Fused ankle

[Mike OReilly]

Hi Chris, sorry I missed the thread earlier. I’ve lived with a fused ankle for most of my life now. (Along with a severely damaged second one, fused lumbar, and various other ramifications from a long drop and a sudden stop).

Like you, I was warned off the ankle replacement decades ago. I hear things are improving, so will be very interested to hear your outcome. Pain is a constant, and not just form the ankles. I have bad balance and various other limitations, but so far it has not prevented me from cruising the way I do. Perhaps it’s why I go slow though .

Good luck , and keep us posted .

[chris mac]

Thanks for all the well wishes. I just woke up from surgery a couple hours ago. Boy they use good drugs now:-)
I'm told it was a success.
I obviously have post op pain, but not overwhelming.
Mike Oreilly.. Sorry to hear of your issues, they sound similar to what I've gone through. As is the cause. It isn't a lot of fun being in pain all the time. All I can tell you is you will know when it is time to get it dealt with.
If you want I will post updates on this thread.

[JPA Cate]

Sure, Chris, let us know how it all goes. I'm assuming there'll be physical therapy starting some time after initial recovery? Good luck with it.

Ann

[Mike OReilly]

Great to hear it has gone well Chris. I hope your recovery and rehab goes equally well now.

That’s very kind of you to offer to keep us posted. I would certainly love to hear about your progress. Who knows, I just may follow in your footsteps .

[chris mac]

Well, 24 hours after surgery, and I'm laying on my couch at home.
I highly recommend this nerve block. Everything from the knee down is numb. The only pain pill I have taken is a small dose oral morphine for the hour drive home.
I can still feel and wiggle my toes and there is pain, but steady and manageable. Considering they were inside 2 of the joints with power tools and hammer and chisel, it is surprisingly good.
The nerve block will wear off sometime tomorrow, so I will see how the pain is then.
Anne, pt won't start for a while. It's 4-6 weeks of absolutely no weight bearing. Time for the bones to fuse to each other.
It will be interesting to see an x-ray now. From the previous work done, there are six big screws in there already, I'm thinking there will be double digits now. My foot is almost more metal than bone;-).
If anyone is curious of the procedure, YouTube subtalar arthrodesis. I also did the talonavicular this round, and tolocalcaneous (Sp?) last time. It's probably a good thing youtube didn't exist for the first one. Viewer discretion is advised

[JPA Cate]

Not having much pain is good, you can sleep and heal. I read up on how long it takes to get to full strength, a while back. It was a lot longer than I thought. If you have access to ice (I guess you must at least have snow!), use of it to relieve pain is a good deal, too. Got to let it warm up some, though, for blood circulation. Good luck with it, Chris, in a year from now, it will be lots better than the next 2 weeks. Pelagic started a thread called "Living With Pain", and there's a lively discussion there, as well. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...in-211970.html

Ann

[chris mac]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Not having much pain is good, you can sleep and heal. I read up on how long it takes to get to full strength, a while back. It was a lot longer than I thought. If you have access to ice (I guess you must at least have snow!), use of it to relieve pain is a good deal, too. Got to let it warm up some, though, for blood circulation. Good luck with it, Chris, in a year from now, it will be lots better than the next 2 weeks. Pelagic started a thread called "Living With Pain", and there's a lively discussion there, as well. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...in-211970.html

Ann

Oh, we definately have ice;-) the drive to the hospital it was -15 Celsius.the docs put me on quite a spectrum of pills for pain and swelling over the next couple days. Ice is also my friend.
I have been following pelagic's thread also. It was very well timed for me and I believe I did comment on it too.
The nice part, is that this pain will diminish each day.
And I am very much looking forward to a year from now. Both for the removal of pain, and hopefully starting our cruising in a warm climate.
As another update, the effects of the nerve block are diminishing faster than hoped for. The doc expected it to last till sometime tomorrow. But I can definitely feel more now. Feeling is coming back starting with my toes and working up.
Should be an interesting night.

[Mike OReilly]

Good luck Chris. I’m sure the coming days are going to be a challenge, but it’s nothing you haven’t dealt with already. Except now things will get better with each passing day.

