Glynis is bowled over by her new ankle

The story begins in January 1996. A 42-year-old Glynis was enjoying a night out, on the dancefloor of a London hotel. All was well, but one tiny movement was about to have a huge impact on her life. 

“I slipped,” she recalls, “and my ankle dislocated.” Her casual tone disguises the seriousness of the injury. She continues, “It had twisted round so it was actually facing me.”

With no one in any doubt as to the extent of the damage, she was taken straight to Accident and Emergency. Blister burns on the skin from the injury meant it would be some time before Glynis’ ankle could be operated on. “After a long wait, they fixed it up,” Glynis continues, “but it was a particularly bad break, and it took me quite a while to get over it, to get back on my feet, so to speak.” 

However, the after-effects of an injury like this can come back to haunt patients, and this was, sadly, the case for Glynis. “Arthritis started to develop,” she says, “and it just got worse and worse. The catalyst for me,” she explains, “was in 2017. I went to pick one of my granddaughters up from school, and tried to get out of the car, but I was fixed to the spot. I couldn't walk, and I was in tears because I knew I had to go and get her.”

Nothing, not even chronic arthritis, could stop Glynis from picking up her granddaughter in time. But from that moment on, her mindset changed. “I couldn’t go on like that,” she says.

A big decision

Glynis started researching ankle specialists online, and it wasn’t long before she found one that looked like he had experience of a lot of ankle conditions – Mr Andy Goldberg. 

“I read about Mr Goldberg on a website written by one of his patients, so I made an appointment and went to see him. He explained everything to me: my X-rays, the different options… he gave me all the information I needed to feel comfortable.”

The options in question were ankle replacement and ankle fusion. While both procedures are good for reducing pain and improving patients’ quality of life, it can feel like a big decision to make – and it certainly did for Glynis. 

Ankle fusion, in which the ankle bones are fused together, can improve stability but removes movement from the joint and can therefore transfer the pressure elsewhere in the surrounding joints which have to work harder in normal everyday activities. Ankle replacement, meanwhile, preserves joint motion, helping with everyday movement such as going up and down stairs, but because it is a mechanical joint, can loosen with time, and so may require revision surgery after 10 or 15 years. 

Once Glynis made her decision, opting for the ankle replacement, the pace picked up considerably. “Mr Goldberg booked me in, got the prosthesis made, and I had the operation,” says Glynis, counting off the events on her fingers. 

Of course, in order to ensure the best possible outcome from procedures like this, follow-up care and rehabilitation is key. Over the following months – and years – Glynis has returned to see Mr Goldberg, both at his Elstree practice in Hertfordshire, and the Wellington Hospital’s Outpatients in St John’s Wood, London, where staff were accommodating – even when the requests were… somewhat out of the ordinary.

“The cast was due to come off just before Christmas,” Glynis remembers. “I took my Christmas elf doll along with me in the hope that I could get a picture of the staff removing my cast for my grandchildren,” she chuckles. “They were happy to help, and I got a great photo of the elf holding the plaster cutter!” 

Extraordinary results

After an initial check-up just weeks after the surgery, Glynis returned for her six-month review. At the time of her surgery, there had been extensive bone loss, which Mr Goldberg had rectified using bone grafts. These had taken well since then, and the physio work to increase her strength and mobility were showing good results. 

“Mr Goldberg suggested I try walking in water to help the strengthening process,” says Glynis, “and that worked really well too. I went to a hydro pool,” she continues. “They lowered me into the water, and I held onto the rail to help me complete a few laps of the pool. I did that every week for a while, and it really built my confidence.”

By October of the same year, when Glynis returned for her next check-up, the results were beginning to look extraordinary, not least in her quality of life. “Before the operation,” Glynis says, “we’d go on holiday, and every time I tried to get out of that plane seat to walk… oh my goodness, it was terrible. Six months after the replacement, we did the same and I walked off that plane no problem – it was just unbelievable.”

And the walking didn’t stop on the runway either. “We walked eight miles every day,” Glynis says, with a wide smile. “And when I came back, I told Mr Goldberg because I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe I’d walked that far!”

During Glynis’ most recent check-up, in August 2024 – an X-ray showed that all was well. Meanwhile, her life has changed dramatically – including a new hobby that will certainly put her new ankle through its paces.   

“I’ve taken up bowling, outdoor and indoor,” Glynis beams. After chancing on a bowling club in Billericay, Essex, where she lives with her husband, they decided to give it a go, and have been hooked ever since. “We play competitively with other clubs, sometimes up to three times a week. It’s nice because it’s competitive, but social.” 

When reflecting on the procedure and the new lease of life it’s given her, Glynis is clear about the thing that had most impact, however. “My recovery was pain-free,” she says. “I remember on the day after the operation, thinking how lucky I was to have no pain… and it’s been that way ever since.”