Where I’ve been…
Hey guys! It’s been quite some time since I’ve last posted. 2025 was an insane year for me. If you follow me on instagram you probably know what happened to me but in case you missed it, here’s where I’ve been!
In late 2024, I woke up on a weekday morning as I always have. Sat up to wipe the sleep out of my eyes from the night before. I turned my body to get out of bed, planted my feet firmly on the floor as I always have. Went to stand up and then I immediately, was sat back down by an excruciating pain. It’s a pain that I had never experienced before. My ankle locked and I couldn’t put any weight on it. I was so confused and I got worried for a second.
I sat on the bed for a few minutes and tried to shake it off. Eventually the pain had went away and I was able to get up and walk around. I’ve played sports all of my life so I just walked it off and I was fine. Thought it was odd but hey, I’m getting up there in age and sometimes I hurt in new places lol!
Over the coming days, the situation I described became a mainstay in my day to day life. My ankle kept locking and I was unable to put any weight on it. It got so bad that it started locking in the middle of the night and waking me up out of my sleep. Eventually I grew tired of it happening and sought out my medical team to figure out what was going on.
I’m not stranger to surgeries or injuries. If you play full contact sports throughout the majority of your life, you’re going to roll an ankle or maybe dislocate something the way. I had torn both of my labrum’s in my shoulders and biceps tendons as well. I had 2 major surgeries in a 4 year period. You find pretty good medical teams having to deal with this kind of stuff.
I reached out to the team at Penn and got an appointment to see an ankle specialist. She ordered an X-ray for me so we could get a preliminary look at to what could be going on. I sat in her office for a few after the X-ray and what she said next, astonished me.
She looked at me with concern and I said “Alright Doc, lay it on me.” She replied “When did you break your leg and ankle?!” I was taken aback by the question. I replied “Huh?!? What do you mean?!?” She said “At some point, your leg fractured where your tibia meets the ankle.” I couldn’t believe it! It was so shocking to hear that. You think that you know what a fracture would look or feel like but to my surprise, it wasn’t anything like any previous fractures I’ve had.
I was able to walk and run pretty normally. The issue was that at random times of the day and night, my ankle would completely lock and give me excruciating pain. I was unable to walk when it happened and it left me very confused. Never in a million years did I think my leg and ankle were broken. I coach youth girls basketball and track. I was pretty active and I couldn’t figure out how I did this.
She asked me to think really hard about it and try to pinpoint when it could’ve happened. I had a player run up into my leg and I slightly rolled my ankle. But that didn’t feel significant enough to break it.
She showed me the x-rays and informed me that it looked like I had floating pieces of bone in the joint and that was causing the locking. She highlighted where the leg was broken but I’d need an MRI to truly see the damage. So she ordered the MRI and referred me to an ankle surgeon for further treatment.
That hump is a bone spur that developed on top of my ankle
The surgeon got me in pretty quickly and we confirmed what the x-ray was showing. I had a broken leg and ankle and had several “loose bodies” floating in my ankle. We setup a plan and scheduled surgery for April of 2025! As I stated previously, this wasn’t my first rodeo with major surgery. Been there and done that multiple times but this ankle was a different beast.
The surgery went very well and she was able to get in and clean it up. Turns out I had torn the stabilizing ligament in the ankle as well and that needed to be reconstructed. She informed me that the recovery period was going to be a long one and that it could take a year or more before I felt like myself.
At my first follow-up, she showed me a photo of what she had removed, and I was, to say the least, shocked. These 7 bone fragments were causing havoc in the joint. It was so painful, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone!
My surgeon wasn’t kidding when she said that this recovery would be long. I have had setback after setback after setback with this thing. I developed a blood clot in the ankle, and was unable to rehab for quite a while. This thing has caused me so many headaches. So many sleepless nights. I’m 10 months post-surgery, and it’s still very swollen and tender.
The bursa sac is constantly inflamed, and I’m still managing pain. My pain tolerance is legitimately legendary! But this thing has been a massive problem. I was in a boot for months!
The swelling has been insane! I often times have trouble putting on shoes with this ankle because it’s just that swollen. This process has been tough but I’m built for it. Taking things slowly and one day at a time. I’m not where I want to be but slow progress is better than no progress.
I’m getting there….
