Hop along now.
So this morning I had my one-year annual surgical follow-up to the "sky diving boo boo."
Top: One year ago. Bottom: Present day.
The good news from this morning is that the leg and foot bones have completely healed and remain set properly. The bad news is that the hardware in my inner ankle is probably the reason why I've had the equivalent of a mild to moderate ache for the last year. Most of the time it is just a dull 24/7 throbbing, but if I exercise or play sports it will quickly advance to a searing, knife-stabbing pain. For example, whenever I run more than 100 feet. Or jump more than a foot off the ground. It is pretty limiting if I do anything beyond "walking moderately fast."
I suspected the two free-standing pins have been causing the problem since last fall. I had this amazing, accelerated recovery from my injury and was months and months ahead of schedule. And then I hit a plateau around October and nothing in physical therapy could resolve the problems I had with my ankle. For the most part I ignored it, but if I exceeded a certain threshold of physical activity... stabbing knife-like pain right where the two pins were located. My plate and other pins were fine, thankfully.
So today, after some x-rays and a consult, my surgeon thinks the two pins are rubbing against and potentially ripping a tendon underneath my ankle, and possibly a nerve as well. At the very least, it is causing permanent inflammation and he explained that there's no chance of me recovering fully, or running again, unless we remove some of the hardware. If I limit my mobility to just walking, I've learned that I can get by mostly fine.
Since I enjoy playing sports (poorly) I decided to have another surgery on my leg. This will be my fourth. Hopefully it will be my last! There's no guarantee this will resolve the problem, and there is the risk that removing the hardware will also cause some additional damage. But I find the current situation unacceptable so soon it'll be chop-chop time once again. He'll also do some other work, shaving a small sliver of bone off down there, and some other work on the joint. Hopefully it will all go quickly.
Top: One year ago. Bottom: Present day.
The good news from this morning is that the leg and foot bones have completely healed and remain set properly. The bad news is that the hardware in my inner ankle is probably the reason why I've had the equivalent of a mild to moderate ache for the last year. Most of the time it is just a dull 24/7 throbbing, but if I exercise or play sports it will quickly advance to a searing, knife-stabbing pain. For example, whenever I run more than 100 feet. Or jump more than a foot off the ground. It is pretty limiting if I do anything beyond "walking moderately fast."
I suspected the two free-standing pins have been causing the problem since last fall. I had this amazing, accelerated recovery from my injury and was months and months ahead of schedule. And then I hit a plateau around October and nothing in physical therapy could resolve the problems I had with my ankle. For the most part I ignored it, but if I exceeded a certain threshold of physical activity... stabbing knife-like pain right where the two pins were located. My plate and other pins were fine, thankfully.
So today, after some x-rays and a consult, my surgeon thinks the two pins are rubbing against and potentially ripping a tendon underneath my ankle, and possibly a nerve as well. At the very least, it is causing permanent inflammation and he explained that there's no chance of me recovering fully, or running again, unless we remove some of the hardware. If I limit my mobility to just walking, I've learned that I can get by mostly fine.
Since I enjoy playing sports (poorly) I decided to have another surgery on my leg. This will be my fourth. Hopefully it will be my last! There's no guarantee this will resolve the problem, and there is the risk that removing the hardware will also cause some additional damage. But I find the current situation unacceptable so soon it'll be chop-chop time once again. He'll also do some other work, shaving a small sliver of bone off down there, and some other work on the joint. Hopefully it will all go quickly.