Post-Op Day # 21 - Dr's Appointment X 2 or make that 3!

This morning I had my appointment with Dr Chi to see what he thought about the calf cramp/pain and just to ask a few questions(circulation? how much elevation should I be needing?).


He said it could be a couple things ----could very well be the nerves in my lower leg are all "angry" from surgery and are trying to sort themselves out during the healing process.

OR, it could be a clot.

So to be safe I have an appointment at 4:30Pm for an ultrasound on the left leg to see if there are any clots. If there is clotting then the next step of treatment would be to start taking blood thinners(eg; warfarin).

Anyways fingers crossed, its nothing at all but the nerves trying to heal.

Today my ankle feels good but again, the calf feels tight/sore and the circulation in my foot isnt good. BLA!

Adam took me for a nice walk around the block this morning, the weather is GORGEOUS! ah yes, could it be SPRING?!

I'll come back later to let you know how the DVT ultrasound goes.


OK -- UPDATE as of 10pm
well I swear I just cant get a break, I had a bad feeling about it but yes, there is a fairly big clot in my left calf and now I'm on a course of blood thinners.

We had to drive to the Overlake Hospital in Bellevue(we were Issaquah for the ultrasound) for the consultation(vascular specialist) in regards to the blood thinners, getting the prescriptions etc..

Its so scary to think about all of this

the worst part(for today LOL) was that I'm going to have to give myself injections(Lovenox) for 5 days and I'm a total NEEDLE WUSS!
I thought she was joking at first but nope, she was serious and boy, my tummy started to do flip flops just thinking about it.

I had to give myself an injection while I was there so she knew I could do it ---ugh! I DID IT, I couldn't believe I did it!
I did like she said, pinch some skin(in the belly), wipe it with an alcohol swab, let go, take the safety cap off the syringe then grab the spot that I disinfected and POKE the needle in like a dart!
Then you have to push the plunger all the way down till its empty, pull it out and push it hard so the safety cap pops up. OMG, what an ordeal for me but I was proud of myself for doing it and NOT getting QUEEZY OR PASSING OUT! WOOHOO!

Its Sub-Q but still, it burns so bad, felt like a huge bee sting and you can't touch it the area afterward -- no rubbing to make the pain go away!
I have to alternate which side I poke(morning and night) till I'm done.
I have a nice bruise coming too, she said that would happen. Im going to look like a drug addict! ROFLMAO

The stuff is call Lovenox, 60mgs, I guess its quick to get into your system, that way my body has something to help thin out the blood asap. I'm also on Warfarin 5mg once a day.

this coming week I have to go for a bunch of tests(anticoagulant levels or something) till they know how much I need. Next week I have another ultrasound to see if there's any change in the clot after a weeks worth of the thinners.

there will be lots of follow up appointments and more ultrasounds in a month, then 3months etc...

I had been doing some research on the calf aches/cramps post-op and read about clots, of course I PRAYED that I didn't have them but not such the case.

Thats why I was so concerned and went to the Dr Asap....
Anyways, I'm hoping I will be OK, I will be on this stuff for at least 3-6 months, maybe more depending on what happens with the clot and how my blood is -- they're going to do some other blood work so we can prevent any other clots!!

Wow, I'm exhausted, it was a long day and it's time for bed.

I'm adding a couple pictures of my injection site(bruising) and what the syringes look like. LOL

Thanks for checking up on me

Post-Op Day #20 - Where Did Wednesday Go?

Once again I'm slacking on my updates but in all honesty yesterday was a bit of a waste, it whizzed by while I was in La La Land! I spent most of it in bed because my calf was bugging me and I was really tired.

I pretty much was up long enough to eat and have a shower ---oh and I almost forgot a quick ride around the block in the wee-chair with Adam!

Anyways, I was looking forward to my Dr appointment in the morning(today).

Thanks for checking my blog

Post-Op Day # 19 - Thunder Storm.....EEEEEK!

Well today was a good day(sings Ice Cube's song LOL), my ankle and calf muscle felt good, no pain( so far) but still a bit swollen and the circulation isn't good at all.

Once again I was stuck in the house but there was some neat thunder storms to scare the crap out of the cats(ok and ME! haha) --poor boys thought the world was coming to an end and took cover under the couch for quite a while. I never did see any lightening but who knows, Im sure it was out there somewhere :-)

Hopefully I can get out in the wee-chair tomorrow for a bit if the weather cooperates. Id like to go down the pathway behind the clubhouse again(wee haw, I'll whip down the hill again ROFLMAO!).

I've been looking at all the expenses with my ankle thus far--wow, thank goodness we have insurance (eyes bug out) but still, you pay a fair bit out pocket.

For eg; the MRI was $1124 & the EMG/Nerve Conductivity Testing was $1455 -- We dont pay that much but that is what was billed to Blue Shield, we pay a fraction of those fees. But still, you can see how things add up so darn quick!
I haven't received the bills for my surgery yet but I know its broken up into the facility cost, Dr Chi's & his surgical assistant and one for the Anesthesiologist.


But I will say this, in the USA you definitely get quicker MRI's and other diagnostic testing but you pay for it. I remember when I had my hand injury(torn tendon/ligaments), it took 6-8months to get an MRI and then another 6months for surgery ---that is a lot of time to wait and not be able to work(that is a lot of loss wages).


I just hope that when this is all over with I won't have any long term issues with my L ankle! There were never any guarantees with surgery, only the hope that it would lessen the pain, if Im lucky take it all away but with the amount of time/damage done to the nerves, its very likely there is some permanent damage. Sigh, its a waiting game but thats ok I really have no other choice but to take it easy and let things heal up. If I have to modify things I do on a daily basis so be it, whatever it takes to be healthy!


I wish I could trade in some body parts for ones that work...............just call me a wannabe Mrs. POTATO HEAD! HA HA!

I'll add a couple pictures to show the circulation issues -skin goes purple with mottled look plus gets cold to the touch.
Till tomorrow, thanks for checking my blog

Post-Op Day #18 - Mellow Monday

I forgot to update this yesterday so I'll do that now.

Yesterday was pretty boring, the weather sucked and I was inside almost all day -- well except to go check the mail, WHOOPTY-DO! LOL

I called Dr. Chi's office to make an appointment to get the ankle/calf checked out--better safe then sorry so I have to be there Thursday morning.

My ankle felt pretty good, same with the calf muscle during the day(Phew!) but around 7pm it started to ache a bit. I had a bath then took an Advil and elevated it for the rest of the night-it was good after that.

I have noticed that if I sleep with the leg straight out instead of bending it a bit it feels slightly better.

That's it for yesterday, thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #17 - Sore Sunday

Well today was not fun, my calf muscle was extremely sore and my back was acting up too.
I almost took a tiny bit of Percocet but I didn't I managed to use the heating pad instead and dozed off for a bit.

After almost all day in the house we decided to go out for a bit(shopping etc..) and wow, by the time we were done I was pretty 'lame" -- as we'd say about a horse! HA HA! It wasn't pretty to say the least.

We got home, I took the KAM boot off any my foot was very swollen.......ugh, I've been lounging and will probably take some Advil now.

