I’ve made it 4 years, 7 months and 4 days.

I’ve made it over four and a half years post calcaneal osteotomy. Four years were pain free but the arthritis started to win the battle. I’ve tried to brave it out because I don’t want to give up my ability to run. I was told when I had it performed that eventually I would need an ankle fusion.

I’m at that point, in fact way past that point but I don’t want to go down that track. For me the pros are far out weighed by the cons.

Ankle fusion or arthrodesis involves cleaning up the ankle joint and fusing the bones together with screws, plates and bone grafts. Sounds easy enough?

New York Marathon 2018

• Well, it means limited range of movement - I have two flash hip joint prosthesises so I can run so they’d be wasted.
• It can change how you walk which can lead to, you guessed painful arthritis in other parts of your ankles, knees and feet! 
• Recovery can involve 10-12 weeks in a cast. Mines my right side and we drive on the left hand side of the road so my right foot is responsible for the foot controls. Therefore no driving. I work odd hours and can’t take public transport so no work or pay for 3 months.

This is the only likely option if I use our public health system, as I did with the original surgery.

My surgeon also works in private so that gives me more options. She does ankle replacements. 

• It has a shorter recovery period - 3-6 weeks in a cast.
• You regain a wider range of motion. Apparently most people return to active lifestyles but that would depend on your definition of active lifestyle.
• Return to impact sport is rarely possible.
• Need to have little or no ankle deformity - who knows if the CO has made it so!

So this is better than fusion but still unlikely to let me run unless the surgeon is brave. I’m waiting to get an appointment. If I went down this road I’d want a mobile bearing replacement rather than fixed. I don’t even know if that’s an option in New Zealand.

So what do I want? At the moment, a sharp knife and a ton of local anathestic! It is the most pain I have experienced in my life and I have experienced some high level pain. I also have a very high pain tolerance level. Right now nothing even reduces the pain to tolerable. I am taking Naproxen, paracetamol and lots of tramadol and it’s like I’m eating lollies. I can barely walk. The lowest levels of pain occur when I’m wearing the steel cap boots I have to wear to work because it’s really rigid support. Still painful but at least I can carry out my job.

It is actually something I am considering (not the DIY method!) but seeing where non-traumatic amputation for severe osteoporosis-arthritis falls on the scheme of things. I have friends who are amputees so I know all about stump issues and prosthesis fittings being hit and miss but the pain is really driving me mad and not being able to run after all I’ve been through to guarantee I can continue to run after two hip replacements is making me want to scream “Chop it off and just shove a blade on it!” Plus there’s the whole leg length issue. I was lopsided when I only had one hip replacement and that caused back and hip pain until I was straightened out with the second one. I don’t want to go down that path again.

So I wait to see when I get an appointment - how much longer I have to suffer in pain. Then I will ask for ALL the possible options and see where that leaves me.

Day 4 and the future is bright

I have 99 problems and my foot is not one of them. I only took one tramadol rather than two this morning and when my middle of the day dose was due I postponed it for an hour and only took one again.

I'm taking regular panadol and trying to convince myself that regular light pain relief is the way to go. 

My feelings of spaciness is worse today but I can't decide whether it is due to the tramadol or the fact I have succumbed to the cold that I've been dodging prior to the op. The blocked ears and nose are certainly due to the cold and the fuzzy eyes could be too. 

I'm being pretty independent. I made crackers and peanut butter and a cup of tea for lunch and could carry it easily using my knee crutch. 

I'm sleeping fine at night. I do wake up but it's not due to pain and I usually fall right back to sleep. I can lie on my left side and still keep the leg elevated so I have to sleeping positions which my butt appreciates. I often dream I've got up and walked on the foot just prior to waking up so my mind is obviously reminding me not to do anything stupid. I also sleep a bit during the day, I'm probably on a toddler sleep regime. I think the fuzzy head from the cold makes me feel like I'm more tired than I am. Still, sleep is good for healing and fighting colds so bring it on.

I am getting a little cabin feverish. But the thought of the performance that would be involved in even leaving the house soon cures it.

Currently my foot hurts less than it did prior to the op. That was what I was hoping would happen since I already felt like it was hurting worse than it felt after I had an operation to remove a needle from my foot. My take on this operation is that if you're having it because of repeated injuries that heal you're probably going to notice the pain more than if you're having it to repair a long standing injury and to prevent future ones. Possibly the surgeon makes a difference as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what she did since everything was supposed to be smaller and higher up than originally planned.

It has been interesting seeing the difference around the world. I got to stay in 24 hours but had no nerve block and went home with very low level opioids compared to US bloggers. I'm rereading blogs now I'm living through it to be aware of any future problems. Crossing my fingers that there not be any.

Three days post-op

Today has been a better day. I've finally stopped vomiting and started being able to eat. I gave in to an overwhelming desire for a McDonald's cheeseburger, small fries and a lime milkshake. It was all I had imagined it would be.

I still have a minor headache but nothing like the migraine I had been suffering. I think it is more due to grinding my teeth overnight. I'm doing a lot of sleeping. It's hard work watching netflix and the like.

The best tip I have been given continues to be the hand sanitiser by the toilet. That and having a small footstool there to rest my foot on makes it an easier process. I'm using the elbow crutches to get around upstairs most of the time. If I have to carry anything then I put on the knee crutch. I haven't gone back downstairs again yet, simply because there is really no need and the stairs are a pain to traverse. I might just wait until I actually get an opportunity to leave the house before I head down them.

My mother has offered to drive me to the supermarket later in the week to buy some of the perishable items that I couldn't stock up on like milk. Hopefully I'll manage to have a coffee at the same time.

Pain is not a huge issue. I'm not certain that the tramadol does much but I guess I would notice if I didn't take it. I'm taking four doses of paracetamol to keep a low level of relief ongoing. I took a 800mg Brufen tablet yesterday evening because I was having bad breakthrough pain and it seems to have worked the trick. It's slow release and seems to provide a nice dulling.

My foot is much more mobile than I expected. I can lie it on the heel or over on the side of the foot when it gets sick of that. My quad muscle feels used from lifting the foot up and down and probably from having to hold the foot up while it was wrapped yesterday. I'm using three pillows to support it and that seems sufficient. I sleep with the foot out of covers and it seems warm enough in its shell. I have a bed cradle for keeping sheets off your feet in bed but with the pillows my foot would be above the top of it so it would serve no purpose.

I'm stick rocking my pajamas. They're comfy and the pants legs were wide enough to fit easily over the cast. I'm working up to trying a shower. Probably tomorrow. I've top and tailed with water and wash cloths but, it would be nice to wash properly. Also I had to wash my hair with the sterilising sponge before my op and it hasn't been kind to the texture. It's crying out for conditioning.

My hubby will be back to work tomorrow so I have to make sure that I have everything I need on hand before he goes. I think that I'll be having peanut butter crackers for lunch everyday. I do have some nice drink mixes if I want a hot drink and I've got fruit juice so I'll get vitamins and hydrated. 

So I was prepared for a lot more pain than I'm experiencing. I guess I'm not putting too much pressure on it and maybe when I head out into the big wide world it'll be much worse. I had a lot of pain from the little toe along the side of my foot to my heel prior to the operation and that pain has gone completely. My heel is where there is pain and it often feels more like heat than pain. I am allowed 2 tablets every six hours so the last two times I've just taken one tablet and then taken the second one as needed. This seems to avoid the spacey feeling two gave me.

Hobbling on!