It is crazy what these injuries will do to us. I was a teacher and I was fired from my job just two weeks after my surgery. They actually came to my house and told me; it was horrible. I tried to hire a lawyer and fight it, b/c the job actually did more damage to me, but I was unsuccessful. I will say that I do not regret having the surgery, because I was more miserable before. Now, my ankle does not hurt if I am not standing on it, whereas before it ached all the time. I can only stand for about five minutes now, and like you said, the hip/pelvic pain is much worse than the ankle. The doctor says that by now I would not be walking at all, so I am glad I had the surgery. My surgeon left the surgery decision up to me, since it was strictly for pain control, but once he started the operation he realized that the damage was much more severe than an x-ray can ever show. At that point, he hadn't brought in enough bone graft from a bone bank and had to remove much more of my leg bone than anticipated, and that is hurting me pretty badly. He says that scar tissue will build up and stop that bone from moving around in there, but hasn't happened so far. Just be sure to ask if you will have to have a bone graft and/or will they be using your own bone. I will say to try to be as healthy as possible before your surgery and you will do much better. I wish I had been on a major diet before the surgery, because I gained more weight during recovery b/c I wasn't getting much movement... just laying in the bed for about two months. My blood pressure is out of control and I have severe sleep apnea. I know someone who had three ankle fusion surgeries that were unsuccessful, and after the third one she was tired of it so she decided to have an amputation. I have seriously considered that and it may be something I need to do in the future. Looking back, I wonder if that would have been my best option and sometimes regret not having it done.
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It is crazy what these injuries will do to us. I was a teacher and I was fired from my job just two weeks after my surgery. They actually came to my house and told me; it was horrible. I tried to hire a lawyer and fight it, b/c the job actually did more damage to me, but I was unsuccessful. I will say that I do not regret having the surgery, because I was more miserable before. Now, my ankle does not hurt if I am not standing on it, whereas before it ached all the time. I can only stand for about five minutes now, and like you said, the hip/pelvic pain is much worse than the ankle. The doctor says that by now I would not be walking at all, so I am glad I had the surgery. My surgeon left the surgery decision up to me, since it was strictly for pain control, but once he started the operation he realized that the damage was much more severe than an x-ray can ever show. At that point, he hadn't brought in enough bone graft from a bone bank and had to remove much more of my leg bone than anticipated, and that is hurting me pretty badly. He says that scar tissue will build up and stop that bone from moving around in there, but hasn't happened so far. Just be sure to ask if you will have to have a bone graft and/or will they be using your own bone. I will say to try to be as healthy as possible before your surgery and you will do much better. I wish I had been on a major diet before the surgery, because I gained more weight during recovery b/c I wasn't getting much movement... just laying in the bed for about two months. My blood pressure is out of control and I have severe sleep apnea. I know someone who had three ankle fusion surgeries that were unsuccessful, and after the third one she was tired of it so she decided to have an amputation. I have seriously considered that and it may be something I need to do in the future. Looking back, I wonder if that would have been my best option and sometimes regret not having it done.
February 2, 2011 - 7:31pmThis Comment
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