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Author Topic: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020  (Read 33350 times)

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L8GrowthSpurt

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #93 on: March 15, 2021, 02:54:44 AM »

Congrats BTM! I have very much enjoyed following your journey. Hope to hear about the consolidation phase as you have time. It must be such a relief to get the distraction phase done ✅ ; good job! Thanks for all the deets along the way - very interesting and helpful to me for hopefully following in your footsteps once stryde is back 👍
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CLL wannabe - waiting for Stryde return
171.5 cm (morning height)
171 cm (day height)
Wingspan: 179 cm
Goal height - 179 cm (femurs)

Atlantic

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #94 on: March 21, 2021, 12:08:42 AM »

Great diary  ;D  ;D
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readyprecisestryde

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #95 on: March 23, 2021, 05:35:19 AM »

Congrats BTM and wishing you a fast recovery  :)
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BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #96 on: March 27, 2021, 08:04:48 PM »

Thanks for all the messages of support everyone! Not too much has changed yet, but I will record a walking video and update my journal tomorrow.

wow you reached the summit  :)

Many congratulations! your gait looks great!
Thanks, RD! It's okay for having just finished 8cm, but there's still a lot of work to do.

;D ;D funny

Congrats man it is only up from here and will get better
TY! I believe it will definitely get better, but I'm hoping that the recovery process is on the faster side.

Congratulations!  Wish you the best during the consolidation phase!

Thanks, SNC! After personally going through a rough distraction phase I am more in awe with your fast distraction and fast recovery!

Congrats BTM! I have very much enjoyed following your journey. Hope to hear about the consolidation phase as you have time. It must be such a relief to get the distraction phase done ✅ ; good job! Thanks for all the deets along the way - very interesting and helpful to me for hopefully following in your footsteps once stryde is back
Thanks, L8GrowthSpurt! I think waiting for Stryde is definitely worth it. I can't imagine how terrible it would be to not be able to walk independently for up to half a year.

Great diary  ;D  ;D
Thanks!

Congrats BTM and wishing you a fast recovery  :)
Thanks, readyprecisestryde!
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

las vegas baby

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #97 on: March 28, 2021, 11:02:19 AM »

congrats belowthemean! this is a great diary
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BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #98 on: March 29, 2021, 12:47:00 AM »

congrats belowthemean! this is a great diary

Thanks, Las Vegas baby! I'm glad I'm done with lengthening and I'm hoping my recovery will be quicker than average, but we'll have to wait and see.
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #99 on: March 29, 2021, 01:01:57 AM »

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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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

Serilium

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #100 on: March 29, 2021, 01:45:15 AM »

sucks you got covid. glad you recover. free covid vaccine XD

cant wait for the recovery now that theres no more walls to stop you
cheers
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L8GrowthSpurt

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #101 on: March 29, 2021, 02:37:05 AM »

Thanks for the update! Sounds to me like the COVID is making it hard to feel great about progress over the past week - bad luck 😐; stay limber and I’m sure this is going to be much improved soon...stay strong 💪
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CLL wannabe - waiting for Stryde return
171.5 cm (morning height)
171 cm (day height)
Wingspan: 179 cm
Goal height - 179 cm (femurs)

RazalDazal

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #102 on: April 01, 2021, 03:07:29 PM »

Congratulations! I hope your recovery is going well from COVID

StrydeNailChallenge

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #103 on: April 02, 2021, 07:11:49 AM »

BTM, just got a chance to review your updates. I am sorry you got covid. From your notes, I don't think you would have any permanent impact cause of covid. But to be safe, can you ask your primary doctor to arrange for some tests (on lungs, kidney, liver, etc.) for your general health?
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Starting [Morning] Height: 172.5 cm, Ending: 180.5
SNC - Femurs' Stryde Nail Diary: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65337.0

BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #104 on: April 02, 2021, 03:34:17 PM »

sucks you got covid. glad you recover. free covid vaccine XD

cant wait for the recovery now that theres no more walls to stop you
cheers
Hopefully smooth sailing all the way to the end!

Thanks for the update! Sounds to me like the COVID is making it hard to feel great about progress over the past week - bad luck; stay limber and I’m sure this is going to be much improved soon...stay strong
I'm definitely able to work out more now, so hopefully my recovery will accelerate.

Congratulations! I hope your recovery is going well from COVID
Thanks, RD. Even during the time I had COVID I think my legs loosed up a decent amount. The consolidation phase definitely feels better than distraction phase overall!

BTM, just got a chance to review your updates. I am sorry you got covid. From your notes, I don't think you would have any permanent impact cause of covid. But to be safe, can you ask your primary doctor to arrange for some tests (on lungs, kidney, liver, etc.) for your general health?
Hey SNC, I haven't even considered the possibility of organ damage. I haven't really gotten sick recently so I haven't had a PCP since mine retired in 2015. I'm going to the hospital for X-rays in a week or two, so I'll see if I can schedule some tests for that time.
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #105 on: April 05, 2021, 02:24:07 AM »

Surgery Week +20, Consolidation Week 3

Day 1
I went to sleep very late last night due to a work emergency but woke up feeling only somewhat tired this morning. I'll take it as a good sign given that just a few days ago I was incredibly tired every morning even after consecutive days of over nine hours of sleep. My legs are still a little tired, stiff, and sore from yesterday, but that’s probably reasonable given how long I walked. I hope to recover quickly from the fatigue so I can do more long walks and improve my gait. I also hope that I will be able to push myself hard at PT, which I’m starting back up later this week. I was very busy with work today, but I managed to complete a stretching session during a long meeting where I didn’t have to talk much. My legs weren’t feeling that much better in the evening and I was also feeling a bit lazy so I didn’t record a gait video.

