16 Months (August 21st)

Quite a bit has happened since my last post.  The pain in my ankle continued to escalate and I ended up in the emergency room in June.  The pain meds were not getting it done and I woke up at around 4 in the morning and couldn't take it any more.  The hospital did the usual tests and had to shoot me up with three rounds of dilauded and put me on oxy.  Fortunately, I had an appointment with my surgeon scheduled for the next day.  When I went in to see him, he said that he can't see any reason for the continued pain and recommended that I see a pain specialist.  He wanted tor rule out RSD.  I went to the pain clinic the next week and discussed my symptoms with the doctor.  At this point, I could barely walk around the house without significant discomfort.  Extended walks were completely out of the question.  The ache in my heel and ankle were non-stop and worse after activity.  The doc suggested an injection in my back to calm the sympathetic nerve.  He also put me on the gabapentin, an anti-depressant (effexor), and 4 norco per day.  The procedure for the injection was interesting.  I went in and they put an iv in my arm.  Then they gave me something for pain and to calm me down.  The next thing I know, I'm in the recovery room.  I guess they don't really knock you out put just make you really loopy and amnesiac.  The pain in my ankle/foot got worse over the next 6 days and was to the point where I could barely get out of bed.  I was taking 2 norco at at time every four hours and was miserable.  Then, out of nowhere, I woke up on the 7th day and the pain was reduced about 80%.  It was incredible!

I continued on the meds throughout June and July.  For the most part, my foot would ache a little when not doing anything and get quite sore when I walked a lot.  What is strange is that the ends of my toes became very sensitive to walking and would really hurt if I was on a tile floor.  The same thing was happening with the bottom of my foot on the lateral side.  I went back to the pain clinic around August 6th and the doc said he does believe that I have mild RSD (I can't imagine what major would be like!) and wants to continue with injections and treatment.  I did explain that the 4 norco a day are not enough if I am active.  He then switched me over to extended release ms contin.  Apparently, this is morphine.  Unfortunately, whenever I got morphine in the hospital in the past, it hasn't worked. It just makes me warm.  So, I am now on the ms contin, gabapentin, and effexor.  I really do not like the ms contin as it is not very effective for me and it makes me really out of it.  I honestly don't know if I could maintain a difficult job while on this.  I am constantly searching for the right words and my memory is affected.  I am going to request that they take me off of it immediately.  I really don't like it.

I'm scheduled to see the pain specialist again in September as well as my surgeon for an update.

13 Months (May 2)

Has been a while since I've posted.  Things are good and bad.  I've definitely made progress regarding the amount of weight I can put on my foot.  However, I'm having a lot of pain in my achilles, heel, and bottom of my foot.  The doctors office has put me on Gabapentin.  They think it may help calm the nerves that are upset.  I started taking it yesterday (1 dose), have taken 2 today, and will take 3 tomorrow.  No benefit yet.  I got a script for 40 Norco Tuesday last week and am down to 3 already.  The docs office doesn't want to give me more.  I'm really hoping my foot calms down otherwise I'll be calling them on Friday and telling them I need more.  Not good.

1 Year + (April 16)

Not much new to report.  Still have burning on the back and side of my foot if any pressure is on it.  Guess the bone is still healing.  If I try to put too much weight on my leg, I still get the weird pain in my achilles.  I have been spending a little more time with the boot off and the front of my ankle really aches.  Hope that gets better soon.  I have been getting quite a bit of spotting in my sock.  Just little blood spots every now an then.  I've started covering one area with a banage with Neosporin on it just to make sure it doesn't get infected.  Here's a pic....

1 Year + (April 10)

Okay, this is scary. As noted earlier, I saw the MA to get my stitches out 2 weeks post op. She told me I could transition to FWB between 2nd and 3rd week, sleep with boot off at night, and that it wouldn't be a problem to fly for my interview next week (5 weeks post op). I just spoke with the surgical nurse to confirm if I could sleep with my boot off. She checked with the doc and:

a) I am only allowed to pwb since the bone is still healing.
b) I can not sleep with my boot off and need to keep my leg elevated.
c) I am not allowed to fly or have my leg down for extended periods of time.

No wonder I'm having so much pain and my leg is swelling so much. Now I need to find an alternate way to get some place 12 hours distant by car in order to interview.

