Greetings! I decided to start this blog for two reasons. a) I'm curious about blogs and have never done one before; and b) I thought my experience with ankle arthritis and distraction procedure might prove helpful to someone else.
As any of you with ankle arthritis no doubt know, it is not a commonly occurring condition. Usually, people only develop it many years after a significant injury to the ankle. So, there aren't a lot of us around to share information. And the typical ankle arthritis patient, so I'm told, is over 75 years of age. So for those of you significantly younger than that, a special welcome.
I am a 50 year old female who developed ankle arthritis as a result of a .22 caliber gunshot wound sustained during active duty with the US Army 30 years ago. No, not one of my brighter moments! Suffice it to say, a combination of a bad habit of resting my arm pointing down, and an illegally filed off firing pin I was not aware of, resulted in one of those moments you'd like to take back and can't.
I've been very fortunate. For the past 26 years, I've been very physically active and most people who knew me had no idea I had this injury. I played racquetball competitively, climbed small mountains, participated in martial arts, and denial worked very well. This was particularly gratifying as the prognosis from the Army surgeons had been all gloom and doom. First, they were convinced I would lose my foot to infection. Then they were positive I would be wheelchair bound by the time I was 30. I was delighted to prove them wrong.
A few years ago things began to change, and the downhill slide came very quickly. It seems like I went from never thinking about the ankle to thinking about it with every step almost overnight. As a variety of doctors began looking at X-rays, I got the sideways head tilt, the chin scratch "hmmmm" and the raised eyebrow glance from my foot to the X-ray and back again. One doctor actually said he'd seen better preserved joints on 200 year old mummies! I didn't need a medical degree to realize it wasn't pretty.
Because this injury occurred on active duty, it is a service-connected disability and the care and repair rests solely on VA. Anyone with VA experience knows that adds a whole new layer of interest to the issue.