Day 2
I got a lot more sleep last night and woke up at a reasonable time, feeling pretty refreshed. I think I can confidently say the COVID-19 fatigue is finally gone. I was busy at work again today but I found some time to stretch during the day. My legs have recovered from the long walk outside two days ago but unfortunately I still didn’t feel like recording a video today. I think I'm just going to wait until the weekend to do it.

Day 3
This morning I woke up feeling some nerve activity in the middle of my right shin. It was pulsating and at first I thought it was at the skin level so I applied some pressure on it with my left foot. That’s when I realized it was the nerve inside and I couldn’t stop it by putting pressure my my skin. However, it wasn’t painful and it went away as soon as I got out of bed so no big concern. My legs felt pretty good in the morning which was fortunate because I had PT later in the day.

At PT I warmed up on the treadmill, walking 0.32 miles in 10 minutes. I started at 1.5mph and worked up way up to 2.5mph, which felt like a pretty quick pace. I am definitely feeling weaker on my left side than my right side again, as I am less stable when putting weight on my left side. After that, I did some stretches and then all the regular PT exercises that I had been doing before my forced break from PT. I think there may still be some lingering weakness from COVID-19, because my heart rate went all the way up to 173bpm while I was exercising. It rarely went over 150 during PT in the past (except when I was trying to push myself on the bike.) Fortunately, I didn’t have to do the leg press today. While the PT was working on me, she said that my muscles definitely felt looser than they did two weeks ago, which was not all that surprising to me. She said my hamstrings were not loosening as quickly as my quadriceps though.

In the afternoon when I was sitting in bed working, I randomly felt nerve pulsing in my right shin again, in the same spot as this morning. It lasted for about 15 minutes and then went away by itself. I see it as just another sign that fully recovering from LL isn’t going to be so quick and easy. After work my legs were still pretty sore from PT, so I just relaxed all evening.

Day 4
This morning I woke up with pretty stiff legs, but they weren’t as sore as I would have expected them to be considering how tired I was after PT yesterday. I worked a bit in the morning and then went to PT. At PT I warmed up on the treadmill again and walked at a steady 2.0mph pace for 10 minutes, totaling about 500 meters. My PT wasn’t in today, so one of the other PTs worked on me instead. She manually stretched my hamstrings, quads, and piriformis muscle. I actually haven’t stretched my piriformis muscle in a while because toward the end of lengthening it would actually hurt my knees a lot to do that stretch. She got me pretty good with all the stretches but I’m sure it helped because there is no way I would have stretched that hard on my own. Next she had to roll out my quads with the painful rolling pin thing. One minute on each side, literally 6-7/10 pain. My quads felt pretty good and very loose afterwards though. I continued to do more exercises (no leg press yet fortunately) for the remainder of the hour and I felt like I got a decent workout in. My heart rate did not spike up as high as yesterday while working out, which is a promising sign.

In the afternoon while I was sitting on my bed working I realized I could easily cross my legs now (at the ankle.) I like sitting with my legs crossed in bed and find it easier to sleep on my back when my legs are crossed. This is a big improvement because just a few days ago my IT band would still feel stretched and uncomfortable when I crossed my legs. I got in one more stretching session in the evening.

Day 5
I woke up with somewhat stiff legs this morning, though they felt much better after I walked around the house for a bit. I didn’t have to stretch or run the massage gun on my legs to loosen them up, so that’s another sign of recovery, albeit pretty small because I think it would still help to stretch and massage my legs. I took my last prescription grade Vitamin D pill and don’t plan on getting any more unless my next X-rays look bad. I’m still taking a daily Vitamin D and calcium supplement, and I have Synergy Bone Renewal which I occasionally take as well (I would take it more consistently but I always forget.)

At PT today I warmed up on the treadmill again. I walked just over 500 meters at a 2mph pace. It continues to be difficult to walk without any swinging. The tightness in the legs and hips make it difficult to have a normal gait, and my stabilizing muscles are still weak. I did a bunch of random PT exercises as usual, but I had to do the leg press today. With both legs I was barely able to do 25 reps of 145 pounds. On the single leg press, the PT set me up with 117.5 pounds, which I could not move one bit on my left leg. I had to go all the way down to 90 pounds to be able to do a set of 20 on each leg. I think I lost about 5-10 pounds while I had COVID-19 and it’s clear that some (or most) of it was muscle, which is not great for my recovery.

Aside from that, in the evening my legs were pretty tired and I couldn’t even walk with a decent gait without feeling some pain in my legs. I think I feel it the most in the various joints or muscles in my hip area. I would probably eat some acetaminophen if it was worse but I'll avoid taking any painkillers unless I have to.

Day 6
My legs were still pretty sore this morning and I’m guessing it’s from doing three days of PT back-to-back. I want to recover quickly, but I guess my body still has limitations and I need to rest my legs when they are tired. Therefore today will just be a rest day and I don’t plan on doing any leg exercises except stretching.

