Broken ankle-2 years later

Posted on June 2, 2008 by Christi

Well I just thought I would let everyone know that almost exactly two years ago I had a trimaellor ankle break which I never thought I would walk again from. Slowly over the past two years I have re-learned to walk and run on it. It has gotten better with time. Two weeks ago I decided to see how healed it was. We went to Disney World. Which if you don’t know you walk ALOT….. As I told my husband this was a great test to see how it would hold up to all this walking. It did amazingly well. There was only one time that it twinged enough with pain that I took an hour break to put it up. Otherwise I just kept going and it was fine we went to all the park (even some twice all day long for one week and it held up really well. It still gets swollen here and there and it still lets me know its not perfect but I figure since I still have metal down there and since it was hanging off my ankle at one point I can’t complain.

1,654 thoughts on “Broken ankle-2 years later”

Liz on July 28, 2008 at 9:18 pm said:

Lois, I can definitely feel the depression easing up a bit. I think walking and the pain easing up a bit has really helped with lifting my spirits. I’m just praying things continue to improve. I wish I had the same problem as you… a decreased appetite! lol I think I may have lost a little weight just because I wasn’t able to pillage through the kitchen. I had to rely on other people to get things for me. But my appetite never suffered. During the first few weeks I wasn’t eating much but I think that had more to do with the terrible constipation I experienced (sorry if that’s too much info.) lol

Tammy, I’m so jealous! We started back today… have a week of pre-planning and then the kids come back next Monday. It seems like they keep pushing our start date back earlier and earlier. I teach in Georgia, by the way. I will miss at least 3 weeks and then not sure after that. We might be starting around the same time after all! 🙂 What grade/subject do you teach? I teach students with severe/profound intellectual disabilities, grades K-5. It would be exremely difficult for me to teach my kiddos while using a walker or from a wheelchair. I’m going to have to wait until my walking, strength, and balance get better. Anyway, keep me posted.

Hope everyone’s had a great start to the week!
lois on July 28, 2008 at 9:10 pm said:

Sorry Tammy, I read back and I see it is Renaud’s. Guess I was having a blond (or perhaps grey) moment.
lois on July 28, 2008 at 8:11 pm said:

One thing that really surprises me, is that no one else seems to be mentioning losing weight during this ankle thing. After I broke my ankle in March,,, and for the whole time I was in the cast, I had great trouble choking down food. I could drink copious piles of water, gator aid and fruit juices and was extremely thirsty… but I found it really difficult to anything solid. As a result, I lost all extra weight I was carrying and was actually wanting to put a bit back on just to get my strength up. I think the loss of appetite was caused by the stress and depression but I was really worried that if I didnt eat my bones would not have a chance to heal properly. Didn’t anyone else have this reaction to the break????
lois on July 28, 2008 at 7:29 pm said:

Karen, Interesting to hear about good results from the ultra sound. Hope it continues. Perhaps I should look into it as well.

Liz, So great to hear that you are noticing an improvement re walking. Even better though is that your depression does seem to have lifted. Amazing how walking again does that to a person. That is exactly my experience as well.

Tammy, Sorry for my ignorance here, but I don’t know what RSD is???? Glad you are comparing notes with Liz. You two seem to have much in common.

Sandra, Great to have you back on the site. Thanks for the info about walking. I guess I was doing it right after all. I walk up our road several times a day to stretch my leg out….perhaps 10 minutes each time… and do this 4 or 5 times a day. From some of the other posts, I thought that perhaps I should be going on mile plus long hikes, which I think I would still not be able to do. Sorry about your frustration over some thinking you should be progressing faster… Read my post 729151 about how this experience has changed my attitude…. about breaks and disabilities. Oh well, if I did suffer this affliction due to bad karma,,, then those who are “bugging” you will get their own pay back some day.

Melanie, Anklequest and Ana where are you guys???
Tammy on July 28, 2008 at 6:38 pm said:

Hi to all~

Hope everyone is doing well or atleast feeling light in spirit. The RSD is still quite painful and seems to be progressing. Stopped the medicine only due to lack of discipline. Need to pick it back up and start being a little more serious about it.

Liz~ What state are you in? Seems early to start. We go back on the 26 for 3 days and then return after labor day with students. (September 2) I went back for 11 days after 13 weeks to finish out the school year and I survived it. Lots of swelling but the kids were great.

I will keep you posted at this time I am 5 months out from ankle break. Ankle seems to be holding up well…RSD not so much.

Keep looking for the bright side 🙂

Tammy
Sandra on July 28, 2008 at 3:54 pm said:

Well, I just thought I would pop back in and say that someone at work last week did that ‘Oh I thought you would be better by now’.

I get a bit fed up with that kind of attitude, and that’s where this site really helps. Knowing that these are serious injuries that take time to heal, and that might be a lot longer than most other people think.

My new trainer who is a physio told me this weeks that ligaments can repair themselves, but very, very slowly. Nerve damage can also take up to two years to repair. Muscles repair much quicker, because there is more blood supply to them. Bones will heal quicker too.

No-one told me I damaged any ligaments when I fell, but anyone who has broken bones floating around inside may have done more damage, and surgery means cutting through skind and muscle and blood vessels etc.

And all of that has to heal. And it will take time.
And that’s what any critics out there need to hear!

Sandra
Sandra on July 28, 2008 at 3:43 pm said:

Lois, the bit on walking is supposed to read ‘little and often’. The physios also applied that to any of the exercises they recommended, particularly in the early stages of recovery.

Keep walking carefully.

Sandra
Sandra on July 28, 2008 at 3:41 pm said:

Hello out there. Have not been here for a while and there seems massess to read.

Hi to all, and one or two comments.

Erika, I am at 10 months and still in pain. For all of you newbies out there, it does sometimes seem to be a case of one step forward, and two steps back. Pain migrates around the foot, and when it takes hold seems to be there around three weeks, and just when I am thinking I cannot take anymore, ought to see a doctor, it eases off.

The most persistent foot pain I have had is the new one which is pain under the ball of my foot. Anklequest commented on that above, so I shall go and check the internet. That has not been helpful, as I cannot wear any kind of shoe, or walk anywhere without pain – though it is now less acute. I am doing massage and stretches, and now taking paracetamol for a week to see if it helps.

Pain today is where the leg articulates with the foot, as I am quite stiff. That’s because I did some gardening last night, which means standing, squatting etc. which my ankles do not appreciate.

Lois. Walking is great exercise and we need to re-learn it. However, the physios I have seen have said and often. That is, a fiteen minute walk twice a day is better than a longer one. I found I walked like a drunk, all over the place. Getting much better, but can still be a bit wobbly, especially after sitting down for a while.

Melanie. Your weight loss is brilliant. I would love to emulate you. Keep trying but find it hard.

Christi and Melanie, Thanks for the comment son Wii fit system. The adverts are tempting and I think I may give in and order one.

Clark. Glad to see you are still here, and it’s interesting to read about your fusion and all that goes with it. You have been through so much, but are still out there getting on with your life.

Don. I am glad that the wedding went well, and the dancing, and I hope the camping is enjoyable, and you don’t get mangled by your friends. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

I went away last weekend to a crime fiction festival, which was interesting and quite intense. Horrible wet weather most of the time, but it was really hot in my hotel room and my left ankle really swelled up, which means more pain. It has gone down again now despite the warm weather.

Hi to Anklequest. I am impressed with your recovery which gives me hope.

Night to all new and old-timers.

Sandra
Liz on July 28, 2008 at 12:00 pm said:

CLARK, thanks for the fusion update. I do hope you’ll keep us posted on your progress. I’m impressed that you’re already out walking the dog for a mile every day. That’s great! I know it’s been a long road for you so I’m glad you’re seeing progress, slowly but surely. I’m so jealous you’ll be getting back in the gym soon. Before my ankle break I was going to the gym every day taking kick and step classes and I had a personal trainer. I really miss it.

Wow, PAM, 12+ hour work days is a lot. What type of work do you do? I’m sure you’ve said before but I can’t remember. Sorry. How long have you been going to therapy for? I’ve been for about 3 weeks now, 2x per week and I still feel like it’s helping, but I know people who went for only a couple sessions and then felt they could do it just as well on their own. I’m not sure how long is typical for ankle injuries.

LOIS, I got a chuckle picturing your cane fight. 🙂 That guy seems to be doing great, only 3.5 months post surgery and 2 broken ankles! WOW! I hope I progress that well.

KAREN, I’ve had 4 or 5 ultrasound treatments so far on that spot right above my screw that’s been causing pain. Sometimes I think it’s helping but I’m scared to get my hopes up. What area of the foot are you getting it done on? What type of pain are you feeling there? Just curious what your experience is.

Well it’s been a little over a week now since I started walking. I can definitely feel an improvement. I’m not getting that tingling feeling all over the bottom of my foot anymore when I step and I’m not using as much upper body strength to hold myself either. The pain isn’t too bad from the arthritic spot when I take a step, but it’s definitely still there and it feels more stiff and sore in the morning… by the mid-morning/afternoon it feels better. I’m anxious to ditch my walker but don’t think I’m quite ready for that. I’m feeling better this week though… less depressed so that’s a good thing.

TAMMY, when do you start back to school? Pre-planning starts for us tomorrow but I’m not allowed to go. They won’t let me even stop by for a visit without a doctor’s release. I’m bummed about that but I know I need to take this time to let my ankle heal. Anyway, keep me posted on your progress and how things are going at school for you and your ankle. 🙂
Karen on July 27, 2008 at 3:19 pm said:

I had my first ultrasound treatment last Thursday and it helped so much! I could tell an immediate slight improvement and it felt more improved each day. I have my second treatment tomorrow and then Wednesday and Friday. I’m feeling very encouraged but hate to get too excited because I’m betting it is probable that the pain comes back once treatments are stopped. Whatever, I’m enjoying some reprieve for now.
lois on July 27, 2008 at 1:01 am said:

I had a laugh this afternoon, that I want to share with you. I was walking down the corridor of a mall in a neighbouring town, when I heard a male voice call out “hey”. I paid no attention until this same voice challenged a “cane fight”. Realizing I was the one being addressed, I turned to face a young man, with his own cane at the ready. We both started to laugh and he of about age 21 and me of about age 64, had a cane sword fight right in the middle of that shopping mall. I am sure the other patrons thought we were “wacko”, not only for the sword fight but because we were both howling with laughter while trying to keep our balance, dancing around on broken ankles. So of course we compared notes on what had happened to us. His was a motorcycle accident and he was 3 1/2 months post surgery, after breaking both bones in both ankles,,, surgery, plates, pins in both… scars on both sides of each leg, as well as a major scar on his left wrist which he also broke and which required surgery. So there we were in the middle of the mall with our jean legs pulled up comparing scars. He definately won… . But this guy was just AMAZING, he was so positive and good natured and with just his cane, was walking better than me although his injuries were much more severe and more recent. However, this really is the first time that I have actually had a good laugh about the situation,,, and I have to say it felt REALLY REALLY GOOD to laugh about the absurdity of it all.

P.S. This site is beginning to feel very lonely. Sandra, Anklequest, Ana, Melanie, Sharon and everyone else, are you still out there in cyberspace somewhere???
lois on July 25, 2008 at 11:39 pm said:

Hi Pam, My ortho surgeon was rather la de da about pt. He said try it if you want but you likely won’t need more than a few…. But i could be walking a lot better and limping a lot less than I am. And I did do three pt sessions and then did them at home, between appointments. Perhaps you could pass on the tips from the sports medicine doctors you work for to the rest of us. One of the things I have really noticed is that I cannot step onto something like the rung of a ladder AT ALL. I just do not have enough strength in that ankle to put much weight on any smaller area of my foot. Also it now feels like that foot is flatter somehow than the other one, without the spring. Boy working 12 hour days must be exhausting. I am not working at all, but find just working in the house or yard,,, I am much slower than before,,, but am picking up.
Pam on July 25, 2008 at 9:20 pm said:

Hi all- just got done catching up with everyone’s postings. I haven’t been on in a while because I’ve been workin 12+hrs a day and am exhausted by the time I get home to do anything. I’m a little frustrated these days with how swollen my ankle it, it is constant. The only time it isn’t is when I wake up in the morning. When/if does the swelling subside? Still having some achy feeling/a little bit of pain when I walk, but I think that is getting less & less. I’m thinking of stopping therapy, I just dont’ feel my therapist is doing much for me. Two of the doctor’s I work with both specialize in sports medicine and were athletic trainers before they became physicians and have given me more tips/exercises than my therapist has. My husband said I should stop paying the therapist & just work w/ my doctors in my clinic (for free). Can anyone tell me how long you stayed in therapy?
Hard to believe summer is almost over & “back to school” is right around the corner for the kids.
Hope everyone is doing well!
lois on July 25, 2008 at 11:01 am said:

What what what, nothing…. There is still no one sharper than you Clark. Your old body may be acting up, (re ankle)… but there is nothing at all wrong with your mind, or your opinions and viewpoint on life. You have really been the life of this blog and hooked the rest of us to it.

It sounds like you are coming along with that ankle. I am surprised that you are able to walk CJ for about a mile each night. I would have difficulty with that, even with my much simpler break,,, and only two 10 pound Shih Tzu’s tugging at the leash. We had two chow chows once upon a time…and the male “panda” was powerful enough that I couldn’t contain him on a leash, and my 6’1 , 217 pound husband didn’t find it easy either..although I doubt he would admit that. Ginger, the female was a teddy bear however…(just sweet as can be) contrary to the male who had a slightly aggressive nature.

I agree with you that ankle – leg etc breaks are the least respected and understood injury by the general populace. AND I would have to admit that I was one of those ignorant and guilty parties before this happened to me. (Maybe that’s why it happened to me…. bad payback Karma) MY OLD CONCEPT… well someone broke something… got a cast on… started whipping around on crutches which kind of looked like fun, (no pain once in the cast of course)… got the cast off,,, and just began running around again as if nothing had ever happened. (Boy was I dumb.)
MY NEW CONCEPT … that the entire populace (almost) is uncaring and self absorbed. That most people will back into you, cut in front of you or jostle you around whether you are in a wheelchair, in a cast, on crutches, a walker or have a cane,,, or are just plain obviously limping. And if not them, they will let their dogs run up and knock into you, leaving you hanging onto the nearest wall, tree, vehicle, lamp post or whatever to keep from being knocked to the ground. (which has happened to me) In a nutshell, my new concept of this sort of injury as I previously told my ortho surgeon is that it “just plain sucks”. The great thing about this blog is that whether our injuries were less or more serious than each other, we do each had a good understanding of the discomfort, pain, and the fearful concerns each of us face with respect to having a future of mobility. We know that on this site, we have an audience who does understand and does care. Got to run,,, have to drive about an hour to the vet’s office. Local scare,,, heart worm problem brought all the way to BC by some visiting dog from Ontario… almost clear across the country. So I need to pick up preventative medication for the two shih tzu’s.
Clark on July 25, 2008 at 1:56 am said:

AND KAREN. DIDN’T MEAN TO LEAVE OUT KAREN. HAVE A GOOD VACATION DON.

