3 months after surgery

[buildergirl1973]

well its been 3 months since my second ankle surgery. my ankle still hurts more now than it did before this surgery. i was having pain every day but my levels hovered between 1 and 3 now they are between 4 and 7. maybe i'm just not healed yet but i'm starting to get worried. can anyone tell me what i should be expecting?

[1171]

yes -- another doctor. preferably an orthopedic surgeon.
you should discuss with your doctor requesting a consult or second opinion.
If they try to talk you out of it that's a sure sign they are insecure in their diagnosis/treatment plan.

[buildergirl1973]

this time the surgery was with a orthopedic specialist. he did a ligament graft, a bone graft fixed the tenon tear and shifted my heel. i go back to dr jan 19 he said he was going to make an app on that visit to remove the long screw that goes through 2 bones, so it won't break.

[Lilly]

Hi buildergirl,

doctor I am not....but it seems to me that you had very extensive surgery to your foot & ankle. Being the area is so far away from the heart to receive good and healing circulation..possibly your surgery site is not yet healed? years ago, I had an open heart surgery gone bad. I was in surgery for 12.5 hrs....then my chest was left open for 3 days, as my heart refused to re-start no matter what they tried. Anyhow to make a long story short...I STILL had tremendous chest pain from the surgery site 5 years later! It hurt to breath, sneeze, cough, lay down, use my arms, get dressed...you name it. Then suddenly one day I noticed I didn't have pain!! It had finally let up. No lie, it took about 6 years for this to happen. Possibly once you get all the hardware removed, and the surgery site is able to calm down, it will slowly improve...I pray that it does.
Take care, and God speed. Lilly

[chrischris]

I had achilles tendon rupture repair surgery almost 4 months ago. I had P/T for 3 months prior to the surgery, and have been in P/T ever since the surgery. My ankle still hurts and I am told that it takes up to a year for this type of surgery to fully heal. I am now finally seeing some improvement and will continue with P/T as long as it takes. I am very aggressively doing my P/T as I want to hike and be able to do outdoor activities again. If P/T says walk 1 mile a day, I push the limit, but not beyond my pain limit.

My point to you is that your surgery was very extensive and will take time to fully heal. Keep your follow up appointments and ask the surgeon questions about your concerns. I hope with time that you will begin to see some improvement.

[buildergirl1973]

thanks lily and chrischris, yes this surgery was more extensive than the last. my original injury was 5 yrs ago. wc approved 12 visits, i have been to 6 so far, i only go once a week, i'm just now starting to walk without my boot. have only been to therapy once since i can walk without a crutch or boot. hopefully i will start to improve soon. i have to drive about 1 1/2 hrs to get to pt. so when i go it ends up taking most of the day. i go back to the dr jan 19, hopefully i'm feeling better because he said maybe go back to work light duty.

[jayne]

maybe the long trip undoes what good the PT does.....it was happening to me as I had to go to Tulsa 3 hrs away for PT by the time I got home more harm than good was done.....ask your PT guy to give you things to do at home to help...good luck