Surgery Update

[AnnShh]

I had surgery yesterday morning (bright and early at 6:30!) to reconstruct my left ankle and repair any loose ligaments and a torn tendon. This has been quite the ordeal, for the past 6 months I've had pain along the tendon, my OS tried all sorts of things, had an MRI done etc, and finally sent me to a doc in Baltimore. The doc in Balitmore said I tore my tendon and that I needed surgery. My OS didn't see anything on the MRI and didn't think he would have missed anything like that but agreed that surgery was probably the next step, even if it wasn't torn.

So I get out of surgery yesterday and was informed that my tendon was not torn. I was so confused and upset becasue I thought I went through it for nothing... but my OS said that I def. needed the surgery because my ligaments were all extremely loose. I now have screws in my ankle holding my ligaments tighter to bone.

They had to up the pain meds yesterday because the dose they gave me wasn't doing much. Initially they gave me a lower dose because the Percocet gave me nasty side effects last time. I'm now on the same doseage as last time along with advil, side effects aren't as bad, but the meds aren't doing much again. My foot/ankle is killing me. Oddly enough, it's not on the side that the incision is on, but it's mainly on the top and other side of my foot... and my big toe (mentioned that to the doc and he didn't know why I'd be having pain there). It's weird.
I have ice behind my knee to circulate it down since the splint is too thick to reel anything through.

Oh, you know how they say not to sign anything important or make any big decisions after surgery? I was a clear example why:wacko: Yesterday after I got home, I kept thinking and talking about my surgery being the day prior to that... people even told me that it was still the same day and then 10 mins later I'd say something about "yesterday after surgery...."

 

[Sesame]

I hope your recovery is speedy!!

 

[AnnShh]

Well, I just got back from the ER. That was not a pleasant experience.

The pain in my foot/ankle got REALLY bad- its to the point where if I move my toe the whole top of my foot hurts... or if I move my leg it hurts all over. It didn't hurt around the incision but on the top and opposite side of the foot. It's like a heavy constant pain/burning. I have a high pain tolerance, but I was in tears from this. My mom called the orthopedic's office and all the docs had gone home but the lady we spoke to on the phone suggested I go to the ER and that one of the orthopedic docs will be on call.

So I get to the ER, a doctor comes in who is NOT an orthopedic doctor. His bedside manner left a lot to be desired. He was just all around rude. I had to explain 3 times where my pain was and what it felt like, becasue he kept saying over and over again that "well, your toes look fine, and I don't see how the cast could be giving you pain like this so I don't know what to tell you". It is NOT from the splint! And where the pain is, you would have to take all the cotton and everything off. The doc then says "well, only an orthopedic doc can do that. I don't know how to put everything back the way it is now... and I can tell you that the orthopedic doctor isn't coming in just for this". So he then proceeds to tear half of the cotton off, as he's saying again that he has no clue how to put it back together and I refuse to let him take it any further because I didn't want this guy screwing it up more... We finally get the orthopedic doctor in here who says that everything looks fine but that there is probably fluid around the ankle and that the nerves are probably irritated, so he gave me a better pain killer (which isn't doing anything either).

I don't know... I have never had this much pain before from anything. I wish the pain killers would do something. I can't even ice it well enough because there is so much cotton that you can't feel the ice through it. Now that the guy rewrapped it and everything, it not only is so intense around my foot and ankle, but also around the incision is starting to get painful too. I will be making a complaint about the ER doc (not the ortho- he did what he could... but the ER was, IMO, rude and he acted like he thought I was crazy and wasting his time.

 

[addictedtochins]

Aw, I'm sorry. Try to just take it easy and stay down with your leg elevated above your heart. Take the maximum amount of pain reliever, and every 4 hours if it says you can. Do not drive. Make sure you are drinking enough water, caffeine will only dehydrate you, reduce sodium to help with swelling. And try using some relaxation technique like simple breathing exercises.

 

[Jeanette]

Whenever you go into the ER for pain meds, they will be rude. They get so many people who are addicted to pain meds that they can't tell who is genuinely in pain and who are the addicts.

But I do hope you feel better soon! Try some breathing exercises!!
http://www.howtocopewithpain.org/resources/breathing-exercises-2.html

 

[AnnShh]

Whenever you go into the ER for pain meds, they will be rude. They get so many people who are addicted to pain meds that they can't tell who is genuinely in pain and who are the addicts.

But I do hope you feel better soon! Try some breathing exercises!!
http://www.howtocopewithpain.org/resources/breathing-exercises-2.html

I didn't go there specifically for pain meds... in fact I didn't want to take any that the doc offered becasue I didn't want to mask the pain and not be able to describe it well enough if the ortho came in. The ER doc asked what we expected him to do (when I first came in, before the subject of meds even came up) and we said that we called the ortho office and they told us to go to the ER... he pretty much just blew me us off. I went to the ER because the ortho office specifically told me to go, and because I have never had that much pain before and didn't know if it was considered normal or not.

With that said, I could totally understand him being hesitant to give me more meds if I had gone in and simply said "I want more pain meds"... but since I didn't ask for any meds and simply wanted to know why I was having intense pain and whether or not it was normal, I thought it was unnecesserially rude for him to come in and right off the bat act as if I was crazy and wasting his time.

 

[tkc1038]

Okay now i am worried I have to have the same type of surgery on my ankle and now I know I cant be down and out for more than a few days.
That being said as someone else said foot elevated and deep breathing usually pain is intense for a day and then starts to subside. Call the OS constantly if it doesnt. Explain to them how the ER Dr treated you. I work with some very nasty Dr when they had to do their rotations in ER, they get 1 out of 10 patients that actually need pain meds and the rest are just seeking.
Hope the healing begins for you soon.

 

[Tiatrack]

I agree to keep your foot elevated above your heart. I had bunion surgery about 10 years ago now, but for the first week I couldn't have my foot below my heart for even a minute without excruciating pain.

 

[AnnShh]

Thanks guys!

I've had my foot elevated constantly since I got home from the surgery. I'm on the couch, so I have it elevated on the arm. I can put it up on the top (which is higher than the arm) but oddly enough, the higher I have it elevated, the more pain there is.

When the ortho finally did come in he took the cotton off and said that my foot/ankle looked extremely good- very minimal swelling. My toes feel swollen because I can't bend them much- but they don't look swollen.

I was going to go to school on Monday and Tuesday because I'm only allowed to miss a certain number of days, but I don't think I'm goint to be able to go. Too much pain, plus the pain meds make me dizzy and incredibly drowsey, so even if I was physically at school, there's no way I'd be able to concentrate and it would be more beneficial for me to just stay home and rest.