Author: Romeo
Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 10:01 pm
Hey Jen,
Well, I ended up having 7 surgeries over a few years to completely put everything back together again. The initial surgery, right after the accident, basically put things back in place. I remember the surgeon telling me that I had driven part of my calcaneous (5 or 6 pieces) up towards my calf muscle (obviously not all the way up to the calf muscle, but some of it went in that direction) and they had to pull it back down and get those pieces back with the other ones. Once the pieces were all in the same vicinity, he used his hands, clasped at the fingers, palms wrapped around my calcaneous to re-form it. A titanium rod was inserted at the proper angle to help the bones maintain the proper angle the calcaneous should be at. Then it was all casted up for months and months.
That initial surgery also addressed the broken bones of the right leg/ankle.
Some time after the initial surgery, I went in for 3 more surgeries on the left heel. They were all basically to clean up bone that wasn’t where it was supposed to be. After the third surgery on my left heel, my pain was much more manageable, but not gone. I ended up getting that sub-talar joint fused…..one of the most painful surgeries I’ve had to endure. I still have two screws the size of your baby finger anchoring my calcaneus to the talar bone (I think it’s anchored to the talar bone?)
As a side note, I ended up having the right ankle fused at the talar joint the next year. So, my left foot, I can move the joint up and down, but the sub talar joint, the side to side motion is locked. My right foot, I can move the ankle side to side, but the up and down motion is locked.
OK, here’s the best part…..even though the fusion surgeries were the most painful surgeries I’ve experienced, after they healed, my pain was much, much, much better. I don’t know if you’ve followed my story, but that accident got me hooked on opiates. I ended up abusing the hell out of opiates, then got on Suboxone, then quit it too. Today, my ankles don’t really bother me anymore. If I’ve been on my feet all day at work, I’ll take 2 Advil when I get home and poof, the pain is gone. Also, if you saw me walking down the street, you would have no idea at all that I’ve had such extensive work done to my ankles or have them both fused. I walk with a very, very minor limp, but it’s because of the right ankle being fused.
As far as rehab, I did all of my rehab on my own. I had heard such brutal stories of how rehab hurt so bad, yada, yada, yada that I had set my mind to the fact that I was gonna figure out how to rehab myself and did. It’s really basically common sense. As your doctor allows you to, you gotta stretch the muscles that hurt until your range of motion is normal. Once you get range of motion back, you start strengthening those muscles by adding resistance. You should be able to move that ankle in any direction (except the fused direction) without any pain, if there’s pain, you gotta do more stretching and muscle building.
Recovering from an injury like the one your husband sustained is not easy, but it’s certainly possible. If I could do it, then he certainly can too.
If he has any questions, tell him he can shoot me a PM, I’ll do my best to help him out.
