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

1. Final thought. It will be my first year anniversary for breaking two ankles on Saturday when I am away. So I hope to raise a toast (maybe alcohol-free in view of the headaches) to my new body, complete with metal. And most importantly, to celebrate being able to walk, because the desire to do so when you have been unable to walk at all is incredibly strong. I am sure all of you out there can appreciate that more than anyone else.

   Sandra

2. Hi to all

   Lots to catch up with again.

   LEE – in hospital I dreamed about breaking my bones (funny?!). I also used to imagine when dozing in bed that my leg was normal and not broken and in plaster -anyone else do that? I stopped dreaming about it when I came out of hospital, but I sometimes feel a bit ‘weird’ when I think about bones and fractures (and I don’t actually like that word), or metal bits.

   On the other hand, I have also become a little obsessed with the workings of my body, and am fascinated by people’s ankles, knees, legs generally… I try to confine this obsession to my TV or movies in case anyone things I am a bit strange. Anyway, the Olympics were helpful as they are so fat-free that you can really see how everything works. The marathon runners legs take a terrific pounding. I am in awe at their ability, but concerned for their joints. I guess I maybe lived a bit too much in my head sometimes and woke up to my body via this accident – and now I want to know more about how it works.

   CLARK. Interesting as ever to hear about your surgery. Getting back to the gym and relearning the bike is a good idea. I did some balance exerces with personal trainer today, with a 1kg football. I cannot remember the last time I ‘played’ with a ball, and it was quite a lot of fun. I hope you get a bit more zip back in your life.

   DENVER. A recent breaker and you seem to be doing really well.

   DUSTY. Hi and hope you are doing well.

   PAM. Nice to hear from you.

   LOUISE. You have made so much progress. On what the physio said, and for all of you out there. I am nearly at one year, and there have been times throughout the past six months in particular where I have wondered, is this as good as it gets? and despite the pain and stiffness, it has got better, and better and better . . . Really slowly, and maybe it will take up to another year. But just remember that the body and all its internal bits and pieces will heal at its own pace and we are all different.

   LIZ. Back to work if I remember correctly. Hope it goes well.

   LOISE. Hi again, and you are doing well.

   ANKLEQUEST. I will get the headaches checked out, as I have also had a couple of ‘wobbly’ incidents at the gym.

   My ankle has been looser over the past few days, and I have had fewer foot pains. That’s partly about shoes again. It has really been difficult to find footwear that fits without hurting somehwere. No-one highlighted that as a consequence of ankle-breaking, and I think I could write a whole chapter on shoes and pain. Today I have bought a new pair of trainers of trainers. ASICS gel, which I know ANKLEQUEST favours. They are also a half size bigger which may help with the foot pain. Anyway, I will need to try them on again tomorrow and make sure they do not rub anything and are not too big(feet a bit hot today).

   On knee pain that someone mentioned, I found that getting the right trainers was a help. Initially, I was wearing neutral trainers which allowed my foot to move too much and caused too much pain, and problems started in my knees. Had my gait assessed and was pro-nating, so bought a pair of supportive trainers which eased out a lot of pain. Couple of months on and these are now too much, so I have gone down a grade.

   A touch of the ‘Clarks’ upon me there (excuse me Clark, as I do like to read your posts).

   MELANIE, read about your surgery and you are waiting for results. Positive thoughts winging your way from England and I hope you are doing okay.

   Don. Hi again if you are there.

   May pop in again before I go off on my weekend jaunt.

   Must dash off to watch Big Brother – well I on leave and it requires no thought.

   Happy trekking to you all.

   Sandra

3. Hi all,

   Monday morning and I’m back to work from the couch. Kids are home today and tomorrow and then school starts again on Wednesday – halleluja, halleluja! I love my kids, but they are on my last nerve right now, with nothing to do and stuck at home with me, they are picking on each other all day long. I wish I could take them to a movie. I think we might have to download something to TiVO and watch this afternoon, just to keep them from killing each other.

   We had a get together yesterday at a park for back to school, and it was glorious to sit outside with friends I haven’t seen all summer. It was a beautiful 75 and breezy in the shade and it was like I had never seen the outdoors before. I can say that I have a whole new appreciation for things I didn’t take the time to notice before. I was too busy, running here and there, working, doing errands, cleaning house, shuttling kids, etc. While it is totally not my personality to sit for weeks on end, I can say that this accident has given me an appreciation for the simple pleasures out there – and nice breezy day, a simple hot shower, an evening of chatting with friends… Maybe that’s the lesson I’m supposed to learn in all of this. Patience and appreciation for the small things. Oh, and to slow down before it all blows past me in my business.

