Ankle Replacement Surgery
Posted , 196 users are following.
I would like to estabish contact with anyone who has undergone ankle replacement surgery and reflect a ittle on the aftereffects and the longer term prognoses for recovery and mobility.
Having undergone such an operation about 9 months ago I am currently coming to terms with a less than welcome (and certainly unexpected) imapct upon my life and mobility.
Issues such as lack of mobility, excessive swelling and cronic pain from the ankle itself but also from the toes and lack of sensation and feeling in parts of the foot are those I am facing and would like to know how other poeple have fared, both in the short and longer term.
16 likes, 848 replies
leah78224 Ultraboxer
Posted
Hello all--I am pleased to have found this site and want to share my experience with you, as I feel quite alone in it! I had TAR 3 years ago at Duke. My surgeon had done 1000 of these with no apparent mishaps. That day, he let the intern manage the sawing and whoops, he didn't stop and sawed through two tendons, an artery, and a major nerve. Totally severed. I am permanently maimed. My foot is basically frozen, except for multiple types of pain, which no one understands. My balance is off and I can walk only minimally--lately had to resort to crutches and the big boot again. At age 75, I am otherwise healthy and had so hoped to be able to dance and hike again! Now I just hope to keep standing and functioning enough to do my own grocery shopping. This is an extremely rare occurrence but Duke is saying it falls within the Standard of Care and thus they refuse to compensate me one iota. I cannot recommend doing this in a teaching hospital. If anyone knows of a similar incidence, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Meanwhile, I am wishing all of you great success with your new ankles. Sometimes it really works well, apparently.
RichardKen leah78224
Posted
I would hope that you have had good independent professional legal guidance regarding this.
Cheers Richard
ron22660 leah78224
Posted
Hi Leah,
I'm so sorry you have gone through such an ordeal. One always has to be philosophical about the inherent risk in having surgery, but your situation has an additional layer of negligence which isn't supposed to be part of the risk factor, especially with a surgeon selected for his long experience.
You're not alone out there with post TAR issues. While my ankle isn't nearly as maimed as yours, I'm finally coming to grips -- two plus years after surgery-- that I'll forever be limited in what I can do. Much like Ultraboxer's experience, my ankle isn't close to what I had hoped for following surgery and plenty of healing time. I guess we need to gauge own own situation and just do the best we can.
Are you in a position to have a fusion as one means of partially mitigating your situation?
emile04479 leah78224
Posted
If you were treated in the USA, at Duke University, you should immediately consult with medical malpractice attorney's. There are time limits for notice to the providers, and for filing the lawsuit; do not let this pass.
leah78224 emile04479
Posted
Thank you, Emile. Actually, I did find a good attorney who was kind enough to try to help me. He appealed to Duke to no avail. In order to go to trial, he needed to find one surgeon who would testify that this incident was negligence and not within the "standard of care". He could not find anyone to do this. So, we gave it up and the statute of limitations has passed. It is what it is and I just have to accept it. Life has a way of turning every difficulty into an opportunity, eh?
leah78224 ron22660
Posted
Thank you for your kind response, Ron. Yes, we will do the best we can with what life has given us. I'm actually doing a little better than when I wrote that first note, during a time of great discouragement. I hope you will gradually regain more comfort and mobility.
emile04479 leah78224
Posted
Different communities have different perspectives and laws regarding injuries; all accept that negligent driver's should compensate the victim, but some communities allow physicians to hide behind "standard of care", which means lots of other people make that same mistake. Let a speeding driver try that defense!
Reenee Ultraboxer
Posted
I am 4+ years through my ankle surgery and still I have ankle pain and swelling! Is there anyone here having ankle pain after years of injury?
RichardKen Reenee
Posted
Dear Reenee
I'm sorry to hear that you are still having some discomfort. It does take a lot longer to get through this than the surgeons would have you understand generally, I think by now you should be feeling pretty good. At twenty weeks I was well on my way. Google search for yogesh total ankle replacement and you will see how I was doing at twenty weeks. At that point in my recovery I was only uncomfortable at times but nothing much and was working a fifteen or so hour day doing building work etc.
My only suggestion is to ice your ankle and evevate when it is feeling bad and after walking etc. Keep ahead of the pain in your use of pain medication so that your body has a chance to heel. I think this is quite important but would point out that i'm not a doctor!
Cheers
Richard
ron22660 Reenee
Posted
Hi Reenee,
It's been 2 yrs. and 3 months since my TAR, and my ankle still swells and hurts. The pain is kind of an icy hot pain which I can generally tolerate without meds, but it gets old. Like Ultraboxer, who wrote in over a year ago, I'm also experiencing some lack of sensation in my toes and ball of the foot, as well as a nasty bunion and hammer toe I probably picked up from twisting my foot a little as I walk (this probably would have happened with a fusion, too). I recently had partial knee replacement surgery (I was hard on myself when I was young), but that wound is healing up right on schedule. At 67 I'm still very active, so I've been wearing a supporting brace when I cycle and that seems to help. Walking is a chore. I've noticed that wearing sandals seems to wreak less havoc on me in the course of a day than shoes. I'm still working, and I find that removing my shoe in late morning and elevating my foot helps a bit. At the moment, I'm icing the ankle before dinner. Perhaps everything little thing helps! At this point, I don't envision my ankle getting any better, so I'll just deal with it as long as I can.
mellowphil Reenee
Posted
I am over 3 years since my TAR. I have always had pain and swelling, and tried to live with it hoping it would get better. A few weeks ago, at my annual review with the surgeon, I really told him that I was not happy with the situation. Everything seems ok on my x rays, so he sent me for a scan. This showed degeneration between my talus and calcaneous. He gave me a shot of cortizone between these bones which really has helped a lot with the pain. So now I am having these bones fused together. My wife is out of the country until the end of April, so I am not having the operation until May 9th. Fingers crossed that this will help.
