Check Up

Surgery #2 Post-op X-ray

When I had my follow up appointment on December 22nd, just two weeks after my second surgery, Dr Steeves walked in and said "I'm not happy with how these x-rays look. Essentially, this surgery failed and I don't know why." His plan to use a wire to correct the misalignment didn't work. So he sent me for a CT scan of my leg and ankle. The CT revealed bone spurs, and confirmed that my fibula was still misaligned. I was told I would need a third surgery, And soon.

Then it was Christmas. I made cookies for my family because I am a broke student. I spent my break relaxing and watching Netflix. I didn't go out much because I was still recovering from surgery.

One frame of my CT scan

New Years came and the new semester started. I have mostly morning classes and I've been feeling tired all the time. My next surgery was booked for February 6th. I tried to get it during reading week, but that was as close as I could get it. My new roommate moved in and she is wonderful. She is kind and polite and not mean and she cleans up after herself.

I got through the first month of the semester before my third surgery. Today I had my pre-op appointment with Dr Steeves. He explained to me that when I broke my ankle my fibula healed slightly shorter, probably by about 3-5 millimeters. Its not a huge difference, but it was enough to cause my pain and weird ankle alignment. He wasn't sure how to fix the problem in a way that wouldn't be too invasive and not require multiple surgeries, He said he had sleepless nights trying to figure out how to fix my ankle. So he brought my case to an surgical conference where top orthopedic guys (the kind who work on NFL super stars!!) consulted on my case . Together they came up with a plan.

• Open up my incision again and remove the rest of my old metal from the first internal fixation.
• Cut off the bone spurs and shave down the excess bone growth from the side of my fibula
• Go in with the arthroscope again, and cut out even more scar tissue
• Cut my fibula below the original break (called an osteotomy) Push the talus bone back into place. Insert a plate and pins through to my tibia to hold the pieces of the fibula in place so it heals longer
• On the left side of my ankle pull on on the ligament that has gotten stretched out over the last 10 months