HOUSEKEEPING DONE. SORRY IF I MISSED ANYONE. GETTING OLDER I GUESS. GETTING FORGETFUL. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?

CLARK
Clark on July 25, 2008 at 1:54 am said:

Comment by Clark

July 25, 2008 @ 1:47 am

FUSION UPDATE:

Hello everyone. And LIZ and LOIS, the only consistant bloggers still out there is seems. Just thought I would give a fusion update. On Aug. 9th I will be 4 months post op. Seems like a long time, but since the original break (Trimallealor) May 18th of 2007, I have had four operations, spent 20 + days in hospital, and have worn the boot since the first operation. The doc gave me 3 PT appts, which the PT immediatley after assessing me was able to have him authorize 10 more.
With a fusion there is really no PT one can do, but there is alot that can be done for stride and gait, and muscle building to the atrophy in my calf and hamstring that has occurred since the fusion. Never had any atrophy before the fusion. But the fusion changes everything.
Am walking CJ the Chow Chow every nite for 1.1 miles, his must do routine. He gets tired of watching TV with me all the time and has to get out and mark his territory and smell who’s been by. Still painful, and even more so since I am concentrating on my gait, trying not to look to pathetic with my limp, trying to walk slower with more stability. Getting better.
Also using the abductor and aductor machines, the treadmill, the stationary bike, and leg press (first time today, my body weight plus 70 lbs. Just getting started with the PT. In fact when the PT ends, I will be in shape enough to transfer over to a hardbody local gym around the corner, which I just joined for 6 months. By hardbody, I mean no frills; not a meat market, not a place to hook up. Certainly wouldn’t want to be seen by too many people looking the way I do, but I feel like a change is around the corner. The weight and the Type II Diabetes will dissapear, hopefully.
Still on my pain meds, Norco 10 (Hydrochodone 1000 mgs, twice daily or a midday if I need it, with Advil and Aspirin. Can’t feel it like I used to, but definately know wnen it is not there. I think I will need it for some time to come.
Still hard to sleep, but the PT will help, and still have to sleep with the boot on. Feel naked without it and tossing and turning and covers, etc… make it too hard to be without it.
The brace is now useless without a special orthodic shoe. Still had just a bit of flexion before the fusion, but with my right ankle now stuck in a hard fixed 90 degree angle, with the brace on in regular shoe, when you step down you step down flat, can’t roll onto the heel and then roll off on the toes, so looks like hell. The boot is much better as it has a “rocker sole”, convex so that it rolls and make an artificial roll off, an actual almost normal walk, that disappears in the shoe, which has a flat sole. So I now have a sript (r/x) for a new pair of shoes, which will help alot. The left is still a twelve, but I think the right will have to be e VERY WIDE 13 or 14 as the brace is hard to get into a shoe, and takes up alot of space.
Getting up and down is still the same old Pain In the Ass it has always been. But thank God for small favors, at least there is some consistancy, even if it is nuetral, or negative. Always hard to start out walking, but it gets better and stronger once your’e going.
What else? This blog has changed, but then everything does now and then, doesn’t it. Not for the worse or better. Perhaps people really are on vactation or have moved on. I still write in when motivated and am glad to participate. Still interesting to read the other stories from the newer members. It may get back to normal someday, whatever normal is. None of us have seen “normal” since the second before the break. Most people don’t get that. I still think an ankle break is the least understood injury one can face, at least in the eyes of others. We certainly know what we face. Some get better, some stay in a holding pattern, some end up fused like me (no self pity here, glad I did it, better than the pain and looseness and slack, movement, than before).
But life goes on and there is always something new to learn or get used to.
I wish everyone well whereever they are, whatever they are doing, and just watch your steps. Summer is here, so is the drought, the fires, and the gas prices. Everyone enjoy and REMEMBER TO VOTE IN NOVEMBER, no matter how you vote. JUST DO IT.

Take care all.
Clark

(COPIED FROM BROKEN ANKLE ONE YEAR)
lois on July 24, 2008 at 6:31 pm said:

I think many people must be on vacation and away from computers, and I agree it is very quiet. Louise would be in New York about now, but other than that I don’t know. However, if everyone is now feeling well enough to be away vacationing, then that is a VERY good thing. I have holidaying on the lake right in front of my property, so for me, I will be just as happy when the crowds die down and I get the beach back to myself for a couple of months of fall weather before the winter storms start. I am getting better about walking in sand, but I dont dare venture along the beach other than in front of my property. I still cant walk into the water on the shifting sand though.
Karen on July 24, 2008 at 8:27 am said:

Lois,

Thanks for directing me to this site. I had been wondering where everyone was!

I have been reading about people having setbacks and I can feel your disappointment. This happens to me continually where I will walk without a twinge for awhile and then suddenly every step is so excrutiating that it could take me down! Wish I could figure out what causes these setbacks but maybe it is just part of the healing process and can’t be avoided?

Anyway, I’m having an ultrasound treatment today and wonder if any of you have ever had these done months after your injuries? During the physical therapy they never did this so am anxious to see what happens. My accident was 7 months ago.

Karen
lois on July 23, 2008 at 3:40 pm said:

Liz, I think you are still really early, and perhaps hoping for too much too soon. I was in a cast for 8 weeks after my break and surgery. Then cast off, no boot, but still another month until walking with a cane. (as per my prior posts) Frustrating, I know but have patience. I do not know anything about the cartilege issues though. My own ankle is quite a bit better again today, following two days of limping again and the thing aching badly. Had to sleep with it elevated again for two nights. Very nice to be able to walk again today. Have faith, and enjoy mom’s cooking while you can.
Liz on July 23, 2008 at 11:07 am said:

Don, have fun on your camping trip. 🙂

Lois, hope your ankle feels better soon. I know it must be frustrating to have a set back. Take it easy today and give that ankle some rest.

Well, It’s been a rough, emotional few days. Just worried sick about my future and this pain I’m having in my ankle with the cartilage missing. I just keep praying it will go away but I know that if it is the cartilage causing the pain that there is not much they can do for it.

I woke up this morning feeling a bit more optimistic. My foot was feeling good and I felt like I was able to put a bit more weight on it. Still leaning on my walker alot though for support. I was walking into the living room feeling good, proud of my foot for behaving so nicely, and then BAM, the pain shot back through that spot and all my optimism came crumbling down. *sigh* I have therapy today. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully my muscles will start to come back soon. How long did it take for you guys to notice a difference in your calf muscle once you started walking? Yesterday was 9 weeks since my break (7 since surgery). I’m hanging in there. Hope everyone is hopping along in their recovery. 🙂

~Liz
lois on July 22, 2008 at 11:28 pm said:

Well, I am not exactly happy. My #**$#@* ankle is very sore again and I have been limping badly for two days now. But it does not appear to be swollen. An adult son and grandson came to visit, and brought three dogs with them to add to our two. They could not find an available kennel. The problem seems to be that I had to quickly sidestep to avoid dogs just too many times and must have been jarring my ankle each time,,,, cause boy is it acting up. Just venting… thanks for listening. Hi Clark, hi Don… I think everyone else must be on vacation. Where is Melanie, Karen, Anklequest, Sandra, Ana,,,etc etc etc.
Don on July 22, 2008 at 5:58 pm said:

Greetings ankle breakers.
Hope every one is doing better. Each day hopefulkly is a little better.

Clark
glad to see you on more. I have missed your banter and sense of humor. I hope that you are getting along better and that each day brings improvment. So how is the fusion? They still keep asking if I want to have it done now or later? I keep saying LATER much Later.

Dave
you sound like you did a great job at breaking youself up with a little help from the kids? So tell me more about the replacement? It is one of the things I was told that could be p[ossible in the future? I may need to do a knee, hip and ankle Not sure if I want to or am up to any of them but we will see what life holds.

Also wanted to say hi to everyone else glad to see that you are all improving and hope you all keep it up and stay safe. I am off to vacation starting friday for 2 weeks. I go off to a camping trip where we recreate the Renaissance period. We do a living history and I will be hanging out with about 12 to 14 thousand of my closest friends. If you want to see look back to one of my posts and you will see the links I posted there. I will check in just befoire I leave have fun all and be safe. I will try to also

Don
Copied from Ankle breakers 1 year
Clark on July 22, 2008 at 5:22 pm said:

NOTE:
(The following is in reference to Dave’s recent posting on Broken Ankle One Year, for info. He just posted about his artificial ankle joint done two and a half years ago. Very interesting._

Comment by Clark

July 22, 2008 @ 5:14 pm

Dave,
Sounds like you’ve really been throught the mill. I offer my sympaty and empathy. Sounds like your’e a Brit. My earliest ancestors are from Penryn, Cornwall, so who knows, maybe we’re related. I drove truck here in the states (a lorry to you) on and off and have played our American version of football also. Sounds like you really totaled your leg.
The subject of artificial ankle joints came up several weeks ago, and I offered what little I knew from my research. But you are the real deal, and I know many reading this would be glad to hear more of your story on surgery, rehab, etc…
How old are you if I may ask? Youth, overall health and the degree of future usage (career, etc…) were all factors in determining whether one was a candidate for an artificial ankle.
Glad you got through it and are doing well. What percentage of normal would you rate your overall recovery at?
There is another website called Update Broken Ankle Two Years that I will copy this to, and you may want to check that out as well.
Wishing you the best.

Clark
lois on July 20, 2008 at 5:40 pm said:

Liz, I have come to the conclusion that our depression glands must be contained in our ankles. They certainly do seem to go together. Sunny summer weather. I went out in our boat the other day, but had to hold my broken ankle leg aloft so that I did not jar it on the floor every time we bounced over a wave. But oh boy did it feel good to get out and let the wind stream through my hair. We appreciate these sorts of things so much more, after the scare and isolation this infliction put upon us. Tammy sounds like she might be another teacher,, it will be good for you two to compare notes. Must run,,, but you keep your spirts up,,, there are a whole bunch of us who are rooting for you.
Louise on July 20, 2008 at 5:37 pm said:

Oh, and Tammy!! Seriously?? Who told you you can teach on one leg?? lol! Obviously have never worked with kids!!!

Good luck with your recovery!

Louise xx
Louise on July 20, 2008 at 5:34 pm said:

Hey everyone!!!

Lois. In answer to your post on the other site (I coulnd’t be bothered to wait for it to load!) I am going to New York to visit a friend, not business. Heck, I wish I got to go to New York on business!! hee hee. She lives in Kingston, not actually in the city, although we will be going into the city to see stuff too! I think I shall be ok, as long as I have ice on standby when I get back to the house etc. When I am actually walking its fine, I get into a rhythm, but its when I stop and sit down, and then get up to try and walk again that I then think, hmmm….yes, it has swollen somewhat!!
I had to cancel my last holiday which was to egypt as I was still in a cast, so I am determined not to let this ankle ruin another holiday! lol! My friend has a car anyway, so she can ferry me around everywhere! 🙂

Liz. In answer to your question about the crutches, I am walking around without them now, and its been 2 weeks tomorrow since I was told I could weight bear again. I am reasonably slow, but it does resemble walking! hee hee. I went to a BBQ today, where I was sat with my leg down, and then went onto another friends house afterwards, where I was sat on the floor for a few hours, and it has swollen a bit, but still works sort of hee hee!
I hope you cheer up very soon!! I do get days like that! I nearly got run over yesterday, because I was merrily crossing the road, in a gap which I thought was big enough, but really wasn’t and the car, beeped at me, and I was just so frustrated!! I couldn’t have run or moved any faster even if I had tried! Also just trying to keep up with friends as they are walking along the street is just impossible…..but it WILL get better! The longest waiting part is over! You are in the boot, and now you can really get stuck into getting your foot back to the way it was before! I just keep thinking about how far I have to go, but then look back at how far I have come! I did mine on 23rd april this year, and it seems like an eternity away, but then I remember how I was in the hospital, and it is a LONG way which I have come! Don’t focus on what you have go to do! There are so many little victories along the way, which really cheer you up, and keep you going! Like….having my first shower, instead of a bath, or going out without my crutches for the first time, or being able to wear normal shoes again etc. So many little things will pick you up on the way, and there is always someone much worse off than us, and thats what I remember when Im going through “Ohhhhhh…..WHY ME?” stage! Its a journey, and it has its ups and downs in it, but you WILL get there!! Dont read all the stuff on the internet about fusions and stuff, because you dont know that you will need anything like that yet, so stay positive, and look back on how far you have come!

Ok….well Im off to sleep (last one till me holiday! yay!) I shall speak to you all when I get back!

Louise xx
Tammy on July 20, 2008 at 3:18 pm said:

Liz~

I understand your frustration. I am 33 just turned…32 at the time of my break. Broke all 3 bones have 2 screws in talus, 2 screws in tibia and an 8 in plate and 7 screws in the fibula. I wasn’t cleared for weight bearing until after 8 weeks…I walked with 1 crutch for a long time and then eased out of the boot. I had to return to school for 11 days and put the boot back on for the first week of my return.

I was told you (if you can believe this) that you don’t need both your legs to be teacher. Shows how much some people just don’t understand what we do…I too am on feet all day long and rarely use the bathroom more than once day while at work.

I hope that we can continue to post as we progress through this next school year quickly approaching. I can’t wait to see how it will play out..especially with my RSD complication.

Take Care,
Tammy
Liz on July 20, 2008 at 11:58 am said:

Thanks Lois, I really needed to hear those words of encouragement. I had a rough night last night… just very depressed… cried myself to sleep. Do you all have those nights. You’re right, I do feel like I’ll never walk again without a walker. I concentrate really hard to not use my hands when I take a step and I just can’t do it. I can’t put all my weight down. What has me really worried is the cartilage. The pain is only going to increase when I do eventually start putting more weight down and especially if and when I ever get to walk without my boot. I’m terrified that I’ll always be in pain. I’m a teacher. I have to be on my feet all day. How am I ever going to get back to work like this? What if the pain doesn’t get better and I can’t go back to teaching at all? Ugh, I have all these fears running through my mind. The worst part is not knowing… not knowing what the outcome will be.

