, especially if I don’t stretch first. My glutes are still non-existent; if I sit in bed all day my butt will be uncomfortable. I’m looking forward to getting back some of my “padding” there. My sense of smell and taste are mostly back now, which is a relief since I heard that some people lost those senses for months after contracting COVID-19. Aside from being very tired in the morning, I don’t really have any other symptoms remaining. I only have one more day of quarantine remaining based on guidelines from the city health department. I plan to go outside and take a walk sometime this weekend if the weather permits. I’ll consider starting up PT again next week if they’ll take me.
In the evening when I was charging my electronics, I nearly tripped over my work laptop cord. While I didn’t fall over, I did put a lot more weight down on my right leg to maintain balance. I didn’t feel anything wrong and didn’t hear any sounds coming from my leg so hopefully I didn’t damage the nail. I guess you can never be too careful when it comes to balance in the consolidation phase! I did a stretching session before going to bed, and noticed that my quad flexibility is getting better. I’m sure my hamstring flexibility is getting better, but it’s not as noticeable as the improvement in my quad flexibility lately.
Day 6
This morning I woke up feeling quite tight in the legs. It went away fairly quickly though even as I was sitting in bed for a bit on my computer before getting up. I don’t know when I’ll be back to feeling “normal” first thing in the morning, but right now although my legs feel tight in the morning it doesn’t bother me that much - it’s just a consistent reminder that I did LL. I was a little sleepy this morning, but actually not too bad compared to the last few days, so I think I'm pretty much done recovering from COVID-19. I still have one more day of quarantine though, so I can’t go outside today. I have enough energy to work out at least, so I will be stretching and exercising my legs a bunch today.
Day 7
This morning I was pretty tired, but it might be because I went to sleep late last night rather than still being tired from lingering COVID-19 symptoms. I can finally go outside today since my quarantine period has ended and there are a couple of errands I need to run.
In the late afternoon when it was the warmest outside I went out for a walk. I had a goal of one mile in mind so I walked in one direction and didn’t turn around until I hit the 0.5 mile mark. Due to the pandemic and the fact that it was still a bit cold outside, there weren’t many people outside - mostly just people walking dogs. Interestingly, no one seemed to stare at me so my gait might be somewhat passable, but I was certainly staring at other people trying to emulate their gait (hah.) I ended up walking 1.07 miles (1.72km) at a 33 min/mile pace. This was the longest continuous leg exercise I’ve done since surgery. My heart rate went all the way up to 147bpm at some point, so it was definitely tiring for me and I’m clearly still in a phase of recovery. My terrible anterior pelvic tilt is also still there, so walking for this long actually hurts the small of my back. Hopefully that gets better over time as I get more flexible. I can still feel a lot of my muscles in my leg getting tight as I walk, so my gait is limited by flexibility as well as strength.
When I got home I decided to rest for a bit before trying to record any video since my legs were very tired and my gait would probably be quite sloppy if I tried to film right away. I took a break, then cooked and ate dinner. After dinner and sitting in bed for a while, when I stood up to walk again I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to record a video. My legs were so tired that I couldn’t even force myself to have a reasonable gait without some level of pain from the fatigue. I will record and upload a video soon though as it helps me track my progress.
After another week of consolidation I can say that I've been progressing quite slowly. COVID-19 was definitely a dampener on my recovery, but now that my body has dealt with it, I think I will have a much better recovery over the next two weeks. It has been a lot easier to do stretching sessions in the last few days. I have a time constraint on getting my normal gait back as I have a wedding to attend in a few months where many of my close friends will be present. Hopefully this pushes me to work harder than I would otherwise and stretch more and walk longer distances to recover faster! I plan to call the PT tomorrow morning and restart my appointments for next week if they are okay with me returning.
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Topic: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020 (Read 10798 times)