Amputation

[Handloader109]

Good luck and prayers for fast recovery. Keep us updated.... my so is headed down similar path, if knees dont get her first.

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[lightman]

Well, she's scheduled for a joint replacement next week. Right, wrong, or in-between, it's worth a try. Any of you all who are the praying type...

You and Her have them. Hope its successful.

[Reddirt62]

Much blessings!!

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[fatelk]

For those of you interested in some resolution: she just had her six-week checkup after the surgery. Everything went very well and is healing nicely. She can start to put a little weight on it but it's going to take months before it's anything close to back to normal.

The good news is that the doctor was impressed, no actually shocked, with the range of motion she has already. He said he had never seen that much motion in an ankle after a "fusion take-down", and he's an experienced specialist who has done a lot of them. We're cautiously optimistic that was the fix, but only time will tell.

Thanks again everyone!

[popper]

Friend just got the ankle fused, recovering now. Football is hard on everything. Prayers she does well.

[lightman]

I'm glad your Wife is doing well. You had some tough decisions to make.

[fatelk]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd add an update. We're headed into surgery again for another fusion in a couple days. The joint replacement was successful, but the other joint was apparently just too damaged, and she's back to constant pain again.

[fatelk]

I just don't know what to do. My dad passed away last night, and I need to make a trip to the midwest to be there for my mom. The surgery (that was already postponed due to covid) will need to be postponed again.

[bedbugbilly]

I am a day late and a dollar short on this thread - but will post my recent experiences. It might help those who possibly face the same thing.

I have been a Type I diabetic for 53 years - have gone through it all - diabetic retinopathy with extensive laser surgery in both eyes, heart attack and by-pass surgery, neuropathy in both lower legs. I have worn lower leg braces for probably about 13 years. Anyway . . .

I started having problems with my left ankle about march - over the years I have had several challenges with infections from blisters in both feet requiring long bouts on IVs to get healed up and some infected bone removal as well in both feet. My ankle basically "blew out" - dislocated to the outside of my left leg and foot turned under to the inside of my leg. I could not walk and of course, with the
Covid 19 virus picking up, I had difficulty even getting in to see a foot/anle surgeon. Fortunately, I was able to see one after explaining the severity of the problem. Had to wait a couple fo days but when I saw him, he took one look and told me I had to have it fixed ASAP or run the risk of the dislocated ankle poking through the skin with an almost certain infection ifi it did. If it got infected he told me I cold lose the leg or worse case scenario, die.

So . . I am a pretty realistic individual and I discussed the options of would it be better to just amputate the foot and lower leg or go with the surgery to have the foot, ankle realigned so it wold fuse. He felt based on me individually, that an ankle fusion surgery would be the way to go if it were him.

"Non-essential surgeries" were not being done in Tucson due to Covid - he said I couldn't wait so he had me admitted through the ER of one of the hospitals out here. He wanted me in and out of the hospital as quickly as possible. I went to the ER at 12:00 directly from his office, was admitted and my midnight had my cardiology clearance, kidney clearance, blood work,X-rays and hour long MRI done by midnight. I was scheduled for surgery the next day at 1 p.m. - taken down but did not get into surgery until 5 p.k. - about 2 1/2 hours of surgery and then back to my room.

It may differ for individuals, but for me, a long incision was made on each side of my leg/foot and on the bottom of the heel. The ankle, foot and lower leg bones aligned an then a long titanium spike put in from the heel up through the ankle and into the lower leg bone with numerous screws to hold in place. My Achilles tendon had tightened up due to the length of time that I had the problem with the neuropathy and ankle'foot issue so he had to cut and reattach it which required another incision at the back of the heel.

Because of the neuropathy in the lower leg and not having a lot of "feeling" - they made me take an oxygen pill when I woke up - I did not want it - and I really have no thad ay real pain issues directly after the surgerie or during the recovery. I went home the day after the surgery - foot and ankle well wrapped in dressing and large ace bandage - back to the surgeon a week later - put n a cast - two weeks and back to the surgeon and in to another a cast for two weeks and then graduated to a protecitive "boot".

For those facing this type of ankle fusion surgery - I was told that for a "normal" person recovery is about 10 - 12 weeks. I have had to keep the leg elevated except for getting up to eat bathroom, etc and the leg on a pillow with an ice pack behind the knee to help keep the swelling down - I normally have some edema in the leg as well. With my diabetes / medical history he told me to expect to double the length of time for the recovery. I had the surgery on April 30 today is July 23 and I started to use a walker and put light pressure on the foot about two weeks ago. I still have a ways to go, but the incision have closed and are healing nicely - was able to start taking a shower (using shower stool) about three weeks ago and still use a knee scooter at times. The ankle/foot gets a new gaze/ace bandage wrap after every shower.

Every individual is different, of course. For myself I am glad that I chose to go with the ankle/foot fusion surgery rather than the amputation and a prosthetic leg. For me, I will have no range of motion in the ankle but that is something easily "lived with". I will still have to be very diligent in checking my feet as I alway have - I check them several times a day since with neuropathy, a sore from rubbing can easily get started without me feeling it.

I apologize for the length of this but just wanted to tell my experiences with an ankle/foot fusion surgery as it might help someone else in a similar situation. In my situation, an ankle joint replacement was not an option.