So we are a month past the day of the ankle surgery. Things went well. A minor problem occurred but it was only minor. Now that things are getting somewhat back to normal, I may be able to start writing my blog again. If not on a daily basis, then at least a few times a week. Anyway, back to the ankle...
Several years ago my husband hurt his ankle while at his "place of duty". He was not in combat when it happened. He was actually on American soil when he was injured. It appears now the bone in his ankle was probably fractured but when the x-ray was done no break could be seen. The ankle continued to bother him through out the next two years. It was a nuisance the entire time he was deployed in Iraq, it interfered with his "run time", it was just a bad deal. It caused him a good bit of pain.
During this time he had more x-rays done. Nothing was found. He was put through physical therapy. It did not help. Eventually the PA wrote him a "walking profile" to ease the pain of his ankle when he ran. Unfortunately, since nothing could be seen on x-ray and physical therapy had been a failure to fix the issue, my husband's commander ripped up the PA ordered profile, instructed my husband to stop being a shit bag and faking an injury thus the problem progressively got worse.
When they returned from Iraq, he continued to deal with the pain for a few months as well as the shame of being labeled a shit bag. Finally, when a new commander was installed into the Company an MRI was ordered on said ankle. Low and behold there was a REAL issue. For some reason (believed to be a bad heal resulting from a prior untreated fracture) there was a hole in my husbands talus bone. You may not know this but the talus is somewhat behind the tibia. This is the reason nothing could be seen on x-ray. The problem was hiding behind the other bone. So finally on June 5th 2012, we had his surgery. It was an all day event and a very crazy day. During this wait I had to leave him to go to our son;s first track meet (he did great btw) and then our son and I returned to the hospital and were able to see my husband before he went back. He was a little nervous as this was his first surgery EVER. The procedure was supposed to take about 2 hours. It was actually about four. Needless to say, I was a little concerned.
Finally, the doctor came out to let us know what was happening. The surgery went well. they were able to fix the problem. They had to fillet the tibia, go through that bone to reach the hole in the talus, fill the hole with cadaver bone and the screw the tibia back together. During the process of screwing the bone back together the screw started to back out. They stated it was because the bone was so "strong". They had to cut the screw flush with the bone and go in at a different point with a new screw. This was the problem and the hold-up with the procedure. Other than that, everything went well.
He has progressed well with his recovery. He is still using the "'roll-about" to get around but he went back to work yesterday July 6th. His day was pretty boring because there is not a lot he can do but at least he was able to go back.
It has been a long few years since this injury occurred but I hope this surgery will fix the issue and he will be much better. He has certainly endured a lot to get to the point of not being able to walk or drive his truck. He is unable to work the clutch in his stick shift truck. Eight more weeks and we can try to get him walking and driving again. I know he can do it because his perseverance thus far has been inspiring and amazing.
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