   Liz – I guess you could call what I’m doing in the boot walking…it’s closer to walking than I ever thought I’d do again, so I guess I’ll say yes! I’m putting weight on the foot and making a walking motion, but still supporting myself with my crutches. But the Dr. told me 50% of my usual pressure, so that’s what I’m aiming for. I’m probably at 30% now, but getting there. 🙂

   Louise – it is just heavenly to get ice directly on my leg and foot and to be able to lotion my leg. Dr. never said I couldn’t open the boot – just not to take it off. And I haven’t. I’m not sure I could yet – I don’t think my foot will hold in any sort of position yet. Feels like I have no control of it. Sound normal to you?
   And swimming sounds amazing – remind me – how far out from your break are you? I imagine swimming will be my only exercise for a while. I’m not a big swimmer, but I guess I will become one soon. When can I look forward to that? I shudder to think what I’ll look like in a bathing suit after all this sitting, but that’s small beans compared to my other worries.

   Denver – it was me that asked about the flashbacks. That’s one incredible accident story. So glad you were all ok. So, my flashbacks are nutty. I can just feel the crack in my foot over and over again whenever I read about bones, ligaments, etc. It literally makes me nauseous and squirmy. Gosh I hope it stops soon. It’s making me a little crazy.

   Ok – just wanted to take a break from work and catch up on everyone ghere. Take care. more later.

   -Lee

4. LOIS I got something for you 😉

   My Grandmother is 79 & everyone mistakes her for 50’s.. shes ebergetic, active, looks healthy, takes care of 2 acres by herself (picking up trash, raking leaves, mowing), has a green house she tends & is always moving along so quickly we can’t believe it ourselves. I talk w her @ least 1-3 times a week, we’re close..

   She broke her collar bone, I believe when she was in her sixties. She had the loss of energy and was worried she wouldn’t bounce back & that ‘this could be it’ the downward spiral where it all changed over from young energetic to looking and feeling her age.
   That is, until she did a LoT of reading 🙂
   She found out about this medicine you can buy @ wal-mart called CO-Q 10
   its naturally produced in the human body & feads oxygyn to your muscles & entire body, in turn giving you energy. Its slows production in most people when they are in there mid to late 40’s but others are kinda lucky..until something like this happens & (excuse the pun) knocks you off your feet.

   She started taking it along w cod liver oil for vitamin D to help her body rebuild quicker & sure enough got back to normal..well, normal as in seeming shes 15-20yrs younger than she actual is anyway. 😉
   so here’s the break down I copied right from a message I bounced back & forth w her…

   Codliver oil = 1000units a day (1.97per 100 @ walmart) increase vit D
   AND
   C O Q – 10 = 100mg a day – body starts producing the oxygyn needed 4 muscles & energy
   take them together

   back 2 restin 4 me 4 now

   nice to meet you

5. Hello to all: My sister (widowed when her doctor husband died in an accident in Jan 2008) has returned home after a week here. An hour after her departure my son, his wife, two daughters and their two dogs arrived for a two day vacation. Although it was wonderful to see everyone, (especially my little granddaughters aged 5 and 6) I am just exhausted from all the confusion and have an absolute mountain of laundry (bedding and towels) to catch up on. I still do not have the energy level I had before my accident, which is perhaps just due to months of inactivity??? Non the less it is frustrating. Although, I am almost 65, I have always remained very active and have passed for younger, neither acting, looking or feeling any different than I had at age forty. But CLARK… since this accident, I do feel my age or perhaps even older. For me its the lack of stamina that is causing it, It is not pain, as I have little of that any more, just a dull ache sometimes. Anyway I do not like this feeling of slowing down at all, nor do I like feeling more “vulnerable” which is another feeling I am left with. (Perhaps feeling vulnerable is more difficult for former law enforcement people to handle??)