1 Year + (April 6)

I was making great progress towards walking without the crutches until yesterday afternoon.  I was using only one crutch and putting nearly all of my weight on my foot when I felt a horrible pull in the achilles.  It dulled down but kept happening every time I would put any weight on my foot.  I ended up not putting much weight on it at all today and am hoping it is improved by tomorrow.  I am getting a burning pain in my heel that is similar to what I felt after the original osteotomy.  It comes and goes and seems to depend on the position of my foot.  I did just look and I do have bruising on the back medial portion so that may have something to do with it.  I'm still averaging about two doses of meds per day.  

Here are some updated pictures.

1 Year + (April 3)

The last few days have been up and down.  The pain definitely comes every night though and requires meds.  I stopped taking the valium on Saturday and switched from Oxy to Norco yesterday.  I had the worst night of sleep yet last night and woke up in terrible pain.  I had to take more Norco first thing this morning.  The worst part about that is the Norco makes it impossible to study or do any type of thinking.  I called my doctors office and requested a refill of the Oxy this morning but they are saying they don't want to give me any more.  It has only been two weeks since surgery so this is a bit surprising.  The nurse said she will check with the on-call doc since everyone else is on vacation.

I did begin transitioning off of the crutches on Sunday and it has not been easy.  I'm trying to put more weight on my foot in the boot which results in pain in my heel and achilles.  So far, it hasn't been overly miserable but I think that I need to go slow this.  I'm also continuing to get pain in the front of my ankle which is very strange.

1 Year + (March 31)

Got my stitches out yesterday and everything looked great (exact same as pictures posted last weekend).  I saw the medical assistant and not the doc.  I have to keep wearing the boot 24 hours a day for 1 more week (except for showering) and then I can start taking it off for sleep.  Really looking forward to that.  Will be in the boot for a total of 6 more weeks but can begin transitioning away from crutches shortly.  The MA did say that she will check with the doc to see if I can go without the boot for my interview in 3 weeks.  I mentioned that the pain has actually been getting worse, especially at night.  She said that is completely normal as things are healing and I'm moving around more.  She said to expect to be on and off pain meds for another 4 to 6 weeks.    

Although we didn't do much with my foot yesterday, it was the most painful it has been since surgery.  I was told to take my meds before the appointment and I am glad I did.  I took two oxy at 9:20 and my appointment was at 10:30.  The MA used that brilliant magic spray to numb my skin so I didn't even feel her take the stitches out. She then put me in a new Cam walker and I was on my way.  Everything was fine until 1 pm when my foot started to hurt.  By 1:10, I was in the most pain I have been in yet.  Wow, it was bad.  Guess the Oxy really had been working and was wearing of.  I took another dose and it kicked in about 20 minutes later.  Definitely dampened the pain but didn't eliminate it.  It was like that all day so I spent the rest of the day on pain meds.

1 Year + (March 26)

Well, I have some good news and some bad news.  My doctor's office called today to follow-up regarding the potential infection of my foot.  After I filled the nurse in on what happened, I was able to ask her some questions about my recovery.  The good news is that she was very impressed with how few pain killers I have been taking.  She said most people are calling for refills by the second week and the fact that I've been down to as little as one dose a day is really impressive.  Now the bad news.  Because the doc split my achilles tendon, I have to wear the Cam walker boot for an additional 6 weeks after I get the stitches out Friday.  Really bummed about that.  I was still under the impression that I was going to be able to transition to a normal shoe shortly after getting the stitches out.  Of course, now is the time when potential employers are calling and I may have to wear my gimp boot to an interview which I'm sure wont benefit me in any way.  Oh well.

As far as the foot is concerned, I had a rough day yesterday and took a dose of Oxy followed up by 1 Lortab.  It seemed to settle things down.  My foot still does seem to get very achy at night.  Feels like there is a lot of pressure built up inside.  So, before I bed I took my valium and 1 Oxy (instead of the full dose of 2).  Slept like a baby.  I do have phone interviews coming up this week so I'm going to try and go the whole day tomorrow without taking anything.  Night time is my biggest concern but I have to give it a shot.  I want my head to be as clear as possible.  

My boot still smells like the plague.  I did order a new liner that I can pick up anytime but I'm going to wait until I get my stitches out Friday so I can fully wash my leg and start out fresh.  I just can't be in enclosed spaces too long.  Gross.