Day 7
I woke up with pretty stiff legs this morning, but that quickly went away when I got up and started my day. I ran the massage gun on my legs for good measure though. I was going to go out for a one mile walk today since the weather was perfect, but I figured if I did that I probably wouldn’t be able to record a gait video afterwards. Instead, I recorded a video in the early afternoon before going out. Then for my daily exercise I just went grocery shopping in the afternoon.

At the grocery store I'm very confident that no one noticed anything wrong with my gait while I was pushing the cart around. It’s definitely not noticeable anymore with just a bit of light support for balance from holding the cart as my body won't wobble or sway at all. Honestly things feel pretty normal while grocery shopping, except I’m a bit slower than normal people when turning or changing directions.

In the evening I had time to edit and upload the video. Here it is:


I think my gait has improved a little bit. However, there is still definitely weakness on my left side. When I put weight on my left leg my body still swings to the left a bit for balance. I believe this is due to weak stabilizing muscles on the left side. I’m not sure if it’s one of the gluteal muscles or something else (maybe there's a muscle connected to the IT band?) but I will ask the PT to focus more on training that area starting next week. I feel like even though it has been months already, that stabilizing muscle doesn't seem to have gotten much stronger yet, whereas on the right side I feel the equivalent muscle is doing its job like a normal person's. For flexibility, I still can’t lift my knee to the point where my thigh is horizontal yet (which I could in the week 10 video) so until I get to that point I can’t say that I’ve recovered past where I was in the middle of lengthening. As for my quad flexibility, both legs can get to at least horizontal with the ground when I bend my knee, so definitely a big improvement over three weeks ago. Continuing to improve at least at this rate over the next three weeks would be great so I’ll keep stretching and pushing my legs!

One other thing I want to note is that I’m still not that great with stairs as I went up and down some stairs today for the first time in a while. Going up the stairs was fine, but going down the stairs I feel very weak and unstable when my right foot is leading, because my left leg is very weak and lowering my body weight puts a lot of strain on my left leg. I have a feeling it might take a while to fully regain my confidence when going down stairs. I think it will help once my femurs are consolidated as well because I have to lower myself down the stairs pretty slowly to minimize the impact on the nail and I think that’s part of the reason my left leg struggles since it’s not that strong yet. If I could lower myself quickly then I won't need the muscles in my left leg to keep me steady for as long. However, by the time my bones are consolidated I imagine that all the muscles in my left leg should be a lot stronger as well.

Finally, I don’t feel like there’s a big enough difference in my legs from one day to the next to warrant breaking this journal into daily entries anymore. I also don’t feel like taking daily notes anymore. Basically on average I improve a tiny bit each day and my muscles feel looser and stronger each day. There’s no magical feeling that my legs are suddenly normal after finishing lengthening; I have to continue working on them and wait for my body to continue to heal. I will try to summarize each week and update once every few weeks. Once I feel like my gait has recovered better I’ll probably switch to monthly updates or just updating when something interesting happens.
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

Dirona

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #106 on: April 06, 2021, 01:42:48 PM »

Awesome man..
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Taking it easy

Serilium

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #107 on: April 06, 2021, 02:47:25 PM »

walk looks good and with time will be better! good recovery belowthemean

no worries about daily updates :) this is plenty

cheers
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L8GrowthSpurt

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #108 on: April 08, 2021, 12:13:46 AM »

Bravo on the dedication - both on your recovery and the diary. Very helpful and appreciated 👍.  Btw, you look way taller! Nice job!
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CLL wannabe - waiting for Stryde return
171.5 cm (morning height)
171 cm (day height)
Wingspan: 179 cm
Goal height - 179 cm (femurs)

itseasy

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #109 on: April 08, 2021, 09:37:46 AM »

What’s up BTM!! Lengthening to 8cm ain’t no joke huh??? I remember once I hit 6cm, I was like “holy sh*t!!”....and then from there to about 7.9cm for me the tightness was crazy as hell man.

Don’t worry about your range of motion, eventually it all comes back. Sometimes one leg is better than the other. But slowly but surely it all comes back. My left leg is like nothing even happened. My right leg hamstring is perfect, I just have a few degrees to improve on the quads, but it’s not affecting my walk or anything. Main ordeal at the moment for me is rebuilding the muscle mass and strength in my glutes, hips and quads.

And yes, going down stairs is a fun adventure but that has really improved for me. But I do remember the first few weeks of consolidation... I was holding on railing for dear life going downstairs!!! Lol
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Going-For-Three

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #110 on: May 11, 2021, 05:13:23 AM »

Hey BTM, how are you doing brother?
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PerfectBody

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #111 on: May 11, 2021, 02:19:41 PM »

Awesome diary man. Looking forward to week 4!
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LON Femur with Dr Buldu
5cm safely gained; thinking of doing another 5cm
Diary: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=66540.0

BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #112 on: May 11, 2021, 03:55:51 PM »

Awesome man..
walk looks good and with time will be better! good recovery belowthemean

no worries about daily updates :) this is plenty

cheers
Awesome diary man. Looking forward to week 4!
Bravo on the dedication - both on your recovery and the diary. Very helpful and appreciated .  Btw, you look way taller! Nice job!
Thanks, guys!

What’s up BTM!! Lengthening to 8cm ain’t no joke huh??? I remember once I hit 6cm, I was like “holy sh*t!!”....and then from there to about 7.9cm for me the tightness was crazy as hell man.

