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.