1 Year + (March 24 & 25)

Well, had an interesting 28 hours.  I took my meds at 11:30 pm Friday (23rd) and slept through the night without waking up once!  Was really pleased.  Pain seemed much less all day on Saturday (24th).  My little bro came by in the morning and ended up having my leg down for about 30 minutes or so.  Pain wasn't bad but I did take some oxy after he left.  Overall though, barely any pain all day (compared to before).

Now the crazy part.  Yesterday, I noticed that my leg was really beginning to smell.  I've worn the CAM boot before during the summer and it does tend to stink a bit after a few weeks but nothing too bad.  Well, last night it really smelled.  Then today, it was even worse.  I'm talking 10 times worse than really bad foot odor.  Someone mentioned that I should check my leg as the smell could be indicative of an infection.  I'm not supposed to remove the cam boot and especially not the ace wrap and gauze.  I did take off the boot and noticed some dried blood and a bit of a fluid outline on the ace wrap.  And the smell.....was even worse.  I wrote on the Healthboards forum asking for advice and a nurse said I should call my doctors office as they will have an after hours service.  I called, gave my info, and was told a doc will call me within 30 minutes.  The on-call doc was one of the partners but he sounded either drunk or like he had just woken up.  It was only 9:30 or so.  Anyway, he told me to either take off the dressings and visually inspect the wounds or go directly to the ER.  If I inspect them myself, I need to be able to rewrap them.  Well, I don't have the supplies or anything.  I decided to wait a bit and asked the nurse on the forum and she said she recommends not screwing around and going to the ER.  A few other people also recommended the same.  I decided to take off the ace wrap and there was quite a bit of dried blood on the gauze and some yellow staining.  Once again, it smelled horrible.  I tried to look and see the wounds but the gauze was stuck and I was very nervous.  I decided that I better just go get it checked out.

Got to the hospital at 12:30, was triaged and in a room at 12:35, saw the doc at 12:38, and was out of there by 1:20.  I love this town!  Anyway, when the nurse first came in, she said "wow, that smells like a really bad infection".  Crap, not what I wanted to hear.  Doc then unwrapped everything and my wounds looked great!  Not even any staining on the skin!  Such a relief.  They said the smell is from all the fluids that had been collected in the gauze and ace wrap.  I asked if I did the right thing by coming in and they said absolutely.  If it had been an infection, it could get really nasty really fast, especially because of the screw removal.

For anyone that has the same worries, here is what the nurse told (which I searched all over the internet but couldn't find).  The primary indicator of infection is red or aggravated area around the wound.  The next is any drainage.  Third is fever and last is odor.  Everything I found online gave each symptom the same weight.  Oh well.

So, here are pics of my foot.  Pretty sweet.  Only 8 days out from surgery!  Can't believe how big the incision is over my achilles.  The pic of the lateral side isn't that much different than the one from last year when they did the osteotomy.  I do have to like that there isn't all the crusted nasty blood on them like last year.  

1 Year + (March 23)

(have added update after surgical report)

It turns out that my simple screw removal procedure turned into a more complex operation.  I wondered why the doc sent me home with 80 oxy, 40 norco, and 25 valium.  I just got the surgical report and now I know why.

Here are excerpts from the report:

Preoperative Diagnosis:
1.  Left insertional Achilles tendonitis
2.  Painful retained hardware, left calcaneus
3.  Haglund's deformity, left calcaneus
4.  Painful prominent ridge, left lateral calcaneus status post lateral slide osteotomy

Postoperative Diagnosis:
Same

Procedures:
1.  Debridement of Achilles tendon
2.  Removal of hardware from left calcaneous
3.  Excision of left retrocalcaneal bursa
4.  Excision of Haglund's deformity, left calcaneus
5.  Removal of prominent ridge left lateral calcaneal tuberosity through separate incision

Technique (highlights only)
1.  Achilles was cut in half and debrided
2.  Screws were removed
3.  Inflamed bursa was visualized and removed
4.  Haglund's deformity was resected and the __ most portion of the tuberosity was smoothed down to a good bleeding calcaneous bone
5.  The ___ portion of the calcaneus was then smoothed out with a bur obtaining a smooth surface and removing Haglund's deformity completely.
6.  Incision was made over lateral tuberosity of the calcaneus along previous incision and carried down to bone.  An inch of bone at the level of the previous lateral collateral osteotomy was removed and smoothed.
7.  The two halves of the Achilles were sewn back together.
8.  Skin was closed

Postoperative plan
Partial weight bearing in CAM walker and crutches for two weeks.  Sutures removed and then 6 weeks in CAM walker.

