My name is Carole. I am the mother of three grown up children. I work as a self-employed book keeper for my family’s building company. I’m a keen golfer and can swim a fair bit.
On 23rd May 2016 I had a total ankle replacement at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London. Here is my story.
My ankle problems began early in my life with regular visits to my local hospitals in South East London, having sprained my ankle. I can’t actually remember if it was always the same ankle but certainly in my later years it was always the left ankle that went.
Around 6 years ago I found that walking was starting to become increasingly painful. I saw my GP who prescribed anti-inflammatories which did nothing but get me out of his waiting room. I tried to carry on but one day out on the golf course the pain was so severe that I could barely walk back to the clubhouse. I was in serious trouble.
A friend recommended a physiotherapist she had been seeing. He spent a good deal of time listening to me and then examined me. “I think you might have grown a little bone spur in there.” He finally concluded. He advised me to return to my GP with this information and request an x-ray. Sure enough there was a bone spur and I was referred to an ankle surgeon. I would need an operation.
And this was how my journey began.
My first surgery, an arthroscopy and cheilectomy, removed the bone spur and gave me some relief for a while before I was back again, in pain again. A ligament reconstruction (Bostrum Gould) was next alongside a repair to an osteochondral defect. At least now my ankle was more stable and no longer turned over quite so easily. Then, once again in pain with another bone spur I had yet another arthroscopy. The surgeon advised that it was not going to be a good idea to have any further surgeries to my ankle.
So when the pain starting developing again early in 2015, I felt that I needed a second opinion and started researching top ankle surgeons. My search led me to Mr Andy Goldberg at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Initially my GP thought that he couldn’t do the referral but when I went back a second time he found Mr Goldberg using his choose and book system and the referral was done.
My first visit to Mr Goldberg was interesting in that he first sent me for x-ray, of BOTH ankles and weight bearing. No other surgeon had done this before. Armed with the x-rays he referred me for an MRI scan and a CT scan with arthrogram (dye). I’d previously had one, or the other, but never such a comprehensive series of tests. Following these tests I also had a steroid injection in the ankle joint which, although not giving any relief, was certainly diagnostic and we knew exactly where the pain was coming from.
In December 2015 I was diagnosed with end-stage osteoarthritis of the ankle and was told that I was equally suited to fusion (arthrodesis) or total ankle replacement. Mr Goldberg was running a trial (The TARVA Trail http://www.anklearthritis.co.uk/) and I decided to sign up.
At this time I met Deirdre Brooking the trial co-ordinator who was to prove to be a valuable friend and supporter over the coming months. I was sent for another MRI scan to be used as part of the trial.
I should mention at this point that the pain was now severe. I struggled to walk barefoot or in flat shoes and had given up golf as I couldn’t walk the course any more. I shouldn’t have been surprised therefore when the call came in two days after my MRI to advise me that I had developed a stress fracture. I was now non weight bearing, on crutches and in a walker boot.
Although I was non weight bearing for three weeks I remained in the walker boot using crutches most of the time until my surgery date.
When I had my pre-op assessment I was “randomized”. This was for the purpose of the trial and was the moment when I found out that the procedure chosen for me was a Total Ankle Replacement. Oh my word!!! This was getting real now.