How to Survive Your Spouse’s Knee and Foot Surgeries

My husband is entering into week 3 of recovery from his ankle surgery. He is back to work (has been since last Wednesday). He has a cast that should be removed on September 11th. From there he will start 6 weeks of rehab.

The situation…

Since March of 2011, he has had one ACL surgery, two meniscus tear repairs and now one ankle surgery. He was an athlete in high school and college in which he played soccer, basketball and competed in long jump/triple  jump in track. As a child he played hard. Through this, he has sprained all four sides of his ankles. On top of that his left calf was tight. This past November, he was running, just running, down the basketball court during a Sunday night pick up game and he felt his ankle pop. It never healed. He went to the doctor, in which he was told that he has only seen this in 60 year old men. Lovely!

Ankle Surgery

So on July 27th 2018, he had surgery. He had a tendon moved around, a bone graph/cadaver put in his arch (he is flat foot which didn’t help) and the calf tendon lengthened. I have to say his pain has been better than with his knee surgeries. He is getting around so much better. He is non-weight bearing for 6 weeks.

How do you prepare?

How do you deal with a spouse’s surgery? A lot of prayer and patience. You realize it is just temporary and really a short amount of time. Enlist the help of friends and family if needed. For instance, we have a riding mower and I’m not in the frame of mind nor have the patience to learn how to drive that thing. – no thank you!

The first night, you will feel like a nurse that is available 24/7.

It should get better after the first 24 hours or so.

Things you will want to have on hand:

• Over the counter pain meds- yes, they will be getting prescription pain killers prescribed but for inflammation, tylenol is recommended. Check with your doctor first and follow their instructions for this.
• A big cup of water with a lid and a straw- this is so it doesn’t spill in the middle of the night or your kids don’t spill it while your spouse is laying on the couch during the day resting.
• Lots of those flat blue ice packs- although they should provide these at discharge, it’s nice to have plenty stocked in the freezer and ready to go.
• Pillows- lots of them! For some reason, we didn’t have many on hand this time around. A lot of ours were old and I tossed them.
• A sheet or light blanket- because the bandages will bulk up their leg and they will need to prop their leg up on pillows. They won’t be sleeping under the covers until they are past the point of needing to prop their leg up.
• Applesauce, jello, crackers, etc.– Depending on how your spouse may feel after surgery, they may not be up for eating a lot. Anesthesia can also mess with their system. Also, if your situation was like ours this time around, their surgery time could get pushed back. Yep, my husband’s surgery was scheduled for 12:30 and he didn’t go in until 3:20. Needless to say by the time he got out of surgery it had been a full 24 hours since he had last eaten!
• Movies or tv shows to binge watch- you won’t be going anywhere for a few days while they recuperate. Might as well act like you are ‘snow bound’ and have a list of movies and tv shows to watch.
• Menu plan- have an idea of some easy meals you can make so you can focus on tending to your spouse.
• Knee walker scooter– this is a MUST HAVE. He has not touched his crutches since the day of surgery and uses this to get around since he was able to be up and around. He just hops down the steps and I carry the scooter for him, ha! Obviously, if your spouse has knee surgery, this won’t work but for ankle and foot surgeries, it is a blessing!

I wanted to create this list and post because when I went looking for tips on helping someone recuperate and prepare for ankle surgery their were no tips or videos out there. We knew the drill for knee surgery, but foot and ankle surgery was totally different territory. So here’s my contribution.

If you get grossed out by incisions and surgery sites, scroll past QUICKLY!!!

 

Here’s his incisions at follow up….

Surprisingly, the recuperating is not as bad as I thought it would be. I’m not going to lie though I’m nervous about the bill. Yes we have insurance but not exactly sure what our out of pocket is going to be since we no longer have an HRA like we had for the previous surgeries. I am thankful that at least he can bend his knee and ride around on one of those knee walker scooters!

 

So, take a deep breath! You will get through this! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments. I’d be happy to help!

 

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. This is merely our experience and in no way, am I giving medical advice. Please consult your doctor, if you have any concerns.

Please feel free to comment and share this post…