I think I will be calling Dr. Chi's office tomorrow to set up an appointment to get the L calf checked out -- I'm wondering if its the nerves in my foot are to blame, maybe this is part of the healing with the ankle but because those nerves run up the leg and through the calf it's making that area very sore. We'll see what he says, hopefully this pain is normal. Bla!

Just when everything was going so well, no pain(just mild tenderness) for almost 2 weeks and now this!


Well that's it for tonight, it's too painful not to have my foot up...so I better go rest.

Thanks for checking up on me

Post-Op Day # 17 - Saturday Sales Pitch

Well today was fun, I got a call this morning from Julie(the barn manager @ RRR) saying there was a lady coming to see Mercury( a lovely nearly 3yr old Rocky Mountain gelding) and she wanted to know if I could go down to help out.
Of course I'm in no position to ride right now due to the ankle but I told her that I would be happy to come down for a bit.

This is the 3rd person to come see him.....................maybe 3rd time's the charm! 1st person didn't want to pay his full price, 2nd lady thought he was too small...........this lady was looking for something in the 13HH- 14hh range....................ah yes, that would be MERCURY(Im guessing he's 13.3hh)! LOL

Pepper(Mercury's owner) agreed to ride him(for the past 6months I've been the only one riding him) so the lady could see how he went.
Mercury hadn't been ridden since the Monday before my surgery, so basically 3 weeks off of work. One nice thing about the Rocky Mountain breed is that they are usually very good even after having a bunch of time off -- this is definitely the case with Mercury, one time he had a month off during the cold winter then I rode him and he acted like he hadn't missed hardly any riding - I loved it.

We got him ready and I head out to the ring with her so she could get on and do some work in the ring for a few minutes before the lady showed up.
Mercury wasn't too sure at first, he was a bit confused as to why I wasn't on him! HA HA! He was so good though, he tried so hard and after 15mins or so Pepper had him gaiting quite well on the pathway between the pastures.

The lady showed up with her friend, so both of them ended up riding him around the ranch for about 1.5hrs in total......phew, what a long day but it was worth it. They both loved him, he gaited very well for them, I was so thrilled.

The lady(prospective buyer) rode him all over the place(perimeter trail, in the ring, pathway, fields etc..) with her dog along side and Mercury was so good, very happy to toodle around the ranch.
It was kind of exciting to watch how good he was, this is the first time I've seen anyone(let alone three people) else ride him(esp gaiting, we've been working on that).

The lady wants to come back again and take him on a trail ride along with Julie(and who ever is around at the time) so that is exciting, she really liked him. She didn't want to get off him when we were all saying that we had to get going for lunch! haha!

By the time we finished up with them I was pooped, lots of moving about on the crutches took its toll.

We went out for a nice lunch with Pepper and Julie at Jay Berry's then Adam and I head home for a bit. My poor foot was so sore, I needed to elevate it for a bit to help reduce the swelling. My calf muscle feels not too bad, still a bit sore but nothing too bad so that is a relief -- I was a bit worried it might get worse from all the moving about today.

I tried to nap but couldn't get comfortable enough so I decided to get up and have a bath. I got lots of skin of my foot today.......haha, ewwwwwwww but it felt good and looked a bit better afterward.

Its 11pm and my foot is still sore so I'm going to take some Advil, maybe put some heat or ice on it and see if that helps.

Tomorrow I'm going to take it easy but it was good to be out in the fresh air today for so long :-) - the weather actually held out too, it definitely threatened to rain! HA HA!

Well that is it for today, thanks for checking up on me

Here are two pictures of Mercury, isn't he handsome! (2nd Photo credit: Ryder Schwartz)

Mercury & I gaiting on the pathway - March 2009

Post-Op Day #16 - A Bit of A Flake?!

Well I think I overdid it yesterday with the wee-chair ride and then driving the car(even a short distance).

My poor foot was sooooooooooooooooo swollen by the time I went to bed last night, I couldn't even wiggle my toes. I put some cold compress on it and elevated it over night, by morning it had gone down to a normal range(my foot has been a bit puffy over the past week from surgery).

When I woke up this morning my poor skin had really started to flake due to the expansion of the skin from the swelling. ewww! haha! I look like I'm suffering some lizard or snake disease ROFLMAO!

Today I just lounged around because I wanted to give my ankle a break -- luckily it wasn't too sore and my calf muscle feels better(not 100% but getting close).

I wish I had been feeling more lively, it would have been nice to go to the ranch for a bit --Friday's are good days to go visit because there's always a ton of people there. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

Adam and I are going to go for a quick walk(well i'll be in the wee-chair) around the block before we're in for the night. Aren't we just the party animals on a Friday night? HA HA!

I'll have a rinse before bed, that way I can get some more of the flaky skin off.

I hope the weather is good tomorrow so we can spend most of the day out of the house.

Well that's it for now, take care and thanks for checking in.

Post-Op Day #15 - Welcome To The Wheel World

Well today was much better then yesterday, the sun came out and I could go for a wee-chair adventure! YAHOO!

Earlier this morning I gave my foot a bath(will shower again later LOL), boy that felt good but it was tricky not to get the incision area wet.
After that I put the bandage on and the KAM boot so I could go outside for a wee-chair ride over to the pharmacy to get my Neurontin refill.

Thankfully we live a block away from the shopping center so there was no problem going by myself.
Off I went down the sideway till I got to the crosswalk --it was so frustrating, people would drive right by me while I waited at the crosswalk! ACK, hello, its not like I can just whip across the street in a second, it takes time to do it and I'm not about to do it without having the cars stop!

Finally someone clued in (rolls eyes) that I wanted to get across the road --THANK YOU! I went into the parking lot, wow people drive too fast in there, I felt like I was at a tennis match --turning my head back n forth so fast to make sure noone was coming.

I went in, told them which prescription I needed and waited the 10mins for it to be filled. I just wheeled up and down the aisles bored out of my mind. haha!

I got the Rx and head home, this time people actually stopped right away so I could cross! Wow, how nice of them! HA HA!
I went to the garage to drop off the wee-chair, parked it and grabbed my crutches to make my way over to the car. *evil grin*
I opened the door and sat in the drivers seat, I wanted to see if I could push the clutch in with my left foot(esp with the KAM boot on).

At first I was totally PO'd because I couldn't do it when I put the seat where I normally have it to drive but then a light bulb came on ---DUH, I need to move the chair back another hole to compensate for my KAM boot and that made the angle better for my ankle(no pain at all! YAY).

I tried to push the clutch in and YAHOO, no problemo! haha! *evil grin* Of course I couldn't help myself and started the car then put 'er into reverse and pulled out into our driveway. haha!
I practiced going forward to the garage and backing away -- I'm sure if anyone was watching, they thought I was having a mental breakdown or something! ROFMLAO
After a few minutes I decided I was good and head out of the parking lot, turned left and went to the round-about in front of the club house(managers office) -- I did that circle 2 times then head back to our parking lot.

My ankle felt great, no pain at all so then I figured I'd venture down 4 blocks to the Elementary School and back. haha! Ah yes, success! It felt awesome to be able to drive, even if it wasn't very far. Got to do this very slowly, there's a HUGE difference driving 10-20mph and going down the highway at 70mph and through busy sections of town(like North Bend).

