A week and a half later

My next appointment isn't for a week, but I felt like I should update anyway.

So far so good, as far as healing is concerned. I have very little to no pain on a daily basis, and finally am sleeping almost nonstop every night (instead of waking up and propping my cast back up on the pillow I have for that). I have this troublesome suture on the foot end of the ankle surgery cut- when they were wrapping up my surgery it kept bleeding, and I currently have this burning stinging feeling there where it's rubbing on the gauze. It doesn't hurt much but it is very annoying. Other than that I don't have almost any pain.

I've done lots of little one- stop trips with my mom, since that's about all my arms are up for, such as going out to eat or seeing a movie (Toy Story 3, because you're never too old for that). Mostly I sit on the couch watching tv and reading books all day.

I have made some observations about things that have made this easier:

1. Shower seat- I have one of those tubs with the showerhead in them, and what I do is sit on the seat and have my casted leg sticking out of the tub under the shower curtain (wrapped in a trash bag and duct tape). It looks silly but works.

2. Mom or other person you wouldn't mind seeing you without your clothing or dignity- especially the first week or so after surgery when you have to figure out how to do things like use the toilet on one leg, bathe, or change clothes. They're also good for less awkward things like making food or getting the mail so you don't have to get up and do it.

3. Shower head with detachable nozzle- I love them anyway because of the detachable nozzle on the rope, especially with how I can't move in the shower.

4. Bike gloves- For when you're out and crutching. Better grip, fingerless so you can touch things, and most importantly for preventing huge palm blisters. Plus they look cool.

Post-Op Appointment #1

Today's appointment was unexpectedly eventful. I went back to my doctor so my cast could be taken off, my foot examined, and a new cast put on. That was all. However it ended up taking well over an hour for the reasons I will say below.

My appointment was late getting started but once I got in, one of the not-my-doctor medical personnel vibrated my cast off with an intimidating little tool. It doesn't cut, just vibrates really hardcore and makes the fiberglass on the cast come apart where the tool is. It's science.

The unexpected part was where suddenly for no reason at all, I got extremely lightheaded and almost passed out during and after they got the cast off. This is apparently fairly common, and none of the personnel who rushed over could explain exactly why it happens- just that sometimes, something that has to do with buzzing the cast off makes people woozy sometimes. They gave me crackers and water for free to help, and later on when I started looking faint again while trying to hobble down the hall, they put me in a wheelchair and pushed me so I wouldn't get hurt (I am somewhat of a liability due to my accident-prone nature).

Once I started looking alive again the doctor took an XRay (and I had to lay back down so I didn't faint again), and my foot is doing pretty well. I took a glance at the sutures in my foot, but decided at the last minute not to get a eyeful of it because I was already nauseated by the bruising and swelling (I bruise and swell quite easily, and when they did surgery, my whole foot had swollen up and still looked a little poofy). It hurt moderately to not have the cast on, but they put a new one on fairly quickly.

I picked a lovely shade of eye-catching green for this week until my next appointment next week, at which time this same ordeal is supposed to happen again, hopefully minus the fainting spree, and I plan on getting purple instead of green.

This was one of those times where I was glad I had semi-randomly ended up at this particular podiatrist's office instead of somewhere else. Even the receptionists were understanding and nice- the crackers I ate when I was woozy were actually part of one receptionist's lunch, which I only found out afterwards, once I'd already eaten them and couldn't refuse. This office where I'm going for my post-surgery appointments is Podiatry Associates of New Mexico, or PANM, in Albuquerque. I've seen two doctors there, however the doctor I mention in this blog, and the surgeon (who are the same person) is Dr. Giles.

More on the Surgery

It occurrs to me now that I did not tell you what they actually did in my surgery. I had a tear in one of the tendons- not sure which one- that got fixed, as well as several kind of frayed stretched spots that if left unfixed would have eventually snapped (gross mental image). Since the tendons kept dislocating the other thing they had to do was sort of dremmel a deeper groove into the bone around my ankle so the tendon would sit properly. The surgery itself, I am told- because I was unconscious at the time- took an hour longer than it was supposed to, or about 2 1/2 hours total.

Good to know- don't freak out if your toes are orange. It's the sanitizer they use on the surgery site before they start cutting. I had thought I was dying until they explained that to me.

Also good to know- The vehicle ride home- if it's possible to find a sedan or something like that, where you don't have to climb up to get in and can sit the length of the backseat, that would be great. I had my dad and his F150 extended cab man-truck, which was interesting to climb in and out of while somewhat anesthetized, even with help.

