Judy’s Foot Fusion Story

Surgery day was Monday, May 20th. Lance and I stayed at a hotel next to Waltham Mass General to reduce the stress of an early morning 2 hr drive in rush hour traffic. We took Sunday afternoon to visit Minuteman Park in Lexington/Concord and we had a beautiful day. As much as we both love historical sites we have never been there which is crazy because it is so close to home. Everything at Mass General went well and I woke up from the surgery and didn’t feel nauseous till I started moving around to get ready to leave. A few saltine packages worked great. The one thing different was that Lance wasn’t allowed to sit with me through the process of pre-surgery anesthesia. I sat with him the whole time before his knee surgery in Concord. Luckily it went very quickly. Don’t remember anything after nerve block which did not hurt at all. Left Waltham and was home around 5pm. I was told to take pain medication before bedtime so that when the nerve block wore off I would have some medication in...

I thought I had months to get ready and then my date was moved 2 months sooner so it was a mad rush. Medical - I got all my supplements ahead with 2 to 3 months supply. For my RA I do take supplements to stay healthy so I wanted to make sure I had my normal items. A huge concern for me were my RA meds. RA meds prevent inflammation and you need inflammation for healing and for the bones to fuse. Fortunately the meds I take Sulfasalazine and Plaquenil I can continue to take while recovering so I will hopefully not have RA flares. Home supplies - I made sure I had plenty of cleaning and toiletry supplies. Canned goods, coffee. I wanted to have more prepared foods in the freezer but I only got a few things ahead like pulled pork and stew. Prepared TV dinners on hand. Work -I do bookkeeping work for several small clients so I made sure I was prepared to do more work at home and made sure I had ink and paper ahead. This was very involved and was very worrisome. Can’t drive so I have 2 ...

I had determined after therapy, cortisone and research that surgery was the only option. I live in NH and there are many good options for orthopedic care but I didn’t want to just choose another doctor who may not have done a number of these surgery’s. I discovered that Mass General has a ankle center with cutting edge care. During my research I wasn’t sure if I might need a complete ankle replacement so I decided to go with the most experienced for all things ankle and foot. My RA doctor scheduled more tests and an MRI so when I started the surgery path testing would be complete. I made my appointment at the Mass General Waltham Center for a month away with the Surgeon’s assistant. My appointment went very well and I received a better explanation and my actual ankle was okay and it was my Talo-Navicular joint that was the only issue. They did additional x-rays and I made another appointment for the surgeon and had them put me on the surgery list. The soonest date they had was July whi...

My story is one of Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was diagnosed many years ago with RA and it all started in my feet from day one. It wasn’t until my hands became inflamed that my family doctor immediately thought it was RA. Talk about scared to death. I was tested and confirmed and began medications which kept me stable for many years. My right ankle started with severe pain over a year ago but it was very intermittent. My Rheumatologist suggested I go to the ankle specialist at the practice but the pain would stop and it wasn’t until it became constant that I went to a specialist. I actually went to the emergency orthopedic care at the practice and was X-rayed and confirmed to have severe arthritis in the foot and the cartilage was gone at the Talo-Navicular joint. It was not at all what I expected. I made an appointment with the ankle doctor at the practice and that did not go well. I will say that I had great care from my RA doctor and my husband had a wonderful knee doctor at this prac...