Hi Folks - hope this update on MC, finds all of you doing well, learning life's lessons and embracing them as they come no matter what that looks and feels like.
Mike wrote this out yesterday and since he seems to be in the mood to WRITE - I'll just cut and paste what his thoughts & words in BLUE.
Family / Friends... just a note to update all of you with regard to yet another doctor visit and consultation today. The doctor I saw was Dr. Gellman, he's the one who's been taking care of my bones so to speak but works closely with Dr. Frome who did the free flap. Anyway, today's visit was to remove the staples from the surgery I had on February 21st and to talk about the next steps.
MC ready to head into surgery #14 two weeks ago,
The surgery of a couple of weeks ago was very successful. They removed all the screws in my knee and upper thy as well as removing a bone/calcium growth that formed in the muscle tissue and bone where my upper leg took the big hit and was damaged. That same evening I could tell things had changed and was in a very positive way as the sharp pain I was feeling when I moved my leg was gone... : ) Was kind of afraid to say anything at first as I thought perhaps the lack of pain was in some way associated with the pain meds they gave me while in surgery. But I'm happy and relieved to report that I can pretty much move my knee without pain. Dr. Gellman told me that while in surgery after he removed everything he exercised my knee/leg and got it to bend 120 degrees, which is way better than when I came in! I've got my PT session this afternoon which I'll be able to report to my therapist much of what Dr. Gellman told us which we'll incorporate into my PT routine.
Sherry's Hospital office - ipad and all.
Between surgery and doc appointment MC stays busy. Here he is at Holman's having breakfast with Goose. (Sherry, her son Miles and GF Nicole are not in the photo, but Goose belongs to the kids - NO MC did not get a new dog. But he does love them! )
So, what are the next steps? As I reported last time prior to my surgery that from the CT scan they determined my left leg was now 3cm's shorter than my right and also had an 8 degree bow in it. Dr. Gellman strongly recommended that we do nothing with the length of my leg as the procedure is pretty significant, requires a long time to heal and I'd have to wear that damn frame set up again. The location would be high on my leg and he said it's a lot more painful to have on than what I experienced with it on my foot. I can tell you that if it were the same I'd have most likely said "no" as I really don't/can't do that again... it hurts way too much! Instead we're just going to figure out the best way to use lifts to offset the difference and he gave me some heal shims to try out. I've put one, a 9/16, in the makeshift post surgery shoe Sherry found on line that we've modified. So far, having that extra height seems to make walking a bit easier, it's only been a couple of hours but I'm hopeful.
Had to include these photos of MC waiting for Dr. Gellman. :-) Sorry MC - too cute.
Dr. Gellman doesn't want to see me for a while, we've set a follow up for 4 months out, early July, at which time we'll take more x-rays and talk about the 8 degree bow. Getting that fixed seems to be a more realistic possibility but he wants to wait for at least 6 months to let my leg fully heal. The left leg has really seen some trauma as a result of the accident itself and all the surgeries that have transpired as a result. The process is to take out the bow is a bit more straight forward but means he takes a wedge out of my leg just above the knee to correct the bow and use plates to hold it together while it heals. He also said that to do this they'd take out the titanium rod in my leg, it's not really needed any longer and with an additional six months of healing he's ok removing it. Within about two weeks or so he felt I'd be able to walk on my leg again as the plates would take the weight bearing part until everything was healed. Not sure what, if anything, he'd do after that in terms of removing the plate later on but I guess I'll learn more in 4 months when I see him next.
Dr. Gellman explaining what's to come and what is going on with his bones today.
A little further explanation from Dr. Gellman while looking at the X-Rays.
Regarding the de-bulking, I guess I'm not sure when Dr. Frome would want to do that procedure. I had hoped the two docs would have talked, they said they would, but both wanted to see what the other was going to do and the timing. Dr. Frome however did want to wait longer to let my old back muscle they put onto my foot to continue to shrink and both feel it will continue to atrophy and shrink over time. My thinking is that she'll want to wait now as well and do the de-bulking in the Fall, perhaps in conjunction with Dr. Gellman. I'm going to follow up with her via phone sometime later this week or early next to try to get her thoughts on moving forward.
Today's visit was both good and in a way not so good as this whole process is going to stretch out a LOT longer than maybe I was hoping. Sherry tells me that my timeline is often way more aggressive than is realistic and reasonable, she's probably right but I'm just so tired and my timeline is maybe my way of coping or rather "hoping". The crappy part is now I've got to wait much longer than I would have imagined and the storm clouds of two more major surgeries are still out there... waiting... just a bit further out on the horizon.
MC's foot as it is today. It's really starting to shape up.
Going to do a little internal sole searching and thinking for a few days as I NEED to be more productive, find a job and get back to work! My initial thoughts are to hit the PT activities hard, there's nothing holding me back now and Dr. Gellman said to put all the weight I want on my leg. My goal will be to get enough flexibility back in my ankle so I can walk without a crutch, I can a little bit now but it's not a effortless walk by any objective view. I most likely will not get it all the flexibility back as like my leg, the ankle has seen a lot of trauma and although the bones have healed they heal in such a way that they restrict the foot's movement. Gellman said he could put the frame back on my ankle and work to force the foot to move more but that would take months. He knows how much I hated that thing and the net result wouldn't be much different than what I should be able to get with PT so forget that idea!
That's about it, if Dr. Frome provides me an update that's much different than what I'm thinking she's going to say I'll report that out but I think now I just need to focus on getting physically stronger and walking again. From there we'll see what's available to me in the work arena and go from there. As always, I sincerely appreciate the thoughts, prayers and well wishes all of you send my way as well as to Sherry who really didn't sign up for this with her guy.
MC... a.k.a. "Mikey", "Dad", "Mike" out... : )
Love seeing this smile! Today MC is actually using a cane.
Hugs from both of us~
Sherry & Mike
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