A year has gone by since the last of my two prior peripheral nerve surgeries. My first one was 5/2/12 for the decompression of the Common Peroneal Nerve and the Superficial Peroneal Nerve. My second surgery on 9/25/12 was for the Deep Peroneal Nerve on the top of my foot, and for the Proximal Tibial Nerve entrapment at the level of the Soleal Sling. See my prior blog for the complete story on these surgeries.
My left leg took a major hit so to speak this year while undergoing my Proximal Tibiofibular Joint Stabilization Surgery on 5/14/13. Please see my www.fibularpain.com for all the blogs pertaining to diagnosis, surgery, and post surgery recovery updates. I had to undergo a 3 inch vertical incision directly over my prior 2 inch horizontal incision of the Common Peroneal Nerve anterior to the fibular head in order for the open reduction and internal fixation of the Tibiofibular joint surgery to occur. Because the surgeon had to touch the nerve and move it out of the way to do the fixations along with post-op swelling, my Common Peroneal nerve had been temporarily aggravated with the new surgery. It was quite overwhelming in the first month as I kept on thinking, “I hope this new surgery doesn’t undue the success I had with the prior surgery to release the nerve”. There were moments of the most horrific, shooting, burning pain that would just make me cringe. I was given Gabapentin for the nerve pain, yet I never took one pill because of its side effects. I worked hard at keeping my leg iced and swelling down and I made it through the dark days and I did see the light at the end of the tunnel.
By the 3-4 month post-op mark, I would say 90% of all the post-surgical peripheral nerve pain was gone. When the other 10% was manifesting, it was localized directly down my anterior/lateral leg below the line of the surgical scar to my anterior/lateral ankle. The nerve pain was gone from the dorsum(top) of my foot. So I would say that the Superficial branch of the Common Peroneal Nerve is still slightly affected and the Deep Peroneal is now fine. With the swelling 95% gone around the fibula head, I am not affected there either. Only with too much exercise of knee with increased swelling is the Common Peroneal nerve irritated a little bit, otherwise good to go!
As I write this post, I am currently in a short leg cast on my left lower leg for ankle/subtalar joint issues. I am writing those stories under the subtalar joint instability category. I would be outright miserable right now in a cast trying to cut it off if I still had my prior nerve condition/symptoms. I am so thankful I had those nerve surgeries before dealing with my current subtalar joint issues.
For those readers out there with peripheral nerve issues whether they be idiopathic (in my case, and also see Malalignment Syndrome) or diabetic related, I highly encourage them to review my prior blog and its references to The Dellon Institutes for Peripheral Nerve Surgery. I am truly nerve pain free compared to many years of symptoms before my surgeries. My patient to patient advice is to educate yourself and then take the information to your local doctor and remember that any one doctor does not know everything. It has been my experience that I’ve paved the way for some of my local doctors with my research and they are now helping other patients with peripheral nerve issues beyond just drug therapy by directing them to the Dellon Trained Nerve Surgeons. See website: https://nevadanervesurgery.org
To live life to the fullest, do not let your peripheral nerves be damaged by entrapment or compressions. All I can say is if I ever have any other peripheral nerve issues arise in my other leg, I will not hesitate to seek out a peripheral nerve surgeon from the get go. Not all nerve symptoms come from spinal issues. They simply can be localized to the extremities. No masking symptoms with drugs for me!
To your health,
Author-Kim
