Good news and bad news

Well, I went for my three month check-up at the back doctor's today and he had great news. My fusion is healing like it is supposed to and the bone is growing in very well and strong. I am given permission to do just about everything I was doing before (minus the bad habits of slouching and sitting too long on the computer, and lifting heavy things, etc.) I can now even drive myself to where I want to go . . . however . . .

I need ankle surgery again! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH! My ankle has been bothering me a lot for some time now and when I mentioned it to the therapist, she said "Oh, that's just because it's weak and healing, you have to push through the pain." So, I did. And then when she would massage the ankle tissues it felt as if something was ripping off and I told her that hurts like hell and she said that it's supposed to, that she had to break up all that scar tissue and get the ligaments and stuff loosened up that had tightened from little use after my back surgery. SO, I believed her. I shouldn't have because possibly she may have been pulling something out, or if the stitches weren't taking and healing was slow, she may have made matters worse. The problem could be from the RA/Lupus and the joint is having problems healing and she should have referred me back to my surgeon to check it out, and I also should have had common sense enough to call him sooner about it and question what she was saying since it didn't sound right to me that my ankle should be swelled to the size of a grapefruit and in such pain when surgery was way back on September 9th.

So, back to the surgeon who did the op. He looked at it and jumped back and said "Wow" and was shocked at how bad it looked. He did an MRI as I explained in an earlier post and that showed that the tendon was torn again, only worse this time and I have bone marrow edema in the bones of the foot and the bottom of the leg bone that meets the ankle. There is also fluid in the joint. The cortisone injection he gave me has taken some of the swelling down, but still hurts pretty much to walk on, and when I walk around too much, it swells quite a bit and gets purply red colored. The surgeon, who seemed baffled as to why his surgery repairs failed recommended I go see an ankle specialist of his choosing, but that guy wasn't on the plan, so I found out that my old Orthopedic group is on our insurance plan once again so am going to see the ankle specialist who I wanted to go to to begin with but couldn't because there was a contract dispute with our insurance company.

I now have an appointment for Monday to see the new ankle guy and will see what he wants to do, but my current surgeon says it's going to have to be repaired again, is his guess. And he acts like he doesn't want to do it. So I will let the new guy do it. I found out from my back doc that I can have a spinal anesthesia again since the injection is above the fusion, so no need for general anesthesia where they have to put the tube down my throat, etc. The downside of spinal anestheisa is that it takes longer to wear off and so am laying there longer on that bed. But the back doctor said while I may get sore, spasms, etc. the fusion itself is strong enough to handle it.

I will post more when I know more on Monday.