Anyone in the ankle fusion community ever have to go back in after surgery to have screws removed?

i had an external fixator for a few months and please by all means keep it clean!! I got a staph infection in one of the screws and also after posting a picture of it on facebook found out it was placed on my leg improperly.

I'm glad you were finally able to find a doctor to help you! I also was turned away by several b/c they were unsure about what to do with me. They all told me to go back to the original doctor who performed my first reconstructive surgery a decade ago, but he had moved and opened a new practice two states away. Finally, a bright young doctor who is an expert in ankle surgery agreed to help me.
About the external fixator - I wore one for four months as well after my first surgery (the one referred to above). I was in a horrible head on collision and I broke every single bone in my ankle, many were actually shattered & had a dislocation as well. I was told I faced amputation due to the extent of my injury & loss of blood flow, but my surgeon was able to save it in surgery & I left with an external stabilizer. It took quite a lot of getting used to! I do have a few tips. Find a place to lie down or sit with your leg elevated to prevent the swelling. Try to get it as high as you can. Keep your pin sites very clean. I had to clean them quite often. You don't want any infection to set in. Be very, very, very careful when walking around. You don't want to stumble or fall and put weight on it. Use a wheelchair as much as possible. I had a wheelchair in my kitchen just for fixing food b/c I was afraid I would stumble. I was lucky enough to have someone who was able to stay with me at all times, so I didn't have to walk on crutches too much. Another tip: find a small cushioned stool to have near the toilet so you can prop your leg up. Non-weight bearing means NOTHING, not even resting it on the floor. I found a way to shower with a plastic bag draped over my pin sites and my entire leg outside of the shower on a stool with a towel wrapped around my leg above the knee, and the shower curtain draped over. I had a hand held shower nozzle put in so I could still shower. I had to clean my leg (the part that I could not wash) outside of the shower. It was tough, but I got through it. Good luck with everything and keep us updated!!!
- Jessica

Hi! Without digging through my filing cabinet, I couldn't tell you the exact type, but I know it was the most serious procedure they could do. It was a full ankle fusion, where they removed my entire joint and put a rod in to hold it together, up through my heel. They also had to remove part of the leg bone to use as a bone graft b/c they didn't get enough bone from the bone donor. My surgery was in April 2010. I am walking better than before the surgery, so that is an improvement. I am overweight and out of shape, and I know if I could lose weight I would feel better, but it's hard b/c it is hard for me to walk and do lots of excercises. I tried joining a zumba class that was easy, but there was lots of jumping and I couldn't keep up. Water aerobics does work for me, but again, when there is lots of jumping in the water I can only jump with my left foot b/c I can't bend my right one at all since the ankle fusion, so my left foot takes all the impact and after a week or two I have hurt it (the back tendon).
Jessica

I cannot recommend ankle fusion highly enough. I was 41 when I had it done, and my only regret is waiting so long. I had severe arthritis and an ankle joint that was all but frozen anyway, and pain all the time. After surgery I have a teensy bit of movement due to a newly created bit of a joint just outside what used to be my ankle joint, enough so that I don't even limp. I can jog a little. I can work on my feet all day without feeling anything but regular tired feet. And most important of all, NO PAIN. Don't get me wrong--it's major surgery. I had to have donor bone and a special kind of material to fuse my real bones with the donor bone (to the tune of about 15K), and it was a long and difficult recovery--one that can't be rushed. There was considerable pain after surgery, and it lasted a lot longer than I had anticipated. I still have numb patches of skin, which is very unpleasant. But I wouldn't go back to presurgery for all the money in the world, and given the same opportunity I'd do it again in a heartbeat.