Well here I am, one day shy of being two weeks post-op. I had surgery on Jan 25 at HSS with Dr. Kennedy. This is the thread I'll use to post updates and questions for others. Here's a recap of how things went.
By way of reminder, I was diagonosed in July with a 5mm x 7mm medial OCD in my right ankle. Closer inspection of the MRI revealed a small (non-symptomatic) 4mm x 4mm OCD on the lateral side as well as a compromised ATFL ligament. In addition, I had a bone spur on the front of my ankle.
Preop appointment: Thankfully I arrived in NYC early for my preop appointment on the previous Thursday. Had I not done that, I would have had to reschedule my surgery as the biggest snowstorm on record (nearly) descended on Manhattan two days prior to my surgery date.
So about the preop appointment. Dr. Kennedy had me update my MRI the week before surgery. During the preop appointment he advised me that my ankle had deteriorated over the past six months. The medial lesion was now measuring somewhere near 1cm. This stunned me as I had remained nearly completely inactive for the six months prior to surgery - no running, hiking or even going for walks longer than a couple blocks. Dr. Kennedy let me know that there was a possibility of converting to OATS but he wouldn't know until he actually got a view inside my ankle. My lesion is a shoulder lesion and his concern was that for bigger lesions the repair could just "fall off" if the lesion was too big. He told me he felt there was only a small chance of needing to do OATS but wanted me to be prepared just in case. He also told me that the lesions had become cystic (they weren't before) and that he would have to do a bone graft from my heel.
Surgery: I've never had surgery before and I'll reiterate here what I've read many places: HSS is a class act as is Dr. Kennedy and his team. I felt confident that I was in the best hands and this did a lot to alleviate anxiety and fear. After the surgery was completed, Dr. Kennedy came and talked to me. He did not have to do OATS; in fact, the MRI over-estimated the size of the medial lesion. It turned out to be 6x8x2. The lateral lesion was 4x4x2. Bone grafts were not necessary for either. He MF'd both OCLs, used Biocartilage and BMAC on both sides, fixed my ligament and removed the bone spur.
One other thing of note (and I intend to ask more questions about this at my 6-week follow-up): Dr. Kennedy said that it was apparent that the injury had existed for quite some time. Given that I've never sprained my ankle and that this injury seemed to appear out of nowhere a year ago, I had speculated that it was from a recent (but unknown) event. Following the surgery, we now know this is most certainly not the case. Apparently my talus bone was very hard to drill into, so much so that he had to use something different than the traditional tools he usually uses. He was able to make the bone bleed and felt confident that other than my feeling more post-op medial pain, the surgery would have the same estimated 90% chance of success. In any case, the condition of the bone cleared up the mystery. I've apparently been hiking and running on a non-symptomatic deteriorating ankle for years.
Post-op: Here's a quick list of how things have gone along with some questions for folks who have been here.
I had a nerve block post-op and didn't start feeling any pain until about 36-hours after surgery.
The worst of the pain was days 2-5 and even then it was not unbearable with the pain meds. I was able to sleep 6-8 hours each night. (Unlike others though, I have not been sleeping a lot. I'm awake and working from bed during the day and am lucky to sleep a full eight hours at night.)
I've pretty much been off the pain meds now (including OTC meds) since day 9. I did however feel like I needed them up until Day 9. I've read accounts of people who were off them much earlier and have wondered what it means that I needed them longer. I did have surgery on three sides of my ankle (and a more intense drilling on the medial side) so perhaps this accounts for it. Is there anyone else who needed meds for over a week?
Currently the only real discomfort I have is an on-again/off-again numbness and tingling that occurs mostly at night. It seems to me that my foot/heel just gets weary of being in the same position and falls partially asleep. I've also had some heel discomfort inside the splint. This comes and goes. At times I've also been able to feel the medial wound area. Is this familiar to anyone else?
I've been elevating 23+ hours a day, only getting up for the occasional bathroom or kitchen trip. During the times where I'm really uncomfortable (mostly at night) I do find that I'm repositioning A LOT. I'm guessing this is normal but have wondered if I've had too much movement for the early days of being post-op. I'm most concerned about Biocartilage graft adhering and not messing that up. Any thoughts about this? Is it that fragile of an environment that shifting your leg a million times an hour could disrupt it? (This is my paranoia in full force here.)
I think that's pretty much it for now. I get the stitches out Wednesday and am put into a boot for two more weeks of non-weight bearing.
Would love some thoughts on the above from others who've been here before me.
Thanks, Christina
PS- The knee scooter is a dream. I haven't used crutches once.
