The Third Scenario
I was pretty hopeful walking into my doctor's office, even though my ankle was starting to smart. There were three ways this was going to go.
Either it was a simple bad sprain (no surgery, basic rehab), a little ligament damage (ankle arthroscopy, a week off of work, a little rehab, nothing major), or full on surgery.
The doctor was pretty realistic, and the MRI results were pretty specific.
"...complete disruption of the anterior talofibular ligament..."
"...complete disruption of the calcaneofibular ligament..."
"...longitudinal split in the peroneus brevis tendon..."
In less medical terms, two torn ligaments, and a split of one of the tendons. Dr. Salk is recommending a surgical procedure that will take part of the split tendon and use it to fix the ligaments. It's an outpatient procedure that will take a couple of hours, and I'll be home on the same day.
Where I'll most likely be staying off the leg, immobile for the following 2-3 months.
The worst part was when Dr. Salk said that if I was a professional athlete, this would probably be a career-ending injury. Now, obviously, I'm no pro, but this is not something you want to hear. I'm scheduling a second opinion obviously (he wants me to, and gave me the names of three other top DPMs, all of whom he said he trusted to do the procedure on him if he were in my, uh, shoes), but the reality is this is proably going to happen in the next three weeks...the sooner the better.
My 10th softball season is over...at least for a year from now. And I'll never be able to play again without wearing an ankle brace. I'm trying really hard not to think about not dancing for a long time.
Planned trips to Pittsburgh and Los Angeles? Cancelled.
Now, I've got to go into work tomorrow and navigate the process of going on disability.
I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
In other, better, news, holy crap, Paco's new podcast kicks ass. (And I'm more than a bit peeved that I can't dance to it.)
Either it was a simple bad sprain (no surgery, basic rehab), a little ligament damage (ankle arthroscopy, a week off of work, a little rehab, nothing major), or full on surgery.
The doctor was pretty realistic, and the MRI results were pretty specific.
"...complete disruption of the anterior talofibular ligament..."
"...complete disruption of the calcaneofibular ligament..."
"...longitudinal split in the peroneus brevis tendon..."
In less medical terms, two torn ligaments, and a split of one of the tendons. Dr. Salk is recommending a surgical procedure that will take part of the split tendon and use it to fix the ligaments. It's an outpatient procedure that will take a couple of hours, and I'll be home on the same day.
Where I'll most likely be staying off the leg, immobile for the following 2-3 months.
The worst part was when Dr. Salk said that if I was a professional athlete, this would probably be a career-ending injury. Now, obviously, I'm no pro, but this is not something you want to hear. I'm scheduling a second opinion obviously (he wants me to, and gave me the names of three other top DPMs, all of whom he said he trusted to do the procedure on him if he were in my, uh, shoes), but the reality is this is proably going to happen in the next three weeks...the sooner the better.
My 10th softball season is over...at least for a year from now. And I'll never be able to play again without wearing an ankle brace. I'm trying really hard not to think about not dancing for a long time.
Planned trips to Pittsburgh and Los Angeles? Cancelled.
Now, I've got to go into work tomorrow and navigate the process of going on disability.
I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
In other, better, news, holy crap, Paco's new podcast kicks ass. (And I'm more than a bit peeved that I can't dance to it.)