At least now I know I can drive a little bit and will do a bit each day, go a bit further and see how it goes. I think by mid-late next week I could drive to North Bend, most definitely could get myself safely to the RANCH and back! WOOHOO!

Getting back behind the wheel will really help me, I feel so couped up sometimes but that's ok, it's necessary to allow my ankle time to heal properly.

Adams Grandma Keith passed away on Tuesday night and he will have to go to Fresno soon for the funeral. It's important that I'm able to look after myself(esp drive) by the time he has to go. Sounds like he'll be going on May 6th but we're waiting to hear back from his Dad.


Oh and I forgot to say, my calf is feeling a lot better today, it's not as tender so that is good news. I'll have to see how it feels tonight when I go to bed.

Well that's it for tonight, I'm going to elevate my ankle for a bit and hang out with Adam for the rest of the evening.

Thanks for checking in on me :-)

Post-Op Day #14 - Two Weeks

Well its been exactly 2 weeks since my surgery and I am very happy with how things are going.

My ankle feels good, I like having the stitches out and being to wash some of the area closer to the incision area. Maybe next week I can wash the whole foot! YAY!

My calf is still bothering me, very sore and a cramped up feeling.
I'm going to wait it on another day or so but by Friday I think I will call the Dr's office to make an appointment.
Fingers crossed its just bruised from all the time it has spent laying over my right leg plus the KAM boot is heavy, that could be part of the strain on it.
I don't even want to think about other causes, I've heard about blood clots post surgery and that just gives me the willies! Anyways, not going to work myself into a frenzy over it ---got to stay sane, wait another day or so and if I have to go to the Dr so be it...better safe then sorry.

I think they can do a blood test to see if there is a clot. Anyways, on to more pleasant thoughts LOL

I sat on my booty pretty much all day ROFLMAO! It was raining which really made me mad, I can't really go out in it because it's too slippery(crutches plus wet surface = accidents LOL)

I just lounged around on the couch all day, foot up, watching movies! HA HA! Very very productive day.

Adam and I went out for dinner at the North Bend Grill so that was nice.......I had a very tasty Chicken Caesar Wrap, Adam had a nice big bowl of their homemade Chicken Rice Soup(its so good, I had it last time).
We had to make a quick run to Safeway afterward so we wandered over to the bakery section and found a lovely piece of Cheesecake to share mmmmmmmmmmm so good -- tomorrow I better go outside for a wee-chair ride to work off some of this food HA HA!

Well thats it for today..........BORRRRRRRRRRRRRING! haha!

Thanks for checking in on me :-)

Post-Op Day # 13 - Post Op Appointment

Well today was my Post-Op appointment with Dr Chi -- I was excited to see what he found during surgery and if everything was healing up properly. He said my ankle looked really good, right on track for 1 day short of 2 weeks post-op.

He did find some compression/narrowing on the tibial nerve so he released the tendons which run over the nerve. Now it's basically a waiting game, everything needs to heal and nerves can take a while to recover from the trauma(TTS & surgery).

The stitches were removed by his medical assistant, it was quick and painless, just the way I LIKE IT! What a relief, I was a bit worried about going today, I'm a bit of a wuss and faint with things like this. haha! But no fainting due to the fact I was talking to Dr Chi while it was going on.

He cleaned up the area and put some more surgical tape over the incision area(will last a few days) then a bandage over it.
I put my KAM boot back on, ugh I hate that thing. Can't you just feel the love I have for the stupid thing. haha!

I should be able to wash over the incision site very soon, YAHOO! I'm really looking forward to it. The skin on my foot is starting to really peel, EWWWWWW!
Nothing a good soak, soap and pomace can't fix.

Dr Chi said I can bear as much weight on it as I feel comfortable with and to use the KAM walking boot and crutches for support(will wear the boot 4 weeks, maybe a bit longer) but as time goes by I should be able to use the crutches less.

I'll stick to what I've been doing up to this point because the ankle is a bit tender. Soon I should be able to do more but I have to keep reminding myself it's only been 13 days since my surgery -- it's a healing process that takes time..........taking it easy and patience, lots of patience needed!

I'm really looking forward to being able to drive again, one downside of having a standard is being to push the clutch in and my foot isn't strong enough yet(KEY WORD......YET! haha)
I'm not quite ready to try but it shouldn't be too much longer.

And yes, don't worry I will have Adam with me and will practice right out front our building to make sure I'm good before venturing out. It's not worth risking the safety of those on the road or myself if my body isn't ready yet.
It's funny how dependent we become on vehicles, they really do give us a lot of freedom! We tend to take it for granted till it's taken away for a while.


I go back to Dr. Chi in a 4 weeks unless something comes up before that time. :-)

OH and I'm such an idiot, grrrrrrrrrr I totally forgot to mention my calf muscle aches to Dr Chi but was able to let his assistant know.
He said to call to set up an appointment if it doesn't go away in the next few days.

For the rest of the day I'm going to enjoy the lovely sun and breeze while sitting on the patio! Today is a day to relax and let my ankle recover from having the stitches taken out.

I took some new pictures of my ankle, you can see it's starting to bruise up but overall it looks grrrrrreat.

Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day # 12 - Charley Horse

Ugh, forgot to update this last night, oh well.

Yesterday was interesting, my left calf was still bothering me(I mentioned it in my last entry) --quite painful actually. Felt like a combination of a Charlie Horse and a bruised calf muscle.

I'm wondering if its from the weight of the KAM boot or from all the weight my left calf bears when I rest it on my right leg to change the dressing/bandage etc...
Though thinking about it, I probably aggravated it on Sunday during our lovely walk in Issaquah. An hour is a long time to have to hold my leg up and rest it on the right leg(my left calf muscle would have been on my right shin bone). The wee-chair doesn't have the leg supports on it, so anytime I want to go for a ride I have to lift the leg up.
I don't know but I hope it goes away, it's annoying because every time I move it aches a bit. I'll have to mention it to Dr. Chi at my appointment.

The weather was very warm yesterday, I'm not complaining but it's such a big change from the long cold winter LOL

My friend Helene had mentioned she might go to the ranch for a bit and asked if I'd like to go........HECK YA! :-)
She's so super , she picked me up at home so I could go down to watch her ride plus I was able to give Karma a good groom!

I had fun grooming Karma, she was very patient with me(haha), though she was being a bit of a wiggle worm in the crossties so that didn't help. At least she's not afraid of my crutches so I could move around her no problem. I thought I did a pretty good job grooming her, all things considered but I had to laugh at how tired I was afterward.
I just don't have the stamina right now for much of anything.

I finished up and thought about taking her out for some hand grazing but opted not to--that might be pushing it a bit! I mean what happens if she decides to pull on the leadrope, I don't need to fall nor do I need her running around loose around the ranch! LOL

Helene helped me put her back in the stall, I said "let me try to lead her back there", so I clipped the leadrope on and started down the alleyway.
Karma's stall was the 2nd on the right, I stopped in front of it and directed her towards the opening but she decided to go around the backside of me instead so she could continue down the alleyway! HA HA! Cheeky pony!

