Ankle Fusion

Henry,

My brother-in-law had his ankle fused a year ago. He injured
it pretty severely about 15 year ago (when he was 25) and
none of the conservative treatments he tried seemed to help
the pain much. (Although to be fair to his treating
physician, he pretty much ignored the physical therapy
exercises he was supposed to do and did not make much of an
effort to lose some of his excess weight.)

He seemed like a new person when he got the cast off after
the surgery. It only took a few weeks and he was walking
much better than he had in years. He said the pain
practically disappeared and the loss of ankle flexibility
wasn't much of a problem.

I'm not sure how much this info helps you, since my brother-in-
law had no complicating factors other than being rather
obese. But hopefully it will be of some use. Good luck.

Rick

"hemyd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Haven't posted for a while - evryone's gain, probably... I
have a question which I hope that this group will once
again help me with, as you have

done

Quoted message said:

so many times in the past.

I am 56 years old. I was diagnosed with Type 2 in 1994
after a severe

ankle

Quoted message said:

injury where I snapped my talus bone. I estimate that I
possibly had diabetes for ten years before my diagnosis.
So far I have no complications other than my feet tending
to get cold, and fungal infections which I control with
constant applications of anti-fungal cream. Shortly after
the operation on my ankle, X-rays showed that I had
avascular necropathy,

where

Quoted message said:

one part of the talus was not getting adequate blood
supply. Now, ten

years

Quoted message said:

later, my ankle is in a pretty bad way, making it
difficult and often painful to walk any except the
shortest distance, especially on hard surfaces such as
pavement. Unfortunately that is my job - I am a

technician.

Quoted message said:

Walking is necessary. Last year I had the ankle X-rayed
and reviewed by an ortho. He couldn't see how I was
walking without pain and assumed it must

be

Quoted message said:

due to neuropathy. My diabetes management has been
slightly better than average. My HbA1c over the past ten
years has been between 7.3 and 6.2 currently.

My foot has been deteriorating especially in the past
few weeks. I believe fusion is an option. The obvious
risk factor which sets off alarm bells in me is my
diabetes. Have any of you, or anyone you know, had such
a fusion? Do you have any insights of such a procedure -
the risk factors

especially,

Quoted message said:

given my age and diabetes? I would appreciate your
valuable insight into this.

Thank you all for past information, and in advance for
these questions

here.

Quoted message said:

Henry (hemyd) Australia

"Rick Ayres" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Henry,

My brother-in-law had his ankle fused a year ago. He
injured it pretty severely about 15 year ago (when he was
25) and none of the conservative treatments he tried
seemed to help the pain much. (Although to be fair to his
treating physician, he pretty much ignored the physical
therapy exercises he was supposed to do and did not make
much of an effort to lose some of his excess weight.)

He seemed like a new person when he got the cast off after
the surgery. It only took a few weeks and he was walking
much better than he had in years. He said the pain
practically disappeared and the loss of ankle flexibility
wasn't much of a problem.

I'm not sure how much this info helps you, since my brother-in-
law had no complicating factors other than being rather
obese. But hopefully it will

be

Quoted message said:

of some use. Good luck.

Rick

Thank you very much for your post, Rick,

Is your brother-in-law a diabetic? As a diabetic of probably
15 or more years that's what scares me about undergoing any
operation on my ankle.

Anyway, after putting up with this for ten years the
situation for me deteriorated over the past few eeeks and
has become critical in the past ten hours or so. Getting up
at night the pain made it unbearable to walk. This morning I
put on an ankle brace a surgeon sold me about half a year
before. So far that has made a stunning difference. I'll see
what happens through the day and especially when I'm back at
work on Monday. Last night I thought that anything would be
a good alternative, including an ankle amputation (my wife
was horrified).

Thank you once again.

Henry

Henry,

Re- reading my post, I'm sorry I didn't make it clear that
my brother-in law is NOT diabetic. He's basically in good
health except for being rather large. Obviously the surgical
risks would be higher for someone who's diabetic.

He tried an ankle brace for a while, which apparently didn't
help him a whole lot, which is why he opted for the surgery.
Hopefully the brace will work better for you and will
eliminate the need for surgery.

Good luck

Rick