Getting a "New" Ankle!
It has been a year since my husband,
Al, had ankle fusion surgery. Sorry to say, things didn’t progress the way we
had hoped and prayed that they would. The ankle bones never fused and one screw
broke, leaving Al in a great deal of pain.
One option was to have the ankle
re-fused; however, as we were thinking about this and trying to decide what to
do, we remembered a friend of ours who is in the Bay Area training in ankle
reconstruction, after becoming a Doctor of Podiatry.
When he first told us that he was
interested in that field of medicine several years ago, Al said, “Oh that would
be great. Maybe you can help me with my ankle someday.”
They both laughed about it at that
time because it seemed so far away. However, Al’s ankle got progressively
worse, necessitating his wearing a plastic brace and then the fusion surgery in
2012. In the meantime our young friend was studying, making good progress and
working his way through the regimen to become a DPM.
We made contact with him, through
the help of his parents whom we have known well and consider as “family.” He
arranged for an appointment with the director of the podiatry department and
before long, the four of us were sitting in an exam room. As he looked over the
CT scans and x rays, the director gave us encouraging news. He thought Al would
be a good candidate for an ankle joint replacement.
“I do three or four of them every
month,” he assured us, demonstrating on a model of a human foot how two small
plastic/titanium parts would be inserted into slots in the ankle bone.
Eventually bone would grow around them making them solid. We had both
envisioned the complete severing of the foot for the replacement, which wasn’t
the case at all.
The director also looked at Al’s
other foot, which was affected by nerve damage from a previous back surgery. He
said that a fairly simple procedure would correct the drop foot. It involves
taking the muscle from the side of the foot which is working and crossing it
over to the side with the nerve damage. We were amazed.
“Oh!” exclaimed Al with relief. “Let’s do it.
Can you fix them both at the same time?” But, the doctor recommended getting
the new joint first, then fixing the drop foot later.
After saying good-bye, thanking
them both profusely and hugging our young doctor friend, we started for home,
feeling encouraged by the good news. A few days later, we called his parents to
thank them for their help and told them how proud we were when we saw him at
the medical center in his white doctor’s jacket.
Al’s surgery date is set for the
end of October, actually right on my birthday! I can’t think of a better
birthday present than to see my husband enjoying walks with our two dogs and
getting back on the trails. Who knows why he has had to suffer so much pain and
why the answer to our prayers has been delayed…but all the while, God was
training a young surgeon and preparing him so that he could help an “old”
family friend! We are grateful!
 |
| Saying "good-by" to Al's old ankle brace. |
(Published in the Porterville Recorder on 9-14-13)
Comments
Post a Comment