I think I need to stop searching the internet for information because that only depresses me more… reading about fusions and ankle replacements and all the down sides of it. On a site yesterday I was reading about people’s experience with fusions and several people expressed the opinion that amupuation would be better than a fusion! WHAT! How depressing is that?! I just hope that I can put all this behind me and move on with my life.

Okay, sorry for the vent. I had to let that out. lol Thanks for reading. 🙂

Clark, I hope you’ll be there soon!! I guess we just have to keep one foot in front of the other and pressing forward. Take care.

~Liz
lois on July 20, 2008 at 1:32 am said:

Hi Liz, If I remember correctly I think it was about a month before I was walking but with a cane…and perhaps a few steps with no cane. It seemed like walking was never going to happen and I finally decided to just return the borrowed walker to the Red Cross as I decided that I had become too dependent on it. I just absolutely hated using crutches and really did not use them for more than a few days. By this time, the pads on my hands were calloused, bruised and very sore. I decided maybe the best way to learn to re walk was imitating how babies learn; ie by hanging onto things. I held onto the back of the chesterfield,,, to the desk,,, to the kitchen counter,,, to the windowsill,,,and began making my way around in that manner. Gradually I would take a step or two between these furniture pieces. I also began using a cane for areas where there was no furniture, and that continued for about another month. Then one day I realized that I was spending as much time looking for that cane and trying to figure out where I had left it. I would walk to say the bathroom using the cane and then I would be back in the kitchen and realize the cane was still leaning against the bathroom cupboard. That made me realize that I no longer needed it in the house. At 4 1/2 months post break, I do not use a cane in the house or in my yard. Nor do I use it walking up my street or going to the local grocery store. I do take it with me if I go to home depot or costco or somewhere where I am not certain that I will have somewhere to sit and rest at the exact moment when I need to sit and rest. You will have days when you think walking again just isn’t going to happen. You will have days where you feel as if you are going backwards. These are just temporary glitches… because you will keep progressing, just keep pushing on ahead while at the same time do not overdo anything. So that is my experience, hope it helps. You will be walking before you know it.
Clark on July 20, 2008 at 1:10 am said:

Liz,

14 months, now fused, and not there yet.

Clark
Liz on July 19, 2008 at 12:13 pm said:

LOIS, no, unfortunately I don’t have easy access to to a stationary bike. My parents have a treadmill but that’s it. I may need to invest in one soon though. I’ve got to start doing something for exercise. I need to get these extra pounds off. The sooner the better, especially with my cartilage problem now. It’s sad because I was already working hard to lose weight… have been working out religiously at Gold’s gym for the past year and really found some classes that I enjoyed. I had already lost about 60 pounds and then in an instant that all came to a screeching halt. But I still have over 100 pounds to lose and I’m now determined, more than ever, to get it off. It’s going to be hard thought without being able to exercise much. *sigh*

LOUISE, WOW! There is no way I could have balanced on my bad foot the first day of walking, heck, I still can’t balance on it… or maybe I could and am just too scared to try! lol Anyway, walking has improved a little. My therapist gave me some tips but I’m still using my arms alot with my walker to hold my weight up. I haven’t attempted without the walker. I just feel so unsteady and off balance, especially with that big boot on. Congrats on your first outing without crutches! They must’ve felt great! lol We’ll I’m sure it did with the booze. 🙂 Glad to hear you’re making progress. It doesn’t seem like we’re too far apart in our recovery. How many weeks has it been since your surgery?

QUESTION: I’m just curious to know from all of you out there… how long did it take you from the time you were given permission to weight bear until the time you were comfortable enough to walk without crutches/walker?

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! 🙂
Louise on July 18, 2008 at 4:02 pm said:

Lois!! LOL!! Thats brilliant. hee hee. Did the tech guy believe you? I hate it when they are trying to distract from something…it makes me want to concentrate on it even more. When I had the screws taken out of my leg, I had a guy trying to talk to me, and ask me questions and stuff! I also had a nurse try and do that when they were injecting the local anaesthetic, which was the most painful part! ha ha. Makes me nervous as to WHY they are trying to distract me? Whats coming thats gonna be so bad that they are trying to distract me? Makes me laugh though, when I was in A&E the first time, when my ankle dislocation had to be popped back in…nothing! No one even attempted to distract me, and Oh my GOD did that hurt!!! I needed distracting then I tell you! Maybe they just knew it would hurt too much, they didn’t bother. One doc did tell me it was going to hurt, which as a general rule, doesn’t really settle your nerves does it?? When a DOCTOR says something is going to hurt, you know they are not kidding!!

Liz. I hope your cartiledge does sort itself out, and hope it doesn’t hurt too badly!!!! Its probably best you stay with parents, where ur doc and therapist are as well! Stairs on crutches are such a pain too. I think with putting weight on it, it deff is a confidence thing! I always fly into everything head first without really much of a thought as to the consequences!! Hee hee. When i was told i could put weight on it…that was it, I was trying to balance on just my bad leg by the end of the day, and trying to (quite badly!) shuffle around without crutches!! I went out for the 1st time last night without my crutches!! It felt oh so good! Its not even been 2 weeks since I was told I could weight bear, so it really is a confidence thing. I only went to a friends house so not too far, but even so! I did have a few too many bacardi’s and lemonades (not my fault…someone else was getting them for me!) and nearly toppled over when getting back into a taxi on my way home, but just managed to regain my balance in time! :S oooops! Being slightly tipsey, when you cannot walk properly anyway, is not a good idea! Please no one do it. I hardly ever drink as well, so i think it went a little to my head! Anyway…thats another story for another day ha ha!

On a brighter note…hope everyones doing fab! 🙂
take care, and have a great weekend. I am just off to start packing for NEW YORK! Woooooo! How exciting! 🙂

Louise xx
lois on July 17, 2008 at 4:04 pm said:

Hi Liz, Do your parents, a neighbour or a nearby gym have a stationary bike you could use for a few minutes a day…. Like you, I had trouble getting walking at first. First, it just felt like there was an almost complete disconnect between my brain and my leg. Nature’s way of coping I guess, but I might have well been an amputee because it almost felt like it was not there,,, except when it hurt. Second there was the fear – would it hold me, would it just snap etc??? I tried the bike and settled into a routine: 100 peddles forward with the ball of my foot, 50 forward with the heel of my foot, and 50 backwards. I just did this at a leisurely pace and the easiest resistence level, but this seemed to bring back the brain – leg connection. This also began to gradually strengthen the muscles, and stretch out the tendon especially in my calf. So this really helped me to start putting gradual bits more weight onto it. But this is a exercise bike,,, DO NOT start using a treadmill at this point. This was forbidden to me,,and likely to you.

Louise congrats on the stitches out,,, and yes it did hurt,,, especially the ones right into the ankle bone…. yikes. While pulling them out, the tech to make conversation and distract me, asked how I had broken my ankle. Now, I am normally probably one of the most honest people in the world, but to bear the pain, I began blathering this big b… s… story. I told him that friends had invited me helicopter skiing and had arranged this special deal where first we sky dived (dove??) out of the chopper on skis…blah blah blah. My husband was also listening to my cock and bull story with his mouth agape, as was the technician. As soon, as the last stitch (staple??) was out and ouchies stopped, I apologized to the guy and told him the true story. A 10 pound shih tzu puppy knocked me down three stairs…. . The tech laughed and said he really liked my first story better, at least the broken ankle might have been worth it. I would say chin up everyone,,, but I guess I should say chin down and watch your step.
Liz on July 17, 2008 at 11:56 am said:

Thanks Louise. 🙂 They’re thinking now that it’s not the screw causing the pain, but the missing cartlidge caused by the dislocation. I haven’t moved back to my apartment yet. I won’t be going back until I’m released to go back to work. Until then I’ll be staying at my parent’s house close to my doctor and therapist. I’m glad you got a more tender nurse this time removing your stitches. I remember when I got my staples out… ugh, it stung so bad! I hope your pain eases soon. Glad to hear you’re getting around okay, even though it is with a limp. 🙂

I’ve been told I can weight bear and walk in my boot now, but I still haven’t got up the courage to actually do it. I’m “walking” with my walker but still using alot of my upper body instead of putting the weight in my foot. I’m just so nervous to put it down. Every time I start to and feel the least little thing I freak out. I’m hoping my therapist can help me today get a little more confidence.

Hope everyone has a successful Thursday!
Louise on July 17, 2008 at 7:51 am said:

Hey everyone!!!!

Liz. I hope your pain heals up very soon where the screw is. And Im sure your students will get to know you just as well, although I can understand you would want to be there at the start. Best that you get this ankle sorted first though!! Have u moved into your appartment yet out of your parents? How r the stairs going??

Erika. So sorry to hear that you still have pain!! Thats such a shame. Hopefully that will stop very soon, and that its just a phase!!

Anklequest. That story about the heals and the floor….hmmm… difficult one!! Im not sure who would be to blame there. Prob the heals, although would she have fallen if the floor wasn’t slippery?? and as she wears heals all the time, shouldn;t she be used to them?? Hmmm….

As for me, I have had my stitches out today, and my word, there was such a difference between the nurse this morning and the nurse last time I had them out!!! The nurse that I had before (back in may!) ripped the stitches out, very hard, and fast, and made my leg bleed excessivley!! It bloody well hurt I tell you! Today, the nurse was lovely, and I didn’t even feel it, which was a relief, because I nearly passed out when I had my last stitches out! hee hee. So….my ankle is still quite swollen, but thats it as far as surgery, casts, bandages, supports etc goes for the time being for me.

My ankle is still so stiff and quite painful now. Its just so sore, and its now keeping me awake at night, even after taking pain killers! 🙁 I have been weight bearing for 2 weeks, and still have a stupid limp, that makes me look like some sort of learing monster as I go down the road!
I am close to loosing my crutches…the hospital told me to loose them by last monday, but I am down to one, but still! I shall loose them in the next week or so I think!
Off to new york on monday, which will be interesting!! :S I shall let you know how that goes when I get back! hee hee.

Hope everyone is a bit closer to recovery than we all were a few weeks ago! 🙂

Louise xx
Liz on July 16, 2008 at 9:07 pm said:

Thanks PAM, Wow, tennis shoes!? You’re way ahead of me. lol My doctor told me yesterday that I’ll be in the boot (aircast) for at least 4 months. 🙁 I’m okay with that as long as I can get around okay without a walker. I also found out that I’m not allowed to return to work for at least another month. That means I won’t be at school to greet my students the first day of school or get my class off to a great start. *sigh* I’m bummed about that. Anyway, it’s great to hear of your progress Pam. 🙂
Liz on July 16, 2008 at 9:02 pm said:

ANKLEQUEST… are the supplements you’re referring to Glucosamine? My ortho doc. told me to start taking them right away. I take 3 a day, a multivitamin, and fish oil. It’s encouraging to hear how active you are. I was just contemplating with my mom this morning and wondering out loud “will I ever hike to another waterfall?” It’s great to hear that you’re out there climbing mountains. I’d love to hear your tips on reducing the compression on your foot.

Yes, that heel is causing me some trouble. It’s a pressure sore that originally started when I had the splint on. Now wearing the aircast is aggravating it because it causes pressure and rubs on it. I’ve been taking it off anytime I’m sitting and taking the bandage off so it can air out. I was putting some antibiotic cream on it but the doc told me yesterday not to put anything on it cause that will make it gooey. So the only time I have anything on it now is… a large bandage when I sleep, and a bandage and boot when I stand/walk.

Speaking of walking, I walked from my bedroom to the living room tonight, using my boot and walker of course. I was proud of myself and excited that it didn’t hurt too bad… well not too long after it swelled up and started having little tingles here and there, just weird feelings. I ended up having to ice it. Is that normal for your first time walking? Also, sorry, one more question… I know I’ve been full of them the past few days! lol Anyway, when I stand on it, it almost seems like the skin on the bottom of my foot is going to split open. I guess cause it’s so dry. Anyone else feel this? Did it clear up quick?

Clark… Oh gosh, that was a close call. I’m glad you didn’t fall. That would be great if they could perfect artificial cartilage. You inspired me to google. lol I looked up a little about cartlidge transplants, fusions, and some other stuff. Looking at illustrations and comparing them to my x-rays, I’m positive the cartilage damage my doctor was referring to is at the top of the talus.

Okay, enough for now. I’m feeling a little more positive today and excited to go work on walking with my therapist tomorrow. One small step for man, One GIANT step for anklebreakers!! 🙂
Pam on July 16, 2008 at 7:00 pm said:

Liz- I am about 10 weeks out and it still feels weird to put pressure on my foot. I was scared to death to put full weight bearing on my foot, but I took it slow. I am more confident now and walk really good in my tennis shoes. Hang in there! It does get easier. I started therapy at 6 1/2 weeks & am still going. Initally I was going 3x a week but now I am down to 1-2 x a week. I get down on myself because of the limp & not having more range of motion, but I know in time that will come back. Funny story, I was at Brewer baseball game last week & I was limping through the crowd & this guy stopped me & asked me what I did. Turns out this guy had a similar ankle injury to me, only years earlier & still has his hardware in. He reassured me it does get easier but not to push it and in time it will be back to “normal”. Whatever normal means…..

Erika- I am so sorry to hear you are still having pain. Do you still have the hardware in your ankle? I saw my ortho today & I asked him if there is any long term affects if I keep the hardware in. He said medically no, but he thinks the plate might bother me on the fibula side since and if that happens ,then he will take it out. I have to wait a year since that is how long he said the hardware needs to stay in for. He said it will all depend on where I am in a year, if I have pain with it or not. A friend of mine had pain with hers & her plates, pins, screws removed & is back to walking completly normal, pain free too.