Helene grabbed her and redirected her to the stall and then I flung the leadrope over her back just as she went in.
Helene laughed and went into the stall to take off the halter for me.
Karma was definitely acting a bit more cheeky then normal, I think that she's missing the exercise, eating too well(haha, OINK OINK) and in heat -- oh the fun of having mares, her brain wasn't thinking about work, she's dreaming of romantic rendez-vous's with sporty stallions. ROFLMAO!

Julie(the barn manager) came back to the ranch to ride for a bit(she was there earlier) so that was nice to see her. I hadn't seen her since my first visit to the ranch after surgery.

Anyways, we finished up and head home.........I was very tired by the time I got home but still it was great to go to the ranch.

My ankle felt great all day.........again, the calf muscle was more painful and frustrating! I hope it feels better soon.

I head to bed pretty early, I was whipped plus I knew I had my Dr's appointment in the morning.

Well that's it for yesterday, thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #11 - Sunny Sunday

Yesterday was fabulous............ah perfect weather, a sunny Sunday to spend with Adam

We head out to Chipotle for lunch then went to Target quickly to get a new shredder head(our other one finally died LOL) and some Tiger Gatorade.

After that we head up to the Issaquah Highlands so Adam could grab a coffee and then we planned to go for a walk around the area. There's tons of paved paths up there so it was perfect for the wee-chair! :-)

We spent about an hour walking around the lovely landscaped park -- ah yes, fresh air, sun and my wonderful hubby --- couldn't ask for a better day, well maybe add a horse & a Million $ into the mix LOL

We saw lots of ducks and 2 big Canadian Geese(I said hi to my Canadian relatives ha ha) , so I took some pictures while we were wheeling around. :-)

After the walk we head home, on the way I happened to be looking along the sides of the roads and saw 2 BEARS! hooooooooow cool!
Adam decided to make a loop back down the other side of the highway so we could go by again LOL They were so cute, I think it was a Mamma and cub

I wish we could have stopped on the side of the road so I could take a picture but we're travelling at 65mph, sort of hard to do with other cars riding up your butt!

We decided to go to North Bend to get a movie and go to Safeway for groceries. I swear by this time I was soooooooo tired, my right leg felt like a wet noodle, it kept wanting to buckle. YIKES! I sat down at Safeway for a bit while Adam talked to his Adam on the phone.

After we got home I was in the bedroom trying to reach for my purse(it was on the floor by the closet) and I FELL -- OMG, that sucked but thankfully I managed to stick my bad leg up in the air and hold it there so it didnt hit the ground! I'm sure if Adam had seen it happen, it would have been sort of amusing --quite the picture or video footage. ROFLMAO

DUmb dumb dumb, I should have called for Adam to grab the purse but nope, I figured I could do it *Rolls eyes* Lesson learned! My ankle felt fine, my right shoulder felt a bit sore because it took the brut of the fall but hey, better that then my bad ankle.

Lastnight when I went to bed I noticed my calf bothering me so I dont know what I did to it -- it could have been from holding it up during our hour walk, walking all over Target, Safeway, Blockbuster or the fall.....umm ya, yesterday was a bit of a marathon for me.

Anyways, I survived the day!
I'll add some pictures from our walk, enjoy!
Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #10 - Dehydrated Fool

Well today was ROUGH, not with my ankle but with recovering from a NOT SO NICE late night, early morning session where my stomach decided lastnights dinner(Fish N Chips-which at the time was very YUMMY) was the enemy and would start a war! LOL

I thought I was going to faint because I got so weak but I used a cold cloth to stay awake and freshen up my face/neck. ugh! I know Adam was worried because I was looking very pale(the term Vampire or corpse sums it up well), just like when I had to go to the hospital before for dehydration and needed 3.5hrs of IV fluids.

I kept thinking "hmmm wish I had an IV drip right now to get some fluids back"!
I tried to drink as much water as I could but even that was upsetting my stomach. Blah!

I was up till 3am having my last "battle" then managed to convince my body to STOP and let me get some damn sleep! I slept till noon and when I woke up I felt like a dried out prune! HA HA!

All day I was feeling like S**T! I managed to get through the day without further issues - PHEW!

I had some soup and bread, I figured that would be the mildest thing I could put in my stomach and it'd agreed! YAY! I drank as much water as I could handle and even had a little bit of Gatorade -- mmmm electrolytes! ROFLMAO!

My ankle was great today, it was the least of my worries. :-) I took the bandage and dressing off to see how things looked(make sure there was no new blood etc..) and it was very good.
Though its really starting to bruise, it's going to be a rainbow of color in the next week I'm sure! :-)


Adam took me for a quick ride around the block today, the temperature was perfect -- not much sun out and a refreshing hint of cool. :-) That was the highlight of my day, the ride in the wee-chair! LOL oh ya, life is super exciting right now.

Well hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting for you.

Thanks for checking my blog

Post-Op Day #9 - An Outting To Lift Spirits

I forgot to post about yesterday so I'll do that now.

Yesterday my friend Helene was going to the ranch to ride Godiva, she had texted me to see if I was going to go but I felt too tired(well at that exact moment, about 11am LOL).

I looked outside and saw the sun shining which made me feel like I better get my arse out of the house for a bit! HA HA! I asked Adam to give me a ride to RRR so I could go visit for a bit and he did. :-)

I had a nice visit with Helene, watched her ride Godiva for a bit then helped her tidy up before we left(she gave me a ride home :-) )

My ankle was feeling pretty good yesterday, I was just tired in general but the good weather and visiting with Helene helped make me feel a bit better. :-) The fresh air and laughter does wonders.

Later in the evening I gave my foot a bit of a bath, it was a bit tricky because I cant get the incision/stitches wet so thankfully the handheld showerhead made things a bit easier. It felt soooooooo good to wash my foot, OMG ---there's nothing worse then stinky feet! HA HA HA HA! Seriously though, its so common to have a not so nice smell happening when you have any type of bandage/cast anywhere on your body-- GAG!

I noticed that the skin on my foot is starting to peel from the swelling ---ew, I have a feeling my whole foot is going to "shed" --just like my hand did when I had surgery on it. Not looking forward to it, thats for sure.

I don't consider what i have with my ankle "pain" anymore, its just a tenderness -- only time I feel any real discomfort is if I go to put my Kam walking boot on and push my weight into my foot too much. Or of course am clumsy and hit my toes or foot on something! YOUUUUUUUUCH!


Well that's it for yesterday, other then the general tiredness I'm doing really well. I'm anxious for my Dr's appointment on Tuesday.

Thanks for checking up on me

Post-Op Day #8 - Just Me And The Weee-Chair

Today I'm feeling good, my ankle is a bit tender but nothing I can't handle. :-)

I was sort of bummed because I wanted to go to the ranch to visit this morning but didn't get myself organized in time.........ack, perfect weather for a day at the barn too! Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow.

I lounged on the couch for a bit today with my foot elevated then decided I had to get outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.

I told Adam I was going take the wheelchair for a ride by myself and he made sure I had my cell phone in case I needed to be rescued! HA HA!

