Peroneus Longus Tear: The Scar

The doctor said everything is going great, and to keep doing the same thing I have been doing.  He wants to see me back in 2 weeks, Tuesday April, 5th 2011.

I still can't put a whole lot of weight on it yet.  When I do (by accident) it feels as if the incision is going to bust open and the tendon is going to pop out.  Doc said that is a sign that the area and tendon are still healing.  He said to keep testing to see how much pressure I can add each day.  I definitely feel a difference each day, but not very much.

I have been moving it back and forth, but I have only gained a tiny bit more mobility.  The bottom of my foot feels like I have a piece of tape on it, but I think it is because that tendon is so tight still, it's a weird feeling.

The boot has not been on since last Tuesday.  The doctor said the only time I need to wear it is if I go somewhere, but since I don't go anywhere I have been able to keep it off.  It feels so much better to keep it off too.

Also, the butterfly stitches came off so you can see the scar for the first time.  The redness around it will go away with time.  The doctor said that it is healing nicely, and that he is very happy with the progress. Check out the pictures.

Peroneus Longus Tear: Foot comparison

I finally got to wash my hurt leg today for the first time in about 3 weeks.  I feel so much better.  My leg still had an orange film on it from the surgery that was pretty disgusting.  My leg has started to break out with these little bumps that really itch too.  Hopefully they will go away the more I shower. 

I took some pictures of how much muscle I lost in my left leg compared to my right leg.  My right calf is hard as a rock, but my left calf is like jello.  Pretty sad, but that's part of it.

Peroneus Longus Tear: Check-up

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 I had a check-up to make sure everything was looking good, and that the red spot at the bottom of my foot was not getting worse.

As you can tell in the picture, the redness towards the bottom has gone away, but I have developed the red spots just above the incision.  I finished my anti-biotics the day of the appointment, so they seem to have worked.  The red spots at the top are to be handled by rubbing anti-biotic ointment cream on it.  Not real sure if he was kidding or not, but he thought it might be athletes foot.  He likes to kid around, but he wasn't very concerned with the spots.  He said the incision was looking really good, and that the healing process seemed to be going very well.

I can now take a shower without covering my foot up, and the butterfly strips would just fall off on their own.  I don't have to wear the boot to bed anymore.  I only have to wear it when I am up on my crutches.  He wants me to move it a little more and put a little pressure on it.  I can even use a light weight rubber band to add a little pressure.  I can step on it as well.  He said not to over do it though because it is still early on.  If I did too much I would be back in the same boat.  I still need to keep it elevated for the swelling most of the time.

It's been pretty boring since I've had the surgery, because I have been confined to one area basically.  I'm sick of the crutches, any time I get up to go anywhere by the time I get there I am winded.  In other words, I am very out of shape.  I can't wait to be normal again, and do the things I used to be able to do.  I've been off work for the last 6 months, so when I go back I'm going to be like a brand new employee all over again.  I can't wait to get back to work and do manual labor again, sounds crazy huh, but that's who I am and what I do.

Ok enough feeling sorry for myself, lets think positive.  I can now shower my entire body, that's a major positive.  I have a healthy family that has been supporting me through this whole process, I don't live in Japan, I still have an amazing job, I have a nice house, etc.  I think you get the picture.  I'm still in high spirits.  It would take a lot to get me down.  This surgery has gone far better than I ever expected so far.  Here's to a good surgeon, cheers!  I'm out!

Peroneus Longus Tear: Removal of Stitches

My computer recently crashed, and has been in the shop for the last couple of days.  So, I need to catch you up on what has been going on.

Tuesday March 8, 2011 is when I got my stitches out. I was a little worried that this would not feel very well, but wasn't going to let it get me down.  I asked the Doctor how many stitches I had on the inside.  He said he had to cut through the retinaculum to get to the peroneus longus, and this is the only thing he had to stitch back together on the inside.

The retinaculum, are what I would call, the straps that hold everything together.  Kind of like when you have a whole bunch of wires behind your tv and you wrap tape or velcor around them to keep from looking messy.  That is how I picture the retinaculum.  The photo below shows them in white going across the foot.

From what I have read online, when you have surgery on a torn tendon they open you up and suture the tendon back together.  Well, I guess that is not right.  What I was told is that they take this instrument and run it along the damaged tendon.  This is suppose to stimulate the stem cells in your body to come and fix the tendon with scar tissue.  Basically it re-injures that spot so your body notices it again.  The doctor said before this instrument got introduced that they use to take a scalpel and poke a whole bunch of tiny holes in the tendon to trigger the stem cells.  I guess this new instrument does not add more holes to the tendon.  So, there are not any sutures in my peroneus longus.  See, you learn something new every day.

When he took the dressing off my foot he noticed down at the bottom it was starting to turn red a little, so he put me on some anti-biotics just to be safe.  You can see down at the bottom of my foot how red it is.  He pushed on it a little bit, but it wasn't painful, so he said it probably wasn't that big of a deal.  You can see my Dad in the background.  He has been helping me out big time by taking me to my appointments, among a couple of other things.

I am allowed to move it up and down, but nothing to drastic.  It still needs to be elevated most of the time, because it is still swollen quite a bit.  Five minutes is the most I can stand on it at a time.  Pretty much long enough to go to the bathroom and back.

After he left the nurses came in to remove the stitches.  I believe there was 22 or 23 of them.  I was a little apprehensive about this , but the nurses kept talking to me to calm me down.  She asked me how I was doing at one point.  I told her I was fine and if she was going to start taking them out.  She said she had already taken out half of them.  Once again to my surprise I didn't even feel her take them out.  It was awesome, no pain.  After they got done they ended up putting long butterfly stitches on for a little added support.  Then they sent me on my way.

Peroneus Longus Tear: Follow up appointment

I had my first appointment with my doctor today.  Just to change out dressings and make sure everything was going ok.  So far I have had no pain at all, and have not been taking any pain medication either.  I am still sleeping very well also.

I'm not real sure what I was thinking before my appointment, but I thought there was a chance that they might do something to cause some pain.  I decided to take some pain meds, and boy was that a mistake.  I have been out of my head all day long.  It feels like an out of body experience.  I can't really think straight, and I have been extremely tired.  I won't be doing that again.  I think its better to just stay away from the drugs, for me that is.

My dad took me to my appointment today, and he was armed with the camera.  I have been dying to see what my foot looks like since I had the surgery, and finally its here .  I got one pretty good picture the doctor took for me.  I will put the pic at the bottom of this post since some of you won't want to see it.  It's going to be a healthy scar once everything is done.

The doctor said the tear in the upper part of the peroneus longus was a 6 inch longitudinal tear.  He also said the sheath encapsulating the tendon was extremely tight, which would have added to the discomfort quite a bit.  The tear by the knob was a longitudinal tear as well but not as severe as the other one.

At this point I still have to keep my foot elevated the majority of the time because there is a lot of swelling still.  I am allowed to remove the boot and move my foot around a bit, but just don't over do it.  They said after the surgery I can only be on it for 5 minutes at a time, and this still applies.

My next appointment is March 8th at 10AM.  I will be getting my stitches taken out at this appointment, and will be given a little more mobility also.

Well, it's time for the pic. If you get sick to your stomach easy you might not want to look at it.

I think It looks pretty good.  There is a lot of writing on it still from where he marked everything before the surgery.  After the doctor put my dressing back on I got extremely hot, light headed and lost hearing.  I just about fainted, but after a bottle of orange juice and a cold rag I was just fine.  I had not eaten a whole lot before the appointment, so I think this had something to do with it.  I'm fine now, and getting ready to go to bed.