Journal for Left Ankle Denovo Surgery on Jan 14, 2015

[BLT]

I actually saw the PA for Dr. Ferkel instead, and I moved up the appointment to March 25th. As expected, I am off the boot and using an ankle brace. For anyone that is curious, they were going to give me this brace, which I had been using prior to the surgery:

http://www.achillesmed.com/ankle-braces/aso-ankle-brace.html

However, I decided to use the old one that Ventura Orthopedics gave to me, which is slightly taller maybe a little bulkier. But the ASO brace does work extremely well.

Overall, my ankle is getting better each day. The joint itself isn't hurting, which makes me very hopeful. But surrounding areas and incision areas are still sore, swollen, and tight, which is expected. But it feels so great to be walking again and not limping around in the boot. Now I limp without the boot, LOL! I keep a spare single crutch in my car in case I suddenly go somewhere that might require me to walk longer, in which case I can use the crutch to decrease the weight put on my ankle.

Again, everything feels hopeful but the journey is far from over. The PA told me I statistically need to wait at least a year post surgery to really know how good it'll be. In the meantime, all I can do is keep up with physical therapy and continue to strengthen my ankle. Also, I am enjoying the use of my handicap placard for at least another month. Sometimes in the mess of all this, the small positive things can ease the pain.

[Namelike]

Glad to hear you're doing well! I had surgery 12/22 and am having what sounds like the same experience as you. I got my boot off 3/16, and was without it for a week and a half, but developed tendinitis in the upper part of my foot so I had to go back in the boot for a week. Like you said though, the joint itself feels great which is hopeful, but I've been having pain in the surrounding areas just because of my foot and leg being so weak.

[BLT]

Each day I can feel an incremental improvement, so overall the results are less dramatic. Whereas at first the improvements from the day after surgery were practically exponential in the first few weeks, now it's working at a slower and linear pace.

Just an FYI, I decided to use the ASO ankle braces instead because overall it felt more comfortable compared to the ones I had from Ventura Orthopedics.

My day to day routine has practically come back, minus the exercise routine I had before. It's been replaced with PT twice a week. I no longer carry the crutch in my car as I am comfortable walking without it. I still don't make any trips where I know for sure the walking will be far. I'm still limping, but I can easily make adjustments for resting because all I really do is run errands like grocery shopping. It feels great to at least be at this point in the healing process - I can do most of what I need to do without asking anyone for help. I'm not really sure what else to say, but I'm hoping you guys can post questions so I can further continue this discussion!

[BLT]

3 months post-op update:
Generally speaking, things seem to be healing as scheduled. In the surgical spots scar tissue is causing some point, but it's NOTHING compared to the pain that was in the lesion. I suspect it'll go away in time. My next appointment is on April 30th.

When I'm outside I wear the soft brace, and at home I don't wear anything at all. I'm only walking with a slight limp at home, and there's still some limping when I walk outside with the brace and sneakers. Minus the strength training I did before, my life is almost back to what it was. So far it's been a blessing and I am feeling optimistic (as we all should do our best to be). I'm taking it easy and not pushing anything until I get clearance from the surgeon. If my MF surgery from 2010 is an indication of how I will recover now, I expect to be walking almost normally without a limp by end of this month. Crossing fingers!

[casper1955]

Do you think you will ever be walking without the brace?  What other types of activities are you performing, i.e. biking swimming etc?

Glad to hear you are walking around even with a limp. 

My next appointment is April 28, 2015.  I am hoping the OS says partial weight bearing and can get rid of the boot.  Will see then.  That is almost 8 weeks post op.

[BLT]

I'm positive I'll be out of the brace. I'm not performing any sports-like activity. I do biking for about 15 minutes during each physical therapy session, and plus some other things. But outside of PT, I only walk and go up/down stairs. No sandals, sneakers only. Each day is an incremental improvement. I can definitely feel more strength today compared to a week ago.

When you're partial weight bearing, the boot will still stay...but at least you can put pressure on it. It really makes a world of a difference, especially when going up/down the stairs because you won't be hopping anymore.

[Namelike]

3 months post-op update:
Generally speaking, things seem to be healing as scheduled. In the surgical spots scar tissue is causing some point, but it's NOTHING compared to the pain that was in the lesion. I suspect it'll go away in time. My next appointment is on April 30th.

When I'm outside I wear the soft brace, and at home I don't wear anything at all. I'm only walking with a slight limp at home, and there's still some limping when I walk outside with the brace and sneakers. Minus the strength training I did before, my life is almost back to what it was. So far it's been a blessing and I am feeling optimistic (as we all should do our best to be). I'm taking it easy and not pushing anything until I get clearance from the surgeon. If my MF surgery from 2010 is an indication of how I will recover now, I expect to be walking almost normally without a limp by end of this month. Crossing fingers!

Congrats! Glad to hear you're doing well and progressing towards walking without a limp. I have accepted that as long as my calf isn't 100% strength I'll be walking with a limp, because my leg/foot aren't strong enough to push off of the ground. Even at 4 months I still have a slight limp and the bones in my foot hurt from taking the brunt of the force while walking, so don't set your sights too high. Recovery is slow.