Off I went down the stairs, hobbled over to the garage door, opened it and got the wheelchair(wee-chair as I call it now) out.
This is quite the task because I have to close the door too, the button is quite a stretch(esp from where the wee-chair has to be) so I got crafty and used one of my crutches to hit the button then dropped the crutch just inside the door before it closed! :-)

Our area is quite nice when it comes to sidewalks, everything is fairly level so that is a bonus but there are a couple small hills to navigate.

I pushed myself(using hands & my good foot) up the sidewalk a ways to a small park, sat there for a minute to soak up some sun but the bees were so bad I high tailed it out of there.

I turned around and head back towards our place then over by the managers office/club house. There's a pool right behind the clubhouse with a paved pathway to it and behind it. I've never been back there before but figured I'd check it out, worse case scenario I could turn around.

Well this turned out to be more fun then anything! HA HA! The pathway had some nice turns in it and a bit of a hill so off I started to roll, faster and faster(OH boy, I was between excited and scared S***less haha) . Weeeeeeeeeehaw! What a rush!
Thank God the wheelchair breaks worked so I used them to slow down(used my good foot too) and turn while I went down the hill. haha!
Phew, made it to the bottom safely, what a rush. I was laughing so hard because it could have went so wrong, there was a bit of a drop off on the one side of the trail so had I not had good control of the chair I could have been in some trouble! *Evil grin*

I felt a bit like an adrenaline junkie getting a natural high :-)

The pathway ends about 150 feet from the new gas station so I decided to wheel myself over to the store for a drink.
I have no clue how some people can do this day after day because they have no other choice(a motorized chair/scooter would be a huge help), its EXHAUSTING!

I got myself to the store safely(people drive way too fast in the lot) and got through the doors(after a few tries) and grabbed a coke.
The stupid aisles are so tight, I almost took out an entire chip display! ROFLMAO!
I was laughing, the guy was like "you ok over there"......."YUp" I said sort of embarrassed.
I rolled myself over to the counter, paid and continued on my wee-chair adventure. :-)

I sat in front of the store for a bit, soaking up the sunshine while sipping my ice cold coke -- hmmm kinda felt like a Coke commercial haha!

After a few minutes I began the trek back home by heading up the ramp so I could get on the parkway path.

I had to navigate a few obstacles(like open doors of the shops, a couple stupid planters) on my way out of the center.
At the corner of the pathway there is a bit of an uphill climb, of course I let out a big sigh because I was thinking about how I was going to get up it.
I pushed myself for a little bit but I was going nowhere fast(and getting fatigued), so I got smart and turned the chair around so I could push with my good foot(wheel chair is now going BACKWARDS up the hill).

Talk about moving, boy that worked great as long as I was checking over my shoulder to make sure I was going straight(I used my hands on the wheels to steer).

I got some odd looks from people driving by, it was priceless! ha ha! It's almost like they were impressed because I was moving so fast backwards or thought I was a complete MORON! ROFLMAO!

Finally I got to the top of the hill and took a breather, by this time I'm sweating like I've run a marathon. :-)
Thankfully the rest of the way home was level or had a bit of a downhill slope.

I was gone for about an hour, by the time I got back to the garage, parked the wee-chair and managed to get the crutches without wiping out. I hobbled over to the bottom of our stairs and then made the slow climb to our front door - hopping up 16 stairs was the last thing I needed after all the exercise I got from my outing but I had to do it.

I opened the door and Adam could tell I was about to crash and burn(which I was) -- I barely made it to the couch! HA HA!

I asked him if he was worried about me because I was gone for longer then I thought but he figured I would have called him(or someone else would have) if I needed to be rescued. :-)

I'm just kicking back now, elevating the foot and enjoying glass of cold water.

Ah yes, what a day! It felt good to go out by myself but wow, I really appreciate Adam pushing me when we go around the block in the evenings. <3


That's it for today, unless something comes up I will sign out till tomorrow.

Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #7 - One Week

Well today is exactly a week since I had my surgery and things are going well. Thankfully today I didn't have the sweats or feel weak but I was really tired.

I slept well last night, though experienced some weird sensations in my foot around 11pm when I took my nightly dose of Neurontin(aka Gabapentin). I take 2700mg of Neurontin per day(900mg 3x's), that is a high dosage but it's needed or I'm in a lot of pain.

It's a medication I've been on for over a year to deal with Post Herpectic Neuralgia; basically like having Shingles(I've had them 4 times, chicken pox 2x's - NOT FUN) without the physical outbreak of blisters on the skin but all of the severe pain. It's makes daily function very hard if you're not enough medication.

The medication helps the brain and the nerves in the skin send the proper signals, somewhere along the way something isn't doing its job right(nerve damage) so I'm getting severe pain when I really shouldn't be.

I could feel the Neurontin activating the nerves in my foot. WOW, what a crazy sensation to say the least.
It felt like small electrical sparks were going on in my foot, I could feel them shooting around my foot, especially the bottom.
This went on for about 15minutes and then everything settled down. PHEW!

It makes sense because the nerves in my foot are all messed up from the TTS and surgery; the medication was trying to do it's job, help them function properly.

It'll be interesting to see how often I experience this, I mean if it happens once, it's bound to happen again.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Dr's actually Rx this medication for issues like TTS so guess I'm good to go! HA HA!


My ankle felt good today, a very small amount of pain on and off but nothing that needed any medication for, not even an Advil! :-)
I tried to give my toes a massage a few times throughout the day to help get the circulation.
My foot tends to get cold quickly if I'm on my feet too much or have the leg down.
I've tried to adjust my bandage a few times to loosen it a bit and that helped a bit.

I think a lot of it is just part of the healing process so I'm not too worried about it. I have most of the feeling in the toes, a few places can be a bit tingly/numb but that is normal with this type of surgery.


I spent most of the day on the couch with my leg elevated while I finished reading my book (Prime by Dr. Pepper Schwartz - an interesting read to say the least HAHA!) or sleeping.
I didn't have much energy to do anything else which totally sucked because it's been SUNNY ALL DAY! Oh my, could SPRING actually be here? Umm ya, I'm not going to be placing any bets on that! HA HA!

I can probably fit in a quick ride around the block in the wheelchair before it gets too late, the sunset will be awesome tonight!!!

I hope I have more energy tomorrow because I'd like to go to the ranch for a visit.
My friend and riding partner Helene is going to the ranch in the morning so I might go -- If I'm up to it. Fingers crossed, it'd be nice to see everyone again and maybe groom Karma.

Adam just asked if I want to go for a ride around the block so I better hop my way to the door! haha! I can't wait to get some fresh air and spend some time with my wonderful hubby. <3

I can't beleive it's been a week already! I have my Post-Op appointment with Dr Chi in 6 days(April 21st) so I'm anxious to hear how much damage he found and to get the stitches out. :-)

Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #6 - Highs And Lows

Well today was interesting, I woke up and felt not too bad but as time went on I started to feel sick.
I started sweating and feeling very weak so I laid in bed for a bit to see if that would help.

The feeling wouldn't go away, no matter what I did(eat, sleep, shower etc..)........ugh, it was awful!