Here is the actual report, not sure if it will be hard to read.  I had to convert it in order to hide names and such.

Update:

I had a pretty good day and have definitely been cutting down on the meds.  It has been a week since the procedure so I figure it's important to start getting back to normal.  I'm taking less than half of what I was originally.  

I decided it was time to bathe today and set up my bath tub like I did after the surgery 1 year ago.  It's a basic shower/tub with a curtain.  I have a pad/grip that suctions to the bottom of the tub that helps to keep me from slipping and also makes it more comfortable.  I fill the tub about 1/3 of the way and then get im with my bad leg hanging out.  I use a towel on the side of the tub as a cushion for my leg.  Everything went fine and I got out and dried off after.  About 30 minutes later, my leg started to hurt.  Not a big deal and I elevated and iced as usual.  I took one norco instead of the oxy.  It seemed to work pretty well.  About 4 hours later, I got in bed and my foot is really sore.  Feel a lot of pressure and overall ache.  It also stings were the stitches are.  First time that has happened.  I just took  2 oxy and a valium in hopes that it will get under control quickly so I can go to sleep.  This is the first time I've let the pain get ahead of me and I don't like it.  

I did some research regarding the procedure my doc did.  I'll post my findings and thoughts tomorrow.  Pretty interesting.    

1 Year (March 21)

Wow, it has been one year since my original surgery.  Hard to believe.  Definitely one of the worst years of my life on many different levels.

So, got home last night and everything was fine.  I was pretty loaded up on the meds from the hospital and took a Lortab when I got home so I wasn't in much pain.  I decided to try sitting on the couch to start out.  I had my foot up and was icing so everything was fine.  Except, I started getting really loopy again. I really don't like the feeling.  I equate to it seeing someone that is really really drunk and you can tell that they want to stay awake but keep passing out.  That's me on the meds.  I finally gave up and got in bed.  It's amazing how much less stress there is in the hospital just from knowing someone is there to take care of you, bring you meds, and help you if you need it.  Anyway, I put together my pill schedule which called for me to be up every couple of hours for medicine.  I didn't set an alarm and just figured my body will tell me when it's time.  The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous so I had my windows open and the fan on (March in Michigan!).  I had a few water bottles next to the bed as well as some snacks for the middle of the night.  I used the yellow pillow wedge thing that the hospital gave me to prop my leg on and also packed a few pillows in next to it so I can sleep on my side.  I took Oxy at about 9:40 and was asleep by 10.  I woke up at 1:30 to pee and took my Lortab and Diazepam.  Slept until about 4:30 and got up to pee, took more Oxy.  I slept until 7, took my Lortab and went back to sleep until 8:30.  I got up, grabbed a piece of raisin toast for my stomach and took a diazepam.  Relaxed in bed and took my aspirin at 9.  Overall, not a bad morning.

I got out of bed a little bit ago to fill up my water bottle and mix up the stool softener thing.  Was on my feet for about 5 minutes.  Back in bed now with my leg propped up and it's pretty sore and throbbing.  I just took two more Oxy, hope I don't turn into a noodle again.

I have to say it again, having a med schedule written out next to the bed is a life saver.  It's very hard to keep track of when the meds have been taken.  The one thing that I may do is get a small flash light to keep by my bed so I don't have to put on the big light in the middle of the night to see which meds are which bottle.  I freaked myself out at one point bc I thought I had taken two Diazepam instead of Oxy.  That would have been bad.

My foot is aching pretty bad and it feels like there is a lot of pressure from my ankle to my toes.  My toes still don't feel normal, they don't have all of the sensation back yet.  Almost feels like they are asleep which is dangerous bc if they do go to sleep, I have to go back to the ER.

Will try to post a pic of the yellow wedge pillow thing from the hospital.  I definitely recommend getting one.

Here's a pic of the wedge.  It really is perfect when you are in the hospital bed and can change the angles of the mattress.  For a regular bed, I put a small pillow at the front of it so there is gradual support for my leg.  I also put one or two big pillows on either side so that I can sleep on my side with my bad foot on the wedge but my knee hanging off the side but supported by the extra pillows.

