Asking for diagnosis

[Tobra]

The talar dome lesion is from when she turned the ankle and the talus knocked into the fibula. The bone underneath the cartilage gets damaged, collapses and the cartilage covering it sort of falls apart. Lateral ankle ligaments get torn all the time. Torn lateral ligaments and torn medial(deltoid)ligament, not so much. A lot of the time, the deltoid ligament will snatch a piece of tibia off the end before it tears.


There is no magic cure. When it talks about interval progression of talar dome lesion, when was the imaging previously done? MRI, not xray, xray won't show you much.

I think you need a second opinion.

[jamesnmlaw]

Tobra - thank you for the reply. I agree, another opinion. At 55, the options from today's appt. didn't really seem appropriate. There must be something more than wait and see. The saga continues!

[jamesnmlaw]

Tobra - the MRI was about six weeks ago, about 13 weeks after the onset of the May exacerbation. Sorry, I forgot to include that information. Other options the PA suggested were fusing or ankle replacement. Lynn opposes both. From the PA, the only suggestions were PT and walking in a swimming pool. I’ve seen info on Bio-cartilage and such. Also, surgery to repair the completely torn ligaments. If after a few months the MRI shows the complete ligament tears are present, how would PT and walking in a pool help? Lynn did the talar bone scape a few years ago but I understand that is not a permanent solution.

[Tobra]

You get stability from more than one thing. The idea is that if the muscles around the joint are stronger, they stabilize it better. You also will improve proprioception, which is the ability to know the position of your foot relative to your leg. On the end of the leg, obviously, but is the heel inverted or everted, ankle plantarflexed or not, that sort of thing. Ligaments help with that, but being gone, not so much. Walking in the pool is a low/no impact way to get the activity without the weight bearing.

There are some good braces out there, she should probably be wearing one of those, or taping it to protect it from reinjury, maybe even that in conjunction with a boot or support in the shoe.

Squirting some platelet derived growth factor in there sounds cool, but it seems a waste if the instability is not addressed first. How is she getting around? There is a scooter that your knee rests on that is pretty handy.

How far from Las Cruces are you?

[sugarwood]

MD scheduling for Feb?
You can't get a doctor's appointment for 5 months?
WTF

[rfuerst911sc]

I have nothing to add other than I hope you and your wife find a solution .

[gsxrken]

Has she been tested for Lymes disease? I’ve heard a huge range of puzzling symptoms with Lymes. And there are false negatives possible with the blood test, too. Some doctors will treat for Lymes regardless if the symptoms add up. Wishing your wife (and thus you) the best here.

[Tea Tray]

Consider insisting on an MRI for her spine.
Without MRI and resultant two back (L5 area) surgeries, my lower leg pain would be debilitating.
Also I had a test using needles and some sort of machine to record my nerve responses.
I struggled with ankylosing spondylitis for 10 years prior to being diagnosed - 3 surgeries I didn’t need.
At 65 and getting AS at 18, I get good relief from annual RF ablations in my lower back.
I wish your family well…