In plaster for ten weeks now following talonavicular fusion.Anyone else in plaster so long?

Ariana, I live in Florida. I found the dr by referral. I had several friends who had had foot surgery although not as extensive as mine. They all raved about this particular dr.

Now I lived in Hawaii before moving here & I couldn't find anyone who would do anything but say I had to live with my foot pain .

I also asked did research to find the hospital that was noted for its research & teaching as well as its excellent Drs.

My dr is very conservative in that it is exceptionally long process. For me, I had no pain after the second week, but everyone is different. I was 10 weeks in a cast. 6 weeks in a boot. Now 5 weeks In a special shoe - learning to walk again. I see my dr on the 25th and hopefully will b go to PT.

Hope this helps. If u r in Florida let me know & I will send u privately my Drs name

Heather, I know that pain. My TaloNavicular bones were crunching with every step & I could actually hear them. So could my husband walking with me hear the sound. I had surgery March 30. Dr said that I had good strong bones so he put in two small staples to hold my bones together. Last night September 2, 2016 I wore a wedge sandle for the first time. Although my foot was swollen by the end of the evening I didn't limp. It was very exciting. i'm not walking far, walking in water is better & swimming is good. Slowly increasing stamina & strength. It is a long long process, but what we all want is no pain & to b able to walk, & or run.

Hope this helps u, Karran

My Talonavicular surgery was 4/22, followed by a cast for 7 weeks, a boot for 4 weeks and a brace for 3 weeks. I have been in PT for two weeks and can see some improvement, but I still have pain and stiffness and limited range of motion. My dr assured me that I would have full range of motion and be pain free by mid-Sept, but I don't see that happening by then. I will be having a frank and open discussion with him when next I see him and see if he can pinpoint a little better when I will be "all better".  I have heard some commentators on this forum say it took up to 12 months to finally be back to normal.  I hope my Dr was not overly optimistic about the time frame.

Im glad your doctor said you would have full range of motion eventually. Im to the point where I don't care if my foot is a little stiff, I rather have that than to hurt everytime I try to put weight on my foot. Was your surgery to fix althritis?

I would look at karran's very good postings on the subject. She is very clear - and she had healed in the optimum length of time. Everyone is different.

So have a good clear conversation with your doctor. I have heard u can be in plaster for 12 weeks of bones are taking time to fuse. And to be totally pain free and walking fine takes at least a year...

You might ask ur doctor about full range of motion snd what s/he means by that. Fusing a joint normally means ur range of motion gets a bit restricted and stiffer.

Heal well. It takes as long as it takes. I have not had the operation but the specialists I have talked to have been very clear in managing expectations that it is anything other than a very long process Ariane X

Heather, How r u doing now?

I am now six months since my talo navicular fusion. I am wearing regular shoes that I can get my foot into ( my foot still swells). But learning to walk is not easy, although I see improvement each day. I can see that I will b walking normally eventually, playing golf, & wearing high heels. I never dreamed that this recovery would take so very long. But having this surgery was so worth it.

I would like to hear how u r doing.

Karran

Best wishes, Karran

Thank u Heather but running a marathon is not something I would like. I have done a 5 mile run which I would consider in my future.

I hope to hear about u & your baby.

Karran

Hey all I had talonavicular joint fusion in my left foot on August 30, 2016. The pain from my talonavicular osteo arthritis seemed to common pretty fast.

Tomorrow is six weeks post surgery.

I was in a soft cast for the first week, a hard cast for two weeks and I am still nonweightbearing but in a hard boot for daytime and going out and a less heavy boot for night time.

My first set of x-rays on September 21 showed that I had very early fusion noted and I will be getting my next set of x-rays this Wednesday on October 12 and hopefully I'll be told that I can start doing some weight bearing and pt.

The hardest thing has been getting around and not being able to leave the house and do things on my own because crutches and I do not get along. I fell coming into my house the day of surgery with my 77-year-old mother and my 79-year-old father who are both in not so great health and had to crawl across my floor to get to the stairs to try and get myself up. Then I fell a 2nd time and hit the back of my head the day before my 1 week post op. The knee scooter had been a god send, even though I need both knees replaced as well (my dad had both of his replaced and my mom needs both of hers replaced too.

Things are getting better every day but I just want to be able to go out on my own and not have to rely on friends and family to come and save me from myself in my own home.

I do have to say that pain is way down my biggest problem has been the swelling in my foot and ankle and that's getting better with each day.

I look forward to being pain free.

