I had a longstanding follow-up appointment with my orthopedist today. I walked back and he was talking to my physical therapist (whose office is across the hall).
After I finished giving the PT a light berating for Tuesday’s fiasco, the orthopedist came in, and started investigating why my foot’s not getting better.
His conclusion: Two of the major tendons that hold my foot together (the anterior and posterior tibial tendons) are starting to fail. He thinks that I need to get surgery to prevent the tendons, anterior tendon in particular, from snapping.
And not just simple laproscpic surgery, no no. But “let’s disassemble and reassemble half your left leg” surgery that would leave me on crutches for 4-6 weeks.
Resetting at least one of the two affected tendons, lengthening the calf muscle (which he thinks is putting more strain on the tendons), and doing a couple other things that went over my head. 4-6 weeks, no weight on the foot at all.
I have a job where a substantial portion of my day is spent schlepping stuff from Point A to B, and occasionally to C. I live on the second floor of a building with no elevator. 4-6 weeks on crutches is going to be a special little corner of hell for me.
The orthopedist at least is willing to try re-targeting my physical therapy and really ramping it up for a couple weeks to see if it at least makes a difference.
He also, whether he likes it or not, will have to wait for both the show’s season to wrap filming (my boss is directing the finale, and ain’t no fucking way I’m dealing with that on crutches) and for me to get a second opinion, since I’m clearly not going through with anything this drastic without getting a second goddamn opinion.
I’ll know more in a couple weeks after doing the intensive PT and seeing how it works, but it’s not looking good. I’ve written off today to wallowing, but hopefully starting next week, the re-targeted PT will actually start paying off.
Cross your fingers for me.