{"id":12129,"date":"2023-09-28T21:43:38","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T01:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/?p=12129"},"modified":"2023-09-28T21:43:38","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T01:43:38","slug":"life-one-week-out-from-ankle-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2023\/09\/28\/life-one-week-out-from-ankle-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Life: One week out from Ankle surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:545,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/youtu.be\\\/NXjavRPUJu0&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/watch?v=NXjavRPUJu0&amp;feature=youtu.be&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>I don\u2019t think this blog was privy to my year of health goals and maybe since my last series on the subject was in 2011, it\u2019s probably best not to speak up before I\u2019m actually doing something about it but my YouTube channel does have a video where I talk about medical sciences and my current job\u2019s amazing health care being used to fix some ailments long ignored. <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/NXjavRPUJu0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">If you\u2019re curious, here\u2019s the video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As a teenager, I was very active and engaged in long distance rollerblading, long distance scootering (yes the old cool toy to have back in the day except I\u2019d ride for 15+ miles), cross-country running, weight lifting, CrossFit, Pilates and martial arts. After over a dozen ankle sprains, I developed footballers ankle. It\u2019s not uncommon but it is caused by ankle strains\/sprains.<\/p>\n<p>The front of your leg bone that covers the ankle grows longer than it should. When you bend your foot backward, you\u2019re met with reduced motion and a ligament impingement that causes dead leg. Most commonly, this issue hurts me today when off-road motorcycling. You ride a dirt bike standing on the pegs and usually, my calves get tired after a few hours, I\u2019ll get lazy and I\u2019ll let my foot bend in to my shin just far enough to impinge and then I can\u2019t walk for a few days. It\u2019s a minor inconvenience but solvable with surgery.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fixed in a 90 second procedure\u2026well 45 minutes all-in if you consider anesthesia, shaving my foot, creating a couple of holes and all of the other prep that\u2019s required. The doctor inserts a camera and saw and shaves away that bone spur that\u2019s extending too far. The surgery is called \u201cArthroscopy for Anterior Ankle Impingement\u201c and there are some really great YouTube videos that show how easy this is to perform.<\/p>\n<p>I visited a podiatrist for the first time ever in March for this issue and just general foot health. This was during my initial run of seeing many dozens of specialists and getting my health under control. After an x-ray, the spur was identified and I was referred to surgery. I informed the doctor of my rotator cuff surgery in just 3 weeks so he kept the referral open and asked me to wait 4-6 months since using crutches post-rotator-cuff-surgery was going to be very challenging.<\/p>\n<p>With the baby arriving November 10th, I thought there\u2019s no way I could get it done this year but I told the scheduler that I\u2019d like to be placed on their cancellations list and luckily, they had one just 1 week before my cut-off to avoid this surgery for a few more years since I\u2019d be caring for a newborn for some time. Surgery occurred on Thursday 9\/21. It was all pretty straight forward. No eating or drinking until I arrived for surgery, prep, IV, anesthesia, roll back and then wake up 45 minutes later on a wheelchair heading out to the car. My doctor who is very casual about everything called my wife from the golf course (not joking) instead of going out to see her after surgery letting her know it all went okay and he had to run. He then forgot to prescribe any pain killers and his office was closed for the day. They finally prescribed pain killers 2 days later on Saturday and at that point, I didn\u2019t need them. This being the same surgeon who said he was going to \u201croto-rooter\u201d my ankle. Super scientific.<\/p>\n<p>I went home and laid down with alternating Tylenol \/ Advil as directed and ice. My ankle was pretty immobilized wrapped in heavy athletic bandages. I was issued a walking shoe (not a boot) and crutches and told to keep all weight off the foot for 7 days until my first appointment. Heather had the genius idea of getting me a knee-scooter which has been remarkable.<\/p>\n<p>During my pre-op appointment, I told the doctor I wanted to go to a Florida Gators football game on Saturday after the surgery. He recommended against that but thanks to the knee-scooter, we drove down to florida with me in the back seat on Saturday with the leg on ice and elevated and I scooted over to the stadium using a wheelchair spot and kept my leg up the entire game. It was a great time and another bucket-list item for my wife (SEC Football game).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s Wednesday and tomorrow I have my first physical therapy appointment for my ankle (and my last PT appointment for my shoulder) then I go to hopefully get my stitches removed and be issued a boot. I need to ride my motorcycle 6 hours down to Alabama next weekend for an event and that boot is essential to making that happen. If I have to wait another week, well I guess that\u2019s okay, too.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the recovery like? Doctors are conservative so I\u2019m mostly following all orders. I do put some weight on it to use the bathroom and occasionally take 2 steps to get to my knee-scooter but:<\/p>\n<p>1 week no weight-bearing, 1 week some weight bearing with boot, 2 weeks with the boot and walking more but nothing high impact. At that point I\u2019ll be 4-weeks post-op and can walk around in shoes but I\u2019m urged to not do stairs or any fast-paced motions. Just walk normally and be careful and obviously continuing physical therapy. After 8 weeks from surgery and PT, I should be able to return to road-jogging which is around the time my baby will be about 2 weeks old so I won\u2019t be doing any long distance hiking or running anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to the 4-6 months for rotator cuff recovery, 8 weeks couch to 5K is pretty good.<\/p>\n<p>The procedure cost shouldn\u2019t exceed $5,000 whereas my rotator cuff was $27K all-in. I have great insurance so it\u2019s a flat $50 for the procedure and $15 per PT visit with no annual limit.