Christi- you are 2 years out now correct? Do you still have your hardware in?
Clark on July 16, 2008 at 5:17 pm said:

ERIKA,
Sorry to hear that you are still having pain after almost a year since your break. Don’t feel alone. I too feel something with almost every step, and it varies from over doing it to being well medicated to just getting up in the morning, to trying to sleep at night, an almost impossible thing anymore, but something I miss so much, sleeping!
Can’t recall whether or not you still have hardware inside, or you were talking once about having it out. I would think that some piece of Titanium, placed alongside or inside your ankle, with screws and pins, had to hit a nerve here and there. Never tissue takes about an inch a month to heal. I severed my Ulnar Nerve (elbow funny bone) back in 1972 as I was in training for the Sheriff’s Dept. I basically had only a Spock (Live long and prosper) grip, could not close my fingers, had very little strength, etc… and the doc back then said he could operate and I would be in a sling for a year and a half, with a completely atrophied arm that would have to come all the way back, or I could squeeze a tennis ball forever, and let Mother Nature do her thing. He said that nerve tissue heals at the rate of about an inch a month. I never told anyone, could still shoot straight, and squeezed the hell out of that tennis ball. Ended up with a grip that could drop someone right to the ground (very helpful in security/police work) and it all came back, and more.
So perhaps you are dealing with some impingement from hardware hitting a nerve, that would be my best guess, and if it is hitting a nerve, it may never heal, or it may have been damaged and is doing a slow heal. Check with the doc I guess. Hope it gets better. Good to hear from you again. Was so glad you looked me up so long ago. Thanks again for that.
Take care.
Clark

Copied from Ankle One
Clark on July 16, 2008 at 4:46 pm said:

LIZ,
Good to hear from you and thanks for the update. I am not a doc either, and I know I pasted quite a bit of medical jargon. Don’t think I automatically understand it either. I have had 6 knee surgeries, 3 on my right knee in 1983, my police retirement injury, and 3 in 1991. All same procedures on each knee, starting with cartiledge and then moving onto ligaments and biologic transplants. I have often also wondered about a synthetic cartiledge, and I know the British are close to perfecting a type of synthetic, as well as we Americans here in the states, but no one has done well enough to put it in there and make it last long enough so that one does not have to go back in. And that’s the kicker. Going back in.
If your main source of pain is that top screw, perhaps he can remove or repostition it so that it does not affect you in such a way.
Anyway, just take it slow. One of the benitifts of an ankle break is that there is usually more than enough time to think about things, and eat, and gain weight, and worry, etc. ad on infinitum.
But don’t worry, and take it slow. And watch your step.
I had lunch with a friend today, and drove, and she was very elderly so had to help her in and out of my Pathfinder. Anyway, I went to get the car, and she was waiting by the curb, and stupid me, as I got out, I stepped out with my left foot, and pulled myself out, and rather than placing my foot a 90 degree angle from the car, I placed it parallel, in line with the car, and when I placed my weight on my left foot, it fell outward and I almost suffered another break. Very close, and very stupid on my part. I am usually walking on eggshells anyway, very careful of my left foot, but not today. Today I almost did it again.
Hope this helps. I did not mean to try to impress you with all the jargon. Thought you would get a laugh from it.
Take care all.
Clark
anklequest on July 16, 2008 at 3:46 pm said:

Heels: Who is to blame?

DOT worked as an ad. assistant for a year or so in the place where i work. She was a high heel person all the way, along with expensive suits & seemed to live well considering her position. She must have had hundreds of heels. No one ever saw the same pair twice. The lunch cliques considered her incompetant & both males & females had many discussions about situations related to her. Her high heels were sometimes considered very inappropriate..mostly party type heels.

One day she slipped and fell on a regular polished floor, broke her ankle & had surgery. No one missed her. No one saw her. No one know what happened to her. About 8 months later a law suit was filed by her claiming the floor was too slippery. After some time I heard there was a settlement to avoid going through the courts and the expenses of all that. She never came back so maybe that was part of the settlement deal.

OK, the area where she fell is now carpeted. Should the whole world be carpeted to avoid broken ankle law suites of this type? Who is at fault here?

Anklequest
anklequest on July 16, 2008 at 2:56 pm said:

Hi Lois,

Thanks for deciding to join us again. I am avoiding work, so want to respond to your previous post. I too found people with broken ankles after I broke mine.

Heres the rundown:

KJ female , trimalleolar- fell on ice in snowstorm walking dog- doing fine at age 60, can run on treadmill after 5 years.

RR female, trimalleolar -fell on ice in snow had hardware removed later-doing just fine, now retired

KR male, broke fibula while drunk and fell, had only a cast, no surgery, 15 years later at age 60 is getting arthritis in that ankle, which is always sore, but is an active carpenter/farmer

TT female, trimalleolar fracture, fell on ice in snow. A paradox, is an ice skater skating professionally for the ice capads and also is a clown for birthday parties. Began skating again only 2-3 months after the break. Is about 50 years old and still skates

BJ female, bimalleolar, fell into her garage tripping while carrying stuff over a 4 inch step. this was only a year ago. Still has a lot of swelling and reduced mobility.

MJ female, trimalleolar, now in her late 70’s, broke ankle in early 60’s on front steps. No lingering ankle side effects. Has had both hips replaced in last few years.

DOT female, trimalleolar, fell wearing high heels, dissappeared after break so no one knows what the outcome is. The next post describes this situation.

All of the above, with the exception of one, are women making me wonder too, about the statistics related to broken ankles. Falling on ice in winter areas? Falling off horses in the west? Slipping while wearing flipflops or sandles? I think when I have a chance I’ll explore the epidemiology of broken ankles a bit more.

AnkleQuest
lois on July 16, 2008 at 1:11 pm said:

Wow, am I ever having trouble getting this post to go through. Hopefully when it does you won’t get it six times. Just wanted to say that I recently discovered a site called Ratemd’s.com One this site, patients in Canada, the USA and the UK etc. rate their doctors including orthopedic surgeons. You can read the comments and input your own experiences. For example, I learned that my ortho surgeon is rated highly but I have cancelled an appointment with a cosmetic surgeon which I had sceduled for next month to remove a cyst. He was panned in all comments about him. I will be finding someone else.

If you did not know about this site, which I believe is quite new, you may find it helpful for second opinions, and your input may help others to obtain the best treatment in future. See what you think.
anklequest on July 16, 2008 at 12:10 pm said:

Liz,
Forgot, one more thing!
If the bones are mended, you can start walking partial weight as the doc said. I had to start out slowly, partial weight, but I moved quite rapidly to full weight and no crutches after only 2-3 weeks. Start walking around in the house and gradually you will gain confidence. It does feel very very strange at first. I moved rapidly mostly because the crutches coused a huge problem for me: Extreme pain in my hands due to carpel tunnel syndrone. I had to get rid of them as fast as I could for they were creating a bigger problem than my ankle.

Anklequest
anklequest on July 16, 2008 at 12:03 pm said:

Liz,
Sorry to hear about the news. It may be my problem as well with pain in the same area, only perhaps not as bad. In fact mine seems to be improving a bit after two years, hopefully from taking the suppliments I started a few months ago and being very careful about monitoring my activity. I am very active, walk, climb mountains, etc. but watch how I come down on my foot so I reduce compression, hence trauma. There is definitely cartilage on the top of the talus and bottom of the tibia, and reduction of pressure on this part of the joint if it is damaged, like in your case, helps the healing process. More on how I do that in some other post.

About the heel. I have some thoughts. As I had an open wound for 6 months I had no air cast or any cast at all and learned to get around just fine though I had a very serious injury with complete dislocation. My #1 concern, by far, was the open wound, about the size of a silver dollar, which at first seemed not to heal. Once it finally did after months, I continued to keep it covered with gause for several more months. I wore the oversized gel shoes (which I still wear) to avoid more serious problems.

Since your air cast might be causing the problem either do not wear it and learn to get around without it OR cover that heel spot well with pads and gause and give it daily attention when you do wear it. Look on diabetic web sites and learn how diabetics have to deal with foot problems. Pressure must be reduced but it can be done. Personally, I wouldn’t wear it if it is causing the problem. I wore large 4 inch ace bandages instead.

Finally, since you are only at the 8 week point, as Clark said, it is way to early to predict anything. Things could still turn out fine. However, I would take the best care possible and not push things unduely. Just slowly work your way toward things you can do and keep your foot elevated and moving when you sit.

I’m in a hurry right now and may post again later today.

Anklequest.
Liz on July 16, 2008 at 10:36 am said:

CLARK, Thanks for the info. I’m a smart girl but all those medical terms are so hard for me to understand and picture. I wish I could post a picture of exactly where the pain is coming from. I’m definite the doctor said the talus and that’s where the cartlidge is missing. It is my top right foot where the ankle bends, on the left inside of my foot. Does that make sense? As far as the fusion… maybe I’m jumping to conclusions too fast. He didn’t say that I would have to have a fusion but he did say that cartlidge does not regenerate itself and if the pain doesn’t get better I could be looking at future surgeries and he mentioned the fusion. He’s a great doctor with a great reputation. I didn’t have my surgery until 2 weeks after the break so I did get to choose my doctor thank goodness. Anyway, I will definitely consider a 2nd opinion when the time comes for those “future” surgeries. If only my foot wouldn’t have dislocated along with the brake… I wouldn’t be having these cartlidge problems. You would think that with all the medical technology (heck they can even transplant a heart!) that they could transplant or have some artificial cartlidge to stick back in my ankle. lol If only!! 🙂
Liz on July 16, 2008 at 10:09 am said:

DUPLICATE POST FROM BROKEN ANKLE 1:

ERIKA, I’m sorry to hear that every step hurts. 🙁 I can imagine how frustrating that would be. I’m only at the 6 week mark (post surgery), 8 weeks since the actual injury and just got the okay to weight bear yesterday. My biggest fear is that I’ll get 6 months or a year down the road and every step will still hurt. Just curious… after surgery did you start physical therapy right away…how many months of therapy did you go through…and do you thinks it has been beneficial? I’m asking because I started therapy 2 weeks ago and I’m just wondering how long I might have to keep it up.

ANKLEBREAKERS, the pain you described sounds similar to mine… I wish I could show a picture of exactly where the pain is. I had an appt. yesterday and the doctor said the pain is right at the area that is missing cartlidge so it’s probably the cause. That is definitely NOT what I wanted to hear because there’s not much they can do for missing cartlidge from what I understand and I fear the pain will only get worse when I start walking.

On the upside, the bones are looking good and I do get to start weightbearing. The road ahead looks daunting but all I go do is keep moving forward. *sigh*

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday. Stay safe!

~Liz
Clark on July 16, 2008 at 1:33 am said:

Hey Liz, (and Ana),
Hope this finds you feeling a bit better. Sounds like your’e going through a lot right now. But remember, no matter what, the worst is over. You’ve already had the fall and the break, and now your’e just in the healing process, and it never goes fast enough. But don’t push it, and don’t go past your own tolerances. Your body will tell you how much you can handle with the weight bearing. Can’t imagine what 25 lbs of weight bearing would be. Bet everyone would have a different standard for that. My doc always just called it partial weight bearing, like a quarter, or half, or whatever. Hard to judge, but if it hurts, you are probably bearing down too much. I’ve been in my boot for 16 months now, with my break occurring on May 18th of 2007. Long time and four surgeries ago.
You mentioned driving, and going back I could not find which ankle you broke, but am going to assume that it is your right. Just for info, as far as I can tell, as a retired police officer, the vehicle code does not specify which foot you must drive with. Left foot breaking is usually frowned upon, except for high performance drivers, but if the right leg or foot is non op, then there is no law stating that you cannot drive with your left. Only that you do it safely. And I think that pretty much goes across the 50 states, otherwise amputees would really be up the creek. I could be wrong, but the intention is that you drive safely, whatever foot you use.
Stairs can be a problem with crutches, but are not as bad as you may think. Grab an extra set and keep a spare at the top of the stairs when you move back to your apt., and one at the bottom. If you have a railing along the stairway, rely on that if it is on both sides, and if not, just go slow, and have someone with you until you get it down. Remember, good foot goes to heaven, bad foot goes to hell, so going up, balance on the railing, and with a crutch under the arm of your broken ankle, brace with the crutch, steady and balance and lift your good foot up, then hold, steady and balance and raise the crutch and then your bad ankle up to the stair, follow and repeat. Do the opposite going down stairs. Not as bad as you may think, just takes time.
As far as the fusion goes, I just had one 3 1/2 months ago, and it is a big change. Your’e just getting started and it sounds too early for your doc to make that assumption, but I don’t really know.
If the top screw is just above your Talus, then it sounds like your break (inside or outside) was rather low. Did he remove the cartlidge from your ankle? Just doesn’t seem that you should be heading for a fusion with just one surgery behind you. I am unaware of the cartilege situation, and was not sure there was any in between the mortise joints of the Talus with the base of the Tib and Fib, but it makes sense.
Something to ask my doc when I go back, in 2 1/2 months, unless anyone out there knows.
Thank God for Google:
Discussion:
– is a hinge joint w/ malleoli projecting downward from tibia & fibula forming
medial and lateral walls of the mortise, encompassing talus;
– in addition, malleoli serve as pulleys for tendons reaching plantar
surface of foot from posterior and lateral compartments of leg.
– as is usual in hinge joints, capsular ligament is weak in front of &
behind the joint and is reinforced by collateral ligaments at sides;
– on medial side, heavy deltoid ligament is attached above to
medial malleolus and fans out to attach below chiefly to
talus, but also to calcaneus;
– on lateral side there are three smaller ligaments: the anterior and
posterior talofibular ligaments and calcaneofibular
ligament, which lies between the talofibular ligaments;
– body and tibial articular surface of talus is wider anteriorly than posteriorly
& form cone that is larger laterally than medially;
– due to this configuration, as ankle dorsiflexes intermalleolar distance
increases slightly, talus externally rotates slightly, & fibula must
laterally rotate slightly;
– slight rotary motion of the ankle in transvere plane causes the foot to
adduct and abduct;
– these motions are coupled so that dorsiflexion and abduction occur
at same time (plantar flexion & adduction occur at same time);
– since lateral malleolus is longer than medial malleoli & lies more posteriorly,
ankle axis is accordingly angled both inferiorly & posteriorly;
– ROM in saggital plane is 20 deg of DF dorsiflexion to 50 deg PF;

Couldn’t find anything in there about cartiledge between the Talus and the Tib and Fib base. That’s a good one. Sorry the above is so boring, makes you want to run out and get your medical degree. Here is the only piece from the same article that mentions cartiledge:
– Fibula:
– fibula provides the lateral support of the ankle;
– just above the ankle joint, the fibula sits in a groove formed by broad anterior
tubercle & smaller posterior tubercle of the tibia;
– there is no articular surface between the distal tibia and Fibula, even
though there is a small amount of motion between these two bones;
– medial border of the Fibula is covered by articular cartilage from
level of the tibial plafond to a point approximately half way down
its remaining length;
– distal end is tapered and has posteior goroove for the peroneal tendon;
– in lower limb, up to 1/6 of wt is carried by Fibula & rest by tibia;
– Fibula is pulled distally in stance phase by action of long toe flexors,
interosseous membrane is tightened, mortise deepened, and the fibula
pulled slightly medially, resulting in increase rotational stability of ankle;

Get a second opinion no matter what you do before you decide to have a fusion. Its the prudent thing to do. Once fused, always fused.

