Ankle Surgery

[Blarg]

Almost three years ago I damaged my ankles by running. It was enivitable because of a slow development of bone behind the Achilles causing a narrowing of the channel the tendon had but it caught me completely by surprise.

This happened when I went to winter ball back in 2014. I had just completed the 5 hour drive to Scottsdale and without as much as walking a block I decided not to wait for the walk signal and ran across a 6 lane street. I felt fine right up until I slowed to a walk and that is when both ankles told me what an idiot I was. Worst part was when I limped to the stadium I found the day game was somewhere else. To get through the four days I bought ankle supports at the Rite Aid and gobbled too buch ibuprofen and washed it down with adult beverages. 

For four months the pain would just not go away so I saw my doctor, got x-rays and went to physical therapy. After two runs of PT I made an appointment with a surgeon and discussed options, did the shoe lifts, changed out all my shoes to those recommended for foot and ankle problems, more PT, not much help. Just as I was fed up I had that little issue with cancer and the ankles were the least of the problems.

Last November I decided it was time to put the wheels in motion and get this resolved and the first step was... More physical therapy but this time at a place that were experts at sports injuries so the procedures and exercises where different and I actually got results on my left ankle where I can lift my body wieght entirely on the left foot and ankle. My right started to come around but once I did anything outside of the prescribed excercise routine it devolved to an aching mess again.

Back to the the surgeon, new x-rays and an MRI and his diagnosis was the same as the physical therapist, insertional tendinosis with Haglund's deformity. 

That's basically what is wrong, a bone spur has formed collapsing the bursa sac into the tendon and is causing wear on the Achilles. 

Surgery is scheduled Thursday, the surgeon is going to partially remove the Achilles tendon from the base and do what is called a debridement (a dremmel cutaway and polish off the bone) then reattach the tendon. Only about an hour long procedure but the recovery time is three months in a boot and PT for up to a year.

For the first 6-8 weeks I have to go completely non weight bearing and I was asked if I wanted crutches or a walker. I'll be damned if I'm going with the walker, that's for geriatric. Also our house has stairs so that's not going to work.

Then my wife says why not a knee scooter. Never saw anyone using one until this last weekend at Triumphest in Flagstaff. The guy pulls out this three wheel beast from his trunk and unfolds it, drops his knee on his and rolls away. I caught up with him and talked about it and he just had an Achilles reattached a couple months before and said this was the only way to go. 

At first I checked out rentals and they were $95 a month. I looked on Amazon and that little scooter was only $125. So with some research I checked all the reviews and decided to spend the money and go with...

The ATV of knee scooters. Just need some cool off-road racing stickers on it and I'm going to be ready to roll Wednesday when it arrives from Amazon. 

It may be three months before I walk again but I'm going to roll in style.

[gotbeer]

You need to paint it red.  Add some racing stripes.   Get Pujols number on it.  And maybe a bell or toot horn.  

But hope the surgery fixes your ankle.  Just don't rush your recovery too quick and end up on the DL for longer, using a ligament from your arm to replace your achilles.  

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I echo what gotbeer says about sticking to the recovery schedule. One of the biggest mistakes that people make after any kind of orthopedic surgery is deciding that they feel better and going full bore.

[Adam]

non-athlete

[Blarg]

I'm going to completely level out on Destiny in the next couple weeks. 

Edited September 25, 2017 by Blarg

[Tank]

keeping you in our prayers and sending positive thoughts your way. 

i hope you have a completely hot, young, sexy therpaist so that you follow her instructions completely. 

[Blarg]

I used to see a physical therapist named Erica that looks like Zooey Deschanel. I had her for both shoulders and the first run with the ankles and then somewhat emabarassing post cystectomy physical therapy.

I joked with her that I've taken stalking to a new level and contracted cancer just so she would have to see me since she was the only one in the clinic that did that. 

My new physical therapist is named Joe. He doesn't wear khakis and it is at a completely different facility. No, there is no restraining order. I just have to use equipment not available at our regular medical clinic.

[Blarg]

I woke up at 2am, hit the bathroom and dropped back down in bed and couldn't go back to sleep. I started to read some of the new comments on AW and realize there are a few insomniacs on the board.

Just as I'm about to close up the tablet and get some sleep both dogs go crazy over something outside (probably a possum farting) and bolt out of the house barking their damn fool heads off.

In 6 hours I'm due at the surgical center and I'm lying here awake and the one thought that is crossing my mind is after nearly three years of wanting to get this ankle fixed, shit, it's really going to happen and I'm going really hate the months of immobility.

No turning back now, I hope I get some good prescription meds.

