Back under the knife

Following a climbing accident around four years ago my ankle is still screwed up and having seen several orthopedic specialists my options seemed to be either live with it or have it fused.  Neither sounded particularly appealing.  I read about "ankle distraction arthoplasty" and made a trip to NY to speak with a specialist.   

They basically cut into the ankle joint, remove all the bone spurs, scar tissue, arthritis, etc., put a cage around the ankle and pull the joint open and inject stem cells into it.  All this is to promote growth and repair of the cartilage.  They also lengthened the gastrocnemius to allow for a better range of motion.

 

 I ended up having severe nerve pain and numbness in my foot caused by old scar tissue from the original accident and the distraction and ended up needing a second surgery to open up the tunnel the nerve travels through.  Nerve pain is a whole different type of pain that I hope to never experience again. 

Now, at the half way mark, the pain is still there but much less and still swells up very quickly but I'm starting to see the finish line ahead. 

Dark Star, 5.10C, Sierra Nevada

Dark Star is the route in yellow on the right

End of summer... time for a climb! My buddy David and I took a stab at Dark Star. A LONG alpine trad route in the Sierra. We got a 3:30 start, hiked the 7 miles to the base and began the climb. The crux pitch right off the deck, I threw scissors and David threw paper, I got to lead it!

Did the entire route car to car. My ankle was sore but tolerable and it was great to get out and push it again.

The first tower had some great climbing on it and the second tower had a cool chimney and 10b crack. After that it turned into many rope lengths of simul-climbing until we eventually decided to just coil the rope and keep on going (4th and low 5th class terrain).

Looking down from the top of the first (.10c crux) pitch.

David following the first pitch.

At the base of the second tower looking back down...

Summit of Temple Crag, 12,999'

Still a long descent and walk back to the car!

Anba View Camera

Backpacking with a view camera, lenses, film holders, light meter, changing tent is not the easiest thing to do. After doing the entire John Muir Trail (200+ miles) with a metal wista field camera and some beefy lenses inspired me to look for an alternate 4x5 backpacking camera.

The Anba fit the bill perfectly. Light, geared movements and just pretty to look at.

My only complaint was the inability to use a roll film back. So, I bought a solid piece of cherry wood and picked up a graflock back from a monorail camera and ground a bunch of the "excess" aluminum off it and joined the two. Works beautifully with the 6x12 horseman back. Take a look:

Happy times in the Sierra

Laying here, foot elevated and waiting for the swelling to go down after my second day back at work. I decided to look through my catalog of photos from the last couple of years and came across a series of panoramas I made while out in Pioneer basin in 2008. It's bitter-sweet looking at such things right now yet I'm hopeful I can make a trip or two still this summer.

Update #2

Almost two weeks after the surgery and three weeks immobile on a couch...

Still swollen and not able to bend my ankle but looking a lot better than before!

x-ray showing the five screws put into my talus bone, heel back in the right place and tendons lassoed back into place. The specter of AVN looms over me and certainly has me worried about being able to return to my former activity level.... only time will tell.

Update #1 - Happy Birthday.

Appx. 6 pm Saturday evening, heading into surgery....

Just in case you aren't sure which leg needs fixing...


After getting a neural block for my leg which didn't last nearly long enough after surgery! Apparently, being fit helps you process the drug faster.

Stayed at the hospital overnight, back home with a fire hydrant for a foot. Very heavy and extremely painful to move (worse than being broken!) None-the-less, I am relieved because I know the long climb out of this can begin. Oh yeah, happy birthday!

J-Tree and Pain - the loss of spring.

A perfect Saturday at Joshua Tree NP climbing some moderate routes with the CMC. The day near over I was leading up a 10b trad climb and my foot slipped a bit above my first piece. Just the right angle of foot and rock conspired against me. Hanging from the rope, just a foot or so above the ground, the strange angle of my ankle had me hoping it was just dislocated and could be popped back in. The guys from the CMC were great! They got my stuff back down, me to the ER and my car back to LA the next day.

After several hours at the ER w/o pain meds or as much as a bag of ice I finally got someone to give me some pain killers and then an x-ray. By the look on the tech's face it was clear that I wasn't going to walk this one off. Brian drove me back to LA that night with a brand new boot and a pair of crutches.

Back in LA, got an appt with the ortho on Monday where I was told the swelling would need to go down before anything could be done... the following Saturday I was in surgery. It appears the talus broke in half, dislocated, the heel bone dislocated (shoved forward) and several of the tendons dislocated. Five screws and a day later I was back home wishing to get some sleep at night, hating the TV, wondering how long it will be before I am able to get back out again.