Final pre-surgery appointment with doc this morning to sign consent, go over surgery and its risks and answer my questions. The surgery is on January 2 at 1:30 in Guilford. He's going to repair my spring ligament and scope my ankle. He's also going to insert a temporary "screw" (can't remember the medical name for this) through the lateral side of my foot to support my arch. If it doesn't bother me when running, it can stay in. If it does, it can come out. Splint then cast for 3 months. Rehab for 6 weeks--most of which I can do at home. Will be weak but won't take much to regain strength. Will try to have me doing exercises before cast comes off.
Doc took pics and video of my feet so he can "think about them."
Doc most concerned about wound not healing/infection. Also concered about artery and nerve has to maneuver around when scoping ankle. He's performed four of these surgeries and all have been successful.
4 comments:
Yikes. Some of what you said made me cringe ("concerned about artery and nerve has to maneuver around"). But I understand that this condition will not fix itself so I wish the best of luck and a speedy and thorough recovery. I hope to see you at some of the races this summer.
Thanks, Geoff.
I'm not worried about the risks. There's risk in everything we do--consciously or not. As far as I'm concerned, the benefit of the surgery far outweighs its risks. While there's nothing we can do about the genetic limitation of running, there is, in most cases, something we can do about the injury limitation. Nothing has ever bothered me more.
The purpose of the surgery is to "improve function." It's not necessary. It's elective. My doctor told me that if we didn't think the surgery would work, we wouldn't do it.
There's no reason why any runner can't run injury-free. I've read some pretty incredible stories. How about the man who completed a Ironman Triathlon with two artificial legs?
If there's a will there's a way.
I think the screw through the foot takes the cake for the cringe factor!
I think you are making a good choice and I'd do the same if I were in your shoes. Keep up the positive attitude as it will likely make a tremendous difference in your recovery. You should be back at it just in time for the Litchfield RR, yes?
By my doctor's calculations, I'll be out of the cast by early April and rehabbing for 6 weeks. By mid-May, I should be back to racing 5Ks at 8:30 pace. I think running LHRR is a good goal.
Post a Comment