Finally I figured it out, it was my body having with drawls from the Percocet! UGH! Today I didn't take ANY(YAY FOR NO PAIN but oh man, my body was PO'D!) because there was no need to :-)

Thank goodness I've been reducing the amount of Percocet I've been taking over the last day or so -- I think if I had just stopped and not started to do 1/2 doses the last 2 days I would have been in really bad shape today. Not that it didnt feel horrible! HA HA!

I managed to get through the day and not take anything so I'm thrilled.......I think if I do have any type of pain I will just take an advil.

I hope that I don't feel like this again tomorrow but if I do, I won't be surprised, Percocet is strong stuff.

On a better note, I got to use the wheelchair and go for a nice ride around the block with Adam. It was great, the air felt soooooooooo good and the sun was trying to come out(BONUS! seeing how it SNOWED this morning! UGH!).

Later on I decided to take off the bandage and see if I could change out the dressing on my ankle and I DID IT! WOOHOO! Yay me, no getting queesy or passing out! HA HA HA!

My ankle looks really good, still a bit swollen, bruised and some dried blood around the stitches --as you can see, the incision is quite long(3.5 - 4inches). It hasnt even been a week(tomorrow will be), I cleaned up some of the area with a damp cloth but not by the stitches.

I will add a few pictures of my ankle, I will try to put the least gross ones on here. ha ha!


Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #5 - A Case Of The Mondays!

Today was great pain wise, I only took 2 HALF doses(so far and its 9:16 PM) -- YAY! I'm so happy that the pain is going down so quickly. Now who knows it could flare up but for right now, its on its way OUT!

I spent most of the day laying down with my foot elevated, I don't know why I felt so tired but it's ok. I figure my body is working hard to heal and it takes a lot of effort to move around on the crutches.

I'm sure some of you are wondering what a "case of the Monday's" is -- haha, rent the movie OFFICE SPACE and you'll get it. It's an amusing movie to say the least.

On another note, its SNOWING! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I'm so mad, winter should be so far over with by now! haha! plus the fact that it makes getting around outside almost impossible ---very slippery out there and I don't need a FALL!

I took some pictures of my foot without the tensor bandage on it - the ankle is still wrapped in a soft bandage/gumgee type material. As you'll notice there's a heart shaped red spot on the ankle, it almost looks like it was drawn on but actually it was a bit of blood from the incision! LOL how bizarre eh!

I'll add them to this post.

Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #4 - Sunday Drive

Looks like getting a good sleep isn't an issue for me! oh ya, love it!
Slept in today, it was pouring outside so not much incentive to get outside. haha!

I was very tired today, my whole body was achy from yesterday's outing. I'll have to remember not to over do it, its easy to forget that the body tires so quickly -- everything takes so much effort to do.

The pain wasn't too bad which was a surprise after hobbling around so much yesterday. I took 1 pill at 7am/1pm/6pm, Im hoping I can get away with no more but will see how it feels by bed time. I may try half a pill at each dose in the next day or so, just depends on the level of pain I have...........I'd like to be off the meds as soon as I can. :-)


We drove around in the car a lot today -- what a bizarre sensation that is for my foot, the vibrations coming up from the roads were making my foot feel funny(sore then numb), I didn't like it!

We went downtown Seattle so Adam could find the courthouse for tomorrow as he has jury duty. On the way home we stopped in Bellevue and got a piece of cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory (*Drools* its so darn good) --nothing like triple chocolate fix! HA HA!
We parked the car and head over to the restaurant, I almost wiped out because the surface of the side walk was so slick and the bottoms of the crutches(the rubber) weren't grabbing so well on it. Talk about scary feeling, I thought I was going to get hurt but managed to catch myself in time PHEW! That was enough of that non sense!

We're in for the night and so I'm about to prop my leg up as I need to get it elevated for a while so it'll stop throbbing.
I'm feeling grrrrrrrrrrrreat! I just hope the sun comes out soon! haha!
Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #3 - Out And About

Well I had a tiring day but a good one.

I had a great sleep again and the pain was much less today so I adjusted my frequency of pain killers to match it. I'm so happy with the way things have gone since surgery, I really got off easy with pain this time. haha! :-)

We went to the ranch today(Hooray!) to visit, we were there for 2 hours haha! It was great to see so many people.

My riding partner Helene was out and she decided to bring Karma up to the barn so we could groom her together. Of course I was pretty useless but I did brush the mane/tail haha! :-)
It was nice to get out in the fresh air finally, being in the house the past few days has sucked but I didn't want to risk falling or just over doing things.

I hobbled around the ranch pretty good, though lots of mud to navigate around, thank goodness we had an old towel in the car to wipe my boot and crutches off with! HA HA!

Helene lent me a wheelchair to use so that will come in handy for tomorrow, hopefully Adam and I can go around the block together if the weather is decent.

After the barn Adam and I went out for lunch at the new Thai place in North Bend, it was very tasty!

We head home and wow, I was beat from all the fresh air and visiting. I had a nap from 5pm till 8pm haha! I feel pretty good now but I know I will sleep really really good tonight.

My body is getting a good work out from using the crutches, my abs hurt from tightening them to help stabilize my body, my armpits hurt from the top of the crutches(not so fun feeling) and my right leg is getting a heck of a work out having to bare most of the weight on it. I don't think I will have to worry about gaining any weight, more like I will be toning up all over! HA HA! Hey, thats fine with me.


well thats about it for today, I'm going to relax and watch a movie with Adam before bed.

Post-Op Day #2 - Lazy Friday

Well it's day #2 Post-Op and last night I slept really well again.

This morning I had a bath/shower(did it all on my own but Adam was there just in case), its kind of frustrating how tiring and how long it takes to complete such a simple task.
I really understand how my mom must have felt during the early stages of her stroke recovery.

It's going pretty good, I don't find the pain any worse than yesterday. The meds make me fairly sleepy, that doesn't help when I'm trying to get around on the crutches! :-)

I'm taking 1 Percocet every 4hrs because it seems to do the trick. I'm allowed to take 2 every 4hrs if needed but I think that is a bit much for the pain that I'm experiencing.
I don't want to mess around with meds like this, they're so strong and the body can become addicted easily(thats why junkies on the street love them so much -- scary!).

I noticed blood on the dressing where the incision is, it's just a little bit. I remember them saying that a bit was ok......don't worry I'll keep an eye on it and if I notice more I will call the Dr asap!!

I feel so lazy, just laying around with the foot elevated, wiggling toes(haha) plus the days seems so long! YUK! I can't go outside much, part of the problem is navigating the stairs(so tiring, so steep).
We have 16 stairs up to our front door, so far so good because we have a railing on one side(wish both sides did) and I can use that with one hand then put a crutch(or Adam) on the other side to help lift myself up to the next step.

I'm getting quite a work out over here(no wonder I'm sleeping so good haha!). I have to laugh because I was worried about gaining weight during my recovery due to less physical activity! :-)

I can't wait till I have the energy/less pain to go outside more, all this lounging around isn't good for the mind or body(blank stare).

Don't even get me started about the side effects of the meds(drowsy, dry mouth, etc..) -- lets just say Ive been drinking prune juice(aka liquid plumber), OMG that dang stuff tastes so nasty(gag) and it's not working........well yet! I'm not happy about it! TMI, oh well! ROFLMAO!

