Category: Health

Top Ten Ways to Recover From Surgery

On Sept. 16th I had surgery on my ankle to create a groove for my peroneal tendons and repair my retinaculum which is the connective tissue that holds the peroneal tendons in place. My tendons actually weren’t torn but they were believed to be, so that was good news! The retinaculum was extremely stretched out though, so the doctor had to cut it and then sew it back together. I just wanted to let you know that in no way am I a doctor or professional in the medical field, all of these tips were created and based off of personal experience. Recovering from surgery can be a hard thing to do, so here are my top ten ways to recover from surgery.

10. Keep yourself occupied. Watch TV, play games, read a book, talk to people, and do whatever you can to keep your mind off of pain and the surgery. You’ll be in a much better mood this way.

9. Sleep. Sleep does wonders for your mind and body. It gives your body time to relax and heal.

8. Check on your blood circulation often. This tip applies mostly to people who are having surgery and will be in bed or unable to move a lot for a few days after. Move your legs around, massage yourself or have someone help you, stretch, and get up, IF YOU CAN. Please don’t hurt yourself when you do this. By doing this, you’re keeping your blood moving and preventing blood clots.

7. Take time off from work or school to recover. You should definitely not go to work or school a for a few days after surgery. You might be in pain and/or have very little energy and you don’t want to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation at work or school. Take all the time you need to feel good enough to return to work or school. It’ll still be there when you return.

6. Stay positive. It can be really hard to have a good attitude when you’re in pain, but keep a smile on your face and think about good things and you’ll feel better and help your body heal faster.

5. Eat food. Right after surgery, you might feel slightly nauseous because of the anesthesia; this varies from person to person. Make sure to take it easy on the food at first, maybe some soup or a smoothie. After a few hours or after the nausea goes away, eat whatever you want.

4. Drink lots of water. Drinking a lot of water will keep you hydrated and flush out all of the medication and anesthesia.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Right after surgery, you’re in absolutely NO condition to do things all by yourself. Just let your friends or family know what you need and they should be supportive and willing to help you.

2. Relax. This tip goes along with #10 and whether you’re lying down, sitting, or even sleeping, do whatever makes you feel comfortable. Relaxation helps ease the pain and keeps your mind off of the surgery.

1. Follow the doctor’s orders! This one should be a no-brainer, but for some people this tip can be hard to follow. Please do what your doctor tells you to do! Stay on top of ice, elevation, medication, go to post-op appointments, and whatever else you have to do. It’ll make you heal faster and feel better.

Ice and elevation 😉

I hope my top ten ways to recover from surgery have been helpful or will be helpful to you in the future. 🙂 To those of you who have had surgery or are going to have surgery, I wish you the best of luck and a speedy recovery!

September 27, 2015
Out With the Boot, In With a Cast

Injuries can be tough, especially when you’re not quite sure what’s going on, or what to do. They can also challenge your patience and character. That was kind of the case for me last week. On September 2nd, it was bye-bye boot, and hello cast.

If you can recall, I was put in a boot in August due to peroneal tendon subluxation, which is the subluxing or dislocation of your peroneal tendons over the lateral malleolus. This subluxing can occur because of a loose or torn retinaculum (a sheath that hold the two peroneal tendons in place), a shallow groove in which the tendons sit, or something specific with the peroneal tendons.

Anyways, I saw the doctor on Wednesday and the tendons were still coming over the lateral malleolus and there was still a lot of pain. The next best thing to do was apparently put it in a walking cast. (No crutches at least, yay!) The cast will have to stay on for a month, and the intent of having my leg in a cast is to hopefully immobilize the tendons better than the boot did.

With the little amount of time I’ve had this cast on, I can tell you all that they’re pretty weird. When the technician first put it on it felt kind of soft and it was a little wet. After a few minutes the cast warmed up, hardened, and then I couldn’t move my ankle! I thought it was a really weird feeling. The thing I liked about wearing a boot was the fact that I could take it off to shower and scratch my leg if it was itchy. Those are things that I definitely cannot do with a cast on. Wearing a cast is a new challenge for sure.

Even with the many visits to doctors of all sorts, I was curious to know what was actually going on with the tendons, so to get an image of that, I had an MRI done on Thursday, the next day. The MRI showed that I had a longitudinal tear on one of my peroneal tendons. Longitudinal tears are not common. (Not good!)

