:) Surgery (open) went really well. Lots of pain for 3 days, but it has totally subsided and I am feeling well. I have to keep my foot elevated for the next two weeks, so lots of r & r! Saw the Pod today and he removed the temp. cast and there was minimal swelling. He said everything went well and they removed the defect and smoothed out the cartlidge (flap moving around that was causing the pain.). He thinks I'll have a total recovery. Thanks for the advice!

Oh, yay!

Good for you.

Susan,

Glad to hear that everything went well during surgery and that your doc sounds optimistic. :cool:

Take good care of yourself and continue to share with us your recovery.

~Ellen

Hi ankle club!

I don't really want to join the ankle club (I may have no choice) but it has been very helpful reading your messages.

I 'sprained' my ankle July 2005 on a backpack trip. I couldn't walk the first day so my friends put me on a horse and I spent 5 days in the woods soaking my ankle in a cold mountain lake. On the way back I hiked 2.5 miles with my ankle tightly taped before getting back on the horse for the last 10 miles out. A week later my ankle was still huge so I went to a doctor who 'amazingly' told me my ankle was sprained. He sent me to PT for a month which I did faithfully. However, my PT made the comment that he thought something else might be wrong. I went back to that doctor who was annoyed at my return and said it would just take time to heal. So, 2 months later with pain and swelling, I went to another Dr. He X-ray'd my foot but found nothing. He was kind, but also thought it was just a sprain. (Funny though, I never had weakness, just pain and swelling.)

So, I just sucked it up and spent the fall and winter trying to recover. I actually did go skiing in Jan-Feb. as my foot felt safe in the ski boots. That activity helped SO much for me mentally as I am a very active person! Finally this spring (May) I decided it was time to start running. After a week of very slow 2 mile jogs I finally couldn't stand the pain and went to a specialist 1 hour away. She immediately knew what was wrong with my ankle. An X-ray showed clearly an OCD of the talus, lateral. An MRI showed it to be about 1.2 cm, but with intact cartilage. I do have a small cyst that has formed, but not large enough to warrant immediate surgery. The doctor told me about all the controversies surrounding this injury and questions of how to treat it. I don't have any floating particles or such so she said to try this summer 'living with it'

So I guess things can be worse as I've read in your messages. I do have dull pain on a daily basis, can't wear most of my shoes comfortably, can't run or jump at all, and having shooting pains after every hike I do over 2 miles. I bike, but it's not my passion and it gets depressing not doing the things I love. I guess I just need to whine a bit.

So I'm going to see the Dr. for a follow-up next week. Surgery is an option, but I don't want to do something that won't really improve the condition. And arthritis! I'm too young to be thinking about that!! How do you make decisions like this? Ahhhh :confused:

Thanks for listening!

Abby

Abby,

Sorry to hear about your ankle. The decision to have surgery is not one to take lightly. It is something you do when you just can't stand your ankle the way it is and the limitations it brings. Surgery isn't always the perfect answer, you go in hoping for the best and relying on the skill of the surgeon.

If you want the chance to get back to the things you love doing, do more research regarding the surgery, get a second opinion. Be sure to find someone who has done this type of surgery before. And always feel free to ask questions here on the board.

Best wishes
~Ellen

Hey Abby, Surgery was my only option if I wanted to be active again. I too was very active - tennis, hikining, etc. . . My pain was not constant - a shooting pain in my foot when I least expected - it would send me through the roof and then be gone. If I started getting active it would flare up and hurt alot more often. It wasn't going to get better on its own- so I was no way going to be able to return to my normal activity which wasn't acceptable to me. I found a great podiatrist who has done the surgery and has had good results. Unfortunately I had to have open surgery because of its location. If you can have arthroscopic surgery it is a much better option. He found a flapping piece of cartlidge (did not show up on the MRI) above my cyst when he went in. So chances are it was just going to get alot worse. I am now 8 days post op -the pain is gone and I am trying to navigate my way around on crutches for at least another 5 weeks. Good Luck!

Hey Abby,

I had surgery for my OCD, which hasn't worked out particularly well. I'm seeing my surgeon in a little over a week. Maybe I'll need another operation, nothing else seems to have worked.

I hope you have better luck than me!

For me it came down to the day I said "Glue it, screw it or chop it off - I don't care, just fix the da** thing!". Had surgery 7/21 with so-so results so far (I am still early in recovery). I had more than OCD isues, so don't let me be your guide to success/failure. It is better than before repairs.

I would do it all over again since I decided I could not go on the way I had been before reconstruction. I think it comes down to the day you just say "I need to get this fixed now" or "I can put up with this the way it is."

Good luck either way!
jane

Thanks to everyone for their advice:

I went to my doctor and had a CT scan done. It will be sent to the specialist I will be seeing to see what he thinks. Of course, several weeks of pain made me go back to the Doc, now my foot has been feeling pretty good the last week or so! It's like trying to get a mechanic to hear the knock in your car that suddenly stopped!

I'm really impressed with my doctor here in Montana. She said she has no 'ego' to protect and didn't feel qualified to do my surgery because my lesion is over 1 cm. However, if I do have surgery, I can go to her for all the follow-up care. It's nice to have a doctor be honest and want the best for you. This specialist is the president of the International Foot and Ankle Association so I guess I should feel good about that.

I have to travel out of state to see this Doc so it may be a bit before I find out what I should do.

Thanks again for your input and I'll let you know what he says. I'll be thinking good thoughts for all of you going through recovery!

Abby :):p