OT: Here We Go Again

CTMike · October 11

Had the left knee done (again) back in June, then in July started having severe pain and swelling in my right ankle. My VA PCP wrote it off as the lymph system just not doing its job properly. Brought it up with my Yale ortho at my 6 week post-op and she ordered an x-ray which was unremarkable. Still having issues at the 12 week post-op so she ordered a MRI. Turns out I have a full thickness tear of something called the peroneal brevis tendon, and partial tears of the deltoid ligament and posterior talofibular ligament, whatever they are.

Hopefully this is still repairable as it has been so long since the original injury - no idea how this occurred. Anyone have experience with ankle surgery and have any insight as to what I'm in for recovery and PT wise?

ColbyLang · October 11

Yes. Yes I can

ColbyLang · October 11

Soft “splint” for 2 weeks. Then into hard cast for 4-6 weeks…..that’s my current stage. I had scar tissue and calcification in the joint plus a peroneal tendon repair. Gnarly scar up the side of my foot/ankle.

Mine all from fibula break 3/2024

ColbyLang · October 11

My advice is to get everything ahead of time. Knee rover scooter, leg pillow (gotta sleep with it elevated first 14 days), shower seat/bench. Your VA may cover yours, my Blue Cross did not! No driving for 14 days minimum (yours being right foot, much longer). Cast for 4-6, then full aircast and they’ll allow you to start applying weight slowly. PT should start at the 75% body weight timeframe. My PT from the break was a solid 4 months 3x a week. Unsure what this regiment will look like

CTMike · October 11

ColbyLang said:

Soft “splint” for 2 weeks. Then into hard cast for 4-6 weeks…..that’s my current stage. I had scar tissue and calcification in the joint plus a peroneal tendon repair. Gnarly scar up the side of my foot/ankle.

Mine all from fibula break 3/2024

Damn - I suppose you were non-weight bearing while in the soft splint? I am looking to get this done after I finish the semester at UConn in December, but we are supposed to be driving to Ottawa to spend Christmas with my son and his tribe.

ColbyLang · October 11

CTMike said:

ColbyLang said:

Soft “splint” for 2 weeks. Then into hard cast for 4-6 weeks…..that’s my current stage. I had scar tissue and calcification in the joint plus a peroneal tendon repair. Gnarly scar up the side of my foot/ankle.

Mine all from fibula break 3/2024

Damn - I suppose you were non-weight bearing while in the soft splint? I am looking to get this done after I finish the semester at UConn in December, but we are supposed to be driving to Ottawa to spend Christmas with my son and his tribe.

Non weight bearing for 8-12 weeks. And I hope you don’t like sleep lol. It’s impossible to get comfortable.

CTMike · October 11

ColbyLang said:

My advice is to get everything ahead of time. Knee rover scooter, leg pillow (gotta sleep with it elevated first 14 days), shower seat/bench. Your VA may cover yours, my Blue Cross did not! No driving for 14 days minimum (yours being right foot, much longer). Cast for 4-6, then full aircast and they’ll allow you to start applying weight slowly. PT should start at the 75% body weight timeframe. My PT from the break was a solid 4 months 3x a week. Unsure what this regiment will look like

I don't know if the VA will provide me that stuff as I am having the surgery done through Yale and covered by Tricare and my supplement plan, and PT will be through the same insurance. We already have a shower chair for my wife so that is covered.

CTMike · October 11

ColbyLang said:

CTMike said:

ColbyLang said:

Soft “splint” for 2 weeks. Then into hard cast for 4-6 weeks…..that’s my current stage. I had scar tissue and calcification in the joint plus a peroneal tendon repair. Gnarly scar up the side of my foot/ankle.

Mine all from fibula break 3/2024

Damn - I suppose you were non-weight bearing while in the soft splint? I am looking to get this done after I finish the semester at UConn in December, but we are supposed to be driving to Ottawa to spend Christmas with my son and his tribe.

Non weight bearing for 8-12 weeks. And I hope you don’t like sleep lol. It’s impossible to get comfortable.