Don’t worry about your range of motion, eventually it all comes back. Sometimes one leg is better than the other. But slowly but surely it all comes back. My left leg is like nothing even happened. My right leg hamstring is perfect, I just have a few degrees to improve on the quads, but it’s not affecting my walk or anything. Main ordeal at the moment for me is rebuilding the muscle mass and strength in my glutes, hips and quads.

And yes, going down stairs is a fun adventure but that has really improved for me. But I do remember the first few weeks of consolidation... I was holding on railing for dear life going downstairs!!! Lol
I feel like I'm probably recovering at a similar rate to you and I'm a few steps behind you. I was definitely a bit overoptimistic about my recovery after reading SNC's journal, but it's coming along. I've been stretching my hip flexors like crazy and trying to work out my TFL and glutes, but I just can't seem to get rid of the hip sway!

Hey BTM, how are you doing brother?
Recovering slowly. I'll try to post an update this weekend!
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #113 on: May 17, 2021, 01:55:36 AM »

I haven’t been in the mood to update my journal lately, but having reached the six month mark I figured it’s time to put all my notes together and make an update.

Surgery Week +21, Consolidation Week 4

This week I was supposed to get an X-ray but I forgot, so I ended up pushing it back to the following week. I went to PT three times as usual and I’m still weaker on the leg press than I was before I caught COVID-19. At least during the last PT session this week my hip abductor strength felt like it had recovered to where it was before I caught the virus. I need to continue training my glutes, legs, hips, and core muscles, so I will continue to pay money to go to PT. I think my anterior pelvic tilt has improved a little bit visually, but it’s definitely still somewhat there because I can feel it. My lower back still hurts if I walk long distances. My walking gait still has some swaying, but it seems like it’s basically only on the left side.

My flexibility continues to slowly improve. When splitting my legs apart with my knees bent, I can finally open my legs to 90 degrees, which I haven’t been able to for months. I still can’t quite sit on my heels when kneeling down, but I’m getting a lot closer than I could before; my butt is only a few inches away from my heels. My right quad is still a lot more flexible than my left quad, so I usually stretch them individually. On a related note, while I generally sleep pretty well, there are still positions that are not comfortable for me, but as time goes on I have been able to sleep in more positions than before.

I really haven’t been stretching as much as I should, with very few formal stretching sessions. This is another reason why I have continued going to PT even though it’s not cheap. However, whenever I remember that I’m supposed to stretch, I will randomly do some hip or quad stretches wherever I’m standing at the moment, or I’ll do some sitting stretches while I’m watching TV. It would probably be good to do more hamstring stretches as well, but it’s harder to stretch those casually. Also, both of my shins are still very much numb. It’s not any worse than before, but it’s not getting any better either.

I started an online dating profile with 5’11” as my listed height. So far it feels like my match rate is better than before, but it could just be my own brain convincing myself that getting LL was worth it. I had some prospective dates scheduled and at first I decided that I wouldn’t mind going in as a waddling cripple because I don’t really care what a stranger thinks about me. However, then I thought about it and realized it’s a waste of time to go out just for the sake of going out. Aside from the match rate, I don't think I've noticed any difference with online dating. Of course in the past I've mostly dated offline, so I don't have a ton of experience online. Hoping I eventually reach a point where I have confidence in walking again.

Surgery Week +22, Consolidation Week 5

This week I can finally reach my toes again in the sit-n-reach. I’m probably still quite a bit away from reaching my toes with my wrists (if I’ll even be able to do that again) but any improvement is an improvement. I noticed that it has been easier to pick things up off the ground. I tried getting into my car feet first and it was doable with a ton of arm support, but for now it’s still much easier to get in butt first.

I got my first post-lengthening X-rays this week; based on my own observations it looks like there’s a little additional bone growth, but not really a lot given that it has been over a month. I guess I will try to take more supplements over the next month. I’m still randomly feeling nerve activity in my calves and ankle area sometimes. I wouldn’t say it’s painful, but it’s definitely not normal. My shins continue to be very numb and I can only hope it goes away eventually.

PT is tough some days and easier on other days. It definitely varies depending on how much energy I have and how sore, stiff, and in pain my legs are. I don’t want to take any painkillers for PT though, so I just bear with the pain. Sometimes I come out of PT with a limp because I work hard on all the exercises they give me. If only I was that motivated at home! Overall, in the mornings I still feel pretty tight, but as I stretch and walk around in the morning my legs feel more normal pretty quickly. My gait is still not that great, though it seems to be improving a little. I’m not sure what else I can really do to improve my gait. I’ve tried tons of different exercises from the PT and from YouTube. All of it makes my legs sore, but I don’t really see any major improvements.

Surgery Week +23, Consolidation Week 6

I had “substitute” PTs all week since my regular PT was out on vacation, and they worked me super hard so my legs felt sore for basically the entire week. I think it’s good though, as it feels like I’m gaining a lot of strength, and I’m finally feeling better about my gait for the first time in a while. I think stretching my hips before I walk helps a bunch. I also can definitely tell now that my gait gets much worse as my legs get tired. Before, it was all whatever since I was kind of waddling around no matter what, but now that my gait has improved I can see the difference between fresh and tired legs very clearly. Unfortunately I’m pretty busy until next month, so I’m probably not going to be able to work out as hard as I want to.