Anklequest menitoned an artificial ankle joint in one of her last posts, in response to Ana, I think. I checked that procedure out, and it is very new and still in the early stages, but what I recall is that it is better for younger anklebreakers, and I believe that the top of the Talus is capped, with a Titanium cover, as are the bases of the Tib and the Fib, with a type of hinge/screw or something to connect them all at the mortise joint (where the Talus meets the Tib and Fib) and is then reconnected with the usual ligaments and tendons, etc… But the wear factor is the thing, and the hardware, due to the constant motion and weight bearing, does not have a long shelf life, so wear out factor is key here, and who would want to replace an ankle joint every 5 years or so? Not me!
No matter, I still think its too early to assume that you will need a fusion. Don’t worry about it yet. Perhaps the doc can do something with the hardware you already have, that top screw or something, to make things better.
Don’t hesitate to get a second opinion. Your stuck with the doc on call, or you are referred to. Doesn’t automatically make him the best.
Food for thought, but don’t distress. The worst is over.
Take care,
Clark
Liz on July 15, 2008 at 11:37 pm said:

Well I had an ortho appt. today and I got good news and bad news… more bad than good I’m afraid. *sigh*

The good news… the bones are healing as expected and the doc said I could start weight bearing while wearing my aircast as long as I can tolerate it. I tried today and I’m so scared to bear down on it. And it feels so weird standing in that big bulky boot. How long after the doctor actually let you weight bear did it take before you actually felt comfortable standing and walking?

The BAD news… #1 I have a bad pressure sore on my heel that is not healing over. The doc says it takes precedence over walking so if standing or walking in the boot rubs or aggravates it I have to stop weight bearing until it heals, which the doctor said could take awhile. AND #2… remember that pain above the top screw I mentioned earlier? Well, the doctor said it’s right at the talus, where the cartlidge is missing. He’s thinking that is causing the pain and from what I gather it doesn’t sound too promising. There’s not much they can do for missing cartlidge except a fusion. And that terrifies me at 27 years old.

I’m so frustrated right now. I’m trying to hold it together but sometimes I just want to lay down and cry… WHY!? Ugh… it’s just so frustrating that I haven’t even started walking yet and already I have this pain that may never go away. I just don’t know what to do. Okay, enough venting, but you guys are the only ones that understand. Thanks for reading. 🙂
Erika on July 15, 2008 at 10:58 pm said:

I can’t even imagine running. I am at 9 months and counting. Today the pain was sooo bad. I put ice on it and elevated. I was getting the same throbbing shooting pains of months ago. Wish it would stop.

Erika
lois on July 15, 2008 at 2:59 pm said:

Hello to EVERYONE. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL to hear from everyone who stayed on and everyone who came back. I had been following with everyone but not contributing for a while. ENOUGH SAID.

Re: ANKLE BREAKS.
Life is certainly odd. I had seldom heard of broken ankles (except perhaps an odd jock playing football or something)… then all of a sudden former broken ankles are popping out of the closet all over the place. In my extremely tiny community three women have come forward in the past week,,, and two of these live within 10 houses from me. Woman 1, broke her ankle slipping on ice while doing farm chores housesitting for a friend…plates pins etc,, and then re broke it four months later slipping while getting into a friends car. This happened five years ago and she is walking around just fine… (we compared almost identical scars) Woman 2, broke hers walking down a park path, when her knee gave out… four or five years ago,,, no pins etc and she is also walking just fine. Woman 3, broke her first ankle, pins plates etc about five years ago and then broke her second ankle about three years ago, pins plates etc. She also is walking well, but I noticed she is extremely cautious going downstairs,,, just like me. Anyway, these women all have pretty good mobility at this point so that is cause for optimism. It is also striking me that this injury may not be all that rare.

Clark, et al… I do not know what the statistics are on men versus women for broken ankles,, but I do know that my orthopedic surgeon answered my husband’s questions this way. ” She is is a WOMAN … she has VERY TINY bones,, and she is POST MENOPAUSAL.” So, I take it these are all risk factors. Interestingly, not one woman I am personally aware of has broken an ankle by wearing high heels…but I think if/when I am able to, I will be afraid to wear them. At age, 64, safety takes precedence over vanity.

Our now warm/hot weather has resulted in a new, minor problem for me. I find that I have to protect the outside of my ankle from direct sunlight. It is not the scar that bothers me, but it feels like the metal in my ankle becomes increasingly hotter and hotter until it becomes quite uncomfortable and burning. Does everyone notice this??? Also, as much as I am walking around the house well, I find that the longer strides I take when in places like a shopping mall are still causing me considerable difficulty at four months, and I have retreated to carrying a cane. Is this the norm??? Also, and Sandra may know the answer to this… is walking as a physio exercise in itself recommended.?? If so, how much,,, how far??? etc. No one has ever officially suggested walking to me.

Ana, my heart just broke for you when I read your post. The problems some of us have are just so insignificant in comparison to what some of you are going through. I am sending huge huge hugs to you.

Sharon, I truly hope that your little girl is okay now.

Don, congratuations to the father of the bride.

And… may each and every one of us.. be dancing by this time next year.
anklequest on July 14, 2008 at 7:44 pm said:

Hi Don,
Good to hear you had a great dance. To bad about the pain though. I hope it has abated a bit now that the activity had declined.

Are you still working those two jobs? Do you still have to walk around a lot or can you get by with sitting. I’m hoping you don’t have to go through what Clark had to.

We have to make another “date” to see each other one of these days.

Sandra, and Liz
Sandra, your ball of foot pain problem could be metatarselalgia or plantarfasciitis. Take a look on the internet and see what fits. Such problems are common with broken ankles or other foot enjuries due to compensation and changes in the walking gait. In either case it can be “fixed” by various support or “gel” devices. Footsmart.com has many devices for sale that work. I use a “passive night splint” and ordered it from them. This splint keeps my foot a bit forward at night so the top of my foot doesn’t hurt as much. I don’t know where to get these in the UK.

Clark,
Did you see that Ms. America fell today at the MS Universe pageant? I happened to see that on this evening’s news. She had on her high heels & tripped over the dress. Someone had the same thing happen in the pageant last year. Anyway, high heels break a lot of ankles. I have a story to tell about one example in another post. I also heard of someone who broke her ankle while at an outdoor wedding wearing high heels. The heel sunk into a chipmuck or rabbit hole, followed by the foot, and “snap”, a trimalleolar fracture. The foot stayed in the hole while the women fell down at right ankle to the foot.

OK, Michael just came home, so bye for now!

Cheers to everyone!

Anklequest.
Don on July 14, 2008 at 6:24 pm said:

123898 Comment by Don

July 14, 2008 @ 6:17 pm

Greetings ankle breakers

Clark Clark Clark.
Man it is good to see you. You being back is a sight for soar eyes my friend. We have all been through a lot together and it is our combined knowledge and wisdom and part of our foolishness that gets all of us through every single day. I am glad to have you back and wish you long life and many more posts to give us your wisdom and your unending sense of humor.

So for all of you that have been following along. Yes the weather was great this past Saturday and I did have Ball dancing with my Daughter at her Wedding!!!! For the longest time I and many other people were not even sure if that would ever happen. But with all the help I have gotten along the way and the friendships and advice I have found here I was able to do it. Had to be one of the greatest feelings I have ever experienced.

Now I must admit I did not do it alone I have to say I fell back on an old standby. Friday night after the rehearsal dinner I could not even walk, the pain was that unbearable. I went home and did take 2 Percocet which is the first I have taken since I left the hospital 19 months ago. I got good nights sleep on Friday and first thing Saturday morning I took two more so I had not problem dancing with my Daughter and everything was great . A few things ran through my mind when I was dancing. Most of how my Daughter and I got to that dance and her life growing up. But also about all the people that I have talked to and met on this Blog that have given me support and insight as to how to get through this and how I was not alone.

For that I Thank you all. You are great friends and supporters and advisors that only experience of going through this can understand. To the people that have been here from when I came Thank you because it is through your help I got this far and to all the new people Thank you for just reminding us where we all came from not to long ago and how much we have to be Thankful for. I hope I can be there for you as others were there for us.

So keep believing and trying everyone you will get there it is a long slow road and there are a lot of people to support you but you will get better slowly but surely

Tammy
Thank you for your nice comments

Anklequest
You are right it was indeed a beautiful day

Don
(Copied from Broken Ankle one year)
Clark on July 14, 2008 at 3:13 am said:

GOOD MORNING ANKLEBREAKERS!
Thanks for your thoughts regarding me dropping back in now and then, after I left. And that brings up an item of housekeeping, for me:

Melanie! Thank you for your message regarding A Fused One’s message to Ana. In case you didn’t get it, I was trying to be funny when I mentioned how smart you thought you were, which you were. I did not intend that to sound crass or meanspirited in any way. I appreciated and was touched by your thoughts. If that did not come across clearly, please accept my appologies. When I read my posting back to myself, it did not sound quite right, thus my appology.

Ana: Thanks for adding your story of your ankle and what’s going on with it. I wish I had better answers and advice for you. It has to be hard being part of that study, and getting the saline instead of the gel, and then knowing that you have to wait four months to get the real thing. And helping with your boys coaching, with the pain level, can’t be easy. I can only say that when you decide to do it, if you do, the fusion will take away all that pain, and will be worth it. Only you will know.

Tammy, thanks for your input regarding my and Don’s postings. When I started writing to this blog about 9 months ago, and although it was created by Chrisi, I never was under the impression that it had a feminine slant. Back then perhaps it wouild be fair to say that there was not one, and there were many guys posting now and then, and I can see that over the months, many women are posting and not so many men, and it just shows how things change over time, not good or bad, things change, evolve. Of course anyone having to deal with the trauma and life changes caused by a broken ankle, whatever the extent, is a bad thing, and I wish it on no one. But with so many women than men posting now, perhaps I was posting with blinders on. And that’s OK. If this is now more of a “chick’s blog” then I am all for it and humbled and proud to be part of it.
Over the last several months many more women than men have written in regarding their ankles. I do not know if that would be an allowable statistic for an ankle breakers study, on who suffers breaks more, men or women, and I doubt that this blog is a true representation, but it may be. Anyway, it’s the only representation we have, so lets use it. There are more women posting on this blog than men and perhaps women suffer more broken ankles then men do. MEn and women share many of the same jobs, many dangereous, and requiring agile movement; the armed forces, police work, construction, etc… But women have one liability that men do not, unless they are cross dressers; High Heeled Shoes. I hope that is not a factor, and can’t recall anyone writing in about tripping wearing heels, but I bet they are definately a liability. I am sorry that society has placed such vanity on those dangereous things. They do look good, to all of us, but I could never, if I was a woman, wear them, knowing the pain they must cause, the balance problems, damage done to toes, etc… But I can’t deny that I will always be biased from a male viewpoint, and I can never get away from that. But if women all over the world stopped wearing them, and wore more safe, comfortable shoes, and did away with heels forever, I could certainly live with that.

On both blogs, Random Two Year and this, things progress so fast, so many new members and stories, and updates, that it is very hard to keep up. One could spend weeks it would seem, re reading and chronicling members, stories, and paths we have all taken. It could seriously drive one nuts. It is hard to recall everyone’s story. I won’t do it, but in order to appreciate all that has been written here and there, it should be done, only in order to gain a full understanding of all of this information. But it won’t be. It would be a Herculean effort, and would drive the person attempting it nuts. I guess I am repeating myself now, time to close.

My ankle finally started feeling better again, and I gauge that with endurance and pain leves during the walks with CJ, the Chow Chow. I think it is too soon to judge, and that it will bounce around for awhile as it heals. It will probably be over a year from the fusion surgery before any semblence of normal sets in. At least that gives me time to get the rest of my body back in shape.

So, Ladies, and guys, get well, and watch your steps.
Thanks again Anklequest for your call. And everyone else for their thoughts.
Take care.
Clark

(copied from Broken Ankle One Year)
Louise on July 13, 2008 at 3:36 pm said:

Hello everyone!!!

Hope everyone is having a fab weekend! 🙂

Don, how was your daughters wedding?? Did you get up and have a dance?? Hope that day went very well!

Clark, welcome back! Good to have you back again. I love reading your posts…its almost like you are thinking out loud! love it! 🙂

Tammy and Diane. I don’t know anything about RSD at all, but was having a little read on the internet the other day after reading your posts. Cant really provide any info, but good luck with it…I do hope that the pain and everything gets better for you!

Liz. I dont have any pain around my screws in my foot, unless I hit them, but I have noticed since I have had 2 removed, that when I bend my foot in certain directions (which did hurt painfully before) it doesn’t hurt so much now. It aches, but its not painful per say. It may be that after you have had them in for a year or something to discuss with your doc to have them removed. I HAD to have mine removed as they were so close to the ankle joint, consultant was worried they would snap, but I still have 5 more and a plate in there! :S

Little update on myself. One week tomorrow since I had my screws removed from my ankle, and since I have been weight bearing. I am close to loosing the crutches i think…its just 1st thing in the morning my ankle has ceased up overnight, and I have to hop a little bit!! I can go up the stairs normally now, one foot over the other, but going down I still have to do one at a time! I went to a housewarming party this afternoon, and I had to get up and down 6 flights of stairs, as they had no lift, but it was fine, and I was rather pleased with myself for getting up there without going flying! 🙂

I can also balance on my bad leg for about 5 seconds now, which is a massive improvement since monday, as I couldn’t hardly even lift my good leg off of the floor, without my knee in my bad leg giving out, and me almost falling to the floor on many occasions!! But now I can stand on it for a few seconds before toppling over like a drunk person! hee hee! 🙂

I am off to new york a week tomorrow, which is also very exciting, and that will really test my ankle!! But I am ready for it, and will give it everything I have! 🙂

Hope everyone is doing FAB, and have a great week everyone!

Louise xx
anklequest on July 12, 2008 at 9:15 pm said:

Clark, welcome back! We need your spark on this board! Glad Paradise has stopped burning. And also am glad you are keeping up your spirits! It was great talking with you. Your positive spirit is so very inspiring.

Liz
Basically I have a similar pain situation, sort of between the 11 & 12 o’clock position on my right foot; just below & to the left of those tendons going right down the middle of the front of the foot. While not as extreme as yours it is my most prominent pain. I woke up from surgery and it was the first specific pain I felt other than a great big throbbing foot. In my case I think the pain is from tendon damage during surgery as my foot was once again dislocated to get screws into the back side of the tibia. The two screws in the medial malleolus are a little lower and more medial so I don’t think it is these screws. I can say that after two years the pain is not as bad but is still there all the time. It is also reduced by careful message and a bit of streching. Overall it is slowly improving. The doc. told me that in my type of break sometimes things take a long time to heal; especially tendons and ligaments that were enjured or stretched.