The surgery

I probably should have written this days ago, however it wasn't until today that I started feeling human again. So here it is now- the surgery, and the first few days afterward until now.

Surgery day/Friday:

My surgery was scheduled for 7:30 a.m., and my check in time was 6 a.m. The nurses put me into the preparation room, had me pee in a cup (possibly men don't have to do this, I'm pretty sure it was a last-minute pregnancy test), strip down, put on a gown, and then they stuck a needle in me to pump hydrating fluids so I wouldn't be dehydrated during surgery. If you haven't had surgery before, the IV is normally put into the back of the hand. However my blood veins weren't popping up enough so they had to put mine in my arm in the area blood is normally drawn from (I don't know the name of it). This was all about 45 minutes before my surgery.

My podiatric surgeon/podiatrist at Lovelace Women's Hospital. I liked having my actual doctor do the procedure.

The anestheticist came in to make sure of the level I wanted to be drugged to ( I didn't want to remember a thing, and he made it so), and then my surgeon came in to make sure which ankle the surgery is on, and that I knew of the procedures that were going to be done, and then about 7:15 the nurses wheeled the bed I was in into the surgery unit, into a little room, where the last thing I remember is the anestheticist telling me he was starting the anesthesia.

Immediately post surgery:

I woke up around 10 a.m., had a few small semi-conscious panic attacks so the nurse standing there had to keep calming me down, and then my parents were brought in once the shaking was under control- I wish I'd received more of a warning the anesthesia would make me shake, because it was alarming and kind of annoying. During the next hour or so I didn't really pay attention to or care what anyone was saying because I was in intense, agonizing pain and the quick-relief drugs they kept shooting me with never did start working (they probably do for normal people. I have strange reactions to medicines related to pain relief in that they either make me really high and work too well or never take effect at all). If I hadn't already known how to use crutches I would have been taught then, however since I do that lesson was skipped. Eventually they gave me one of my Vicodin and once that kicked in (because that is a drug that works too well on me) they got me into the backseat of the car

and somehow got me back to my apartment.

The cast I have is big and shapeless and bulky, and it feels like it weights at least twenty pounds- it's much heavier than my big boot had been, and it is not to get wet or be walked on. I drew a smiley face on it while I was drugged over the weekend.

Me, drugged. Can you tell?

Rest of surgery day:

The trick is to throw up as quickly as you can without forcing it, because that will get most of the anesthesia out. I almost immediately feel better from that alone. The agonizing pain continued, and I just had to suffer through it and take my medicines regularly. I highly recommend sleeping as much as possible because you will not sleep very well at night and won't be good for anything else anyway. I didn't eat most of the day because of the nausea, but that night my parents had Chili's To Go for dinner and I ate their fries without any problems. Also, the IV left huge bruises on my arm that even four days later are still very purple and angry-looking.

Post-Op Day 1/Saturday:

Roughly the same as surgery day in that it's a strong general pain that went all the way up to my hip, but the skin where the sutures are hurt a lot as well. More sleeping. I was a little more confident in my ability to successfully eat and digest regular food, and did. By this point I had claimed the couch as my own and pretty much did not move from it.

Day 2/Sunday:

Bone pain on Sunday, and focused more on the general area of the ankle rather than my whole leg. Still very consistant on taking all of my medicine as soon as I could, and still didn't sleep well. By this point I had also figured out how to go to the bathroom by myself on one leg, and with the aid of a trashbag, duct tape, and lots of towels I managed to take a shower as well without getting the cast wet or maiming myself in an exciting new way.

Day 3/Monday:

I almost felt human again. The chief problem was having to keep my leg elevated- if I had it down too much, I could feel my ankle swell up and there would be a lot of pressure in the cast. However if I kept it elevated it would be fine and there wouldn't be much pain at all.

Day 4/Tuesday/Today:

I finally feel human in that pain is minimal- moderate at worst- I slept a lot better than the last several days, and don't have to nap every few hours anymore. Actually, I spent almost three hours this morning working on classwork for my online class, and just sat on my desk chair like a normal human for half an hour without my casted ankle swelling up. I suppose the problem at this point will be not getting restless.

I have my first post-surgery doctor appointment on Friday, so I'll be back with a new post around then sometime.

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The Pre-Op Appointment

Hello again! Today's insight is into the labwork/pre-op appointment that you'll need to do. This is where the bloodwork gets done, as well as when you are questioned about medical history. This is supposed to happen 7-10 days before surgery. A quick point- I've heard two different answers from two different people about whether or not it is fasting bloodwork (if you are allowed to eat or not for a few hours beforehand), so be sure to ask!