12 Months (March 20)

Woke up this morning with even less pain.  Am able to cruise around using my crutches.  It's still extremely painful to put weight on foot.  Still taking meds and waiting now to get discharged.  Will update when there's news.

Update:  Doc was in surgery all day and didn't complete the paperwork for me to get discharged.  Sat around the hospital until 5 pm and then was finally let go.  It was okay with me as my pain was well under control and I was comfortable.  I stopped by pharmacy on the way home to pick up prescriptions:  80 5 mg Oxy, 40 10 mg Lortab, 24 5 mg Diazepam.  My pill schedule is pretty nasty, going to be up every few hours if I try to follow the doctor's orders.  We'll see.  I'm pretty out of it now but my leg is really starting to hurt.  Will need to take some more meds soon.

12 Months (March 19)

Stopped taking the dilauded the night before and was able to comfortably manage the pain using oxy, lortab,and valium.  A different doc came by in the morning and he was part of the surgical team.  He said they did remove the screws, removed the calcaneal cap, cleaned the bursa, debrided the tendon, drilled down the Haglunds deformity, cleaned some bone spurs that were irritating the achilles, and shaved the shelf of bone on the lateral side.  Sounds like the screws had really upset things.  The plan was to head home in the afternoon.  I told my nurse that I want to walk for a bit using only the oral meds before I leave to make sure I wont be in too much pain when I get home.  She pretty much blew me off.  Couldn't even get her to bring me water.  After a while, my foot was really hurting and I asked for a half shot of dilaudid.  She refused saying that I would then have to spend another night here.  I asked if she could give me something else and she called the pharmacy.  They suggested that she give me another oxy.  I was surprised as I'd just had some an hour before.  Anyway, I took it and it destroyed me.  I was so completely freaked out.  Didn't really know where I was, couldn't concentrate, was just overall very uncomfortable and scared.  The nurse kept trying to push me out and I refused.  Doc came in later and was really good.  Said everything  is perfect surgically and recovery is going along as planned.  Told me to stay the night and to leave in the morning.  Very simple.  Bitter about that damn nurse.  Took it easy on the meds the rest of the night.  Rotated the oxy, norco, and valium.  Had a decent nights sleep.

12 Months (March 18)

Stayed up until 1245 am in order to get all of my meds at the same time (dilaudid shot, oxi pills, valium pill).  At that point, I was starting to get some pain in the Achilles.  Probably a 1 or 2 but getting worse.  I fell asleep at 1 and slept until 2:15 when my heel woke me up.  It's a pretty deep ache and seems to be getting worse.  Probably a 6.  The side of my foot is still numb and so are my toes.  The block is still wearing off.  I did get a shot of dilauded at 230.  Going to try and sleep.  There is no way oral medication would be good enough on its own.  


Update 1.  Resident woke me up this morning for another worthless visit.  Still doesn't know what my doctor did in surgery.  Not sure why he even comes by.  Pain was bad but not horrible this morning.  I did take a shot around 9 and slept until almost 11.  My brother came in with his family and hung out with me for a bit which was really nice.  I finally got up to use the big boy bathroom which caused my foot to throb a bit and hurt.  I took the dilauded shot again at 1:25 pm and have never been so uncomfortable.  Couldn't think straight, talk, watch tv....anything.  I slept until 3:15 and woke up in more pain than before.  I've asked my nurse for something else that wont knock me out. She's suggesting that we try half of a shot.  Don't know what to do.  The pain is miserable but I don't want to be knocked out again.

12 Months (March 17 again)

View from hospital room....not bad!

Here are the screws that were taken out.

12 Months (March 17 again)

Pain in my shin was a bit up and down but seemed to be escalating overall.  I was wide awake all night and didn't fall asleep until about 7:45 this morning.  The nurses came through for rounds at 8:30 and asked how my shin was.  I told her it was about a 2 or 3.  However, 4 minutes later, the pain was a 7 creeping on an 8.  Couldn't believe it.  It was a horrible burning pain that seemed to be moving down towards my ankle.  The nurse shot me up with some dilauded and gave me more oxy.  It wasn't helping too much.  Eventually, one of the docs stopped in and took off the cam walker and said that he thinks the ace wrap may be causing the pain.  He unwrapped the ace and started tearing the gauze.  My shin was really bruised and red.  He accidentally put pressure on it when tearing the gauze and it was excruciating.  He didn't really give a reason for the pain but said the tight ace wrap was aggravating it.  He reapplied everything very loosely and I haven't really had any pain since.  Very happy about that.  I crashed for about 3 hours and feel a million times better.