While the PTs have been pushing me pretty hard, I’m still a bit surprised that my recovery period is so long. I feel like all of my leg muscles have been continuously worked over the last 5 months and they should really be able to recover much faster, but in reality I’m sore coming out of PT, and I’m not 100% fresh going into the next session. I wonder if the issue is that my leg muscles are still stretching and recovering their flexibility, and because of this they don’t really have a chance to recover from working out. Maybe once I fully regain flexibility in my legs then my muscles won’t be chronically sore. Sometimes it’s actually sore to the point of being painful, so it’s not very easy for me to do these PT exercises. I’ve continued to gain a little flexibility, though the gain in flexibility is only a little bit each week.

The doctor finally got my X-ray disc from last week in the mail and said that I have made some progress on consolidation. I’ve been eating bone supplements and generally eating pretty healthy, though my total calorie intake might be too low right now. I’m also probably not bearing weight as often as I could. My next consolidation X-ray is in 6 weeks instead of 4 weeks, so maybe the doctor also thinks I’m consolidating a bit slower than he previously thought I would be. That’s six more weeks of not being able to do any additional weight bearing and only being able to walk and lift weights with my upper body.

I really can’t imagine how bad things must have been before Stryde. Even though I can’t jog or do squats and deadlifts in the gym, my daily life feels pretty normal. I drive normally, go shopping normally, go to PT and the gym normally. I could even go to the office normally if I wasn’t working from home every day. If I was in a wheelchair and the doctor told me that I would have another 6 weeks before I could walk, I would be so depressed. Really my biggest problem right now is just my gait. If I could walk normally without any hip sway, I would feel 99% normal. Not being able to lift heavy stuff or run is actually not really all that detrimental to my daily life. While I’d like to do sports, going to the gym and lifting weights is plenty of exercise for the time being.

Surgery Week +24, Consolidation Week 7

I think I spoke too soon about my gait improvements last week. I think my gait was noticeably worse at the start of this week, with both hips swaying a bit whenever I walk. I did a lot of hip flexor stretches at PT early in the week in hopes that my gait would be better if my hips were more flexible. It didn’t help much though - there are still no major improvements yet - my left leg is still much weaker than my right leg, but I just can’t seem to find where the weakness that’s causing hip sway is, or how to make those weaker muscles stronger. I have started stretching more, stretching every night before I go to bed and in the middle of the day.

I am continuing to gain a little strength in the muscles and by the last PT session of the week I was able to do the two new hard exercises fairly well. One of them is the one-legged squat with partial weight support, and the other is a one-legged hip hinge bend with a light dumbbell in hand. The PT said that these were supposed to quickly help me improve my gait, but I’m not really seeing it. I can also walk faster on the treadmill; doing 10 minutes at 2.5mph is no problem. My anterior pelvic tilt has also improved quite a bit. I haven’t tried measuring my height in a while (I guess I don’t really care anymore since I already did the surgery) but maybe I’ve unlocked the full gain by now. My flexibility has continued to improve a little. When I’m standing on one leg and bend the other knee I can finally touch that foot with my hand. However, at this point I still can’t touch my heel to my butt yet, either while standing or crouching.

Surgery Week +25, Consolidation Week 8

I had to do a lot of sitting in chairs for the first time since surgery this week, and it looks like the nerve issues in my legs haven't gone away. When I sit for too long, I can still feel streaks of light nerve discomfort running along the inside of my lower legs. It’s on both sides, though a little more intense on the right side. Speaking of nerve issues, my shins are still just as numb as before, but the area of numbness has changed slightly. Up and down my leg it seems to have condensed a bit, but across my leg it seems to have expanded a bit. Of course, I could just be misremembering things since it’s not like I measured or marked the exact location of the shin numbness at any point. I don’t know how any of this works, but if there are changes, hopefully that means things are improving a bit. Sometimes the numbness near my shin hurts a little, but usually I don’t feel anything.

Work finally started easing up a bit this week and I’m switching from three PT sessions a week to two. Now I should definitely have time to take longer walks, which I believe has helped some people on the forum recover faster. The weather is definitely getting nicer outside, and I’m in a pretty good mood in general, even though my gait isn’t perfect. I plan to train harder in the next few weeks now that I have more free time, and I hope my legs are finally good enough to walk without hip sway.

This week was the first time I put on my shoes without sitting in a chair. At first I crouched down to put them on, but then I realized that I could reach my heels with my hands without having to bend my knees a lot. It’s still a bit hard to crouch since I can’t touch my butt to my heels. I basically have to put my hands down first and then lower myself. I obviously can’t squat either so there’s still more work to do there.

Late in the week I hurt my right leg at PT while doing split squats. I went down too far and must have pulled my quadricep muscle or the tendon between my quads and knee or something in that area. For the last few days it has hurt just to weight bear when walking normally. Recovery really isn’t easy.

Recently I accidentally bumped into my boss at a networking event (I say accidentally because I was trying to avoid him but he saw me). The first thing he did when he saw me was to point out that I had a limp. I just said that I had an accident and was still recovering and he didn’t ask for any more details. He’s the first person that I’ve seen since surgery that I know well. I noted in my first journal entry that he is about 6’3” and honestly I couldn’t tell at all that I was any taller than before relative to him. Even after lengthening I barely go up to his nose level lol. Because of this I’m almost completely certain that he didn’t notice I grew taller at all. I’m quite glad he wasn’t able to tell because I definitely don’t feel like explaining anything to him. I’m sure it will be much more apparent once I bump into people who were around my previous or current height.