Same after the knee replacement. I'm going to try and get the surgeon to write script for Ambien.

ColbyLang · October 11

Mine wouldn’t write it because I’m 43 and it’s habit forming. Need more Oxycodone? No problem lol. I took exactly one pain pill, everything else has been extra strength Tylenol

CTMike · October 11

I assume you meant wouldn't write it? My knee surgeon wouldn't either. In her pre-op education packet she said "don't even ask." My private PCP gave me a script for 10 when we went to Hawaii due to the long a$$ flight and I took one so I used those. Maybe she will write me another script.

ColbyLang · October 11

Yessir. Bad part for me is my house is split level. I haven’t been into my kitchen or that entire side of the house going on 3 weeks. And I’m the chef of the house. Work has been mind numbingly boring not being able to be a full participant in day to day activities.

CTMike · October 11

I hear ya, we have a typical New England two story Colonial, but thankfully we have a stair glide for SWMBO so that came in handy for the two knee surgeries, and looks like it will again for me.

Gulfcoastguy · October 12

I had my fibula broke next to the ankle back in 1994. They knocked me out to test my tendons. Woke up with a cast from my toes to my crotch with the edge of my foot angled inward. What really bit was when it would swell in the cast at night. I learned to hop on one foot up a short flight of stairs and to wrap my leg in a Heft garbage bag before showering. When they cut the cast off the instep of my foot was a purple bruise.

One thing that I did that helped was find a good masseuse to get the circulation going and range of motion restored. Not something that the physical therapist would do.

CTMike · October 13

@ColbyLang,

How long in between from when you tore the tendon until the surgical repair. Seems I tore mine back in July , and the thing has retracted up my leg (per the MRI report). I’m hoping it hasn’t become brittle or something and the doc says nothing can be done.

fishlessman · October 13

CTMike said:

@ColbyLang,

How long in between from when you tore the tendon until the surgical repair. Seems I tore mine back in July , and the thing has retracted up my leg (per the MRI report). I’m hoping it hasn’t become brittle or something and the doc says nothing can be done.

my brother has two Total Ankle Replacements, STAR, you dont want that. after about 15 years he is still getting pain shots about every 3 or 4 weeks, the shots even take him out for several days. after the second approved ankle, blue cross denied coverage, didnt pay for the second, then wanted money for the first replacement back.......

ColbyLang · October 13

CTMike said:

@ColbyLang,

How long in between from when you tore the tendon until the surgical repair. Seems I tore mine back in July , and the thing has retracted up my leg (per the MRI report). I’m hoping it hasn’t become brittle or something and the doc says nothing can be done.

Mine was attenuated, not full thickness tear. A section of mine was removed and then piece A was sewn back to piece B. I broke mine in March 24. Surgery 18 months later

YukonRon · October 13

Best of luck, hoping everything heals quickly and comfortably.

Ybabpmuts · October 13

fishlessman said:

CTMike said:

@ColbyLang,

How long in between from when you tore the tendon until the surgical repair. Seems I tore mine back in July , and the thing has retracted up my leg (per the MRI report). I’m hoping it hasn’t become brittle or something and the doc says nothing can be done.

my brother has two Total Ankle Replacements, STAR, you dont want that. after about 15 years he is still getting pain shots about every 3 or 4 weeks, the shots even take him out for several days. after the second approved ankle, blue cross denied coverage, didnt pay for the second, then wanted money for the first replacement back.......

I've been lucky with my ankles. Both of them had significant hollow spots from the AVN. I found a new surgeon that went in there, drilled out all the dead bne and them immediately backfilled all the dead material with some type of bone cement. That was late 23 and early 24. Right after those were healed, I slipped in my kitchen and snapped my left femur between my fake knee and fake hip, Nov of 2024 and then in Feb 14 (Valentines day) of 2025 I slipped on the ice and smashed my right femur with a nasty radial fracture, again between my fake ankle and knee. This one was bad and I to wait while they found a specialist that could fix the radial fracture and not effect either the old knee replacement or the old hip replacement. It took them three days to find the right specialist, while I laid there with a crushed femur, in excruciating pain. I sat there on far lower pain meds than I had been already on, prior to my left femur breakage. It was brutal, the dr's assumed I was an addict and just wanted more and more pain meds, not true. I wanted relief. It was a brutal three day period....

