Time for surgery

By the time this column sees print, I will have already had my left ankle joint replaced and will be starting my healing process. They tell me the first two weeks will be the most painful. Now isn’t that a great incentive for having the joint replaced?

To be honest, I’m not looking forward to the surgery, nor am I looking forward to the recovery time. But I am looking forward to being able to walk more normally with little or no major pain, compared to how things are now. If everything goes as expected, I should be able to do some fishing in August and some bird hunting in September. Moose hunting will have to wait for next year!

The schedule, as I have had it explained to me, goes something like this, starting with the day of surgery. The next five days involve rest with the ankle elevated on a couple of pillows with ice to help reduce swelling. Then back to the surgeon’s office for an inspection, surgical dressing change, and a new “brace” fitted over the joint. The brace I will come out of surgery with is designed to allow for swelling. The post-five-day brace doesn’t have the same level of expansion ability I am told.

After a couple of weeks in the second brace, I go in and can expect to have sutures removed (if that hasn’t already been done) and be fitted for a “cast.” When I asked about this, I was told the cast is fiberglass and not like the old plaster casts used for broken bones.

I will wear the cast for four to six weeks and then be fitted with a walking boot. At this point, it will be mid-July and I still will not have placed any weight on that leg. I haven’t heard how long the walking boot will be required. I may have to learn how to walk all over again (just kidding)!

I’m guessing that the physical therapy I’m supposed to have will start about the time the walking boot comes on the scene. We’ll certainly find out when the time comes!

So how do I get around when I’m not allowed to put weight on the joint? Besides crutches, I’ve got a prescription for what is called a knee scooter. You’ve probably seen folks using them in the grocery stores or malls. I’ve seen a few folks and they were moving quite rapidly up and down the aisles. I’m sure they felt quite happy to finally get out of the house and back in the real world again.

During my recovery time, I expect I’ll do a lot of reading, watching television, and trying not to be bored out of my mind. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do with my computer because of the physical layout of our house between the bedroom and where my computer lives. We’ll have to play that one by ear as well.

I’ll try to send in my columns, but they will probably be mostly reruns of some older articles. If I can get out on our deck on the sunny days, I might be able to write some new stuff about the goings on in our yard with the critters who live around here, but it’s tough to produce fresh material when you can’t walk to get out and do stuff!

So far, this has been a tough year for my wife and I physically. I had the prostate cancer surgery in January (I’m doing fine). My wife was involved in an auto accident a couple of weeks ago where her car was totaled. Luckily, she walked away with only bruises and minor cuts and stiffness from being bounced around in the vehicle. She’s recovering nicely. We had to scramble to get another vehicle as my wife didn’t want to drive my big diesel pickup truck, especially coming and going into Anchorage for my surgery and follow-up visits with the surgeon.

The first vehicle we found turned out to have some serious issues and the dealership didn’t want to sell it to us (good for them!). As things turned out, the dealership substituted a smaller pick-up truck worth a little more than the first vehicle for the price we agreed to pay for the original car. My wife isn’t sold on the small truck, but she found it wasn’t as hard to drive as she thought. Who knows, it might grow on her as time goes on!