I'm looking forward to this weekend, Adam will be off work so we can go outside for a walk, stop by the ranch, get a bite to eat out, just enjoy the Easter weekend together(thought it would be nice to be in Canada too) :-)

I took a couple pictures of my black walking boot --isn't it sexy?! NOT!

Post-Op Day #1 - Thawing Out

I'm happy to report I slept very well last night, what a nice surprise that was! I thought I'd be tossing and turning trying to stay comfortable but I slept grrrrrrrrreat!

This morning I could feel more pain, the nerve block had thawed out by the time I woke up.
It was hard to move around at first without it being really sore but once I took the pain meds I was good.

Adam was very helpful today, I swear I got him to carry the pillows, blanket and ice pack so many times between the bedroom and the living room. ha ha! Thank goodness I have him in my life :-)

I lounged around for most of the day........boring but necessary! HA HA!
I took the big black boot off today to give my foot a rest(I swear that boot weighs 5lbs +!). It felt odd having the pressure of the boot release, I felt queasy for a minute but then it went away and I was fine.

My foot didn't look too swollen, I could wiggle my toes, I could feel my fingers touching them and I didn't see any blood stains etc...

Dr Chi wrapped the ankle in a light bandage which made it easy to get some ice on for a little while.

I had a few times today where I felt a bit light headed but I think that was because I was moving up and down too much/fast off the couch etc... you really have to train yourself to do things soooooooooo slowly and it feels very ODD! ha ha!

Dr Chi's office called to see how I was doing-- no fever, excess swelling etc... , they were very happy with my first day post-op. :-)
I guess I forgot my Albuterol inhaler(for my allergy induced asthma which I don't get very often) at the surgery center and so I told the lady we would pick it up by closing time(5:30pm).

We left here at 5:05pm and picked it up before heading to the coffee shop just down the road from the office. We sat outside while Adam had his coffee, the fresh air felt sooooooooo good!

I started to feel some more pain(it was pretty close to the 3hr mark for the meds), so we head home. Thank goodness the meds kicked in quick and I laid back down on the couch.

We might watch a movie tonight............LOL scary movie about vampires(not Twilight, I've seen it 2x's already)! HA HA!

I'm going to try to have a bath/shower(bought a handheld shower head to make life easier), I think I'll have to sit sideways(wish I had one of those bath chairs haha) but I don't care I just want to freshen up!

I can't stand looking at this yellow crap off the top of my leg(surgical scrub im guessing) and can't wait to get that disinfectant smell(I smell like a hospital haha) off.
And don't worry, Adam will be there to help me......SAFETY FIRST!

I'm very happy with how I feel, I thought I'd be stuck in bed for 2 or 3 days miserable as heck.

Fingers crossed I sleep good tonight and have another great day tomorrow.

I might see if Adam can drive down to the ranch for a few minutes, I'm having barn/horse with drawls and of course want to see all my wonderful friends down there. :-)

I took some pictures of my foot in the black boot, just need to upload.

Anyways that's it for today, thanks for checking up on me! :-)

Surgery Day

I had my ankle surgery this morning, we had to be there for 6:30am check in YUK! I had to fill out a few forms, got my id bracelets then we went into the smaller rooms so I could put my gown on etc...

Everything was going smoothly until the nurse put the IV line in. haha! I was feeling just fine while she found the vein and put it in but then all of a sudden I felt flushed and fainty! I told her I thought I was going to pass out and sure enough, BAM out I went on the chair. It was weird because I felt like I was dreaming while I was out(which Adam figures was about a minute) and when I finally came to I saw 4 people staring at me with concerned looks on their faces! I was completed soaked with sweat, felt so weak and clamy! EWWWW, not a nice feeling at all. They had put monitors back on me to watch my heart rate and breathing plus put an oxygen line in my nose.

We had to wait for a bit for my vitals to return to normal range(which didnt take long) so they could decide if I was ok for surgery(esp the anesthesia).
THumbs up and so off we went down the hall in the chair to the OR and transfered to the table there. They secured me with a seat belt(remember kids, safety first! HA HA) and then the Anesthesiologist adminsitered me some SLEEPY JUICE! HA HA! I remember breathing in some oxygen from the mask and then drifted off into LA LA LAND!

I think surgery was at approx 7:20am and I woke up in the recovery ward around 8:05. I didnt feel too bad at that point, just really sleepy/groggy but no real pain, just numbness in the foot. Adam came back and sat with me while I was having some saltine crackers and apple juice. The nurse came in to check on me and said I could start to get dressed if I felt ok --- thankfully Adam was there to help me get organized.

We sat there for a little bit then they brought a wheel chair for me and Adam went to bring the car up to the front. I think we were back home around 9:45am.

We picked up my prescriptions and I took some then crashed out on the couch for most of the day with my foot elevated with an ice pack.


My pain level throughout the day wasn't too bad because of the nerve block Dr Chi did during surgery. He figured it would last about 8-12hrs, o of course as the day went on I could feel a bit more pain(took pain killers since I left the surgery center this morning, they said to do the least amount then increase with pain level).


Anyways, thats it for today, hopefully I'll get a decent sleep tonight and tomorrow my ankle wont be really sore.

I'll try to update this blog each day




Thanks for all the wishes for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.
jessi :-)

Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome!

I had my appointment with Dr Chi to go over the EMG/NCT results, there's definitely nerve issues happening, quite severe.
He said that Dr. C felt that the damage was chronic and needed to be dealt with as soon as possible to reduce further damage.
He thinks the initial injury from the horse hoof might have started things but the foot never healed properly(the inflammation around the nerves never went away) and so the nerves have continued to be compressed which has caused damage in different parts of my foot.


Of course we discussed the course of action to deal with this and both Dr's recommend the Tarsal Tunnel Release and as soon as possible.
We're not sure if some of the nerve damage will be permanent or not, we'll have to see what he finds when he operates and how it heals.

I had a feeling I would need surgery but it's always different to hear those words but I agreed it was the best and only option to reduce the amount of pain I was in.

After that a lady came in and took me to the surgery booking room and we figured out a date.
I said I wanted the surgery done as soon as possible that way I could have some of the good weather left to enjoy!
We decided on April 8th, 2009 at the Issaquah Highlands Surgical Center.


So this brings us to today...............I have less than a week until surgery, so I'm trying to do as much as I can (esp outdoors) before I'm laid up for a while.

I'm a bit nervous but any surgery is nerve racking, I just wanted it to be over and done with so I can get on with life!

I hope they give me some good drugs so I'm not in too much pain afterward(for my sake and Adams). haha!


I will use this blog to keep track of my recovery process..........I know I'll be bored out of my mind being inside for a while so it will be helpful to write about how I'm doing.


Anyways, thanks for reading up to this point and stay tuned, surgery is very soon and we'll see how it goes from there.

Wish me LUCK!

Torture Chamber

So the big day arrived for the EMG/NCT, I was sweating bullets the whole drive there! haha!

I checked in and waited for my appointment, I swear it felt like hours --- just waiting and anticipating, my mind was going a million miles a minute thinking about how horrible the testing was going to be. My name was called, GULP and off I went to the room(aka Torture Chamber haha) to meet Dr. C.
I had to change into a gown first then we started the torture session.

