Foot in Need of Surgery

Can anyone tell which is the bad foot?

Here, maybe this angle will help you figure it out...

It's been a while since I've bothered to mention anything about my ailing foot. So, here it goes:

Since about the the end of 2009, my left ankle and foot have been on a downward spiral. I started to realize that I had seemed to reach a plateau at my physical therapy sessions and general rehab of the foot. It was at the turn of the year that I started to develop further complications such as increased pain, less range of motion, and overall decreased stamina in my walking distance. This was not only emotionally discouraging but frustrating as I realized I wasn't getting better, but worse. This led to going to see a new doctor to get a 2nd opinion.

We saw Dr. Timothy Beals in early March who recently joined new hospital up in Park City that also accepted my health insurance. He was originally the doctor I wanted to go to but he was only working at the University of Utah hospital which does not accept my insurance. The outcome of the first visit with Dr. Beals revealed that my left foot is collapsing beneath my ankle. The foot has abducted outward with increased hindfoot valgus (heel angled outward) creating a mal-alignment of my foot. This has created other complications to the joints and ligaments within my foot. Translates to pain, decreased ROM, and swelling. We agreed to do some further testing and have corrective surgery based on the outcome of those tests and further discussions. I had an MRI and a series of three ankle injections to try to pin-point the problem areas. The general result of all that is that the problem is not in one specific area but a large percentage of joint pain is coming from my subtalar joint. I'll save further detail for verbal conversation.

After discussing a range of options, we decided to see how much better corrective surgery can make my foot while doing as little as possible to sacrafice range of motion, yet reduce pain. Therein lies the conflict b/c with the trauma done to my ankle and foot, not a whole lot of one can be done without the expense of the other. Good news is that surgery can hopefully make my ankle/foot more functional for purposes of walking and having less overall pain. I have been on 1 and 2 crutches for about 5 weeks now making surgery a priority.

Surgery:

I go in tomorrow, April 13 for a 4 or so hour operation. Dr. Beals will be taking a bone graft from my pelvis bone and inserting that graft behind (or into) my calcaneocuboid joint (lower outside joint in front of heel bone) to try to force my foot back to the right. This could result in a fusion of this joint but he won't know for sure until he gets in there and assesses the integrity and health of the joint. He will also be fusing my subtalar joint as this is apparently the worst of them all. Additionally, he will be tightening the deltoid and spring ligaments on the medial (inside) side of my foot along with debridement (removing scar tissue, dead bone, etc.) from all areas of the foot and ankle. This could also require drilling into the bones where the dead bone was removed to promote new bone growth. He will also determine whether or not any existing hardware can come out and if lengthing my fibula bone would help. Much of this surgery is about making on-the-spot decisions while he has the tools, visuals, and mechanical testing available at the time of surgery. Outcome is promising but we won't know for sure until I'm up and walking again.

Recovery:

I will be non-weight bearing for 6-8 weeks and hopefully walking unassisted in about 3 months.

Head Check:

The last 11 months have been quite challenging - not only for me but for my wife too. Not a day goes by where I don't think of the last few seconds before the road fell out beneath me. It has changed my life and I continue to struggle with how it's changed my life (and my wife's). Whether it's because I can't do all the things I used to do or something comes up in conversation that reminds me about how "I used to be", that feeling will probably never go away. However, here's a good perspective that I continue to remind myself when I get down in the dumps: 10% of life is the path that you choose, 90% of life is how you deal with the path that you chose. Sometimes, we don't have the choice of what path our lives will take, but we do have the choice of how we react to the path we are led down.

What's dealt is dealt, I cannot continue to live in the past but hope for a brighter future and do the best I can in acheiving it.

I shall return with news after my surgery...