Left ankle fusion **Post surgery W/photos**

moscrop940
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10/2/2016 11:04pm
Well, the time is here.

Heading to the hospital in the morning to get my left ankle fused + have my heel removed and realigned.

Will update once I am coherent enough to actually see the keyboard Laughing

Thanks for all the well wishes, ready to finally be done with the pain after 10 years!
DL
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10/2/2016 11:32pm
moscrop940 wrote:
Well, the time is here. Heading to the hospital in the morning to get my left ankle fused + have my heel removed and realigned. Will...
Well, the time is here.

Heading to the hospital in the morning to get my left ankle fused + have my heel removed and realigned.

Will update once I am coherent enough to actually see the keyboard Laughing

Thanks for all the well wishes, ready to finally be done with the pain after 10 years!
Good luck Ryno
moscrop940
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10/7/2016 8:59am Edited Date/Time 10/7/2016 9:00am
Good morning guys.

I'm officially 4 days out of surgery, let me say I was not expecting to be in this level of pain.

The surgery was originally scheduled to be done by 2 surgeons and was expected to take just over 4 hours. When the opened me up the damage was worse than they had thought, and I needed up being under for 7 1/2 hours.

In total I ended up with 16 screws, two 12" rods running up my tib/fib, and 60 staples.

Even though the surgery went almost double the time they thought it would, both surgeons are ecstatic with the results thus far.

The first 24 hours after weren't terrible as I had a nerve blocker in my leg, but my god when the nerve blocker faded I was in by far the worst pain I have ever felt for 4 straight hours....when I originally broke my legs I had to ride back 10 miles to the truck, and that pain was NOTHING compared to when my blocker wore off. It's seriously incredible how much pain the body can take without passing out.

Got released Wednesday morning, and have been back at the house on the mend since.

Last night I slept for the first time since getting out of surgery, but the pain is SLOWLY starting to fade. They told me to expect a good amount of pain for the first few weeks, so I'm just doing what I can to take it one day at a time.

I go back for my first check up on Monday and will update if I get any more photos or info.

Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes.

Talk soon!




The Shop

moscrop940
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10/7/2016 9:04am
O, and my photos wouldn't embed on the post so I figured I'd try again






kzizok
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10/7/2016 9:09am Edited Date/Time 10/7/2016 9:10am
moscrop940 wrote:
Good morning guys. I'm officially 4 days out of surgery, let me say I was not expecting to be in this level of pain. The surgery...
Good morning guys.

I'm officially 4 days out of surgery, let me say I was not expecting to be in this level of pain.

The surgery was originally scheduled to be done by 2 surgeons and was expected to take just over 4 hours. When the opened me up the damage was worse than they had thought, and I needed up being under for 7 1/2 hours.

In total I ended up with 16 screws, two 12" rods running up my tib/fib, and 60 staples.

Even though the surgery went almost double the time they thought it would, both surgeons are ecstatic with the results thus far.

The first 24 hours after weren't terrible as I had a nerve blocker in my leg, but my god when the nerve blocker faded I was in by far the worst pain I have ever felt for 4 straight hours....when I originally broke my legs I had to ride back 10 miles to the truck, and that pain was NOTHING compared to when my blocker wore off. It's seriously incredible how much pain the body can take without passing out.

Got released Wednesday morning, and have been back at the house on the mend since.

Last night I slept for the first time since getting out of surgery, but the pain is SLOWLY starting to fade. They told me to expect a good amount of pain for the first few weeks, so I'm just doing what I can to take it one day at a time.

I go back for my first check up on Monday and will update if I get any more photos or info.

Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes.

Talk soon!




Man, that is brutal! Hope you have a quick recovery, but remind yourself that you had major reconstruction done in a very complicated weight bearing area and healing will take a while. Make sure you are hydrating very well. As a matter if fact, you wont be in a frame of mind to really manage your hydration so have your caregiver be responsible for it. You're going to be managing pain for a while, so the sooner the better on the hydration.
Sr_Vet_Rider
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10/7/2016 2:17pm
moscrop940 wrote:
O, and my photos wouldn't embed on the post so I figured I'd try again [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2016/10/07/154921/s1200_IMG_4725.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2016/10/07/154922/s1200_IMG_4726.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2016/10/07/154923/s1200_IMG_4727.jpg[/img]
O, and my photos wouldn't embed on the post so I figured I'd try again






Better days ahead Ryan, glad you decided to get it behind you. I'm giving a Chiropractor in Tarzana one last shot at my neck, before I get my neck fused. So far, it's been working out well. I'll be in touch....
Bineano
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Whitecourt CA
10/7/2016 2:55pm
Wow, that looks pretty bionic to me :-)
Wishing you the speediest recovery possible, and follow Docs orders!

Actually, I had the exact surgery as you in 2012 (shattered calcaneus as well) and am envious at the guys that can still run after recovery. There is NO WAY I can come close to running, that is out of the question for me (although I have 2 junk ankles, not just one) My left calf is considerably smaller than the right, and it's not ever coming back. With limited movement comes limited strength. And I hit physio hard for a year after the injury yet, so it wasn't for lack of trying...

As for riding, I have no issues except for blown shifts (I have difficulty bringing my foot "in" to reach the shifter) so I have to do the goon shift by wiggling my whole body a bit to wedge my foot under the shifter. Then it's good to go!

I am booked for an ankle replacement however, as my right ankle (non-fused) is almost as bad as my fused side (I broke both talus' at the same time) and although it is my "good" foot, it is breaking down wayyy sooner than I had hoped :-(

What is funny is the Ford-Chev-Dodge of ankle replacement choices. My Surgeon has told me to research the different brands out there, and why he choses the brand that he does. I seems a bit odd shopping for ankle parts, lol.
I'll choose whatever brand Mr Surgeon is comfortable with :-)

Overall though, the fusion has been the right choice for me and am glad it happened.