I don’t know if this answer is helpful or not. I do not use any pain medicine for I can function just fine the way it is. If I took tylenol I might be rid of it but have not tried. At night I wear an L shaped brace which positions my foot forward and keeps things stable, so then I do not feel it. I got this brace via the internet. If you are interested, i can forward the info to you on that. Also, if you can feel the screw, perhaps it needs to be taken out. Ask the doc about that if you have one that will speak to you.

Don, what a lovely day it was today. I hope everything went well with you and your family.

For all the animal watchers..yesterday we had a discussion about the sudden explosion in our chipmuck population. Holes have appeared all over the place in the yard. Today my husband fell asleep on our back deck. He woke up to see a hawk perched on the birdbath, about 40 feet away. The next thing he saw was the hawk picking up a chipmuck and flying away. so I guess that may answer our chipmuch problem. I don’t think a hawk can pick up a 20-30 pound woodchuck though.

Don’t step into any holes in the yard.

Anklequest.
Diane on July 12, 2008 at 3:13 pm said:

Tammy~

Forgot to add that you don’t usually feel the full relief effect of Lyrica for two weeks or more. For me it was at the 3 week phase that I noticed….”hey, it really is helping, especially with the burning.” The first couple of days I took it I had this euphoric, alert feeling….like I was right out there man. That soon wore off…and now I don’t notice any mood effects at all. I hope it helps you,

Diane
Diane on July 12, 2008 at 10:35 am said:

Tammy~

rsdhope.org has the most recent info on internet.

rsdsupport.com is a great forum that I belong too…compassionate people, caring, and lots of tips and answers to questions. There is also a place where we can “private message” each other and exchange questions and info outside of this forum. My handle on rsdsupport is dbiss. Feel free to contact me there if you like. On the private messaging we can exchange e-mails if you wish without showing it here.

Lyrica: I have been on for about three months. At first I thought it upset my tummy, and bloated it. But after about a week that feeling went away. No other affects for me however…take 200 mg daily, in two doses. It might help you sleep. Other meds we can share in private. This is a unique condition that most people don’t know about, or haven’t even heard of. I know I hadn’t. I will check here again this week-end.

~Diane~
Tammy on July 12, 2008 at 9:47 am said:

Diane~

Wow..I too have been searching for someone else with this condition. It appears to be getting worse (lots more burning, pain, etc sensations) so I think it is time for the medicine. Started it yesterday…what did you find difficult about the medicine? I have only taken two doses. I have Raynaud’s disease too which isn’t helping the situation. How far out are you? How long have you been on the drug?
Thanks for finding me and responding!

Tammy
Clark on July 12, 2008 at 1:17 am said:

Hello Anklebreakers!!

Yes, it is me, a long distant relative of Hippocrates.
I said I was done, and I was, but today I recieved a great call from Anklequest, who offered another point of view of things, and here I am. I appreciated all of your kind thoughts, and will try to be worthy of them.
My computer did die, again, and short and sweet here is why. I already said all of this of course, in my first posting a few minutes ago, but one of my crazy fingers hit the wrong button and I lost it, all of it, and here it is again, shorter and sweeter, but will tell this short computer story in case it helps someone else out there.
ADVISORY, THIS AREA IS NOT ABOUT ANKLES, SO FEEL FREE TO LEAPFROG AND CONTINUE ON, AS I WOULD NOT WANT TO UPSET ANYONE’S STATE OF ZEN.
Just after signing off a few days ago, my Norton Symetec security quit (yes, Anklequest, the one you use, but here is why; as it had expired, but I never recieved an onboard notice, or email from them, but it stopped picking up the auto updates from “live update” and then quitsecuring things. I tried to use the system restore, but it failed. I had to wipe the drive clean, using the “F12″ boot key during the boot sequence, which takes you to the onboard DVD drive, and allows one to wipe the drive clean and use a “cloning system” and add the restore discs to start fresh. A brand new baby virgin computer harddrive.
With everything lost. I was unable to copy anything before it started to crash. But I did send some photos and writings out on email, and was able to retrieve them using the “sentmail” storage.
But it is back now, almost the same, with the Comcast McAfee Security Suite online, which is offered free from Comcast. Hopefully this will work.
My fused ankle is killing me. Not sure why, but could be compression of the 26 or so bones, that fit togather like a puzzle, in from of the actual ankle. They can get stuffed, compressed and broken, and I am guessing if that happens, you must just wait for it to heal. Will see the PT for 2nd appt. following the fusion to hopefully find out, and if not, will call the doc. Hard to walk with no pain, and this is new pain, in a new area, not like before. The brace no longer works, needs to be redone, becuase of the fusion I guess, and have to switch between the crutches and the cane, depending on pain level. Other than that, it is awkward, and dead, yet when I can feel it it hurts. The pills help. Quite an adjustment, this fusion, and broken ankle to start with, as all of you feel. I am resigned to my fate. Not in a quitting way, but to allow me to empower the disability to gain the advantage and beat it, to win it over, to become as normal as I can be, when I am finally able to do it. It will take time.
Rode my first stationary bike at the first PT session last week, and with the seat up, with almost a full leg extension, I could pedal the bike with no undue pain or strain on the fusion. I also walked the treadmill at what? 2 mph or something, a fair clip, for me, whatever, for 10 minutes, and used the adductor and abbductor (sp) machines. The doc released me to do anything in the gym I wanted to do, so am going to do it.
With the weight gain, 40 lbs or so, over 16 months (I’m 6′2” so carry it alright, but am definately overwieght) which turned me into a Type II Diabetic, GREAT, I definately have a desire to get fit again. Never ever weighed over 240 for years, solid, and was never ever diabetic, until the ankle break. The gift that keeps on giving.
People say that God, or the Great Spirit, or the All Knowing All Seeing All Wise One, whatever, never gives any of us more than we can handle, and if HE/SHE does, we probably die. So I am sure there is a silver lining in this anklebreaking ThunderCloud we have all fallen under somewhere. Just have to hang out long enough, and work hard enough, to find it.
And so, that’s it for now. More later perhaps. Probably.
On the local scene, as Anklequest stated, that the township of Paradise was under serious threat of fire, and was being evacuated in areas. The world is on fire, when it is not flooding, and we don’t seem to get it. But we will get something down the road, perhaps not what we expect. 1102 PM and the news just stated that the evacutation order was lifted in Paradise. Good news. Perhaps the fire is being downgraded a bit. A good friend of mine, who anchors a local radio show from a small wattage AM station here in town, lost everything, except her van, and her dogs. Everything else, gone. That goes for many many people up here. And to think I almost moved there, instead of this town.
But it’s been a great week for the Constitution and the Environment, if you follow the current Administration. Fisa was approved giving blanket amnesty for illegal wiretapping, and the Administration refused to do anything to cap carbon emissions, saying it would destroy the economy. As if the economy could be worse off. What they meant is that they (the Administration and it’s followers) want to suck as much money from the enviroment, while destroying the environment, before they are voted out of office. Typical Greed following corrupt power.
Lord Acton, a famous British Statesmen, once said “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”, and he was right.
The ship will right itself, if it doesn’t sink, and I doubt it will. But we will be taken to the brink, I fear. Enough of that.
Hope everyone and all are well.
Don, enjoy dancing at your daughters wedding today. I am so happy for you and your wife and the bride and groom. Off to a great start, with you being there and dancing.
Take care.
And oh, Melanie… You think you are so smart. And you are. But it was me, I guess, for that posting, when I was just being a conFused One, after all.
Ana, I was glad to read your posting about your ankle. Sounds like you have been through the mill. I can only say that if you do get the fusion, it will alleviate most of the pain. I am no expert yet, still going through it myself, but if there are no other options, then perhaps thats the only one left. Only you will know when that time is. But I wish you good healing whatever you do.

Take care all. Have a good weekend. Don, don’t overdo it!
Clark

copied from Broken Ankle 1 Year Later
Diane on July 11, 2008 at 8:05 pm said:

Tammy:

I hope you recheck this site. I have been here in background for a few months reading. Was wondering when I would run into another who has RSD. I broke my ankle, (fibula) Dec. 2007….diagnosed with RSD in March. I never imagined such a painful beast existed.

About Lyrica…it took two times trying it before I could tolerate the Lyrica….but boy, am I glad I stuck with it. It helps the nerve pain alot..burning, tingling, pain. Yes, PT and using the RSD limb is essential…keep using it, pool therapy is the best, I go three times a week. If you put RSD in google it will give you some horrific information….scared the bejesus out of me when I first read it. My PT guy told me to ignore most of it, and that most all folks get into remission eventually. Maybe a year to a year and a half. Sounds like you have a mild case so far…the first line of defense is PT, and usually sympathetic blocks. Has your Dr. mentioned them? Keep rubbing that limb…using it as much as possible. Take care of yourself…and your stress level.

Diane
anklequest on July 11, 2008 at 5:44 pm said:

Hi Everyone,

Don, I’m sure everyone here joins me in wishing you a great day tomarrow as you finally get that dance with your daughter. I’ll be thinking of you! Looks like the weather might also be perfect so have a perfect day. One of these days we’ll met again and you can show me the pictures!

Ana, The fused ankle thing is enough to make me really feel for you in that you even have to consider this fusion a possibility. I heard there is an ankle joint replacement surgeon in Miami. Is that a possibility? I know that technology is all very new and perhaps not for someone as young as you.

About Clark! I spoke to him today as I heard on the national news about the nearby fires in Paradise, which are very very serious. The fire haze fills the entire large Central CA Valley. This haze is getting worse, & was already there when I arrived in Fresno over 2 weeks ago. He is doing very well but is very concerned about the possibility that the entire town of Paradise is at high risk. He doesn’t live there but lives in a city not to far away. I urged him to continue on the board, especially re. the fused ankle thing and so he might return and keep us posted on his progress. He is having bad computer problems so his computer is not working right now.

Take care everyone!

Anklequest
Louise on July 10, 2008 at 6:36 pm said:

Hi Liz!

In reply to your earlier post….I live in a first floor flat, so have to deal with stairs every time I go in or out, which is a right pain in the backside. The safest way to go up and down is on your backside, because you cannot fall. It takes a long time, and I was normally quite tired when I got to the top, but it really helped me feel safer! At the top stand up on the second stair down, hold the handrail, and jump up to the top. People will look at you, but if you are on crutches, its kind of self explanatory! ha ha!

The other way, if your too embarassed to do this is (if the stairs have a handrail this is….if not, slightly dangerous!) to grab the handrail on which ever side you can really or feels comfotable. When you are going up, put your crutch on the same step as you are standing on, then putting most of your weight on the handrail, and the crutch, jump up to the next one, then move the crutch up to the same step, and do the next one. Going down, same concept really, just put the crutch down onto the step before you hop down onto it, and hold the handrail for dear life!!

It is a slow, and very tiring process, but a safe way of doing it. This is how I was shown how to do stairs in the hospital before I left originally on crutches by a physiotherapist! It does take a bit of courage to initally do it, but once you have done it once, you will be fine. Just hold the handrail, and you will be ok! Dont try and do stairs without holding the handrail for goodness sake, because I have fallen over a few times (thankfully without majorly hurting myself!) whilst thinking I can do stairs and trying to do them too quickly….take your time, and really look at the distance between the stairs before you jump them too, as that helps!!! Just remember to put the whole of your forearm up to your elbow onto the handrail, and it really does support you!!

Also, regarding the driving, it does depend I think. I am in the Uk, and was cleared to drive a manual car (left foot being the clutch foot!) 2-3 after cast off, but then I had some more surgery on monday, and canot drive for another 14 days, so best to speak to your doctor really! They said to me that as long as you can emergency stop, then its ok to drive, but seriously, check with your doctor!!

Anyway…hope those instructions are clear, and help a bit, or at least give you some ideas as to how to get up the stairs! hee hee! You will be fine Im sure! Let me know how it goes! 🙂

Louise xx
Pam on July 9, 2008 at 10:19 pm said:

Anklequest- I can’t imagine being non weight bearing without a cast or boot on. I had a splint/cast on for 2 weeks until my staples came out & then a boot for 4 more weeks of non weight bearing. I fell 2x wearing my boot & I was very thankful I had it on. Once my ortho told me I could start weight bearing, I continued to wear the boot for another week plus because I felt secure with it on and was afraid to walk on my foot.

Liz- your ortho doctor sounds exactly like mine, rushing us in our recovery. I have been talking with several of the doctors that I work with ( I work in a family medicine clinic) and several of them told me that a broken bone takes 4-6 weeks to heal & if you have any type of screws, plates, pins, to double that time. I moaned & groaned to my docs about my ortho expecting to much out of me too soon and they said that alot of ortho docs don’t get/see the whole picture on recovery (they are experts in “surgery” and “fixing” patients). The ortho who did my surgery is considered one of the best surgeons in the health care organization I work for, but he sure doesn’t have any bedside manners ( I think my visits have been about 1-2 minutes with him & definately no time to ask any questions). So hang in there, you sound like you are doing great!
A Fused One. on July 9, 2008 at 8:58 pm said:

Ana,
I had an ankle fusion several months ago, necessitated by a very serious TriMallealor fracture that could not be repaired.
The purpose of the fusion was to tighten the ankle, and reduce or stop the laxity or “slack” in the ankle that would later cause serious and painful arthritis in the future. Several earlier operations, all with added hardware, could not tighten up the slack. Thus the fusion.
Unlike other ankle operations of which I have had several, a fusion is very painful and invasive, probably caused by the very deep and painful insertion of approx. 4 or 5 inch long 1/3 inch wide Titanium lag screws inserted towards the top of the ankle, on either side, going downward and entering into the tibula on the outside and fibula inside, actually criss-crossing each other inside the ankle, and driving into the talus, which totally locks the ankle. The fusion is very painful because of the size of the screws, the destruction of nerve and bone tissue they encounter, and was easily the most painful of the several operations that I have had. I spent almost all my time in the hospital, immediately after the surgery, in a near delerious state, waiting for another shot to be delivered as soon as the interval from the last had passed, usually about 4 hours.
But the pain finally subsided and I was able to be released on Hydrochodone alone, although the strongest dose allowed without a triplicate.
Because of the lack of movement in the ankle, atrophy quicky sets in and the calf and leg muscles diminish. They will come back to some degree once the bones are fused and healed and the doctor allows PT, but they will never come back to the degree they were prior to the fusion.
The scars are longer and deeper than before, probably due to removing the plates and screws from either side, and inserting the new large screws. As there is no movement, there are no adhessions (scar tissue) to break free after healing in the scars, and at this point, I suppose looks, or the cosmetic effect, really have no bearing. My foot now looks like an “ALLEY OOP” foot, like the caveman character in the old cartoon strip. It never looked like that from the earlier operations. It is very dead, but also very responsive to anything that touches it, if that makes sense, and is very painful at times.
It will be difficult to find the proper brace and comfortable shoe that will fit this foot, which is now a different size than my other foot. I will have to worry about that later. I am still wearing my large moon boot, which gives the most support. I did have a brace that worked well prior to the fusion, but it does not fit now and causes too much pain. I guess I need a new one.
If your right ankle is fused, plan on doing any driving with your left foot. If you drive a 4 or 5 speed, and your left ankle is fused, you may be able to still use the clutch, but if it is your right ankle, plan on driving only an automatic with your left foot. I have no feeling in my foot and could not judge any type of accelorator or brake pressure using my fused ankle. There is really no feeling down there anymore.
It takes a while to reaquire your gait, and some semblance of normalcy, but over time things will get better, but yet may never be the same. I may always limp, but not the exagerated limp aquired after surgery. With training and PT your limp can be quaite discreet. And you will never be “normal” again, and you will have limitations, but it will get better. You just have to learn to live with it. The doctor would not recommend it unless he thought it was necessary, although I do not know what your personal situation is.
Hope this helps.

