Ankle Talonavicular joint fusion scheduled Nov 23

[Annie N]

The bean counters seem to be in charge & are gate keeping but it's bizarre & there's nothing fair going on in managing their waiting lists. You are clearly no more than a mile from me (we are off cuddington avenue), use the same hospital, yet we are getting a vastly different service. Unbelievable. Anyway I'm glad I lost faith as I'm really happy with my chosen surgeon who's skill has already helped me in the past with failed NHS foot surgery. Best news is that I'm already in less pain than I was before the op which is marvellous & today's the day I get the fibreglass cast. Silly how exciting that is, going out as well! Just as well, I broke my glasses yesterday so need to get those fixed as well and it's on the way. Unfortunately my new right knee is a bit fed up with doing all the work & is moaning a bit.

 

[Lindylee]

Good luck today, hope it all goes well. I didn’t do any better than you at Kingston though. If I’d stayed with them it might have been as late as next October before I had my surgery. Even going privately with Mr Gill it was a 4 month wait before he could fit me in. I thought SWELEOC would be quicker as it’s only elective surgery but didn’t expect it to be as quick as it was, 2 months from referral to surgery. I’m frightened to ask who messed up your foot at St Helier in case in turns out be the surgeon who operated on mine!

 

[Annie N]

Sorry I must have misread your thread, so you had to pay as well? Now I'm very curious how much. Nosy me! We put it through our PPP but it's really limited cover so I'm paying a fair bit & I've a no claims bonus that will be gone unless I reimburse the whole expenditure. I had 2 quotes from the Guildford hospitals that Mr Halliwell works with £8100 & £8700. I'm tempted to ask the NHS to fund some of this as it turns out that in Guildford many of the NHS overspill long waiters have been sent there for their surgery. Grrrr!
The new cast is on, it was very closely fitted by my surgeon personally, can't move a muscle! I was told by the wound care nurse that he doesn't trust anyone else & will want to make sure personally it continued the foot improvements he's crafted for me. I'm allowed out now on my knee crutch but nothing that would risk a fall & still lots of rest & elevation. He says it's still internally swollen & very fragile, but I couldn't see that, in fact it looked remarkable for 10 days old. The scar is a beautiful job that will just vanish, & there's only a little bruise on the inside of the heel. That's all the good news, the less happy stuff is that he wants me to continue to protect it which is very limited activity, use the knee crutch all the time & touch weight bear only for the next 4 weeks. I'll be going to walking cast if all is well on 5th January subject to x-ray. Fingers crossed....

 

[Annie N]

By the way the failed surgery was courtesy of Miss Sott, she's still there & has an awful reputation, I won't go near the place. I tried a formal complaint & found my consent had been altered & all the important parts of my notes that contradicted the changes she made last minute to my surgical plan had mysteriously gone missing.

 

[Lindylee]

I think I’ve confused you Annie. It’s a convoluted tale. I first saw Mr Gill at Kingston 2 years ago, had steroid injection and he recommended surgery which in 2021 would have been a 2 month wait but having had 2TKR’S in the previous 2 years I wasn’t ready for more surgery so he said to get in touch when I was. I was referred back in March this year and in June was told it would be October before I would be seen at which point I asked my GP to refer me to SWLEOC as they said their waiting list for outpatients was 2 months. There was a mix up and the referral didn’t go until August. At that point I was so fed up I saw Mr Gill privately at New Victoria (he was cross that outpatient hadn’t put the referral through to his secretary to book the surgery back in March) and arranged to have the surgery privately on 23rd November, the first available date. The price quoted was £7120. Out of the blue on 6th September I had a call from SWLEOC offering me an outpatient appointment on the 8th where I saw Mr Yousaf. He said he could operate by December but possibly earlier if I could go in at short notice. 3 weeks later I had a call offering me 14th October! Once it was done I cancelled the New Victoria.

You might as well write to Kingston. You’ve got nothing to lose. Good to hear the appointment went well and it all looks good. I expected to be allowed to do more when I had my cast fitted at 10 days but was told to limit activity and kept it elevated as much as possible. Luckily the weather at the time didn’t entice me out! My scar is amazing too. It’s just as if someone has drawn a pencil line on my foot. I was amazed at it. I saw my chiropodist today and she was surprised how good my foot looks. It does pay to do as they say. My next check up is 10th Jan when I’ll find out how things are going and whether I can come out of the boot. Good luck on the 5th. I hope you get the news you’re hoping for.

