Today I went in for a minor surgery to remove the syndesmotic screw, the large screw that connected the lower ends of my tibia and fibula together. If you like the big words (fun!), the screw had been put in place to stabilize the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis - the tough fibrous connection that holds the distal ends of the tibia and fibula together.
We had hoped, one, that the screw would come out easily and in one piece and, two, that we wouldn't have to replace it with any other hardware. Neither of these quite worked out. The screw had broken about 3/8 inch from one end and so needed to be pulled out from both sides, meaning small incisions had to be made on both sides of my ankle. In addition, my surgeon decided to replace the screw with a "tightrope" system that holds my fibula in place against (basically) my tibia, but allows the two to move in relation to one another.
Some more info can be found online about Ankle Tighrope Syndesmosis Fixation. I'm not sure if that link describes the exact system used by my doc, but it makes the whole thing pretty clear and will certainly give you a better idea of what was done than I could accomplish here. Of particular interest, check the Rationale and Surgical Technique tabs on the left side.
All in all, I feel okay now, several hours after surgery. Of course, I'm on some pretty good pain drugs which always helps! I was able, though, to hobble in from the car without much trouble. I am, however, and despite the title of this post, back in my Darth boot for the rest of this week. Ugh.
All for now, I'm off to nap. G'nite!
