Ankle Blog Fodder

I know it's past my self-imposed curfew, but I meant to write last night and ran out of time. Been busy today and here we are at 10:30 - a good hour past my curfew. Oh well...

So, I went to my orthopedic surgeon yesterday to check in after 1.5 years after the break/surgery. I just wanted an opinion on whether or not I should get the hardware removed from my ankle at some point. Would it help the swelling go down? Would it be less sore? Would I stop feeling like I was hitting metal when I would bump up against the ankle?

It was odd to get to the building and realize that there are actually stairs up to the office versus the elevator. That was my first "new thing" there - checking out the stairs - with both feet!

Next up - more x-rays. My right ankle has had more radiation than....well, something with a lot of radiation (remember, it's after my curfew). I hopped up on the table to get the picture taken and the x-ray technician said "don't get too comfortable, I need you standing." What??? Stand on it for a picture? Guess when I was there for all of my other x-rays it was pre-weight bearing on the old ankle. We did a few pics and then I waited for the doctor to come in to talk.

Good news is that everything looks great he said - nice and healed. He pushed and prodded around the ankle and then repeated several times that "given my young age, it would make sense to have the hardware removed." (yes, he has won me over with constantly referring to my young age - versus a bartender tonight who carded everyone I was with but me.)

The doctor said that removing the hardware would potentially help the swelling go down and just the overall feeling of the ankle. He then looked closer at the x-ray in comparison with the before the screws/ after the break picture and did say there was maybe a little sign of arthritis in one area of the break. He said of course that is very typical with bone breaks.

I asked how the recovery time is for this type of surgery. He said that I would be in my walking boot for about a week while the incisions heal, but that's about it. He suggested doing the surgery mid-week and then being back at work the following Monday. I'm going into the busy time at work now, so I'll probably wait until January to do the surgery. Just in case I don't heal quite as quickly as he says, I want to make sure I won't be having to be on my feet alot at work.

So, I checked with Steve after the appointment to get his perspective. One of the first things he said was that he was for it as it would provide good blog fodder. I had been complaining that I didn't have anything to write about lately. Guess in January I'll be back to my critiquing of The Price is Right! :)