CTMike · October 14

ColbyLang said:

CTMike said:

@ColbyLang,

How long in between from when you tore the tendon until the surgical repair. Seems I tore mine back in July , and the thing has retracted up my leg (per the MRI report). I’m hoping it hasn’t become brittle or something and the doc says nothing can be done.

Mine was attenuated, not full thickness tear. A section of mine was removed and then piece A was sewn back to piece B. I broke mine in March 24. Surgery 18 months later

Good to hear I guess. I see the surgeon next Monday. He worked at HSS in Manhattan and now is the Chief of Ankle & Foot Surgery at Yale so I'm sure he has the chops for such a pedestrian surgery as this.

(See what I did there 🤣🤣🤣)

ColbyLang · October 14

CTMike said:

ColbyLang said:

CTMike said:

@ColbyLang,

How long in between from when you tore the tendon until the surgical repair. Seems I tore mine back in July , and the thing has retracted up my leg (per the MRI report). I’m hoping it hasn’t become brittle or something and the doc says nothing can be done.

Mine was attenuated, not full thickness tear. A section of mine was removed and then piece A was sewn back to piece B. I broke mine in March 24. Surgery 18 months later

Good to hear I guess. I see the surgeon next Monday. He worked at HSS in Manhattan and now is the Chief of Ankle & Foot Surgery at Yale so I'm sure he has the chops for such a pedestrian surgery as this.

(See what I did there 🤣🤣🤣)

I see it! I’m afraid you won’t be a pedestrian for a while

Ozzie_Isaac · October 14

Bump

ColbyLang · November 5

Bump on this one. How ya feeling @CTMike?

ColbyLang · November 5

My own update…..out of the hard cast into an air cast for another 6 weeks. Start PT soon.

Ozzie_Isaac · November 5

ColbyLang said:

My own update…..out of the hard cast into an air cast for another 6 weeks. Start PT soon.

Hopefully this one sticks!! Good luck with the PT!

ColbyLang · November 5

Thanks @Ozzie_Isaac….missing prime hunting season and fabulous golf weather.

CTMike · November 5

Went well overall. We just got home from the hospital - they ended up keeping me overnight as I failed the post-op PT evaluation. Surgeon said it was the worst tear he's ever seen but he's confident in a good outcome.
The nerve block wore off a little while ago so the pain has come on with a vengeance. ☹️

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/og/j59sn8jswcki.jpg

ColbyLang · November 5

CTMike said:

Went well overall. We just got home from the hospital - they ended up keeping me overnight as I failed the post-op PT evaluation. Surgeon said it was the worst tear he's ever seen but he's confident in a good outcome.
The nerve block wore off a little while ago so the pain has come on with a vengeance. ☹️

Glad to see you made it thru. I won’t sugar coat it for you, it sucks.

Ybabpmuts · November 5

Wish there was a better way to manage the pain. I've been on and off (mostly on) opioids for the better part of 18 years now, and will deal with them probably for the rest of my life. Sometimes I think that's worst than my two diseases, its a roller coaster ride and not in a good way. They're talking about doing another knee replacement on my right hand side. That'll be my third replacement on that one side alone. It's brutal. When I have operations I have to go off of my Arthritis meds for at least three months as it compromises my immune system and effects the healing. It sucks a crusty old monkey ass through a crazy straw.....

CTMike · November 7

ColbyLang said:

Glad to see you made it thru. I won’t sugar coat it for you, it sucks.

"It sucks" is a gross understatement. Pain meds every 4 hours is barely making a dent in the pain level, but today is only post-op day 2. Hopefully it gets better quickly.

ColbyLang · November 7

As I told you, yours was more involved than mine. Brown water when you run outta pain meds. High proof neat pours for the win

I took exactly one pain pill. They made me feel like crap.

OT: Here We Go Again

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