Back to the Doc.

So, things had been progressing just fine. I was out of PT and had even gotten backpacking a couple times. I was in the gym late-winter/early-spring, getting in shape for climbing and hiking season... and then my ankle starting giving me more and more problems. Mostly nothing big, just soreness, but occasionally there were days when it was painful enough that it was hard to walk.

So I got myself back into PT, and kept at it. A couple winter backpacking trips on snowshoes (very tame, nothing extreme) aggravated my ankle, so I laid off a bit, but kept stretching and strength training. Still no progress.

Eventually, I got myself back to the Doc, only to learn that I basically have no cartilage left in my main ankle joint, between the talus and heads of the tib/fib. Fusing my ankle is somewhere in my future, and I'm not real pleased about it.

For now, I'm gritting my teeth, taking some ibu, and carrying on. Once the pain gets bad enough, though, I'll be in for more surgery. And then recovery all over again. Have I mentioned that I'm not real pleased about it?

Just had an MRI on Friday, to determine just how much cartilage is left and whether or not I'm doing any damage to the peroneal tendons which (as I understand it) run through a small notch between the talus and the head of the fibula.

More soon.