The cast has been a huge struggle for the past week, and my family and I wanted a second opinion on the cast and my ankle. It’s so hard to do daily tasks like bathing and even walking! My mom and I went and saw a orthopedic surgeon this past Thursday. He informed us that there was a very unlikely chance that my tendons would heal in the cast, and surgery was the best way to go. I did get my cast off and my foot is back in a boot until the surgery.

So this upcoming Wednesday, Sept. 16th, I will be getting surgery to repair the torn tendon. The orthopedic doctor/surgeon looked at my MRI and noted that I had a shallow groove, which makes it more likely for the tendons to come out of the groove again, so he will shift one of my bones back 1 cm to trap the tendons where they’re supposed to stay. Then they’ll put screws in the bones so that they’ll heal together and then I’ll have to wait for six weeks, in a boot. I might even be able to walk five days after the surgery. (Woohoo!)

Never in my whole life did I expect to be excited for surgery, but I am truly excited to get this over with. I’ve been having issues with my left foot for about a year in a half,first the sesamoid and now the ankle issues and tendon, and I am really starting to get frustrated with everything that is going on. I want to thank everyone who has been supporting me and doing their best to help me get better and find answers. I look forward to a speedy recovery and hope to be back on the courts soon! 🙂

September 13, 2015
Back in the Boot- Peroneal Tendon Subluxation

You all remember the blogs about my first boot and the sesamoid fracture, right? Well guess what’s back! August 4th, 2015, the boot comes back on. This time it isn’t for a fracture but for peroneal tendon subluxation.

In your lower leg, there’s a collection of muscles and tendons. They originate from the fibula and travel down the leg and into various areas of the foot. Behind the bony prominence on the outside of the ankle lie the two peroneal tendons, peroneus brevis which attaches to your fifth metatarsal (toe), and peroneus longs which runs under the foot and attaches near the big toe. These two tendons are held in place by a strong, connective tissue called the peroneal retinaculum.

Peroneal tendon subluxation is when one or both of the peroneal tendons slip out of position and come over the bony prominence on the outside of the ankle. Once the tendons come out of place, they may remain there or return to their original position. It’s not a good feeling.

Peroneal tendon subluxation can occur because of a torn retinaculum which would allow for the tendons to move freely, shallow grooves which make it easier for the tendons to come out of place, and also a loose or weak retinaculum which is least common.

This is can be treated with immobilization (like a boot), rest, orthotics, and also surgery for retinaculum repair, tendon repair, or groove deepening.

So my boot is back for another month to immobilize and hopefully keep the peroneal tendons in place. Now you know a little bit about peroneal tendon subluxation and I hope to get better soon and see you all back out on the courts!

And as a little side note, my dad and aunt’s birthdays are tomorrow so, Happy Birthday to both of you! 🙂

August 9, 2015
In the Boot…
About a week ago, I finally went to a sports/foot specializing doctor for my foot. It had been hurting since last fall after I hurt it in dance class. Anyway, the doctor checked out my foot and took some x-rays. After all of the examining, he looked at the x-rays and found a thin fracture on one of my sesamoid bones. (The sesamoid bone is imbedded in the tendons under your big toe.) So the first step in healing the bone was to put my foot in the boot. Dun…dun…dun… Being the athletic, active person I am, it’s been painful and hard to have to sit on the sidelines. But, it has also been a wonderful learning experience. Here are a few things I’ve learned so far from being in a boot.
- You see a whole new side of the activities/sports you participate in. I’m a dancer and I also play volleyball and tennis so I’ve watched a lot of sports over this past week so far. You learn to see the strategy from off the court and you can see how other players play and how they hit certain shots.
- Appreciate being healthy. Be as active as possible when you aren’t sick or injured and take advantage of all of your energy and abilities. When you’re healthy there is so much you can do to improve your health and your game!
- Follow the doctor’s orders. This one is something I already knew when I first had to start wearing my boot but this really emphasized this point. Following what the doctor says will make it more possible for the fracture to heal correctly and fully.
- Be patient. I’m in this boot for a whole month (which feels like a decade) and I could possibly be out of sports for two-four months but I’ve learned that it’s going to take time and I’ll just have to wait. It’s better to be out for four months than forever.
This experience in the boot has been very different and challenging. It has also really taught me to appreciate being healthy and understand patience. Now I’ll have to wait for my full recovery and I’ll be back out on the courts soon! 🙂

My boot 🙂
July 13, 2014