[gotbeer]

Hope the surgery goes well.  Make sure you update the movie/tv and video game thread.  

[Tank]

enjoy the anesthesia as much as possible. it's the best sleep you'll get.

[Blarg]

Back home and ready for some baseball.

[Tank]

adding a picture of alex curry automatically makes everything better.

sounds like all went well. good to see.

[Blarg]

They had do do a partial detachment of the tendon, luckily not a complete removal. The timetable may be as short as 8 weeks in the boot.

[Blarg]

Update time because I know you guys want the details.

Must have gotten good going away painkillers at the hospital because I was really expecting a lot of pain that just isn't there. I'm sure that will wear off tomorrow and I will be trying to fill it with the prescription meds.

Going upstairs is a three legged baby crawl because I dare you guys to try something stupid like crutches or a one legged stair climb. At the top is my ATV so cruising to the bathroom was easy.

Now comes the fun part, dropping drawer one legged and then afterwards trying to change into PJ's and hiking them up one legged. No pics or YouTube's, just do it yourself and see how fun it is, while medicated. 

Bought a bed three years ago with the adjustable frame. Never thought I would get this much use out of it for all the wrong reasons but damn glad it was thrown in free. Foot is comfortably elevated and it's time for some sleep.

Maybe I should give the dogs some of my meds so they conk out and not go nuts at 2 am again.

[arch stanton]

If the meds are good enough you won't even notice the dogs

[Tank]

Let those pups get their own meds. You've earned these.

[Blarg]

It's 9:30 in the morning, was up part of the night, not with any surgery pain but an acidic stomach.

We had friends over on Wednesday night for dinner and they brought a red velvet cake from Whole Foods. Last night I had a slice of it, dry as crap. Never get cakes from store claiming to be health concious, they leave out what makes cakes light and moist.

Anyway, that cake sat in my stomach and burned the whole night through. I gobbled almost as much Tums as cake to get the acidic reflux from killing me. I had an apple a little while ago and everything has calmed down at last.

Surprisingly little feeling from the ankle just an occasional twinge. Not numb but no throbbing post surgery pain. I am keeping with the meds schedule. I have Vistaril, Norco, and some generic ibuprofen. Nothing heavy duty but it all seems to be working fine.

I've read about every thread outside of the hockey and soccer forum. Getting a little bored laying in bed and this is really only day 2. I'm going to go batshit crazy bored by the end of the weekend.

[Blarg]

Timeline is 8-12 weeks. There has better to be a Destiny drop between now and then.

[Tank]

norco is good stuff. use it judiciously, but use it as needed.

told my class about you in worship this morning and then we prayed for you. hope all goes as well as you need it to.

[Blarg]

Hey, that was nice but this wasn't a life threatening surgery. I need you to save up those prayer requests for the big ones. 

Like liposuction. They get that wrong and you're lumpy for life.

[Tank]

with all this free time on your hands, i hope you have a nice pair of binoculars, buddy.

Edited September 29, 2017 by Tank

[nate]

My wife had a really rare blood vessel deformity in her right foot, basically she had one vein that split off into a ton of tiny veins and wrapped themselves around her tendons and bones, it was completely harmless except for the fact that it really hurt her when running and she was training for a marathon.  Finally the pain got to the point where she couldn't handle it anymore so she spoke to a surgeon, since it is rare we had to go all the way out to the Univ of Madison medical school to get it treated.  First they tried injecting the veins with alcohol to essentially cause them to die.  (they charged insurance $90k for the procedure that took two hours btw)

The pain persisted and 9 months later they tried it again with a stronger solution.  Same cost and still pain.

So they decided to go in and remove them surgically, it took 11 hours, they had to move bones and cut then reattach tendons, etc.  Recovery was four months and it cost the insurance almost $300k.

More than two years later she still has tons of pain and still has to go to a physical therapist.  The pain now is from all the work they had to do on the surgery, and at this point she has been told its just something she is going to have to deal with.  It is much worse since she had surgery, she regrets ever having it done.

Oh, yeah, and with deductible and out of pocket costs it cost us about $15k over two years.  We should be able to sue for our money back considering all they did was make things worse.

[Tank]

wow, that's ridiculous, nate, and a good example of how outrageous costs have become.

[gotbeer]

On 9/28/2017 at 4:23 PM, Blarg said:

Back home and ready for some baseball.

 

Why did you crop out your dog, and your shorts?

[Tank]

1 hour ago, gotbeer said:

 

Why did you crop out your dog, and your shorts?

no need to see that from anyone here ever again.

 

many of us are still trying to recover from angel25fan at the A's spring training sign...