Maybe that is something you could get looked at?
johnnythevaughn Ultraboxer
Posted
I had TAR December 28th. It has been 8 weeks. I am walking without boot or cane. Still have moderate pain but not where I had it before surgery. If I'm on it for a short while I get swelling so have to elivate it.
I have my eye on the prise.
darlene33201 Ultraboxer
Posted
I can tell you that it can get better, but you'll always be aware of teh difference between the two.
Let me start by saying I had a total ankle replacement done back in 1977. Yes, you read that right. As of this writing it's been 40yrs ago.
I was 18 at the time and was more than likely taken advantage of by the doctors. But, I was the one who signed on the dotted line and was legally of age to do so. I just wish I had had someone to advise me to get at least two (if not three) opinions before I naively went along with the replacement. Oh well, life is full of regrets and 20/20 hindsight.
When I came out of the hospital I was told ***NO***!!!! ABSOLUTELY, NO! weight was to be put on the ankle for the first 3 months. This meant 3 months ina wheelchair. The next 3 months I was on crutches with "slight" body weight, followed by 3 months using a cane. Physical therapy started with the use of the crutches. It was a long and very difficult life to adjust to.
I never ran again, ever. That left out many sports activities I used to enjoy. But life is full of making adjustments. I adjusted the way I did things, using the heel of my foot for many things instead of the instep. Never wore a pair of high heels again (that may have been a blessing in disguise, though some 2 inch pumps would have been nice throughout the years).
But I went on and got married, had a child and raised a family. Moved from California to New York and 12 states in between during these 40 yrs. Has It been painless? OH HECK no! But keeping my foot elevated during the worst of times helped.
Oddly enough it appears that my body (the tibia and fibula) are eroding basically away from the top of the artifical portion of the ankle and now I'm researching my options. Seems there isn't much information on whether an artificial joint can be replaced with another artifical joint. Perhaps fusion is my only option at this point. Which is just about where I'm at anyway. I've lost about 95% of my dorsal motion and close to 80% side motion. So what would I be losing if I go with a removal and fusion. 2". Yep, that's the length I'll loose (or so I was told 20 or so years ago) in my leg length. Unfortunately for me, I already have a 2 inch difference due to a childhood accident to my growth plate, so another 2 will make it 4 inches, give or take. Didn't mean to get in here and go on a rant. Just wanted to say this: If I had it to do all over again, I think I would. Yes the struggle was hard and the road to recovery was difficult, but I was drug free and pain free for nearly all my adult life concerning this ankle. Yes there was basically always a degree of swelling and motion and weight limitation. But as with everything, it all depends on your personal outlook on life in general. I'm personally optimistic by nature. I always considered myself fortunate, at least I had two feet to walk on.
Hope your results improve as the ground is always firm beneath your feet.
RichardKen darlene33201
Posted
That's so amazing that you had an ankle replacement all those years ago. Where you the first?
After I had fully recovered which was just over a year most of the time I forgot that I had a replacement ankle joint especially as my movement was very nearly as good as my good one. Just a B shame it is now after four years having to be revised due to osteolysis.
Cheers Richard
BradleySTAR darlene33201
Posted
emile04479 darlene33201
Posted
I have been putting off replacement surgery for a few years, but I am encouraged by many succes stories, seems the Wright product is most successful. But, in the truly horrible cases, where pain persists, may I suggest the unmentionable - amputation. We have all heard about, and I have personally seen, amazing mobility for people of all ages with a whole new foot/ankle. A Google search will reveal a vast arry of products.
When my ankle is acting up, I joke about getting a pirate's stump and no pain.
BradleySTAR emile04479
Posted
RichardKen emile04479
Posted
I recently read an posting from a lady who had to have amputation and it has it's downsides such as sweating of the stump.
Cheers Richard
biancamosca emile04479
Posted
Putting off the surgery also has consequences, it's such a small area of bone you can really do more damage to it if you leave it too long, knees and hips have so much more bone that putting it off causes less problems fir those replacements.
RichardKen biancamosca
Posted
Very true and the longer one leaves the surgery the greater the likelihood that one will have less movement in the ankle joint after surgery than could have been the case.
Remember that if one needs the surgery it is not going to get better...that's just how it is unfortunately!
Cheers Richard
Petemon darlene33201
Posted
25 years ago, I had an unfortunate accident (in an ultralight) and shattered both ankles. Lucky for me the surgeon suggested just putting them back together with some screws and plates as a temporary fix. He said they were getting good at hips and knees and sometime in the future I could possibly get an TAR. The arthritis set in and walking without pain was impossible and by the end of the day the ankles looked like balloons. I am now 65 and my parents are both still going at 99 and 100, I decided I could have a lot of living to do. So, 6-weeks ago they installed an Integra Cadence ankle joint and did a subtalar fusion on the left leg.
Before the procedure, I looked long and hard on the internet and was surprised to find that currently there are several different companies making ankle joints. Each one seems to have its own pro’s and con’s and fit different situations. I would suggest that anyone contemplating a TAR, do some research on the net and don’t be afraid to ask the surgeon some questions. Before the operation I watched the procedure on You Tube, how cool is that! In the end, I did just what he suggested, but at least he knew I had done some homework. Put a shoe on today for the first time.
I truly enjoy hearing everyone’s story, good and bad. I feel like I am in an exclusive club. I am curious, Anyone else have a Cadence ankle?