I’m rootin' for you

[chris mac]

So, one week update.
Yesterday I was able to go most of the day without pain pills. On a previous surgery many years ago, I became addicted. First to morphine, then to percacet. It took a big effort to get off them.
Now you might say I'm a little paranoid about it. They gave me pill form morphine of a fairly low dose.
I was starting to notice that the pain would consistently increase shortly before my next dose. That is one indicator that it's the brain wanting it, not the body.
By evening, the pain was largely gone, so I feel confident that it was the right choice.
Now the bad part. Last night I was dreaming about the good old days of running and jumping. Much like a dog dreaming of chasing rabbits, my legs were moving with the dream. I must have tried to flex or extend the newly fused joints because I woke up to a blinding pain. My wife also woke, hearing a "cracking noise"
Yup, needed the morphine again, plus motrin for swelling.
It is back in good form now, swelling is down, pain is largely gone and no more pain pills since.
I don't think any lasting damage was done. There are screws holding everything firm, plus the cast so I don't think anything actually moved. Plus it would hurt a helluva lot more than it does.
The largest annoyance now is bed rest. Wanting my foot above my heart to prevent infection, and promote blood flow. I understand it and follow it because I don't want to do this again. But damn it gets boring quick.
One week more and I go for xrays and check up.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by chris mac

The largest annoyance now is bed rest. Wanting my foot above my heart to prevent infection, and promote blood flow. I understand it and follow it because I don't want to do this again. But damn it gets boring quick.
One week more and I go for xrays and check up.

Youtube videos. Lots and lots of Youtube videos. Or I could drive out there and show you all 5866 un-culled images of my trips sailing on the coast

But it sounds like good sense is still ascendant there so maybe not...

[Mike OReilly]

Sounds like things are going well. Waking up to cracking can’t be fun, but I’m sure the bionic bits keep you all together .

Pain, and pain management, is always an interesting challenge. There was a thread recently about such. My ankle injury means constant chronic pain (along with back, neck and ribs … all gifts from my original accident). I stay away from pain killers as much as possible, but do resort to the occasional ibuprofen when things flare up.

I think pain is a pretty fascinating phenomena. It’s so unique. And good on you for being so aware of the addiction dangers. It’s why I try and stay away from the better stuff .

[JPA Cate]

Hi, chris mac,

Thanks for the update. I became addicted to codeine before my first spinal fusion. It's easy to do. My withdrawal took place about the 2nd day after the surgery. As you know, it's not fun, so I applaud your decision.

Isn't it amazing how your body remembers, when asleep, what it used to be able to do? I'm not a skier anymore, but the other night had a skiing dream, but maybe it was telling me I'm going downhill too fast???

Anyhow, still wishing you all the best. See if you can set up your laptop to give you sodukus or Scrabble or crosswords to self-entertain, it got me through some of my bilateral tkr revision surgeries [where both legs had to be elevated, most of the time, and doing "pumps" to enhance blood flow], along with e-mails with friends, and the rare phone call.

Cheers, mate, you ARE doing this well.

Ann

PS. Here's a link to Pelagic's Living With Pain thread: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...51#post2803851

[chris mac]

Well, just had my 2 week checkup. Cast is off, damn it felt good to wash my foot.
Xrays were good and the surgeon was happy with everything. She thinks the cracking noise was the plaster cast, as a piece on the sole was broken.
It has been replaced with an air boot. Still no weight bearing for another 4 weeks. I am off bed rest though, so the boredom shouldn't be as bad.

Anne, thanks for the suggestions. I actually have suduko and crosswords on my phone, as well as a couple solitary games, an interactive war type game I play online with my sons, and of course Cf. I'm having to recharge my phone at least 4 times a day. I have also gotten a lot of use out of our library.

Mac blaze, I have binge watched several new sailing channels over the last couple weeks and sampled many many more. Some of them however, I'm just not THAT bored. I'm sure your unedited sailing vids are still more interesting than a lot of the crap floating around on utube. But I think I'd still rather meet you on the water for a sundowner, than over home movies:-)

Mike, if your pain is anything like mine, I'm surprised you haven't migrated farther south yet. I find the cold to be one of the worst aggravations for the arthritis.

Any ways, I took a couple pics while the cast was off. The foot isn't as pretty as it once was, so viewer discretion advised.

Attachment 184379

[JPA Cate]

Just will you look at that lovely picture! Seriously! No bruising! Nice tidy stitches. Limited swelling, considering the previous injuries. Pink and rosy: super circulation. I dunno, Chris, I think you dodged a bullet and got a great surgeon. Good on ya!

I mistakenly thought people would be interested in seeing what my legs looked like after the bilateral tkr. My incisions were stapled, and not by the world's best stapler, either. And there was swelling, and some bleeding, so they looked more like a mistake on Dr. Frankenstein's monster, and less like something you might discuss at the dinner table, if you know what i mean. ;-) It came okay eventually, but your ankle looks great, and it 2 weeks, too. Good on ya.

Heal fast.

Ann

[chris mac]

Thanks Ann, I have been quite impressed with this surgeon. A quick story, on the first operation(for the fixator) I had some staples. A young tech came in to remove them. On the first one I screamed in pain. I accused him of using the tool upside down(driving the staples in further) he denied it, but then lowered the tool under the table level and looked at it. I saw him flip it over before he started again:@ it worked way better at that point.
So yes, it helps when you got a good doc.
I really hope to meet one day at anchor and compare scars, and other life stories.
You know, to keep this sailing related;-)