By judging from the swelling in your photos, you should be in a lot better shape (pain wise) after the fusion.

Good Luck Moscrop!

moscrop940
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10/7/2016 6:49pm
kzizok wrote:
Man, that is brutal! Hope you have a quick recovery, but remind yourself that you had major reconstruction done in a very complicated weight bearing area...
Man, that is brutal! Hope you have a quick recovery, but remind yourself that you had major reconstruction done in a very complicated weight bearing area and healing will take a while. Make sure you are hydrating very well. As a matter if fact, you wont be in a frame of mind to really manage your hydration so have your caregiver be responsible for it. You're going to be managing pain for a while, so the sooner the better on the hydration.
Thanks for well wishes man.

In regards to the hydration topic , I've got that locked down pretty well. Drinking 2-3 gallons a day on average.

My wife has been incredible and has my meds/food/water on a chart and sets alarms down to the minute...certainly do not deserve the woman I have haha
10/7/2016 7:46pm
ouch! best of luck to ya man!. I always tell people, you never know how nice it is to be mobile, until its taken from you with an injury. heal fast.
moscrop940
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Temecula, CA US
10/10/2016 4:30pm
Had my one week check up today.

Surgeon is pumped with how the screws have set, says as far as fusions go he couldn't be much happier.

Figured I'd toss a few photos from when they were changing my cast for anyone curious.

Word to the wise: this is not the prettiest thing you will see today.










This last photo may not look like much, but I am so happy every time I look at it. For the first time in a decade my foot is in line with my leg. Such a great thing to see





Alright guys that will probably be it for updates...from here it will be pretty mundane. 8-12 weeks in a cast, another few months in a boot, physical therapy, then life!!

Thanks again for all the well wishes guys, I do appreciate the words!!

kzizok
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10/10/2016 4:55pm
Glad its healing. Keep doing what you're doing.
abn166
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10/10/2016 9:23pm
Shit! No wonder you said it hurts!
captmoto
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10/11/2016 12:40am
Good luck. Keep us updated. You are scaring me off with the pain story.
moscrop940
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10/11/2016 3:07pm
captmoto wrote:
Good luck. Keep us updated. You are scaring me off with the pain story.
I hope I am not scaring you too bad. Although my opinion may change when it comes time start walking again, honestly man I am really happy with my decision to get this done.

Just seeing my ankle/foot be straight with my leg did so much for me mentally...almost like I'm "normal" again.

I will say however that the pain should not be catching be surprising me...anytime you have massive metal nails wedged into you leg there is going to be some pain

If you are thinking about the procedure and are on the fence man reply below and I will email you my phone number....its a big decision.
tuggy450
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Massapequa, NY US
10/12/2016 4:17pm Edited Date/Time 10/12/2016 4:49pm
feel better moscrop, this picture is what happened to both my ankles. told the orthopedist what happened he said no way impossible, I was like well something screwed up my ankles.
for what it's worth no I didn't dnf, have never dnf'd, or dns , even with stewart blisters. lol. So heal up and go get em.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLUGEdYhWvv/
Chris197
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AU
10/14/2016 1:07pm
Good luck with the rehab, yours looks the same as mine was post op. It's a long process but well worth it in the end
Brokelegmtn
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Salida, CO US
10/20/2016 12:25pm
Just wondering how the ankle is doing moscrop? I just found out yesterday I will need bone graph and ankle fusion on the left side. Not what I wanted to hear but I guess the option is better than losing my left leg.
moscrop940
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11/12/2016 10:03am
Just wondering how the ankle is doing moscrop? I just found out yesterday I will need bone graph and ankle fusion on the left side. Not...
Just wondering how the ankle is doing moscrop? I just found out yesterday I will need bone graph and ankle fusion on the left side. Not what I wanted to hear but I guess the option is better than losing my left leg.
Well this is almost a month late, but hopefully you catch my reply.

Honestly the ankle is doing better than my doctors expected, but I am still far from out of the woods.

Had a check up last Friday for some X-rays to see how the bones are healing. My surgeon says everything looked phenomenal and I should be really happy that my body has accepted all the new hardware without complications.

However, me being the impatient asshole that I am, I asked if I would be able to accept a new position with the city in 6-8 weeks.....his response verbatim was "Ha, yeaaaa, nooooooooo. There's uh....there's no way you are going to be doing anything but very light therapy in 6-8 weeks".

Little disheartening, but I knew the timeline I was looking at before I signed up for this thing.

Realistically, I'm probably 4-6 months out of being back to walking/working without the risk of doing damage.

I'm not sure how bad the damage is to your leg, but it sounds almost exactly like mine....

If you would like to chat in detail one on one please just send me your email and I will respond ASAP. We can even chat on the phone if you wish.

I'll just say I would have liked to have had someone give me the nitty-gritty before I went into this thing, so any advice I can give it would be a pleasure.

Talk soon!
slipdog
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11/12/2016 10:37am
Glad everything is going well even if a little slow! How you're doing in one year is more important than how you're doing next week.
Brokelegmtn
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11/12/2016 12:38pm
Hey Moscrop. That's good to hear you're healing. I crushed my left ankle over a year ago. Actually I broke both legs and my back but didn't need surgery on my back. The right leg healed but the left ankle didn't heal enough and the dr warned me of this but I just didn't want to accept the idea of another surgery. After two opinions it is inevitable now to have the fusion. It has been tough. I can't walk but I can stand up so I still use a wheel chair at home but it is nice to stand up and do things like the dishes or pee in the back yard. Life is still good and laughter makes it all worth it.

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