[BLT]

April 30th update:
Hi Everyone! I visited Dr. Ferkel yesterday and things are healing on scheduled as expected. As far as the ankle brace goes, I only need to wear it as needed. I can stop using it during physical therapy, which is a big plus because there were limitations as to what I could do while the brace was on. He also said to use it if I think I will be doing a bit of walking. But it's really subjective - I have to decide when I need it and don't need it. I also brought up the pain near one of the incisions. He said it's from the surgery itself and will go away. The pain has lessened each day, so he's probably right.

On an interesting note, I mentioned this web site to him and he plans to take a look. He did echo one word of caution, and I think he's right despite what his intentions might be. Sometimes we give medical advice, even in subtle ways and not realize it. A simple example is, "Denovo didn't work for me, so I don't think you should try it, " and vice versa. Success and failure stories should not influence an absolute decision, but instead should always educate us and push us to seek out more information from the trained professionals.  But what I've found to be really useful on these forums is the referral of doctors, and I'm even more glad that Dr. Ferkel has been mentioned as one of the best surgeons for this Denovo procedure.

Anyhow, when I go out for the day I still wear the brace mostly for protection and support. I'll see where I stand next week and decide whether to continue wearing it or stop. There will come a point where the brace needs to come off to aid with recovery.

[casper1955]

Congratulations on the progress.  I started weight bearing and you are correct about the bones in the foot taking the brunt.  It almost feels like they are being crushed.  Each day is getting better


You are also correct on the advise portion.  It is great to see what others are experiencing and what they have gone through.  It is also a great place to voice your own concerns and advances as well as setbacks.  It keeps me from complaining or appearing to be negative to my wife, who has been great through this whole thing.

[BLT]

It's been about 20 days since my last update, so here's what's been going on:

I'm completely out of the ankle braces (hurrah!!!), and wearing both shoes and sandals. I haven't gone on long walks, but any walking from my daily routine is fine. I still feel residual pain from the surgery towards the outside areas of my ankle, but no pain in the original area of the OCD. I barely limp. Yes, this is very promising! But in the bigger picture, I'm still taking it easy. I don't plan to start doing more until another few months (no earlier than September). I want this to last and heal properly.

All in all, Dr. Ferkel has done a great job for me. My physical therapist is helping me as much as possible and I'm slowly getting back to full physical condition, so that I can return to weight lifting.

[BLT]

My last post must have been really boring :-)

And quite honestly, it's a good thing. I had another follow up appointment with Dr. Ferkel today, and all he said was things are progressing well. Which is true. Some of the surrounding residual pain I told him about last time has decreased, but not completely gone yet. His response was there's no real way to gauge how these small parts of pain will heal, but what he knows for sure it's total healing time is one year. He suggested I keep doing physical therapy twice a week until I'm able to get back to my regular activities. As for weight lifting, he suggested another 3 to 4 months before starting it again (which is consistent with what he's said before).

But again, this pain I'm talking about is not the kind of pain that will stop me from walking. It's the kind that my brain will eventually "phase out" as I keep walking. So yes, I'm so grateful for what I've gotten back so far. As of what I see today, Dr. Ferkel has done a terrific job for me. No more acute catching pain that makes me want to trip and fall!!! When I'm ready, I really want to start jumping in joy with all that has happened so far. But again...patience with the healing since this is my third time around.

Since I am part of his study, I spent about 10 minutes in the office filling out a case study questionnaire. There hasn't been any mention of an MRI, but I think that's supposed to be at the very minimum six months out before it's done.

I'm not saying Denovo is the answer for everyone, but give it serious consideration as an option when you talk to your orthopedic. This stuff seriously works.

[ocdnetadmin]

BLT, thanks for sharing your experience. I have left ankle injury too so i'm paying particular attention to your denovo progress.

Does the weight-training hiatus pertain to leg-workouts  only or is it any kind of weight-lifting?

[dalgal101]

This has been an interesting read. I had been doing fairly well after a steroid shot and hadn't been reading the board much. I don't do any physical activity to try to keep it under control. I dribbled the basketball a bit on flat concrete and tried to keep it away from my son for about 3 min last week and that was all it took. No running or pivoting was done. You description of the acute Catching pain is so familiar. People freak out when it happens to me  it can happen while I  walking, standing still or sitting. It takes me nearly down. I will be Getting an MRI soon, as I really want to know what is going on.

[casper1955]

Glad to hear it is going well.  Just be careful.  It can be very tempting to rush into something that is to much so maybe no jumping yet.  I really like hearing such positive comments.  Again good luck with the healing

[BLT]

BLT, thanks for sharing your experience. I have left ankle injury too so i'm paying particular attention to your denovo progress.

Does the weight-training hiatus pertain to leg-workouts  only or is it any kind of weight-lifting?

In terms of weight training, nothing that puts pressure on the ankles. This means I could do bench pressing and other upper body workouts as long as I am sitting down. However, I'm choosing to sit out and not doing anything at the gym because too much of my time is already devoted to physical therapy, so it's hard to find extra time to hit the gym with my busy schedule. In addition I have a specific routine that requires squatting on the power rack. Since I am not allowed to perform squats, it throws off the other workouts in the routine.