More updates

Posted in: Injury Time

More updates from the Man from A.N.K.L.E. The registrar who works with my appointed foot surgeon came by to have me sign a consent form for Tuesday afternoon's operation. This in essence involves explaining everything that can go wrong and have me sign that I understand. Oddly enough I was quite reassured; partly as I already knew from my smattering of medical knowledge and there were no surprises, and partly as the possible problems seemed on the whole fairly unlikely.

If I can remember, they go something like this: "DVT/PE", deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism: a blood clot that might make it anywhere from wedging in my calf to as far as my lung; neurological damage: less said about this the better especially since it won't happen, now will it?; bone malunion: the reset parts of the bone that make up the joint aren't aligned correctly. What happens here is anywhere from sub-millimetre misalignment which generates point loads on the side where it's raised and then arthritis, to the malunion where the joint is actually stiff. The latter's pretty bad but it won't happen, now will it?

Turns out the damaged bone is actually in the sub-talar joint not the talus which is a relief because the former is far less involved in foot articulation: it allows some rolling motion although most of that is in the main ankle joint. So if it all went completely fubar and it ended up being fused I'd have some stiffness walking on uneven ground. But as we've solidly established, that won't happen, now will it?

(I'm about 80-90% sure what I've written above is right. There was quite a lot to take in, and it was some hours ago. Corrections welcome...)

My right foot is the only one being operated on for now. I thought it was more damaged; it's visibly more swollen, hurts more, and is less mobile both at the ankle joint and toe movement. Turns out however the bones in my left foot are more damaged, to the extent there isn't much corrective intervention possible at the moment. So why less swollen, etc? The soft tissue took the damage in my right foot rather than the bones which took the fall in my left, and it's the soft tissue damage that generates the lymph response.

Just as the guy was leaving he left with this marker.

You can't be too sure.
(Darren softening it all up. :-)

Posted by Paul Makepeace at May 25, 2005 21:47 | TrackBack