So, good news, mostly!

Went to the doc today to get info and make some decisions about surgery in a few weeks (after the holidays).

I did let him know that I have begun feeling pain in my R knee that pretty much coincides with the ankle pain. Meaning when I have been doing a lot of walking/standing/etc. X-rays did not indicate any arthritic changes in the joints of both knees (good news). He suggested a shot in the knee to see if it will calm down, which he gave me today.  If it still is painful by the first of the year, I will get an MRI and, if indicated, he can scope the joint at the same time he does that ankle. Kind of a two-fer, at least as far as anesthesia goes! Also, staying off it afterwards.  So, I consider that all good.

The other awesome news is that he does NOT think, at this point, that I need the osteotomy part of the surgery. Meaning he will not be cutting into my bones and putting pins in to bring them back into alignment. Makes the recovery MUCH easier. Brings the "success" percentage down a bit (from around 90% to 80%), but I will take those odds!

So, on Feb 3rd, assuming my knee is good, he will scope out the ankle joint to see if there are any rough places that need to be smoothed out, then he will do a Brostrom procedure, meaning he will cut and then re-attach the ligaments in the ankle so that scar tissue will form and make it all nice and tight again. He moved my foot around again and said it was one of the looser ones he had ever seen. So, I win a prize or something. Adding a possible arthroscopic knee procedure to the above won't make that big of a difference, I don't think. Except in his bill :)

The process after that is around 10 days in the post-surgery "splint" (non weight-bearing and mostly elevated to reduce swelling); then 4 weeks in a cast (about one week non-weight bearing, then slowly can put weight on it!!! This is better than what i thought it would be!!!); then 3-4 weeks in a "walking boot" which I will be able to remove to take showers/baths!!! THEN back to the brace I am currently wearing and begin to do PT to loosen and strengthen the joint back to "normal".

It seems I will only have to miss a couple of Sundays/Wednesdays as long as I can put my foot up and sit when possible. So that is good.

Bad news is that all this time in splint/cast/boot  means I will not be able to drive for about 2 1/2 MONTHS. Blerg. I cannot imagine trying to drive with my left foot only. Seems very, very much a bad idea. So I will be depending upon friends and family for a while for that. It will be humbling, to say the least.

All in all, good news, though. We will see how my knee does with this shot and go from there. I am not too worried about that, though. It would have been bad to ignore the pain and then go through all of this with my ankle and then have to go back and do that same knee.

So, bring on the rest of Christmas and now I can know more of what to expect!! Yay!