A Fused One.
Melanie on July 9, 2008 at 8:43 pm said:

ANKLEQUEST, Yuck. I’m with Liz. I couldn’t imagine not have my casts. I felt safe with them. And if I did lose my balance (which happened only a couple of times), I was able to catch myself. It hurt like crazy, but I didn’t fall. And the open sore. Yuck yuck yuck. Now having said all that, I would have loved not to have the itches that comes with a cast!!!!

LIZ, I drove illegally about the last 4 weeks of my convalesence. Never drove with my three hard casts (so approximately 7 to 10 weeks), but once I got my aircast I would put my leg/ aircast in front of my console and worked the pedals with my left foot. Nearly gave myself whiplash a couple of times. I thank God I never had a wreck, but my husband could not take off work anymore to drive me around. That was the only thing I did that I should not have done. Everything else I did by the book. I suppose that at that point I felt like I did not have a choice. AND LIZ, at the time I lived in a two story house, but it did have a landing where I would rest. I never went up or down without someone else at home. I really and truely was dependent on others for a few months. I have read some entries here when people have gone up and down the stairs on their bottoms. Maybe that is an option?

TAMMY, no idea about RSD, but I really do believe I have Raynaud’s. My toes and fingers. They really only go blue and then red again (according to everything I have read, all three color changes does not occur in everyone). They become so numb I can’t even feel that they are cold. We live in FL and I have to wear socks around the house in the summer because they will “do their thing”. BUT I had this before the break and the injury has not made the symptoms worse.

Alright, going to the other site to see what’s going on there. I am going to start reading these in the evenings otherwise I could spend all day just sitting and reading entries!

Take care out there!!!!!

Melanie
Tammy on July 9, 2008 at 2:19 pm said:

Hi all~

Happy healing to everyone. I can’t believe the ruckus that has started to take over this site. It is very difficult to find places on the internet about ankle fractures like this one…so I hope that things can settle back down so that we can all benefit from each others ideas and experiences.

On the ankle note…for all of you with numbness…My ankle fracture and dislocation occured on Feb 19, 08. I have had numbness in the top of foot, ankle and 3 toes. I was recently told that this was RSD. Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy…they are attempting to treat in through therapy and my Dr. would like me to start a prescription called Lyrica. Been putting it off for 3 weeks now. Lots of side effects and Im not a medicine taker. It is a big deal and has significant long term affects if it isn’t fixed. (I was told it is rare to have long term) But with it comes nerve pain, numbness, bone detioration, etc.

My Vegas trip went well, but it was quite clear that I am not close to 100 percent. I had lots of swelling and pain. I think the RSD is getting worse as I have more pain, aching and nerve sensations than I did before the trip.

I know its time to start the medicine. Does anyone else have or have had RSD? Does any one have Raynaud’s disease?

Id love to hear from you 🙂 I’ll be missing those posts from Clark, Lois and Sharon…I love to hear about the animals, your settings, and your experiences.

Keep healing!
Tammy
Liz on July 9, 2008 at 12:57 pm said:

Hey Anklequest,

Wow, I couldn’t imagine not having a cast for the first 6 weeks. It makes my leg feel safe. lol I will definitely not put any weight on it until the doctor and PT say it’s okay. The doctor did prescribe weight bearing up to 25 pounds but the therapist hasn’t let me yet and I’m too scared to attempt anything on my own so I’ll wait.

As far as the exercises… my therapist has given me some to do at home twice a day. I flex it up and down, roll my foot from side to side, pick up a towel with my toes, pull my foot forward and back and side to side using my hands, roll my toes backwards and forwards using my hands, and pull my foot towards me with a rolled up towel. At the rehab center he has also had me try to roll a wobble board around in circles using my foot and has had me use an exercise type bike. He has also done an ultrasound massage on an area that’s been causing some pain. He thinks it might be scar tissue. It’s right above where one of the screws is placed. For now, that’s about all I’ve done.

Here is my biggest concern… Right now I am off work for the summer so I’m staying with my parents (3 hours away from the town I live in). Once I start back to work in 3 weeks I’m going to have to go back to my apartment which means going up and down a flight of stairs. YIKES! How am I going to manage that? I’m not very good on crutches. I lose my balance easily on them so I have been using a walker instead and my wheelchair of course. I don’t know what I’m going to do about those blasted stairs! Any of you have to face that issue? Also, how long did it take before you could start driving? Did you have to wait until you were full weight bearing before getting in the driver’s seat?
anklequest on July 9, 2008 at 12:33 pm said:

Hi Liz,
Just a thought on your current state: usually they wait for 6 weeks (after surgery) to begin putting weight on the foot. It takes that long for the fracture to “heal” enought for weight. I wouldn’t try more earlier or you could rebreak the bones. Movement is OK because it helps to loosen up the muscles. A lot of that you can do on your own with the big rubber bands or a belt or towel and you’ll definitely see progress, although it will be slow. The healing takes time. Also, you may have surprise setbacks. Just take it a little easier the next day.

You might be interested to find out I never had a cast at all and yet did not place any weight on my foot for 6 weeks as per doc’s order. I couldn’t have a cast due to an open wound without skin. this wound needed constant attention. I did have a splint for the first two weeks.

Good Luck, and this will all be over fast.

Anklequest.
Liz on July 9, 2008 at 12:03 pm said:

Hey Everyone,

I recently joined the discussions on the other site but thought I’d jump in here too. It has been great reading all of your stories and progress reports. 🙂

I broke my ankle on 5/20/08. I slipped on some water in my classroom, landed on my foot wrong and broke my ankle in 3 places with dislocation. I couldn’t even look at it because it was turned at such a grotesque ankle. Ugh!

I was taken by ambulance to the ER where I waited FOREVER for the doc to come and put it back in place. They splinted it and sent me on my way to see the ortho doctor the next day. I had to wait 2 weeks for my surgery because the swelling was so bad and a huge fracture blister developed on the side of my ankle.

I had surgery 2 weeks after the break. It was put back together with a plate and I think about 5 screws. I was put back in a splint until the staples were taken out 2 weeks later. I was expecting then to get a plaster cast but the doc decided to go ahead and put me in an aircast so I could start excercising the ankle.

After 2 weeks in an aircast(6 weeks into the break) I went back to the doctor and he wasn’t happy with my limited movement so he prescribed physical therapy with weight bearing up to 25 pounds. I’ve gone to 3 therapy appointments so far and I can see a little bit of progress… a little more flexibility although he still hasn’t had me put any weight on it… not sure why.

Anyway, it’s been 7 weeks yesterday and still no standing, walking or driving. This is such a slow process. It’s encouraging to hear from some of you who are farther along in your recovery and doing well. Thanks for sharing your stories. 🙂 I’ll keep posting my progress as it comes.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday. 🙂
Melanie on July 9, 2008 at 11:26 am said:

LOUISE, I completely agree with Anklequest about both the vitamin E oil and massaging your own ankle. I agree the metal brings a whole new level to discomfort and queasiness and weird pain. And it’s like you know this ankle is part of your body, but you can’t really feel it like you used to. It’s just weird.

I also do reflexology on my husband and he loves it. He wears those heavy boots all day. So now that he knows some of the “moves”, he will massage the bottoms of my feet. He is very careful when he massages the injured foot, not that he touches any of the metal. So I don’t think he is working on any tendons or ligaments or scar tissue when he is rubbing my foot, but it definately loosens things up. It’s wonderful. It’s just so calming and relaxing. It truely is an alternative therapy for my injury.

And I just thought of other English sweets (sort of) that I love. Sticky buns and Napoleon’s from the bakery. Ummmmmmm good!

Take care all.

Melanie
anklequest on July 9, 2008 at 9:39 am said:

Hi Louise,

Eventually massaging the scars and treating them with vitamin E will be helpful. Adhesions first form under the scars. To get the skin back to the way it was over time, these adhesions need to be dealt with via very gentle massage. I was told not to let anyone else do this initially. So you’ll have to do it yourself so you can control the pressure and the extent of moving the skin around. Do not worry about the twitching. Eventually that will go away.

It may take weeks & months for scars and adhesions to fade away. It took me about a year and a half but then I had a very bad open wound after surgery and that took 6 months to close. I still massage things almost every day for I have tendons and ligaments that are still sore.

Second, about the numb spots. All my numb areas have now pretty much returned to normal except directly above my wound scar. Even that I think may get back to normal.

Finally, when you get back to work at your sitting job, try to get up at least 5 to 10 minutes every hour. This will keep blood form pooling in your foot and will help keep the swelling down. Blood returns to the heart from the foot via veinous compression by the leg muscles.

I wish to try some of those desserts you’ve been talking about. I’ve never had any of them. Hope to have a trip back to the UK some day and will have to get a recommendation from you as to where to try them.

Good Luck,

Anklequest
Louise on July 9, 2008 at 5:08 am said:

Melanie!! I loved shaving my leg afterwards!! SOOOOOO good! Although, where I had an allergic reaction to the gauze they put inside the cast, I was covered in hundreds of small blisters,so couldn’t shave properly for about 10 days or so!! That was frustrating!!! Eeek! I am still quite scared to shave over my scars to be honest…I am worried they may split open again! :S
And i know when I get my stitches out next week, its going to be the same all over again with this one!!!
Is anyone else quite warey of touching their scars too?? I am a little, although am starting to get over it. I was trying to massage the area around the scars to try and get some movement back in my ankle, and it just makes me feel quite ill!! Also if I touch my scars in certain places, I can feel the underside of my foot twitching…again is that just me??
I also still have a rather large numb patch on the top of my foot….again, me or anyone else again??

Anywho…hope everyones doing well! 🙂

Louise xx
anklequest on July 8, 2008 at 9:38 pm said:

Blake,
You are lucky that the doc said you would have a full recovery. The patience part is going to be tough for you. A pilon fracture is certainly very serious and will require quite a bit of time.

A great young man who works for my department had a bad accident when he was 16. He was hit by a car while riding his bike to school. It wrecked his knee and he had to give up a chance to go to Princeton University on scholarship as a soccer star. Of course he thought his life was ruined, but he eventually was able to completely recover to the amazement of his doctors. He now has an external bad scar but internally his knee is perfect. Why? Because he took very good care and followed excellent therapy after surgeries. He also followed a nutritional regime which he has put me on with the hope it will help my ankle. He also later realized, after he got over the shock of his life being so transformed, that his values changed while he was healing. And so he gradually became whom he is today, a very fine young man indeed. I wish there were clones of him around in my department.

I just spoke to him today, as he was on his way to a mountain climbing trip with friends. He is a tremendous athlete, but keeps things in perspective. Sports is now only a small part of his life, as his focus turned to many other things while he was recovering.

Anyway, Blake, make the best of things while you recover. Please let us know how you are doing. Time is on your side more than it is for the rest of us.

Anklequest.
Christi on July 8, 2008 at 9:32 pm said:

Sandra~

We have Wii Fit and love it. It has exercises that strengthen the ankle and all other parts of the body. You can start out with as much as you can take and work your way up.

Christi
Melanie on July 8, 2008 at 9:29 pm said:

SANDRA, Two of my friends have the Wii fitness and they LOVE IT!!!!

BLAKE, I am 44 and did this when I was 41 (is that right? I did it in August ’05). I have 11 screws and one plate in my right ankle (right ankle trimalleor break with dislocation) – meaning both tibia and fibula and my toes were looking at my shoulder blade (the dislocation part). I am now running about 1.5 miles (not all at once) three days a week and biking 4 miles three days a week. And two young children. I only limp in the mornings until it loosens up. I’m pretty much back to normal. Although I can honestly say, with metal in, NO WAY would I participate in contact sports. Get the metal out first. Even little scrapes over the metal hurts like the dickens.

I completely agree with Don. Do not rush it. Take your time. Do EVERYTHING the PT says. Do the exercises at home, even after the official PT stops. If you rush it, you could do more damage and make everything worse.

Keep us updated!

CLARKE, Are you out there? Someone here needs your help and advice on ankle fusion!!!!!

And something for all you girls. Remember when you got your first cast off? Remember how (if you shaved your legs before the accident) hairy our leg/ ankle was when that cast came off? I looked like saskwatch (spelling?). I tell you, that was one thing I LOVED about getting that thing off. Being able to shave again! It was itchy and gross. I remember, going against ALL MEDICAL ADVICE, getting a coat hanger and scratching the heck out of my leg. Whew….Sorry, just had to get that out.

Melanie
Don on July 8, 2008 at 7:29 pm said:

Hey Blake

Well good luck with the recovery. The best advice any of us can give you is DON”T RUSH THE RECOVERY. Yes we all know that at 16 you are indistructable, we all felt like that at your age. But if you do what you are told by the Doctors and the PT people and not do to much to fast you will most likely recover very fast at your age and physical fittness. As for the metal it is not that big of a deal. have about 25lbs of steel in different parts of my body. Both ankles right knee right femur, left hip and pelvis and left arm. I walk almost normal with a little limp most of the time. At times I have trouble depending on the weather or how much I have done or over done.

