Ertl = waste of time

To anyone seriously considering this surgery: don't do it. If you're doing all right, you're doing much better than you think. Don't do what I did, and believe the surgeon who told you his technique heals faster and stronger than the "true" Ertl procedure. I still had stitches at 5 weeks; a true Ertl has stitches for 10 days. A true Ertl is walking within 4 weeks.

I'm now 8 weeks post-op, and I still don't have "significant bony healing" (their words.) So, it'll be another 4 weeks before I can think about a prosthesis. But don't worry, when those 4 weeks are up, and I've slipped and fallen on the ice too many times to count, then it'll just be another 6 weeks. In other words, I'll most likely never walk again. All because I was greedy, and wanted to be able to run. This should be an awesome Christmas.

If, by some miracle, I ever do walk again, I'll be too fat to walk more than 10 feet without having a heart attack. For those who don't know, spending every waking second on crutches is probably the worst possible way to go through life. Drop something? That's a 30-second penalty, and hopefully you don't lose your balance. Need to carry coffee across the room? Better take your time, and don't spill a drop. Oops, you did spill a drop, now that's a 2-minute penalty as you try to wipe it up without falling over. Need to carry anything at all up or down the stairs? Good luck.

When I'm not sitting at my desk all day, I'm sitting at home. Because I no longer have any desire to walk around. Thus, I'm probably gaining about a pound a day. That's pretty easy to do when all you do is sit and eat all day.

What if I just never go back for any more follow-ups?

Week 7

Thanksgiving will be the 7 week mark. Nothing really significant has happened lately, although the trip to Cleveland was a little disappointing. Dr Clair would like me to return in mid-December for another check-up, and only then can I start thinking about prosthetics. The problem is that I know that no one will be available during the Christmas holidays, which means I realistically won't have a leg until some time in January. I really didn't want to be contending with snow while on crutches, but it looks like that's where I'm headed.

I did have some x-rays taken in Cleveland, and I'll post them if I can obtain copies. If the bone bridge shows a callus formation, that should be the trigger for prosthetic fitting. Of course the bone bridge won't reach full strength for probably a year, but as long as the initial fusion has occurred, that's all that's important.

This goes against doctor's orders, but I made an appointment with my prosthetist for next Tuesday, 11/29, to have a plaster impression made. By the time the test socket is ready, hopefully I will have had my next check-up in Cleveland. And then, hopefully the real prosthesis could be ready before Christmas. That would be just over 11 weeks, which certainly should be adequate time for healing. Throwing away these crutches would be an excellent Christmas present.

Buckeye Bound

Off to Cleveland tomorrow morning, and stitches come out on Monday. Corrine almost convinced me to snip a few of the really painful stitches that are cutting deep into the skin, but I decided just to leave them alone. The incision is completely healed now, so the stitches truly are doing more harm than good.

Even though my thigh has atrophied down to nothing, my lower leg actually does feel quite strong. I can push with my palm against the end, and I have absolutely no sensitivity. This probably doesn't sound particularly remarkable, but I could never do that with my old stump. My old stump was basically just a big nerve ending.

I hope they clear me for prosthetics at my appointment on Monday. I don't know how I was able to handle crutches for almost 9 months back in 1995. I am really quite fed up with hobbling around on one foot. I also can't stand parking in handicapped spots. I've had a handicapped placard for a while, but just ask Corrine: I'll park half a mile away, rather than use handicapped parking. I never limped, and my prosthesis basically looked like an ordinary leg, so I assumed that everyone thought I was a fraud when I parked in a handicapped spot. I distinctly remember one time we visited the Kinzua viaduct. I was actually in some pain that day, and the lot was full, so I asked the parking attendant to direct us to the handicapped spots. She glared at us, assuming that a male in his 20s couldn't possibly need handicapped parking. As Corrine and I later walked past her, I heard her say, "Oh, there goes the handicapped couple!" I definitely stopped dead in my tracks, and thought about taking off my leg and waving it in her face. I opted for decorum, and I let it go.