Same surgery Aug 29. Same cast treatment. Same distaste for crutches and same love affair with my knee walker. I don't get cast off with first X-rays until next Monday so I don't know how fusion is going. I'm hoping Hoping HOPING it looks good! I've adjusted pretty well to this limited life. Fortunate with a husband who can do it all and 3 kids, all strong enough to lift my knee walker in and out of our van. And it was my left foot so I can drive, thank goodness. Hang in there and keep in touch.

So you've had a cast on since 8/29 and haven't had X-rays yet and you're at week 6 and you don't get X-rays until next week?

Yikes!

It's great that you have husband and three kids to help.

I live alone, (I do have 2 dogs 11 and 12 years old) but I have great parents taking me to all dr appts and great friends and other family filling in on other things.

I'll let you know how things go tomorrow.

I was originally told 8 weeks off of work but I think it'll be more like 12. I'm a pharmacy tech inside a retail store so I'm on my feet for 5-9 hours a shift.

I was told 12 weeks non-weight-bearing followed by 4-6 weeks partial weight bearing. Long haul isn't it? Your description of falling on your first day home made me shudder. Haven't fallen ... yet.  

I tried to post yesterday but I think I forgot to hit something.

So great news from the doctor yesterday I am full weight-bearing with a boot and to start physical therapy, which I will start next Tuesday.

It does hurt to put full weight on the ankle but that'll come in time and I'm doing it nice and slow till I start the physical therapy.

The doctor said the ankle looks fantastic and that they are amazed at how well I'm healing, I told them if they knew my full medical history they'd know I'm professional at healing.

I will go back in three weeks to determine if I'm ready to go back to work and in what capacity.

I'd have to say yesterday was one of my best days ever!

Please let me know how your x-rays go on Monday.

Wow you are a fast healer. I saw my ortho guy  yesterday and got the cast off. It was supposed to be next Monday, but I absent-mindedly got in the shower without my cast cover (seriously!) and he was able to see me almost right away. So boot - non-weight bearing for two more weeks, then partial, incresing weight gradually over another two weeks. I did have a second fusion, the calconeal (sp?) joint. Maybe that's making it slower. 

That second joint fusion is probably what's taking you longer as they say the bones are so small that it just takes much longer than any other part of your body.

They showed me my x-ray of the joint and she told me that you can hardly see the point of fusion anymore so it's really really extraordinarily well that I'm healing.

I've been really really good about keeping my foot elevated and ice and that's been a big part of helping the swelling stay down and I think helping in the healing process.

Let me know how your appointment goes into weeks and I'll tell you how mine goes in three weeks and I'll let you know on the status of my PT as well which starts next Tuesday.

Tonight I'm going to dinner with a friend and I'm going to drive for the first time in six weeks.

Enjoy your night out! I've been driving as it is my left foot that is compromised. I've had very little swelling and almost no pain since the first three days. I'm older than you are, too - 64 - and healing takes longer the older you are. Congrats!

I am following your posts because I am heading towards by talonoaviculr fusion January 2017. It has been so helpful and realistic reading your posts...and is really helping me mentally prepare myself for this new reality.

How are you both doing now? 

Ariane xx

Hi all just wanted to update everyone:

I'm going to give you a full rundown on everything that's gone on since my surgery some of it is repeats from my previous posts but this way it's all in one place (sorry in advance for the long post).

Just a couple of pieces of extra information I'm 52 years old with a history of arthritis both of my hands and both knees that are both bone on bone and need knee replacements.

My ankle arthritis came on pretty quick or I just didn't notice it previous to February 2016 when I started a special project at work during this time I was doing another job for my company for a three month period in which noticed a feeling in my ankle like when you have to crack your knuckles but yet it won't pop this continued on through the whole project and in June I decided to go to my doctor to see what was going on and was told that I had arthritis in my talonavicular joint. My doctor who is taking care of my knees at the time told me that we could try doing a steroid shot in the joint via fluoroscopy which we did do on June 22. I waited for several weeks hoping that this would help and it never did the only time it felt good it was immediately after the fluoroscopy because my foot was numb from the procedure. When I went back to the doctor he told me that there was nothing further that he could do because he didn't specialize in ankles and he sent me to the doctor that did my surgery. When I saw this new orthopedic surgeon he basically told me that I could go to a brace which I probably wouldn't wear and which I agreed with him on or I could go for the surgery at that point I had done a lot of research into the surgery because I figured that's where i was headed and I was a little scared by the amount of time that it would take to heal. My surgeon told me that it would take a lot less time from what I was actually reading and I was kind of excited about this and I decided to go ahead and have the surgery done.

