r/TarsalCoalition

I had a talocalcaneal resection 3.5 months ago. It has been up and down, and now I’m struggling a lot. Every step I take still hurts. I still can’t work out. I’m worse off than before surgery. I still have a lot of pain, and have issues getting up and standing, to the point where I’m limping. When I stand from sitting, I get sharp pains. My outer foot still hurts, and I have a hard time lifting and rolling my foot forward when walking.

I know it will get better, but it’s hard. Everyone around me seems to think I should be magically healed and better after 3 months. My job gave away my office while I was recovering, and wants to move me to a more physical position (idiots,) and then denied my work accommodation to work remote even though all my tasks are computer based. Now I have to get on disability, and have already been unpaid for weeks and will struggle to pay rent.

The pain is just getting to me. Although I got the resection elsewhere, I’ve developed subtalar joint pain. My doctor thinks it’s because that joint didn’t move properly before surgery. I’m starting to think maybe something is wrong. I had to take a break from PT due to doctors orders, and now I can’t go back as I’m past the 12 week mark. I don’t think I’m walking correctly. My doctor is aware of the pain and gave me a steroid shot. She said I have a ton of scare tissue. The shot has helped, but it’s only taken the pain down a notch. I’m worried, and I just want to cry at this point.

This monday, I finally underwent surgery on my left foot, which has been bothering me for years (I'm currently 16). I ended up having the coalition resected, the peroneal and achilles tendons lengthened, a wedge in my heel to point it in the correct direction, another wedge in the left side of my foot, one more in the right, two screws through the heel to correct the flat foot, and my ligaments were stitched to tighten them a bit.

I'll give the overall timeline here:

I got to the hospital around 9:30, and practiced with crutches beforehand to get the hang of it. They gave me the IV around 11:00, and I was able to talk with my surgeon for a little while afterwards. I made it back to the OR around 11:25 or 11:30. That would be my guess.

I woke up pretty late from the procedure (around 4:45), which took a little longer than expected. According to my surgeon, it was a great success. My anesthesiologist also managed to perfectly administer the nerve block, which is expected to last for 96 hours. Apparently, the foot starts to develop a strong tingling feeling as the nerve block wears off, so I'll be taking oxy as soon as I feel anything of the sort.

I was initially pretty reluctant to leave the hospital, as the anesthesia was taking a while to wear off. We ended up leaving around 5:45. I will say, anyone undergoing this procedure will have no problem falling asleep on day one. I slept until 7:30(pm) or so, was awake for a little while, and then slept until around 10:00 the next morning.

I kept (and have been keeping) to a religious med-cycle during the night, so I'm taking everything I need. I've had a steady rotation of gabapentin, tylenol, ibuprofen, and valium.

That morning the inflammatory pain started to break through. That type of pain is not covered so well by the nerve block I guess. I was able to take the tape off of my cast at that point, which allowed it to expand, providing some relief from the pain. That pain kept around for the whole day more or less, but never really got much higher than a 5. It was another sleep-filled day for me.

I am a bit of a dunce for not realizing that I needed legit elevation, so things were more painful than they needed to be. Around midnight on the second day, I finally elevated it properly (above heart level), and when I woke up this morning, the pain had more or less subsided. It also helps that I'm past the time of peak inflammation.

As of now, I'm sitting pretty. I haven't had any problems so far with the crutches, which is nice. I am more or less biding my time, just waiting for the nerve block to wear off. Interestingly, my toes have had some feeling for the past 36 hours or so. It has just been a steady pins and needles feeling, and they are very static-y to the touch. That does feel kind of weird.

I'll keep editing this post as time goes on. Hopefully I can provide some valuable information for anyone going through with this procedure.

I'm happy to answer any comments or questions, seeing as most of the day will be spent sitting around or watching the World Cup.