I got one of the COVID vaccines just before the weekend. I felt fine at first, but I had worked out in the gym the day before and took a long walk in the afternoon after I got the vaccine. By the evening I was feeling so fatigued that I ended up staying in bed all weekend as I could hardly do anything. It’s just another thing hampering my recovery. However, I have to get it sooner or later, and I am going to be meeting friends and family soon so I figured it was the responsible thing to do. However, the fatigue is real and I didn’t have any energy to stretch or work out all weekend.

Surgery Week +26 (Month +6), Consolidation Week 9 (Month +2)

The first few days this week I was still recovering from the vaccine. I almost feel like I regressed a bit from laying in bed so much. For the last few days I had even had trouble walking around indoors. I’m not sure if it’s from the COVID vaccine fatigue or if it was because I was staying in bed and my muscles have atrophied a bit. Maybe it could even be from the knee injury last week. Whatever the reason, my recovery has been pretty slow lately. PT was okay this week. I did two sessions this week and my leg strength definitely seems better now. I can do 110 lbs on the leg press with one leg without struggling very hard. The PT used the hard roller on my IT bands during the last session and it hurt a ton and it still hurts three days later. She probably rolled over the screws.. I should have told her to use less pressure.

Later in the week I tried to train very hard to catch up because I have run out of time to get better. My gait has not improved to the point where it’s unnoticeable; the hip sway is still there. I got another haircut this week and the stylist pointed out that I was limping yet again even though I was trying super hard to walk normal. It was very frustrating to hear. I now think that I was far too confident believing that I could have a normal gait six months after surgery. Maybe catching COVID-19 delayed my recovery more than expected, but I don’t think I would have reached a normal gait by this point even if I was able to train harder.

Soon I will be attending an event where quite a few of my old friends will be present. I haven’t seen any of them in at least a year, so I really hope that none of them will notice that I got taller. If I had perfect gait it would be much less suspicious, but whenever I see my reflection on glass while walking outside it’s very clear that there’s something wrong with my walk. Everyone that I’ve met so far has pointed out that I have a limp and I’m not very confident with my gait.

At least my time in the gym and healthy diet has paid off. I’m leaner than before surgery (around 12% body fat) with a couple more pounds of muscle in my upper body. If anyone says I got taller, I’ll just say it’s an illusion due to lifting weights and looking bigger in general. It doesn’t help that I have a built upper body and skinny legs though; it looks like I’ve been skipping leg day for a year. Also, since I’ll be dressed up for the event, I can also say that I’m wearing lifts, though there aren’t any lifts that would give me this much height. I think it’s amusing that I’d rather admit to wearing lifts than the possibility that I got taller.

I have to visit my parents and hang out with some local friends soon as well. I could continue to delay seeing everyone while working on my gait but it has been too long. With summer coming up and all the holidays and gatherings it’s going to be impossible to socially isolate for much longer and I’ve been hidden away by myself for so long that I don’t think I can take it anymore tbh. Since I’ve seen all these people about six months ago right before my surgery, they’ll all have fresher memories of me at a sub-5’7” height so it’s going to be tougher to explain how I totally didn’t grow all of a sudden. Regardless, I suspect the next update I post will have some interesting anecdotes as I start meeting friends and family for the first time after lengthening. Ah, the things we sacrifice in the name of getting taller...



My gait actually looks okay in the video, especially when I’m walking slower. It’s definitely better than last time and naturally there should be some kind of improvement since it has been over a month. However, it takes a bit of focus to walk like this and it still feels unnatural while I walk. My gait also gets a lot worse after my legs become tired, whether that’s from PT or a long walk outdoors. I also need to warm up a little to get a good gait. When I first stand up in the morning or after sitting for a while my gait is not very good. My flexibility is way better than before and I assume it will continue to improve. I forgot to show my crouch/squat in the video, but I can't reach my heels with my butt yet anyway, so maybe that can be a goal for the next video. Oh, I feel like I improved a little going down stairs this week, though still not yet at the point where I'm comfortable or that it looks fluid.

Going forward I’m planning to stop PT after two more weeks. I hope my next X-ray will show that I’m consolidated enough that I don’t need to get any more X-rays before nail removal. With this I will finally be done with all major CLL expenditures except for nail removal. I will write a journal entry detailing all the ancillary expenses as promised earlier. Other than that I don’t plan to write any updates for a few months. There’s probably not going to be anything interesting happening until I can start jogging. I really don’t feel the urge to update this journal anymore as thinking about LL is taking up a smaller percentage of my daily life as I recover more. I know that I’m going to eventually move on from this phase of my life like most people on the forum, but for now I will still visit the forum sometimes.
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

Serilium

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #114 on: May 17, 2021, 02:33:48 PM »

great flexibility btm

good luck sir
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PerfectBody

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #115 on: May 18, 2021, 05:59:01 AM »

Not gonna lie, when I saw your previous video after you got covid I got super depressed. But you bounced back fast. Seriously man, holy crap. If I didn’t know you had LL I would’ve guessed you hit your leg or did something silly. That’s awesome progress.

