More pictures

PIctures of the ankle

May 28th- 1st Dr's Appt

So today was my first doctors appt since my surgery. They took off my splint and took x rays which came out well. The x rays were not that bad except the last one which was pretty painful. The doctor went in through one of my old scars, so that kept bleeding, which he said was normal. Everything was okay, so they cleaned up my stitch's and gave me another splint. Stitch's come out on June 9th, when I get a hard cast for another 8 weeks. 

May 22 the Surgery

This is the day I went in for surgery. This was a Friday and I left on Sunday. I was pretty drugged up the whole time so I do not remember too much. The doctor game me some sort of block in my leg so that i would not feel any pain in my ankle for up to 30 hours after surgery. I said yes. It only lasted 20 some hours but it helped. The hospital was great and always kept up with my meds. I had to get a shower chair for him and a shower head that extends down to help bath me. I left with a splint and crutches. Besides the pain meds that I take every 5 hours, I also have to give myself injections daily of Lovenox to prevent blood clots. 

Ankle Fusion

Hey Everyone. I am 22 years old and had my 5th ankle surgery on May 22 2009, which was an ankle fusion. I decided to do this blog because I myself looked to the Internet for personal experiences from people who have had this surgery before. I only found one helpful blog, so I thought I would do my own. My blog will contain links from professional websites about ankle fusions, what I am going through on a daily basis, along with pictures. I hope to be able to help others that are debating this surgery decide if it is right for them. 

My case if very outside the norm for ankle fusion surgeries. Normally you do not have this surgery at such a young age as me, because you lose almost all of the motion in your foot, and you can have other joint problems down the road from the pressure of a fused ankle. And when you have it at such a  young age, you can have those joint problems a lot earlier in life.  After having four other surgery's, I was left with very little cartilage in my ankle joint and none in some parts of the joint. I also have severe traumatic arthritis. For me, ankle fusions was my only option.

Ankle fusion is when worn out joint surfaces surgically removed. The ankle bones are then held together with metal implants, and the bone surfaces heal in this position. The joint is then permanently stiff after ankle fusion, but the result is usually a pain-free joint. In my case I already had 2 screws from a previous surgery in my ankle and my surgeon had to also add 3 more much larger screws as well to secure my joint.