46 years ago when I 25, I had a bad snow ski accident fracturing left ankle and right tibia. The tibia did not heal in good alighment and about 10-12 years later developed severe right ankle pain. Long story short, my anklecwas shot. Atvthat time my option were to amputate or fuse. Ankle replacements were too bew and unreliable to last considering my young age. So everything was fused except the sub talor, which was ok and gave me balance. All I could move were my toes. I did learn to walk without a limp by hyper extending my knee. I was also able to drive by adjusting my seat so I would move my foot and leg up and down instead of flexing my foot. Stairscate manageable but one at a time. Life developed many adjustments. Also my leg ended up a bit shorter than the left. I was sent to shoe specialists and after spending too much money, never found a good fit. Ended up buying a synthetic heel lift from a shoe catalog cheap that worked fime. About 10 years later, the subtalor went bad so back for another fusion. Unfortunately this surgeon was not good and he messed up my achilles tendon which another dr finally fixed so I could walk again. This took about 3 agonizing months. About 7 years later my right knee blew out from hyperextending it all those years. (I had been warned this might happen) So in 2007 I gad a rightvtotal knee replacement which never worked right. Four years later with a massive knee infection from the knee implant I had to livecwithout a knee for 2 months, in Icu in septic shock, and 2 months of a pic line and IV antibiotics. My leg had to be rebuilt with rods, bone grafts(because of infection) and a new knee. The good news is this fantastic surgeon was able to lengthen the leg so is now the same lenght as the left. No more heel lifts! Now 7 years later, my ankle is again very painful. Just learned the screw in there is brokenvand that that not great surgeon did not completely fusevthe subtslor.
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46 years ago when I 25, I had a bad snow ski accident fracturing left ankle and right tibia. The tibia did not heal in good alighment and about 10-12 years later developed severe right ankle pain. Long story short, my anklecwas shot. Atvthat time my option were to amputate or fuse. Ankle replacements were too bew and unreliable to last considering my young age. So everything was fused except the sub talor, which was ok and gave me balance. All I could move were my toes. I did learn to walk without a limp by hyper extending my knee. I was also able to drive by adjusting my seat so I would move my foot and leg up and down instead of flexing my foot. Stairscate manageable but one at a time. Life developed many adjustments. Also my leg ended up a bit shorter than the left. I was sent to shoe specialists and after spending too much money, never found a good fit. Ended up buying a synthetic heel lift from a shoe catalog cheap that worked fime. About 10 years later, the subtalor went bad so back for another fusion. Unfortunately this surgeon was not good and he messed up my achilles tendon which another dr finally fixed so I could walk again. This took about 3 agonizing months. About 7 years later my right knee blew out from hyperextending it all those years. (I had been warned this might happen) So in 2007 I gad a rightvtotal knee replacement which never worked right. Four years later with a massive knee infection from the knee implant I had to livecwithout a knee for 2 months, in Icu in septic shock, and 2 months of a pic line and IV antibiotics. My leg had to be rebuilt with rods, bone grafts(because of infection) and a new knee. The good news is this fantastic surgeon was able to lengthen the leg so is now the same lenght as the left. No more heel lifts! Now 7 years later, my ankle is again very painful. Just learned the screw in there is brokenvand that that not great surgeon did not completely fusevthe subtslor.
March 27, 2019 - 10:35amThis Comment
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