I'm just over two weeks away from surgery day! I'm a little nervous about all the uncertainty surrounding the post-op. How long will it be before I can get around easily? How long will it be before I can fly again? Am I going to be able to walk down the aisle at my friend's wedding and enjoy myself the entire night or will I be sitting on the sidelines?
I've tried to figure out how my foot got so bad. I was reading one of the forums on Runners World and found out that people with high arches, who have had a tendency to roll their ankles and had sprains may be more likely to have issues with their peroneal tendon. BINGO! That's me! That's me!
My injury back story:
In 2002, while moving offices, I was carrying a box out to my car and stepped off the curb wrong, rolled and sprained my ankle. In a matter of hours, it blew up pretty bad and ended up being sent to the hospital by my employer. Since then, I rolled my ankle a few times, but nothing major. Then in 2008, I was diagnosed with peroneal tendonitis after some pretty intense workouts. I went through physical therapy and must have been released too soon because after a short time, the pain came back and I found myself back in PT.
Fast forward to 2010 and my foot was really bothering me still, but it was different than before. Instead of feeling the strain I felt when I had tendonitis, it just felt like the bones weren't sitting right, or something was off. So I went to a new orthopedic surgeon and they sent me back to PT, which was a waste of time and money. No matter what we did, it hurt it more. So, I went for another MRI. It looks like I have a tear in my peroneal tendon. My peroneal tendon tear feels like someone is digging razor blades into the area surrounding my ankle - not really what I'd like to keep experiencing.
I can't walk for long periods of time and can't do the physical activities I'd like to be doing. For a while, I was getting pretty depressed because I was getting discouraged by not being able to run. I was gaining weight and instead of going to the gym and doing what I could, I just did nothing. So about two months ago, I finally got myself together and went back to the gym. I'm not able to do any of the cardio exercises, but lift weights and do floor exercises, keeping the pace up to get some kind of cardio benefit. I'm just really trying to watch what I eat because I'm sooo nervous about the complete (anticipated) lack of activity I'm going to experience after the surgery.
After reading the forums, I feel like maybe I underestimated the post-op (how much pain I might have, how immobile I might be...). I guess only time will tell. I don't go to see my doctor again until a few days prior to surgery, so I'll have all my questions bottled up (and unanswered) until then!