The main nerve block in the back of my leg is still active.  Can't feel anything or move toes.  The nurse wants to keep me on oxi until it wears off just in case it's painful.  She will keep the dialuded on hand in case we need break through medication.

I did get some clarity from my mother regarding her conversation with my surgeon last night.  Turns out that he did tell her that everything went as planned and I should have relief from pain.

Will update when block wears off.

Update: foot started tingling around 8 pm and I could start to move my toes at 10 (just barely).  Nurse gave me dilauded so we can start out ahead of the pain.  It's 11:50 now and I'm starting to get pain the achilles.  Can have dilaudid again 12:15, valium at 12:30, and oxi at 1 am.  A bit nervous now as the block is wearing off more and the pain is building.  Will post an update in the morning.

12 Months (March 16)

Got my screws out today.  It was a long day.  My surgery was scheduled for 4:30 pm so I had to be at the hospital at 2:30. I couldn't eat all day.  Miserable.  I got to the hospital on time and the lady registering me was having problems with her computer.  Ended up taking about 20 minutes but I was finally led into my own room for pre-op at about 3.  The hospital did a major addition about a year ago and they ended up converting the old ICU to outpatient care and the old burn unit to pre-op.  So, all the rooms are pretty huge and only one patient per room.  Kind of nice.  Anyway, the nurse came in right away and ran through all the usual questions.  She made me change into this new kind of gown that seems to be made of paper.  Then she connected a tube to it that blew air right into it for temperature control.  Very fancy.  Think I prefer the old way though.  Right before she left, she mentioned that my doctor was running about 2 hours late.  Sweet.  I was sooo hungry at this point.  The anesthesiologist came in at about 4:30 to start my IV and said my surgery was probably going to be at 6:30.  He also reviewed the nerve block procedure.  Since he was going to be in a different surgery at 5:30, he wanted to do the nerve block a bit early rather than risk there being a delay.  He came back in at 5, gave me some valium (Versed) and did the nerve block.  Very simple and painless.  What was different this time is that he block a second nerve as well.  The first was behind my leg, just above my knee.  The second was in the front, just above and to the right of the knee.  The block slowly settled in and my foot kept getting more heavy.  At 5:30, my doc came in to review everything and make sure I was comfortable.  He then left to perform a different surgery. At about 6:15, the operative nurse and another anesthesiologist came in to take me to surgery.  The operating room was pretty cool, it's only a year old and had some very fancy equipment.  Anesthesiologist gave me some more versed and had me start breathing through a mask.  About a minute later, I was out.  I woke up at 8 pm in recovery and was very groggy.  Was there for about an hour and then was wheeled up to my room.  Unfortunately, I never found out what my doc did to my foot.  He called my house to inform my mother and she didn't ask many questions.  It took about 2 hours for me to become less groggy and started feeling better around 10:30.  One thing that is really strange is that I began to develop a burning pain in my shin (maybe a 2 out of 10).  There is no way the nerve block should be wearing off so fast!  The pain was getting worse (4/10) so the nurse gave me a couple of oxy at 10:30.  Didn't do anything for the pain.  At 11:30, the top right part of my calf is no longer numb and the pain in my shin continues to escalate (5/10).  The nurse called Ortho and they said to give me  dilauded and valium.  I held off until 12:30 am and had to take it.  Pain was about 6/10.  It has helped a little but not much.  Kind of concerning.  So, now it's 1:30 am and my shin still hurts.  I can't move my toes yet and the left side of my calf is still numb.  Really hope this is a temporary pain.  If the dialuded isn't helping for this, I'm really nervous when my heel fires up.    


So, long rant.  As mentioned, I'm on the dilauded so excuse typos or if this doesn't make sense at all.  Will update again tomorrow.


Oh, I did get my screws.  They're probably a good 2" - 2.5".  Crazy.

