The Verdict Is In

So its official, I have to go under the knife! That sucks - well for now it does. Should be back stronger and better afterwards for having done it.
I saw the surgeon on Friday morning, he gave me the good news... and the bad news. The good news is that the op will be 3 fold. It will be initially an arthroscopy where they will be inserting 2 cameras/implements inside my ankle joint itself to have a look around and clean out any of the damage I have done to it that presently floats around giving me aggrevation. They will also at the same time do a final assessment of the ATFL ligament and then on the way out, they will also remove a ganglion which sits on top of the front of my ankle. Very good.
The surgeon will then cut across the top of my ankle bone and around the front of it to make a flap of skin which he will peel back. This will allow him to pull back and stitch in my ATFL by my ankle bone. Once this is done, he will replace the flap of skin back over the newly stitched ligament and will sew it back closed. By all accounts he will make a messy job of it, because it means that more scar tissue will develop and that the ligament will heal up better and tighter this way. Very good.

He also told me that I would be in a cast for 6 weeks, then in a moon boot for 6 more weeks... then following that I would start my rehab proper. By all accounts there are some risks with the op, but none too stressful from my point of view. Being a fit active person who is a non smoker removes most of them. The majority are about blod clotting etc, so often they prescribe blood thinners, but they don't like to do that as it can more easily lead to infection in the wounds. Sounds like the compression gear might even come in handy following the op if this is the case.

All very interesting.