 

[Annie N]

Well it's week 4 & we have my sister staying with us, what with that & the kittens it's just as well I'm getting around better. Yesterday I actually went out in the car on my own to get pet food. It's taken some practice to work out the process to load crutches & knee crutch into the car whist still using them, but I've got my freedom back, if limited in scope presently. I wouldn't dream of going too far or going out at night as uneven paving is difficult to handle & way too risky. 2 more weeks & hopefully I will have a boot fitted

 

[mendogal]

That's quite a milestone - extra reason for celebration!!!!

 

[MissFanny]

Congratulations on getting out of the house on your own! Amazing progress! Well done.

 

[Annie N]

That's quite a milestone - extra reason for celebration!!!!

Well I've been too clever! Silly me.

Christmas day I caught my knee crutch on the rug & feel over with my hands full of stuff, must have looked hilarious. Fortunately I fell on the rug & on my right side so only a few bruises on my good leg, a slightly twisted knee & jarred ankle but I got away with it. Getting up from the floor was not easy on one leg so won't do that again.

 

[Jaycey]

@Annie N sounds like you were very lucky with your "landing". Hope you are not too sore today. Easy does it!

 

[mendogal]

@Annie N oh nooooo! Whew... today's a good day to rest and recover (and be grateful for no video!).

 

[MissFanny]

Glad you are okay, @Annie N!

 

[Annie N]

sounds like you were very lucky with your "landing". Hope you are not too sore today. Easy does it

Very lucky indeed, one thing I was told not to do was to fall over! I'm rather good at that as well.
Yes I'm stiff & sore, found out that my shoulder is moaning as well which is no good when on crutches! Family just watched me struggle & go over, nice. Anyway the sister is off home tomorrow so less to do soon. 10 days to cast change to boot all being well, really don't want that to be delayed! That's the half way mark.

 

[Lindylee]

I’m glad you didn’t fare any worse than you have. I hope your aches and pains are subsiding now. It should have been the others doing the carrying, not you!

Good luck with the appointment on the 5th.

 

[Annie N]

Today I went back to see my surgeon, for an x-ray & cast change to an air cast (pump up) boot.

Astoundingly there's 6 screws in my foot, 4 downwards in the plate into the joint sides & 2 long ones across & through the joint, that must have been put in from under my foot somehow. I got shown the operation x-rays - all sorts of long test guide pins lined up through my foot in all directions, no wonder it hurt!

It's a bit disappointing that I'm still going to be pretty disabled for another month, I was hoping it might have healed more. There's so much metalwork close together that its difficult to read the x-ray clearly so he's being cautious. He can see a fully fused top to the joint & not much fusion to the bottom of the joint, bum. Apparently quite normal for this stage but bum still.

The best that can happen presently is I will be maximum 25% weight bearing in this boot for the next 4 weeks, and I'm advised to still use the knee crutch if I'm going out. It's possibly 70% healed. Apparently it normally takes 9-10 weeks to fully heal & it's going the right way, just in its own time.

I think I've got more idea now of the intricacies of what's been done to my foot. It seemed pretty simple to me. But it's not fixed until the joint no longer shows on the x-ray, and it's still there in some places. The metalwork is quite supportive but it needs respect for a few more weeks. It might be ok in 4 weeks, but only time will tell.

Ho hum, I was rather hoping for more freedom, but I'm going to have to be careful for a while longer, let's hope 4 weeks time will be a different story.
Fingers crossed. I've got lots of stuff happening soon, that won't be so easy if I'm still mostly non weight being.

 

[Lindylee]

That’s a lot of metalwork but sounds as if it’s going in the right direction. It was one part
of my joint that wasn’t completely fused at my 6 week check and I remember that feeling of disappointment when being told to limit activities still. It will be worth it in the end so go easy and avoid any more falls.

I’m hoping to be allowed out of my boot on Wednesday.

 

[Annie N]

Good luck for Wednesday

 

[Annie N]

Heading into the hospital on my knee crutch today, then I have to leave the same way.....

 

[MissFanny]

I am sorry to read you’re still not cleared for weight bearing. That must have been so disappointing. Hang in there, @Annie N! You look great!

 

[Annie N]

Made some broccoli & stilton soup & took some to my friend who is just back from one month in Australia & full of her experience. So good to get back to normal life. I even discovered that sitting at a table foot down with the boot on doesn't make it swell up which is excellent. Some progress at least!