T-Minus 23 Days and Counting

That is how many days I have until my ankle surgery. What a struggle this has been. I fell at work on Oct 10, 2005, twisted my ankle and was taken to the ER. X-Rays showed no breaks, and nobody could explain the new lump on my Achilles tendon so I was sent home. Since I was one of only 3 people that were scheduled to open the grocery store the next day, I went to work. That ended up being a huge mistake because from that point on everyone around me assumed that if I could return to work so soon, I must be OK. About a week later I scheduled an appointment with the foot doctor that had worked on a nerve problem in that same ankle. His reaction to my problem was that I probably had a partial tear in the Achilles tendon, but that I was to heavy to even consider surgery. He gave be a list of stretching exercises to do to strengthen the tendon and told me to wear shoes had elevated my heal.

Fast forward to October 2006. Still in pain and now unable to wear regular shoes because the lump on the Achilles was so large (I had to wear sandals or clogs) I continued too complain to my doctor about the pain and other issues. His response was to tell me to buy new shoes. I was at the end of my rope so I contacted another doctor and made an appointment. Dr Janis reviewed my case and was shocked to discover that the original doctor never even ordered an MRI. One was ordered and the results were staggering. Not only did I have a partial tear in the Achilles that was continuing to shred with every step, I also had two other completely torn tendons, two torn ligaments, a heal spur and a defect in a bone in my big toe (the last two were unrelated to the accident). Surgery was the only way I was going find relief. A request was sent in to Worker's Compensation only to be denied. Turns out the first doctor never even billed them so they were confused as to how I got from a simple sprained ankle to needing surgery and why it took a year to request it. I had go to court, and I won. Then my now former employer appealed the decision and I had to go to court again and I won. The whole process took 4 months, and during that time I continued to work at a McDonald's in a manager trainee program 40 hours a week on my feet.

On March 14, 2007, I finally had the surgery. In 3 hours Dr Janis completed 6 separate procedures including all of the above and the removal of the nerve the first doctor had worked on. It was so damaged it couldn't be repaired. I was placed on strict non-weight bearing status for 10 weeks. At the end of that 10 weeks, I was sent to physical therapy. All was going well and I had just been to Dr Janis's office for a follow up. He was going to order 2 more weeks of PT and he wanted me to get orthodics. I was told to plan on going back to work at the end of that 2 weeks.

In my next PT session, I was just finishing up some walking laps in the gym when I felt a horrific pain in the Achilles Tendon and heard a loud pop. This led to an other appt and another MRI. The results from that MRI would send me into a tailspin. The Achilles was torn again and I would need another surgery to repair it. This development did not please the owners of the grocery store who fought the decision to allow the new surgery. Two more times they took me to court to fight the allowance and two more times I won the battle. In September 2007, I was finally allowed to schedule the surgery, but found out that the soonest I could get in was December 21st.

That brings me to this week, Monday to be exact - November 26. I wanted to discuss the surgery with Dr Janis and let him know how I feel about the whole thing. During that appointment, I realized that I not only have to have the Achilles repaired, but that he will also have to cut my heal bone and move it over. He will pin the heal in the correct position. I guess the year and a half of walking on it incorrectly because of the injury caused the whole thing to shift. In addition to that, he may also decide to replace the Achilles with a donor piece instead of trying to repair mine. My response to that surprised him. I told him that I would actually rather have a whole new one put in, despite the extended recovery period of a few weeks, than to just repair it and possibly have to go through this all over again. I mean he did repair it once and it didn't last.

So, I go in on December 21 in the morning. The surgery will take a couple of hours and I am expected to stay at least one night in the hospital. After the first surgery, I was in the hospital for 3 days due to the pain and being unable to control it without the morphine pump. I know I will be home for Christmas, so I am not worried about that too much. I just know that I have to have all of my gift shopping and making done by the 20th.

I suppose some folks would be nervous about such a procedure. In my case, I am actually excited. Since March 14, I have been unable to work. I have been on pain pills for much longer than that. I will be happy to get my life back and THRILLED to be able to walk normally again. Sure that won't be until Spring, but at least I am seeing a light at the end of that tunnel.

My concern now, is getting to the sewing machine and getting started on those gifts that I am making so I don't disappoint anyone on Christmas.