For convenience and so I could scope out the facility, I went to the hospital my surgery next week will be at- Lovelace Women's Hospital, here in Albuquerque.

This is the hospital in the tiny photo. It is more for woman-related things like childbirth and such, however they have a very nice surgical unit and more importantly, are covered by my insurance.

You go check in at the main admissions office, and they fill you in on surgery information, check contacts and personal info, and maybe fill you in on financial information (for example, my hospital requires a sort of down payment due when I check in for my surgery). You also sign a few forms. They direct you to the pre-op area, where you get sent to the lab to get bloodwork, a urinalysis, and pregnancy test if you're female. The bloodwork is mainly for checking the state of your organs, blood levels, and cholesterol, among other things.

Then after that's done they send you back to the pre-op area, where you will get interviewed on family medical history, your personal medical history (diseases, conditions, allergies, recent flus or colds), if you know if you/any family member have had bad reactions to anesthesia, and a few other things like that.

All of this will be sent (in my case, at least) back to my podiatric surgeon at his clinic so that when I have my appointment for my physical and consent form-signing in a few days, they know all of this information.

Overall, from check-in to when I left, all of this took about an hour and a half, including wait time in the pre-op lobby. I had figured by going mid-morning on a weekday that would happen.

Next blogs-

-The pre-surgery physical, and consent form-signing/information appointment

-What to do/not do before a surgery

-Whether or not I'm too doped out on painkillers to be coherent a few days after the surgery

First Post- Where Things Stand

Hello! If you're stumbling onto this blog, you're probably trying to find some information on ankle surgery as told by people, instead of copy/pasted from one pseudo-medical web page to another (or from professional medical web pages to others, as the case may be).

As far as medical accreditation is concerned, I am NOT a doctor- not even close. So don't take this as actual medical advice by any means- the purpose here is to share how my particular adventure in ankle injury/surgery/recovery is going, because when I first got injured and tried to find a nice friendly well-written blog about peroneal tendon-related injury, I couldn't, and it really bothered me.

About me- I'm a college student in Albuquerque, New Mexico (it's between Texas and Arizona, if you don't know.) I was born in Texas, have lived in several states since then, and enjoy traveling, writing, photography, and working on a crappy comic I draw. My preferred form of exercise is riding my bike, although I haven't been able to do it for awhile.

About my peroneal tendons- Here's a quick medical history related to the theme of this blog so you know what I have already been through as of this post:

• February 12ish, 2010- Twist ankle standing still. Immediate pain, then no second thought because I sprain things all the time due to my stretchy ligaments.
• Feb 22ish- Go see doctor due to increase in pain. Get told to wear a brace (the kind sold in most pharmacies and WalMart) and do 2 weeks of physical therapy and return. Physical therapist cuts out all exercises due to how my tendons pop out of place and does ultrasound massages, and so I can't actually do the physical therapy. I am also put on crutches, but am supposed to continue walking wth my bad ankle with about half the weight I normally put on it.
• March 10ish- return to doctor after more increase in pain and lack of ability to walk at times due to it, they don't help but tell me to make an appointment with a podiatrist.
• March 25- pain is all around ankle now and growing on inside of ankle and up the side of my leg, and other foot is starting to get sore from overwork. I see the podiatrist, who says my ligaments may be messed up (which I knew, and despite my tendons being the reason I keep returning), and tells me to schedule an MRI.
• March whateverth- MRI day- lots of pain, but it goes well. I actually fell asleep, even though it was only about 20 minutes long.
• April 7- They tell me what the MRI results are- I've got a lot of fluid and scar tissue and tendonitis on the inside of my right ankle, and no tears on the peroneal tendons (which are on the outside of the ankle). I am also put in a short-leg walking boot, however the pain is still too bad to actually walk in it.
• May 27- See podiatrist again, and due to nothing else working she says surgery. I got a second opinion and he said surgery pretty much immediately after examining my ankle and me showing him how I can actually dislocate my tendons on command. So I set up the surgery dates. I am also told to stop putting any weight at all on my ankle, use the crutches completely instead of my right leg.
• So as of today (June 8, 2010), what I know regarding my surgery is that I will be having two procedures done that involve repairing any tears that may have happened in my peroneal tendons, and also pinning the tendons in place so they stop dislocating. I will be anesthetized and put on painkillers during and following the surgery, and will be in a cast for several weeks following.

My pre-surgery appointment is on June 15th, and my surgery itself- and the beginnings of what I am told will be a long slow recovery- is on June 18th. So I'll be back with an update on Tuesday or so with more information.