Injury Progress 1st 5 weeks. January 5, 2009
Posted by neteng in Uncategorized.trackback
Surgery 12/2/2008
I had my surgery around 12:00pm on 12/2/2008. I had a spinal block so I was numb from the waist down. I was mildly sedated during the surgery and woke up as the surgeon was sewing up the incision. I asked him how the ends of the tendons looked and he said that they were pretty frayed. He put in 20 stitches to seal up the incision and let me choose my cast color.
That evening when the spinal block wore off I got up to use the restroom. This caused the blood to rush into my leg and started to cause some discomfort. This was normal with the splint the week prior to my surgery. When I would get up after a period of rest the blood rushing into my ankle and foot would cause temporary discomfort. It would settle down after a few minutes and I would only take an occasional ibuprophen. NOT THIS TIME! My calf began cramping and spasming. The part of my calf that I could see near the top of my cast looked as if something was trying to crawl out of my leg with all of the spasms. My pain that had been at 0 pretty much since the injury was now at about 8 out of 10. They attempted to address this with a small amount of Morphine from the IV and some Percocet. This did not work. After a few hours of what felt like an intensly painful leg cramp I suggested that they give me a muscle relaxer to address the spasming instead of just trying to mask the pain. They began giving me Flexoril every 4 hours. They also gave me a PCA of morphine that I could press every 8 min. Finally, the next morning at 6am the spasming and pain finally subsided (10 hours after it began). Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep.
They kept me another night in the Hospital since I had just endured an entire night of pain that I would say was as intense as the pain at the moment of rupture but this time lasted 10 hours. I went home on Thursday 12/5/2008 with a leg cast on and my foot pointing downward.
Back to Work
The Following week I returned to work. As a network engineer for a computer consulting company I am able to a large portion of my job sitting down and sometimes even remotely from my house. Living in WI during the winter causes a lot of problems as snow/ice and crutches don’t mix. I purchased some metal spikes for my crutches that I can put down when needed. We set a record in December with 37+ inches of snow so I had a few days working from home. I know I owe my wife and neighbors for all of the snow shoveling/blowing they have done in my absence.
Surgeon’s Protocol (Confusing)
When I first met with my surgeon before my surgery he stated that for the first 4 weeks post-op I would be in a full leg cast. Following this I would be in a partial leg cast for 4 more weeks. Following this I would have heel lifts attached to my left shoe for a few weeks and slowly weened off of the lifts.
After the surgery he decided to put me in a partial leg cast instead of a full leg cast. Thank God. It is great to be able to bend at the knee to get around vs. a full leg cast. I live in a two story house so it would have been very difficult to manage the stairs with a full leg cast.
When he dismissed me from the hospital he changed his mind again and said that I would come back in 2 weeks to have my cast/stitches removed and then be in the next cast for 9 weeks. That’s now 11 weeks in a cast. When asked about changing the angle of my foot during this time he said he wouldn’t because it needed to heal. So I left disappointed expecting 11 weeks in a cast with my toe pointing downward. That seems more conservative than some people who opt not to have surgery.
Two Weeks Post-Op - Stiches out and 2nd Cast on
Two weeks post-op I had the stiches removed. No infections and the surgery site looked good in his opinion. My foot angle was very slightly raised towards neutral for the 2nd cast. If pointing down is 45 degrees I would say I am at 35 degrees. My surgeon seemed to change his mind again and said that I should come back in 4 weeks and he would look at putting me into a walking cast. I was relieved as it wasn’t 9 weeks with my foot pointing down like he mentioned in the hospital.
Weeks 3-5 - The Holidays
I am surprised at how since the painful and grueling first night following surgery I have not really had any pain. It swells up a bit and feels tight in the cast if I have my leg down for long periods of time but subsides if I raise it up for a little bit.
It is a bummer during the holidays to be laid up like this. My wife’s parents and my aunt have been very helpful on days my wife works and I need some help with my two boys. I only asked for their help my first weekend alone with the kids. Since my wife works every third weekend by the next weekend I was able to get by without any help. It is a lot of work taking care of them when I can’t move very fast and am still NWB.
The holidays are stressful enough as it is without an injured spouse. The extra work my wife has been doing is certainly wearing a bit. She will be extremely happy when I can ditch the crutches. Hopefully on 1/12/2009 on my 6 week post-op visit I will be able to get my foot to neutral and fitted with a walking cast. I would prefer a boot at this point as it seems that a walking cast is not going to allow me to do any ROM exercises or PT. I would also like to be able to have a boot so it can be removed at night or to shower. Who knows what my surgeon will choose to do next. I will keep you posted.
Our surgeries are 2 days apart, yours being done earlier. I was given a cast up to just below the knee for first 4 weeks-2days, and then was given a walking boot. Your surgeon appears to be very conservative. I assume you cannot see your wound. Do you still have much pain if foot not elevated? My foot looks like rigor mortis set in.
If you’d like to email me out side of this site, it is emiller65@aol.com
Eric
Miami Beach, FL