I bet you’re gonna be undetectable in less than a month. Keep it up tallman
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LON Femur with Dr Buldu
5cm safely gained; thinking of doing another 5cm
Diary: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=66540.0

Going-For-Three

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #116 on: May 19, 2021, 03:26:45 AM »

Thanks for the update BTM. Your walk doesn't look bad at all. I'm sure focusing on correcting it would help get back your normal gait.
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FSchez

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #117 on: May 19, 2021, 09:37:06 AM »

Hello BTM!
I have read your entire journal and I think you are doing a great job.
After watching this last video, I think that if you keep walking long distances and stretching your muscles every day, you will soon achieve that your walking is completely normal.
I also had surgery with Stryde, I increased 8 cm like you and I am in the second week of consolidation, but my walk is much worse than yours, I can assure you😉
Keep working hard and I'm sure that very soon you will regain your physical form and your correct way of walking💪
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Dreamer57

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #118 on: May 19, 2021, 09:15:10 PM »

Hey man, you are doing great....!
I'm sure in no time you will be running around like nothing had happened.....

Please keep updating , very glad to hear abt your progress....

Would be grateful if you could post more video updates....


Keep going!!
Best wishes!
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BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #119 on: June 17, 2021, 03:38:30 PM »

great flexibility btm

good luck sir
It's getting better

Not gonna lie, when I saw your previous video after you got covid I got super depressed. But you bounced back fast. Seriously man, holy crap. If I didn’t know you had LL I would’ve guessed you hit your leg or did something silly. That’s awesome progress.

I bet you’re gonna be undetectable in less than a month. Keep it up tallman
It's still detectable lol, but I guess still improving.

Thanks for the update BTM. Your walk doesn't look bad at all. I'm sure focusing on correcting it would help get back your normal gait.
Easier said than done. Even if it looks normal it doesn't feel normal. If I have to actively try and maintain a good gait, then I won't recover to the point where I can forget about LL.

Hello BTM!
I have read your entire journal and I think you are doing a great job.
After watching this last video, I think that if you keep walking long distances and stretching your muscles every day, you will soon achieve that your walking is completely normal.
I also had surgery with Stryde, I increased 8 cm like you and I am in the second week of consolidation, but my walk is much worse than yours, I can assure you😉
Keep working hard and I'm sure that very soon you will regain your physical form and your correct way of walking💪
Yeah, I'm a bit impatient. Now that I'm a few months into consolidation I just want to be recovered already.

Hey man, you are doing great....!
I'm sure in no time you will be running around like nothing had happened.....

Please keep updating , very glad to hear abt your progress....

Would be grateful if you could post more video updates....


Keep going!!
Best wishes!
I'll update soon. Waiting for X-ray results before I post.
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

BelowTheMean

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #120 on: June 18, 2021, 06:42:28 PM »

Surgery +7 Months, Start of Consolidation +3 Months

Another month has passed; here is my update:

Physical Therapy
I did my last few PT sessions a few weeks ago. Although I haven’t fully recovered, it was definitely about time to stop since the benefit was getting pretty small. Surprisingly, they haven’t asked me to settle the bill yet, but I’ll make a separate post on all my LL expenditures once I know what the final amount was.

Reactions
Since my last journal entry, I have seen quite a few of my friends for the first time since surgery. I saw them at a formal event, so I was dressed up which helped hide my swinging hips a bit.

Friend 1: This is the only person I’ve mentioned LL to, and that was many years ago. He is 5’7” so when he saw me it was super obvious to him that I was taller. He actually looks kind of short to me now. The first thing he asked was whether I got surgery or if I was wearing giant lifts, to which I awkwardly responded the latter even though I was clearly not. Since then, he hasn't mention it again so I guess he must have accepted it. It looks like people don’t ever forget about LL once they know that the surgery exists. Therefore, don't tell anyone you know that you want LL or that LL even exists if you plan to get it and keep it a secret.

Friends 2 & 3: These two guys I met at the same time. They are 5’11” and 6’0”. I feel like I’m almost as tall as them now, but I don’t think they noticed that I grew, because I’m still shorter than them. It has been a good two years since I saw either of them, so they probably don’t remember exactly how tall I was. One of them said I seemed a lot skinnier though.

Friend 4: This guy is about 5’8.5”, so I went from clearly shorter than him to clearly taller than him. I hadn’t seen him for over a year and I usually wore lifts when I hung out with this circle of friends so I don’t think he noticed my height increase. He didn’t say anything about it, which was a little surprising to me. He also said that I looked a little skinnier than before.

Family: I postponed seeing my parents as long as I could, but I finally had to see them recently. My mom is definitely too short to notice; I couldn’t even tell that she was shorter relative to me than before. My dad is just the right height to notice and he mentioned that I was limping as well, but he hasn’t outright asked me if I got taller. He is almost old enough to start shrinking, so maybe I can use that excuse if he brings it up. My sister is taller than my mom, but shorter than my starting height. Surprisingly, I don’t think she noticed at all that I had gotten taller, but I definitely felt like she was relatively shorter than before.

Consolidation
I got updated X-rays at the end of the month. I can definitely tell that my bones have consolidated a bit more compared to the last X-ray, but they are still far from fully consolidated. Dr. D told me to get another X-ray in about two months, but based on my current rate of consolidation he wasn't even sure if I'd be consolidated enough to run by then. At this rate it could really be a full year before I can think about playing any sports!

