| Re: Little advice? I think I posted in the wrong section before
I am so sorry to hear about your story!
First, a lot of us have to deal with a very unstable ankle and a lot of us post over in the foot board section. You may get a lot more responses if you post your story there.
I understand the fustration of your knee and ankle! I had a lateral release done in my knee and from an x-ray stand point it looks like it fixed my problem, but from a functional stand point, it definitely made it worse. Though, it's something that I have learned to live with.
I first injured my ankle in 2002 and did a lot of rehab. After almost 9 months of braces and boots and PT, I had enough and I had a Brostrom reconstruction. That's basically where they just fix the ligaments that were damaged. PT was hard, but I was able to go back and do everything I wanted. I do NOT reget getting my ankle fixed! Unfortunately April of 2012 I rolled my ankle and felt the dreaded pop. I saw a new ortho (I really recommend seeing a board certified foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon, very important) who was just a general ortho and he had me in PT and a brace. I continued to have pain and instability. He ordered an MRI almost reluctantly saying they wouldn't find anything. Results came back with a possible ATFL tear and a tear in my brevis tendon. He had me see another ortho in the office who strictly deals with feet and ankles. He had me do more PT, boot, and after 7 months said we could do surgery or not do surgery. It was my call. I work on my feet all day every day, so I need to have a stable ankle. So I scheduled surgery in December. The MRI wasn't all that reliable. I really messed up my CFL (MRI said it was fine) I had an impingement of my ATFL, and I didn't have a tear in my tendons, but they were severly scared.
I am not almost 9 weeks post op, and I can already feel a difference in my ankle. It is so tight and stable. I am now in PT working to get back to a "new" normal.
I think there comes a point where conservative treatment fails and you have to look at surgery. At the same time, I feel like you have to be at the absolute worst, because once surgery is done, you can't un-do it. (Like you know based on your knee). I have seen many people pass through these boards where ankle reconstruction works. But you really have to be dedicated to rehab after.
The new ortho may want you to try additional consertavtive treatment first, but if you let him know what you have already done, he may already bring up surgery.
Good luck! And if you have any more questions, please ask away!
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10/2001 Left kneecap tightened and LR
06/2003 Modified Brostrom on right ankle
10/2012 Biopsies under general
12/2012 Arthroscopy, impingement removed with Brostrom-Evans procedure | 