I had to lay on the table face down, now that made me feel more anxious because I couldn't see what was going to happen next, just hear him moving things around until he applied them to my calf, ankle and foot.
First was the EMG, he put little sticky receivers(LOL cant think of the name) on different spots of my ankle, calf and foot. I was thinking "oh this is a nothing, I dont feel anything", of course right then he said "you're going to feel a small shock" and BAM, ooooooooooooooooooooooo it hurt!

The only thing I can think of that compares to it is, being zapped by an electric fence(the kind you use for horses! haha). I even said that it felt like being zapped by the horse electric fence and he said that was funny because he'd heard that before from horseback riders! HA HA!

Over and over he zapped me, in some places my foot would jump off the table(haha, felt so bizarre) or my toes would spasm/tighten and cramp up momentarily then they would relax. I would say "YOUCH, that hurt" and he'd apologize but then Id say "Its ok, I know its just part of the testing -- I was warned by Dr Chi this wasn't going to be pleasant"

It's not like I could anticipate when he was going to do it, I couldn't see(I was face down on the table) plus its not like he was doing it every 10 seconds in a pattern, it was so spiratic HAHA! I survived about 30 minutes or so of that, it seemed MUCH LONGER!

A brief moment to prepare for the next part......oh ya, the worst, the needle probe thing!
Ok, so I thought the first part of the test was bad, HECK NO -- that was pleasant compared to the NCT part. HOLY COW that needle did not feel good poking into my ankle, calf, toe, everywhere it seemed from the calf down.

I think the worst part was on the underside of my foot along the outside edge ---YOWSERS when it first went in but then I couldn't feel a thing ---how bizarre. At that point he kept saying "Interesting, wow that is interesting" That made me think "huh, what the heck is that supposed to mean!?! ".

I asked and he told me that there was obviously some nerve damage there and that it was pretty severe for the needle to be poking that much plus the read out on the machine wasnt showing normal activity with the nerves(I guess the signals they send or something like that).

Finally we were done and I could go home! He called Dr. Chi's office right after to let him know what he had found. He said normally they'd just fax the results over but he wanted to talk with him on the phone as he was so intregued by the results. He told Dr Chi that he agreed with the diagnosis of Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome.

My foot ached the whole way home from being zapped and poked! haha!

The next day I saw bruises, especially along the bottom edge where he'd found the abnormal nerve activity.


I called to set up another appointment with Dr Chi to go over the results of the EMG/NCT a week later.

Getting Closer

The MRI was done on my L ankle and they gave me a CD to take to my next appointment with Dr. Chi.


The four weeks passed and I had my appointment, we reviewed the MRI results, there was definitely some swelling around the tibial nerve.

Dr Chi felt we needed to do one more test before he confirmed the TTS. He sent a referral to a sports medicine Dr(Dr C) who did EMG/Nerve Conductivity Testing, that test would let him know what exactly was happening with the nerves in my foot.

Now Dr Chi warned me that the testing was not going to be pleasant, he even joked that he'd never heard anyone say they'd want to get another EMG/NCT done after going through the experience once! LOL
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat, something to look forward to...NOT! Ugh, the thought of being "zapped" with small shocks to see how the nerves responded sounded like a modern day torture.......oh but that wasn't even the best part of it!

The NCT part used a thin needle(with a lead that attached to the machine to record the findings) and would be poked into my foot in different spots. Oh ya and I'm NOT A FAN OF NEEDLES! HA HA! I was really starting to fret about this upcoming testing!

What's up Doc?!

My Dr faxed a referral over to Dr Thomas Chi of Proliance Surgeons/Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine and two weeks later I had an appointment.

I met Dr Chi and he went over my medical history and what we had done with my ankle thus far.
He examined my ankle, manipulating it in all sorts of directions and palpating the swollen area to see if he could feel anything(like a cyst etc..)
He could see that I was in pain and so we decided to try a different anti-inflammatory(Diclofenac 75 Mgec) then what my Dr gave me plus as much rest for the ankle as possible.

After that he mentioned a condition called Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome(TTS) basically the posterior tibial nerve in the foot is being compressed & the nerves are being damaged resulting in decreased or loss of sensory, motor function or both.
Click here for TTS information
He thought there was a good chance I may be suffering from it due to the physical findings up to that point.

Quite often this condition has to be corrected with surgery, a Tarsal Tunnel Release.
It's a release of the lacinate ligament and exploration of the tarsal canal with decompression of the posterior tibial nerve. If you think about it, its the same type of surgery a person with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, except theirs would be in the wrist/hand.

Dr Chi would require further diagnostic testing to confirm the TTS and we'd talk about treatment options( including possible surgery if that was the route needed).

We spoke about my regular activities and what do I could do to reduce the amount of strain my ankle was enduring. Of course horseback riding was the main topic of conversation and we came to an agreement(he wanted me to give it up for a bit but I said NO WAY!) that I would not wear my riding boots(as they are form fitting) and that I would ride without stirrups(removing the strain of keeping my heel down in the stirrup).


My next appointment would be set for a month later, that would give my ankle some more rest and time to see if the anti-inflammatory medication helped.

We agreed on doing an MRI because that would show much more then an Xray would, especially with the soft tissues. The building where Dr Chi works has an Imaging laboratory so I had the MRI done 30 minutes later -- talk about fast!

Nothing like having to wear a sexy hospital gown and lay still for 25 minutes while loud magnets whiz/bang/clang around you.....it's like a noisy TUNNEL! Stupid thing gave me a headache afterward! BLA!

Clumsy Horse + Left Ankle = Trouble!

This blog will be about my left ankle, everything from the initial injury to the current situation(TTR surgery April 8th, 2009) and I will update after the surgery during my recovery.


Here's a little background info on how it all started.

About 4.5- 5yrs ago I got clipped by a horses hoof while leading him. He clipped the inside of my left ankle, it swelled up and was bruised for about a week. The bruising went away, the swelling went down but not all the way, there was a small round swelling about the size of a quarter. I had quite a bit of pain for about 2 weeks and then it seem to go away for the most part. I did notice it would flare up every now and then but it wasn't too bad.

I never really thought much of it over the years but obviously that was stupid, I should have got it checked out ASAP! In the past 6-9months the pain has been very bad, sometimes to the point of having to hobble around.

I decided to go get it checked out in Nov 2008 and thats where things started to unfold ---- there really was something to this injury.
First thing Dr's wanted to do was Xrays, so we did that and they came back clear --I was relieved as I worried that maybe there was a bone chip or something.

Dr said to try to give the foot as much rest as possible to see if that would make a difference, as well I started taking some Naproxen anti-infammatories to see if that would help reduce the swelling and pain. I started the Naproxen but couldn't handle how it upset my stomach(even taking it with food) and so I stopped taking it.

I went back to the Dr at the beginning of January 2009 to see what the next step was, at that time the Dr decided to try a cortisone shot. That hurt so much, it made the pain so much worse for about 4 days! YOUCH! I went back to the Dr on day 7 as he wanted to do a follow up and see how things looked.

There was no improvement and so the Dr said he didn't want to do anything else(he didn't specialize in ankle injuries), that he would refer me to an ankle specialist.