Recovery
Overall, I still have a long road ahead of me. My shins are still very numb; sometimes I feel like there’s some improvement but other days it’s just as bad as before. My gait still wobbles at the hip, and I have way less stamina than I did before surgery. I can walk maybe a mile or two before my legs are fatigued, and at that point my gait is absolutely terrible to the point I'm embarrassed to be walking in public. Walking for a while not only makes my legs tired, but my back hurts as well, so I probably still have some flexibility issues to address. Also, after a long walk or doing any leg exercises it takes at least a day to fully recover, during which my gait is bad the whole time.

I have had quite a few ups and downs this month in terms of my recovery. I know I’ve definitely improved a little, but I’m still struggling with walking normally. I certainly hope it will eventually get better, but if I walk like this for the rest of my life then I would have paid a ton of money to cripple myself. I have had a lot of negative thoughts about my legs lately. I think the worst part right now isn’t even my gait, but rather how my legs feel while I walk. Even when I walk toward a mirror and can see that my gait is almost normal, the process of walking doesn’t feel normal to me. I feel like I still have to put in a lot of effort to walk with a good gait so walking isn't natural to me. My legs still often feel very stiff and it actually hurts my bones sometimes when I walk, especially when I walk right after getting up from a sitting position or put a little more weight on one leg than usual. I am definitely getting stronger, but overall recovery has been very gradual for me, with no sudden transition from “bad” to “good”.

If you ask me how I feel regarding the surgery right now, I definitely have mixed thoughts. While I appreciate being taller, I can't utilize my new height in any meaningful way because I'm still a cripple. My legs also don't feel good/normal yet, so I think about my gait, my walk, and my legs all the time. If I'm outside I also think about how others might perceive me. At least when I was short, while walking around in public I was invisible. Now I feel like everyone is looking at me and judging my crippled walk. Now that summer is here, everything is opened up again, and everyone is outside enjoying life, I can definitely say that my sense of urgency and the need to return to normal is much more than before. I can't say that I recommend getting the surgery at this point as the recovery period is just too long.

Clothing
So I originally thought I’d go from 30 to 32 inseam pants, but what I found out is that 30 inseam pants fit me perfectly after LL. I think that means my legs were just hella short before. I think in the past when I was wearing size 30 jeans I thought that they fit me, but now I realize that they must have been compressed a ton around my ankles. Now I feel like I finally know how pants are actually designed to fit, especially jeans. I will say that I look much better in clothes than before. I definitely enjoy looking at my body shape in the mirror more than before and it's a confidence booster. It's currently the only positive thing I have to say about the surgery.

Video
I was originally going to record a video for this entry, but my right knee started hurting out of nowhere about two days ago, especially when I put weight on it. It has been a few weeks since this last happened; I thought I had already gotten past this knee issue, but I guess not. I'm sure you don't want to see me walking with a limp on top of hip sway, so I will record a video when my knee feels better. I do think I have made some small improvements since last month, especially on flexibility so I can try a few new things on video. Let me know if there’s anything you guys want to see.
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Stryde Femurs - Debiparshad - Nov 2020
Nail Removal - Downey - Apr 2022
Journal (169cm -> 177cm) http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=65617

Current Status: Recovered, moving on

SirStretchAlot

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #121 on: June 19, 2021, 12:22:11 AM »

Fantastic progress. I think there's actually no reason to be depressed. Gaits usually persist until you take glute strength training seriously. Many of the nerves and muscles in those areas shrunk due to inactivity during lengthening. There're a ton of great glute exercises on the internet that will vanquish your gait in a month.
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May 2021: 171cm (evening) > September 2021: 181cm
Wingspan: 170cm | Male: 29 | 65kg | Based in UK
Femurs: Betzbone with Dr. Betz | ITB Release: Dr. Giotikas
Dairy: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=66558.0

Movie

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #122 on: June 19, 2021, 04:44:03 AM »

Yeah man at 7 months you might still have a bit of limping but recovery starts really speeding up right after that up until 1 year mark or so. then you'll most likely face what I call the 1 year-post op hell.
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Starting height: 167cm Now 175cm With Strydes Femurs with Dr. Mahboubian 09/01/2019
Nails removed 10/06/2021
My Video Logged Diary: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=64224.0

Ahd1978

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Re: BelowTheMean – Stryde Femurs w/ Dr. Debiparshad – Nov 2020
« Reply #123 on: June 19, 2021, 11:34:28 AM »

Hey brother

I am in second week of consolidation

The thoughts you have about your legs and pain and recovery is exactly same as I feel

Some days my left leg the nerves go crazy. Doc says to push and walk and climb stairs when I do that I get shivers next day and takes me 2 days to recover.

Some times nails in hands and feet get blue and doc says it’s vascular system adjusting to new height

Bone pain still persists and some days is very hard

Like you mentioned I wouldn’t recommend this surgery yet and I am unable to fully utilise new height.

Yes looking in mirror is awesome and when people say u r taller but over all when other symptoms exist it’s not best feeling internally

I truly think this is a one year recoevry process. I’m glad you don’t have any blood flow issues

I hve been asked to continue taking aspirin and heparin injections of I travel. I have lost half of my hair due to this as side effect

I am hoping all this normalises in a years time

So let’s hang in there and see how we perform as human body

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