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, with a baby coming having my shoulder and ankle fixed are my only current ailments that needed surgery. It\u2019s tough for my wife who was pregnant for both of those but she just considers it prep for taking care of a newborn which is a fair comparison. I was basically helpless for 4 months of this year and yet we still made the most of it. My shoulder is about 95% healed and honestly just being able to sleep on my right side and crawl under my car for oil changes without pain is a huge upgrade.<\/p>\n<p>I was once again invited to BMW\u2019s off-road competition to qualify for Team USA this year but I can\u2019t do it. Even if I had deferred ankle surgery a few more years, my shoulder is not fully healed so I am taking this year off from the competition. It\u2019s not what I want to do but it is super important that I get healthy and try again in 2 years. I\u2019ll still be at the event as a volunteer on my knee-scooter\/boot in 3 weeks cheering on the folks trying to qualify. For the other event next weekend, I do hope to make it but if I\u2019m not in the boot for some reason, I\u2019ll have to skip that one. I\u2019ll have one more event (a BMW board meeting) before Halloween to attend but that\u2019s up in the air if the baby decides to arrive early. It\u2019s nearby but kids come when they\u2019re ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I don\u2019t think this blog was privy to my year of health goals and maybe since my last&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-09-29T01:44:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"9180548e-049a-4f08-a00b-e9b2b65fea83","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-09-29T01:44:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AkYBUjgSaTwigC-mytl_qgw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-life","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-39D","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12133,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2023\/10\/09\/to-the-limit\/","url_meta":{"origin":12129,"position":0},"title":"To the limit","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"October 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In progress: Healing from rotator cuff surgery Healing from ankle surgery 2nd to last Invisalign pack Sore from workouts Flu shot fever Feeling sick from my weekly Mounjaro shot Completed this weekend: 850 mile motorcycle ride to Alabama\u00a0 Walked 11,000 steps per day for 2 days after not walking for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2963,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/08\/17\/whats-the-best-way-to-pack-heat-while-jogging\/","url_meta":{"origin":12129,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 &#8220;What&#8217;s the best way to pack heat while jogging?&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"August 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Slate (they're on fire lately): What's the safest way to carry a gun while running? In a jog holster, of course. There are plenty of threads on Internet forums discussing the\u00a0best way\u00a0to\u00a0run with a gun. Some gun-toting runners use fanny packs. These are less than optimal since the weapon bounces\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1277,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/12\/19\/my-1st-snowboarding-experience\/","url_meta":{"origin":12129,"position":2},"title":"\u2605 My 1st Snowboarding Experience","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I hopped on a snowboard for the very first time. After getting some help strapping in and pushing myself across the snow for half an hour, I was picked up by a` lift and face planted as soon as we arrived at the top. This was Mount Pico\u2019s \u201cbunny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Projects&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Projects","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/projects\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Me!!!! A day of snowboarding","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5209\/5275718365_0d0aeb6727_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5209\/5275718365_0d0aeb6727_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5209\/5275718365_0d0aeb6727_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12291,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2024\/08\/27\/life-38\/","url_meta":{"origin":12129,"position":3},"title":"Life: 38","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"August 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"For the first time, I\u2019m starting this post a week early because I know it\u2019ll be a week or more before I finish it. I\u2019m not 38 (yet) but after 38 years, one more week is such a short time relative to my life on earth that I don\u2019t imagine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BMW R1250GS Adventure on the Dempster Highway - Arctic Circle.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53819272080_f7a7e01049_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53819272080_f7a7e01049_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53819272080_f7a7e01049_b.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53819272080_f7a7e01049_b.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12198,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2023\/12\/24\/life-2023-was-a-good-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":12129,"position":4},"title":"Life: 2023 was a good year","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Throughout this year, I\u2019ve had a few very long posts about specific events: I moved to North Carolina (the last month of 2022) I bought a Canon R5 I bought my first Leica I learned that I had dyslexia I had rotator cuff surgery and have spent the last 7\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12040,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2023\/04\/19\/life-im-still-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":12129,"position":5},"title":"Life: I&#8217;m still here","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"April 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a few blog posts kicking around in my head but things are tough right now. I took off my arm-sling from rotator cuff surgery to throw this up. I have about 10 minutes from now (7AM) until I have to be at the physical therapist for my first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}