Talonnavicular fusion was done on August 30, 2016, I have a plate and five screws.

I was given Norco 10 for my pain which I only used through September 21, at that point I was only at 5 mg to 10 mg at night only after the first week. I'm currently taking tramadol probably about twice a day My rx is for 1 every six hours but I usually only take it as I need it when I'm moving around and have pain.

I was in soft cast for1 week and a hard cast for 2 weeks. When thehard cast was taken off the amount of atrophy on my calf was quite amazing to both myself and my doctor. I was then given a hard boot for during the daytime and going out and was also given a lighter nighttime boot. I was in NWB until week 6 (October 12).

My first x-ray showed very early fusion on 9/21(hard cast removal). My second set of x-rays on October 12 (finally weight bearing) showed near complete bone fusion, and the same was shown on x-rays from 11/2 and11/16.

When I became weight bearing it did take about 2 days before I was able to walk in the boot, keep in mind your foot hasn't been used in quite awhile and it's going to hurt. I started physical therapy at week seven on October 18 and have been going about twice a week since. Also when using the boot you want to find a shoe for your other foot that is almost if not the same height as that boot because otherwise it's going to mess up your other side of your body.

I was given the OK on November 16 to go from the boot to a lace up ankle brace, which I'm able to wear with my gym shoes. during physical therapy I do take the ankle brace off per my physical therapist. And I was told by the doctor that at night if I had to go to the bathroom while I'm bad that I could actually walk without my shoe or the brace on in my bare feet however, my foot stiffens up so much while sleeping that it hurts to walk without using crutches so I keep the crutches next to my bed.

As far as my incision goes I still have the two bottom Steri-Strips on my foot ( I started with four originally) because they haven't come off yet and my PA doesn't want to take them off yet. The top part of the incision where the Steri-Strips haven't been on for several weeks has small scabs still and as of yesterday the top scab decided to open up a little bit and ooze a little bit more. I was told this is normal as when it swells it's still has to have somewhere to go.

As far as swelling goes my foot is still swelling up when it's down for extended periods of time. I still try to keep it above my heart several times a day to get the swelling back down I'm still icing it several times a day and while I'm sleeping also I try to keep my foot above my heart to keep the swelling down.

I also want to let you know that the first three weeks after the surgery I had a depression that I thought I would never come out of. When I was awake and not in a Norco haze the first week and for the next two weeks I spent time trying to figure out how I could take myself out. Fortunately I had a very good friend staying with me and I have two dogs who I adore the ground that they walk on and couldn't do it. I highly suggest if you're feeling this way that you speak to your doctor and get on something or continue to do group that's when I found this group and I have to say it's been a godsend. I think that most of the depression came from the fact that I couldn't do anything for myself or at least that's the way I felt and I couldn't get out of the house on my own because me and the crutches weren't getting along and I have a stair into my garage so I couldn't even get the car to drive away even though I was allowed. I highly suggest if you do you live alone that you have someone come at least once a week to at least take you out if you can't get out on your own if just to go around a store for a few hours. If you feel any depression talk to your friends, talk to your family, talk to your doctor.

I fell very first day when I came home from the surgery trying to get up that one stair and I wasn't able to get up because of the fact that my 77-year-old mother and my 79-year-old father were with me and neither one could help out my 213 pound body. So I crawled to the bathroom which I couldn't get up in there and then I crawled to my stairs and was able to get up on the crutches. A week later in the day before I was to go see the doctor for my one week check up I tripped and fell backwards and hit the back of my head on my end table luckily it wasn't bleeding and luckily my friend was at home with me.

I was originally told that I'd be out of work for eight weeks it is now going on 13 weeks and I am still not back to work but hoping to go back in about two more weeks on or about December 8. My next appointment is on December 7.

I am a pharmacy tech in a retail location so standing on my feet all day is what I'll be doing so were taking this I guess a little bit slower unfortunately but at the same time I can't stand for more than a few hours at a time still.

Keep in mind that the surgery is not the same for anyone patient and that everyone heals at different rates and that the many different doctors have different ways of doing things. I feel blessed to have the doctor and staff that I have. I also feel extremely blessed to have the friends and family that I have because they're all amazing!

If my post helps even one person to get throuh this I will be extremely happy.

Good luck to everyone that is going through this or is going to go through this.

I'm here if you want to talk or vent or need advise. If I can help I will

Happy holidays!!!!