So all in all if you do what your told when your told and not over due it you should do just fine were all pulling for you. Good luck

Don
Blake on July 8, 2008 at 6:33 pm said:

I recently broke my ankle really bad longboarding in may, and I had surgery the day of. i had an external device on my foot for a week or two. Then i had another surgery that put 3 plates and 20 screws in my foot. the doctor said it was a pilon break, rated from 1-10 an 8 he said. right now Im in a cast and start PT in a few weeks. i am 16 years old and pretty frightend about the metal. Im very athletic, and play alot of sports. Im planning on doing everything again -such as wakeboarding, wrestling, skating-and feel like nothing happend to my ankle. the doc said it’ll be a full recovery. Im woundering how the road ahead of me will be like.
anklequest-2 on July 8, 2008 at 4:37 pm said:

TEST
I’m trying to move this site to my home computer.
Don on July 8, 2008 at 4:27 pm said:

Anna

Clark had an ankle fusion. you can read up on his post on the other site. From what he wrote it is not all it is cracked up to be. I also was told that they want to do that to my ankle. I Passed on it for now. I was told it would depend on my own tollerance of the pain . As long as I can stand it I can go on till I can’t walk any more or till the pain just gets to bad a stops me. I will still hold out as long as I can.

Don
Sandra on July 8, 2008 at 3:58 pm said:

Hi

Has anyone tried Wi-fit – that computer thingy, that has a wobble board with it?

Wondered if it worked well.

Night for now.

Sandra
Ana on July 8, 2008 at 12:46 pm said:

Has anyone undergone an ankle fusion?
Louise on July 8, 2008 at 11:42 am said:

Hi Melanie!! I think a micro-wobbleboard is a small board on which you stand which increases your stability and balance! It looks a little like a big D shape, which the curved side goes on the floor, and you stand on the flat top and balance. It can also look like a planet with a ring around it, which you stand on the ring and balance. They are meant to be reall good so I have heard! Good for balance even if you havn’t had an ankle injury!! A micro one I would suggest is just a small one!!

I am too posting on the other site, but found this site a while back, when clark posted the link on there! Its a shame Clark left isn’t it really? Hmmm…

Ok, to anyone who hasn’t seen my story on the other site, I broke and dislocated my ankle on 23rd april 2008. Broke the fibula in 2 places, and the tibia right near the ankle joint, and dislocated it as well. I was in a cast for 7 weeks, then cast off on 13th June. I then had to wait 3 and a half weeks, non-weight bearing until yesterday (7th July) when I had to have 2 screws taken out of my ankle in order for me to weight bear again! One of the larger screws was put in really close to the ankle joint, and they were worried that when I put full weight on it again, it would snap, so it had to be removed. I still have a plate and 4 or 5 other screws/pins which are staying in for good, unless i have any problems with them.

So at the moment, I am learning once again to walk, stitches out next week, and am currently wearing a delightful black velcro shoe on my left foot. Cant wear any other shoes, because they will not fit over the bandages!! I am doing ok without the crutches..getting better!! I can to and from the kitchen ok from the living room, without looking like a total muppet! I have also gone up and down the stairs like a normal person instead of on my backside for the 1st time in nearly 11 weeks! Yay! Although had to take each step one at a time, rather than just going up and down like totally normal people! haa haa!

So to anyone else out there who has broken their ankle’s….good luck and watch where you are going!! hee hee!

Louise 🙂
xx
Melanie on July 8, 2008 at 9:27 am said:

OKAY FLIP FLOP WEARERS!!!

Was just looking at Victoria’s Secret (my weight loss has improved my self-esteem, too!), and they have something new called FitFlops. $49.95 (sticker shock!) and looked like three colors (red, black, and silver with red stripe). Wide strap across the top of the foot. Strong, thick sole. Not very very cute, but hey…..

This is what VS is claiming about them:

“Strengthens and tones muscles in your feet, legs, buttocks, stomach and back
• Absorbs shock on your feet, knees and back
• Tones and trims your thighs, calves and glutes
• Recreates the gait of barefoot walking with a built-in micro-wobbleboard workout-enhancing effect
• Improves balance and posture

What the heck is a “micro-wobbleboard”?

Take a look if you are committed flip flop wearers!!!! And talk with your doc or PTist about them!

Okay, gotta go clean house and do laundry!

Melanie
Melanie on July 8, 2008 at 9:07 am said:

PAM, Ummmm……, You can feel the metal on both sides through my skin. I have young children and sometimes they inadvertently hit it. Makes my hair stand up it stings so much! Plus some shoes I cannot wear because of the rubbing on the right side. Also, we have a water park here and on one visit last summer I fell on a slippery surface. My ankle scraped over a step, and while nothing catastophic happened (Thank God), I almost threw up. From the pain and almost reliving the initial injury. After that and now reading all the entries, I think, what if I did re-break it? What would happen to the bone around the metal? Would it shatter? My ortho guy in Albuquerque (where I broke it) told me to have it removed, but the ortho guy here (we are active duty military) encouraged me not too! Weakening it until all the holes fill in, possibility of infection, maybe not even being able to remove the screws after 3 years, etc. I have not had it done before because the 1 year after the injury, we were PCSing (moving) to FL. My doc there would not remove it prior to one year. Then I started a job here and did not have enough leave accrued to get the surgery. Well, that and like I said the ortho here is reticent about it. I quit my job the end of May (sad, but could not afford to work because of full-time child care in the summer and cost of gas. Crazy, huh?) Blah blah blah. Now I’m not working and am really considering having it done when school starts back.

I am very proud of my weight loss and very proud of you for going back. I was big before the accident and just was DONE! It has made my life much easier. I believe the weight loss and exercise has allowed me to get back into feminine shoes and the ability to be a better mommy. And just so you know I went from a size 18-20 or 20-22 (or 1XL- 2XL) to an 8-10. Sometimes 10-12 depending on the brand. I hope that encourages you on your goal. It took me 16 months and the last 10 were the hardest (because I hated exercise). I am so very happy you rejoined. It is SO WORTH IT!!!! I reached lifetime this past Saturday (YAA HOO) and am over the moon about that! As I mentioned on the other site, I am running now 3 mornings a week. Probably 1.8 miles over a 3.6 mile course. I actually run maybe 30-45 seconds then walk 30-45 seconds. This too worries me about the metal. Can I give myself a stress fracture around the metal? AAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

I would really really appreciate any thoughts!
Melanie
Pam on July 7, 2008 at 11:59 am said:

Melanie- Are you having problems that you are considering having the metal taken out? My ortho told me he wants my hardware to stay in unless I have problems. I also have a pin that he said might cause me problems that he would remove. I’m 2 months post surgery and I am getting better and better with walking on my ankle. It feels best when I have my tennis shoes on, I hardly limp at all. Good job on the weight loss with WW, I actually just started back up on it today. My thought was less weight, the better on my ankle.
Melanie on July 7, 2008 at 10:23 am said:

I have found this site too after posting on the other. I know some of you from reading above. Hello everyone!!!! So just going to update……

So far I believe I am the longest out. I broke my right ankle in August 2005 on the La Luz Trail in Albuquerque. My toes were looking at my shoulder blade. I had the right ankle trimalleor break with dislocation, too. I had surgery about 9 days later and have 2 screws on the left side and 9 on the right, along with a plate. Lovely scars. My right ankle is still considerably larger than my left ankle, but only really limp in the morning. I was on crutches for three months, 2 hard casts, and then the air cast. Once in the aircast, I started a little weight bearing, and continued to add more over time. Once that came off, I lived in fear for many months, but am okay now. I still have problems with my shoulders and hips because of being on the crutches for so long.

I only found this site about two weeks ago, so am a newbie to the site, but reading everyone’s entries has still helped me enormously. I’m not alone! Yes, these twinges are normal. The popping sounds are not abnormal. It has been amazingly informative.

We are now in FL and I have lost 52 lbs over the past 16 months with Weight Watchers. It has made a HUGE difference with my ankle. Less aching. More mobility and agility. Longer endurance on the ankle. I am now running/ walking 3.6 miles 3 days a week and biking about 4 miles three days a week. I take off Sundays. And really, if I’m feeling down, tired ( I will be 44 next month), I will not exercise. I will not push myself in that way and hurt myself.

I go back and forth about having the metal removed. I often think “What if I do it again”? “Would the bone shatter around the metal”? If I do decide to go ahead with the surgery, I will wait until school starts back in August, maybe September.

Alrighty, everyone take care!!!!

Melanie
lois on July 2, 2008 at 11:46 pm said:

Christi, I am posting on the other site, but I too wanted to thank you for starting these sites. I would not have a clue how to start such a thing up, but finding your site and following the progress of yourself and others has been a godsend for beating the fear and depression and getting very helpful tips on what to expect and what to do. I am so enjoying the people on the site,,, and the humour thats injected into what really is a frustrating situation for us all. Christi, happy to hear that you sound as if you are doing well. Do keep us posted.
Pam on June 25, 2008 at 7:05 pm said:

Don- thank you for the words on encouragement. I am trying to stay positive and not get frustrated with my “slow” process. Each day does get better, which is good! PT is going pretty good & she said I am moving along well wth my progress.

Take care,

Pam
Don on June 19, 2008 at 8:31 pm said:

Hey Pam

Hang in there it is a long haul but one that you can make. Just do what you are told and try not to rush it by over doing it and pushing to hard. That is the best advise I can give you. Do what you are told when you are told and push when you are at therapy not when you are alone and do to much as that can lead to a set back. As for the metal I have all mine in and there is no thoughts of taking it out. So don’t worry to much about it being in there I have About 25lbs of metal in me so like all the rest I can’t go through metal detectors. Good luck keep us informed and we will all get there together.
Don
Pam on June 19, 2008 at 7:48 pm said:

Hi all- I posted on the other site, but then saw this one. I too am a newbie. I broke my ankle May 4, 08′, had surgery May 5th (I still have my plates & screws in & my ortho plans on keeping the metal in). It has been very rough, especially having small kids. However, I started therapy yesterday and feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel, especially after reading all of your postings.
Christi- thanks for having this site, it has really helped me start my journey to recovery.
Don on June 19, 2008 at 6:23 pm said:

Christi

Thank you for starting the other site and this site. I have been posting on the other site since Dec 2007. I stumbled across that site trying to figure how I was going to manage with my injuries with a wife and 2 daughters. I see that some of mu acquaintances made it over here. Thank you Anklequest for telling me about this site, and I must say we need to get a chance to get together again for lunch. Hopefully my wife will get to come this time.

Sandra

One of the other two ankle breakers I know. I think having both ankles broken at the same time was the biggest obstacle I have ever tried to over come. But Thanks to friends like you and Anklequest and sites like this I have manage to make it this far. And together I think we can all make it through.

To every one Keep looking forward and working at getting better
Congratulations at making it through Disney Christi and hope every one keeps improving

Don
Sandra on June 12, 2008 at 2:42 pm said:

Anklequest2

Not done this before, but if you ever what to chat, you can email me on [email protected].

Bye for now.
Sandra on June 12, 2008 at 2:40 pm said:

Christi

Just found this thanks to Anklequest, and it’s brilliant to hear how you are doing after two years – still with a metal leg! It gives me hope.

Now at 9+ months. Have just had two – three weeks of stiffness, tightness and lots of pain. And then Sunday things shifted and I have had a few good days. Long may it continue.

Have been to a running shop that looks at ‘gait’ as I know I am walking differently. Foot is rolling inwards (at back) so I now have trainers to help prevent this and provide more support on inside of foot. Hope it helps, though I have stopped wearing trainers all the time, having ventured into sandals when it’s warmer. It does change foot position and walking, but it’s a bit of freedom and another bit of progress towards ‘normal’ – whatever that will be.

HI to all

Sandra
Tammy on June 12, 2008 at 1:02 pm said:

Hi all~

Still following the site…I am 4 months out from my right ankle trimalleor break with dislocation on Feb. 19, 08. I have lots of swelling, still limping, and lots of numbness in the end toes and top of my foot.

Does anyone know how Raynaud’s disease might affect the healing of an ankle fracture?

Glad to hear people are doing well.
Tammy
Sharon on June 11, 2008 at 8:16 am said:

Anklequest,

Where do you live? I live in Louisiana and it is upper 90’s everyday so if you have it any hotter than that I don’t know how you stand it. It is hard to stay cool here. Glad you are feeling better. Things can only go up for us now. We’ve been down long enough.
Louise on June 11, 2008 at 6:32 am said:

Hi Christi, and everyone else!! I was having problems posting on the other site as well, so Ill come over to this one. It took absolutley AGES to load, although was sooo helpful. I couldn’t find hardly any websites about ankle dislocations, AND fractures, mostly just about fractures, and as we all know, its mostly the dislocation which is the problem.

Ok, so about me, I am also quite a newbie!! Broke and dislocated left ankle, whilst playing netball on 23rd april 08. Am still in a cast, but am getting a x-ray in 2 days to see if its healed enough for the cast to be removed. I hope it has! Its driving me mad! lol!

If the x-ray is ok, then I need to have some bif screws taken out of my ankle before I can put any weight on it, else they will snap! I think they do it by local anesthetic, which is quite scary!! I am just getting so bored now, and want to get back out and do stuff!

Christi, well done on disney land! Thats quite an accomplishment, and yeah there is a lot of walking involed! hee hee! And also well done on setting up both of these sites!! They are great! 🙂

Judy, I did a similar thing, I was hopping behind my friend, and got my stick caught in her shoe, and my cast hit the floor!! It swelled up for a bit, but was ok in a day or so….I didn’t get it checked, but I hope it is ok! Well…Ill find out on friday! :S

Anywho…much love to all!! Speak to you all again soon! Ill let everyone know about what happens on friday! Eeeek!!

Louise 🙂 xxxxxx
Judy on June 10, 2008 at 6:29 pm said:

Hi Christie,
I am glad you are doing well! I am a newbie (still in my cast from my fall 5/4). Thank you so much for having these sites! Hopefully, I am learning from all of you and will do the best I can to get back up and ‘running’! I had a setback and had the hardware and bones checked and they look good. When using the crutches, I lost my balance and put all my weight on the cast. Since then, immediate swelling and red/purple toes as soon as I put my foot down. The plan for this week was go go flying with the crutches and get to my car and try out my hand controls…oh well.
Take care, all you beloved fellow anklebreakers!
Kami on June 10, 2008 at 5:53 pm said:

Hi Christi, so glad your doing well. I will be at 1yr. on June 15th. I am so glad to hear that you still have your metal in. I hear of so many people that get theres taken out. I plan to leave mine in, really don’t want another surgery. I have 1 plate and 10 screws, was wondering what you have? Thanks so much for this wonderful site, God Bless You!
anklequest-2 on June 4, 2008 at 4:55 pm said:

Christi;
Thanks for your blog. It’s been great following it last year. I hope to follow it this year again. Perhaps I can steer the fellow group members to this “new year”.

Anklequest.