11+ Months (March 8th)

Surgery got pushed due to an old lady wrecking her ankle.  Doesn't help my anxiety but I'm sure it's easier for me to handle the pain and inconvenience than her.  Doc briefly reviewed the MRI results and said everything looks fine.  The plan is to continue with the original surgery next Friday.  He will remove the screws, view the bottom of the achilles, and shave the bone on the lateral side where he did the osteotomy since it may be contributing to the pain.

My appointment was for 3:15 and at 4:15 one of the nurses came out and announced that he is running about an hour and a half behind schedule.  What can you do.  When I finally got back there, he was great.  I told him of my anxiety regarding surgery and he spent a fair amount of time with me putting my concerns to rest.  He even offered valium.  I should have asked about the two parts of the MRI report that mention scar tissue and the inflamed tendon.  Really not sure why I didn't.  Regardless, we reviewed my concerns and I feel much better.  Says there is no reason for my foot have gone up by a shoe size. Oh well. I am feeling much better about this after meeting with him again.

11+ Months (March 7th)

I got the results from the MRI of my achilles and there is mild tenosynovitis of the posterior tibialis tendon and scar tissue in the region of the inferior peroneal retinaculum.  Imaging of the most distal portion of where my achilles attaches to the calcaneous is not well visualised due to the screws in my foot.  I see my doc tomorrow and have surgery scheduled for Friday to remove the screws and possible shave the bone on the lateral side of my calcaneous.  I don't know if these results will impact what the surgeon needs to do.  Really not looking forward to weeks of recovery.

11+ Months (March 1st)

I saw my doc today for the first time in 180 days (due to pre-existing condition clause with my insurance).  He said the burning pain I get in the back of my ankle is most likely caused by the screws and wants to remove them.  Since my achilles continues to swell and be painful, he has ordered an MRI next week to make sure it is not deteriorating.  If it looks okay, he will extend the incision up to my achilles to clean out any fragments etc.  Since I have also been having pain on the lateral side of my foot where he cut the heel, he would like to go in and shave some of the bone down as well.  Since I had so much trouble controlling the pain in my foot after the last surgery, he would like to do this surgery in the hospital and plan on me staying until the nerve block wears off to make sure we can control the pain.  I'm nervous as I really do not want to go through the same experience as last year.  I'm also very hopeful that the MRI is negative as that could add a whole new complication.  

Oh yeah, insurance will only cover 80%.  I can't imagine what two days in the hospital is going to cost me.

10.5 Months (February 15)

Here are some pics of what is happening with my achilles.  Today I took my mother to the doctors office, walked a total of 4 city blocks, and the rest of the time was sitting.  I was probably on my feet for 25 minutes total.

The first picture shows the difference between both ankles.

This second photo shows the left foot only.  The bottom circle is where the screws are for the oseotomy.  The middle circle is where I'm getting the burning pain.  The top circle is my achilles.

For comparison, here is my good foot.

10.5 Months (February 13)

It's been nearly a year since I had my surgery.  I recall very clearly that the doc said I should be just about back to normal within 12 months.  As normal is a relative term, let me put this in perspective.  Before I injured my ankle, I never had any problems (aka normal).  After the injury and before the surgery, I had swelling and discomfort.  Sometimes it was miserable but most of the time I could deal.  Now that I am nearly a year post surgery, I can't run, the slightest bit of exercise results in my achilles swelling and the back of my foot feeling like it's on fire every time I move, I have developed some serious popping, and my ankle feels very unstable and loose.  Maybe I'll get lucky and my ankle will return to normal in the next 45 days.  I won't hold my breath.
 

9+ Months (January 2)

I posted the below response to someone on the Healthboards forum that asked for an update.  Don't think there is anything in it that I haven't posted here before.


I would say my foot is about 70%.  I get random pain but it is pretty light most of the time.  I'm beginning to get more sensation along the lateral side of my foot.  When I first get up to move, it is very stiff and I still get burning at the back of my heel and the lateral side where the incision for the osteotomy is.  The bottom of my foot is still sensitive if I'm walking on an uneven surface, especially if I step on something.  Long walks (over an hour) result in stiffness and additional pain for about a day.  Long trips in the car also aggravate it for the rest of the day.  I went bowling over the holiday and was very sore the next day.  One thing that is very random is that I had to go up a full shoe size.  Now I need a 13 for my surgically repaired foot and a 12 for my non-repaired foot.  Makes things a bit challenging.