I work with an amazing troop at Lockheed. Engineers have an undeserved reputation for being socially inept, maybe even antisocial. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every single person I work with has been supportive beyond my expectations. I guess that's why I returned to a full-time schedule so quickly.

When I was in high school, after I was fully recovered from my accident, there was a kid from Erie who managed to get his bicycle entangled with a train, and his leg was severed below the knee. (This was back when West 19th street had railroad tracks literally right down the middle. Yes, mile-long freight trains instead of streetcars.) I decided that I really needed to find this kid, and assure him that everything would be fine. I found out where he was taken, and I visited him in the hospital. A few days after that, one of the nuns at my school came to me and suggested that I go visit this kid in the hospital.... and I explained that I had already done so. After I'm fully recovered from this, I hope I can somehow promote the Ertl procedure. There's a lot of information on the internet, if you're willing to look, but it seems as though a lot of the medical establishment isn't convinced that it's worth all the extra hassle.

My Mentor

I wanted to give some recognition to the guy who basically singlehandedly inspired me to go through with this procedure: Earl Barnes. Here's his glamour shot (I hope he doesn't mind!)

Earl basically was in the same situation as myself. He lost his foot in an accident (his was a motorcycle, mine was a train) and lived with an amputation at the ankle for about 15 years. He finally decided that enough was enough, and went through with the Ertl BK. Obviously, he's a tremendous athlete now. But he's also a firefighter and rescue diver, so he routinely carries 80 pounds of equipment (or another human being.) So, this is all further testimony to the credibility of this procedure.

Out, damned stitches

Counting the days. minutes, and seconds until these stitches come out. I'm putting the odds of them actually coming out at 2:1. I surfed the entire Internet, from start to finish, and found no other cases of stitches being in this long. I am making medical history, folks.

I started to think that I would get used to them, but that's preposterous. For the last month, my body has been trying to tell me that I have 25 pieces of nylon sewn deep into the skin. I'm pretty sure that's something your body doesn't ever adjust to.

Pictures

Warning! Skip this post if you do not like seeing stitches. I'm posting this as medical information for anyone who wants to see what an incision looks like after 4 weeks. Other than one stubborn spot, I think mine looks good.

And here is the gallery: http://flickr.com/gp/jtocwru/438xog/

If your reaction is, "Wow, that doesn't look good at all," then (1) I should see if I can find the pictures taken right after the surgery, and (2) my old stump looked pretty bad, yet I was able to do just about anything except run. Before, I basically had skin over bone at the end, whereas now I have a thick cushion of muscle and connective tissue over a bone graft. Tim 2.0 should be bomb proof -- check back in a few months.

2 more weeks of stitches

I'm starting to feel like a full-fledged rock star now. I've got Percocet for pain, and melatonin to counteract the insomnia from Percocet. Fish oil, multivitamin, B100 complex, 1000 mg of C, 5000 IU of D3, zinc, and magnesium supplements daily. One of these things is bound to work.

The incision looks incredibly good, even though there's still a stubborn spot that continues to drain and remains sore. It'll be interesting to see whether they can get all of the sutures out, as a lot of them have disappeared under the skin. I'm convinced that the problematic suture might be through a nerve, and that's why it has been painful for nearly 4 weeks. Everything else has been healing nicely, and I don't have any tender areas. I really don't want to mess around with nerve damage, so I hope I'm wrong. It's just odd that touching that one particular suture is like a shock, and makes me think neuropathy.

Apparently, we truly don't make anything in this country any more. I noticed that my rolls of gauze are "made and sterilized in China." Seriously, is it that much more economical to ship cotton 10,000 miles, make gauze out of it, and ship it 10,000 miles back to the US?

CIGNA apparently still does not have the necessary documentation to approve an intermittent leave. It sounds like the Cleveland Clinic told them I wouldn't go back to work full time until after Nov 14, but I wanted them to say that I would be intermittent until then. If my doctor signs off on continuous leave until Nov 14, what's the problem with intermittent leave until then?