   Hello to Don, Christi, Louise, and Karen. SANDRA nice to hear from you but sorry to hear that you are still struggling and I wish that you were coming along better at this point. I don’t like the sound of the headaches and think you should get those checked out. You do not need those on top of everything else. I feel like you, dizzy from trying to catch up on all the posts. No shoe suggestions for you but I keep looking at the fall boots in my closet and wondering if/when I will be able to wear them. KAREN, thanks for the info on your friend who is five years from her break – Your info gives us all hope. LEE, sounds like you are coming along well. Someone else way back also talked about dreaming about her accident. I did not dream about it, but I could not go near the stairs I fell down for several months, and it even took a few days till I could stand to have my puppies around me as one of them had knocked me down those stairs. At over five months, I am still extremely cautious on those stairs and around the pups. I also developed an irrational fear in the car for a while, whether I was driving or my husband. My accident did not happen that way, but I was afraid someone would rear end us and I would jam my foot into the floor and re break it. All of those fears are beginning to disappear. The olympics did not bother me, but I have found that I cannot watch ballet or figure skating. It is the leap where someone lands on one foot (like I did off the stairs) which makes me re live it and shudder,,, I can still feel the shock wave go through my body when it broke.) So… I don’t watch skating or ballet anymore. LIZ I was watching “Fay” on CNN news channel just before reading your post. I am glad that you are fine but its not much fun I am sure to have to hide in the bathroom to avoid tornados. YIKES. We certainly have not had a good weather year up here in Western Canada. It was a late cool and wet spring… a very short summer, and now at the end of August, it is stormy with rain, thunder and lightening. Strange weather. PAM, sorry you are still having problems. DENVER (aka Wes)and DUSTY welcome to the site.
   MELANIE: Good to hear from you, and almost missed you as you posted on the old site. We will continue to pray for you and please continue to keep us informed.

   Anklequest: I agree with all that you said. We know that some initial breaks and complications that follow are worse than others. Some of you will require medication which is stronger and need to take it for a longer time period than will others of us. However, I am a firm believer in taking the least addictive medication you can for the shortest time period as possible. I guess that is just me. When I broke my ankle, and was in extreme pain and shock, I refused the shot they offered me at the hospital, (unless I really needed it which I didn’t ). They pushed the fibula back into place,,, (from sticking out the side of my leg and pushed the four vertically split segments of it back together before casting it. It hurt like the dickens (but not as much as natural childbirth) I mean what the heck… it already hurt so what was the difference. Of course I was knocked out for surgery the next day,,, but then took only the tylenol 3 for several days (about 6 pills in total). I had filled the prescription for the triplicate drugs Clark was referring to but found I could manage without them so why take them. So, I guess my motto is none is better than a few,,, a few is better than lots… the lower the strength the better and the less addictive the better. AND off everything as soon as possible so that you don’t develope another crutch. Because sooner or later it is very likely that some doctor will cut you off anyway. Anyway, sorry I guess I sound like I am lecturing… but please people be cautious. Okay??

   Well, dodging doggies with my son here was easier this time, than it was a month ago when my other son was here with his dogs. I am not left with the same achy ankle this time. Bye for now and take care everyone.

6. Clark
   I get what your saying, the whole thing about the stages lol

   I have a lot of people wanting to feel bad and asking if I’m upset. I of course am a realist and ran through the stages quite quickly as other stried to say it’ll be alright, you’ll bounce bck quick, its not too bad.

   Of course, I wasn’t over dramatic about it & kept the conversation towards how the kids were enjoying the weekend so much and different things I was teaching Gabe (he’s the youngest @ 10) about how to check for spark on the motorcycle and he cleaned up a little 70 & got it running w/ my tools while I just kicked back in my chair & talked him through it.

   I would tell everyone else I’m out of commission for @ least a year easily could be two & they thought I was joking. But when your going through it… you kinda have something helping you in some way & you kinda are doing like you said… Ultimately I end up telling every1 now, ‘Im alright with this, because I’ve made it my whole life without ever having broke a bone til this last 12 months & now I finally have an inTEresting story to tell someday…while all the other years just kindof seem bla’ 😉

   LIZ
   1st off, Glad to hear the tornados missed you, I was born in Texas & have lots of family all over there from near Houston dealing w/ hurricanes to Dallas Ft Worth dealing w/ the tornados …Ill stick w the blizzards.. we get over 300 days of sunshine a yr & when a snow storm does hit its only a day or two we can’t get out (well I can, usually I’m out w the emerg. vehicles w my truck & a tow strap, driving around in the storm pulling people out of the snow drifts that didn’t hede the warnings) but it means we can kick back turn on the fire, nake a cup of hot cocoa & take a couple days off of work 😉

   2nd, You mention the knee.. I’ve been having pains in my knee on my GooD leg… yIkEs! it scared me because… well if I turn wrong or wobble slightly (still on the crutches) I don’t want to be down all together… so I have a knee brace.. its a sleeve style, got it @ Walgreens or Rite Aid (CVS pharmacy, whatever you got similar.. I couldn’t find it @ Wal-mart.. its a slide on style black (cant remember what the black material is called, but it helps keep it warm) the pressure doesn’t sound like it would do much, but I learned this trick from years of running and playing basketball. I’d wear it for a few days to a week & the tends & muscles loved me for it.. they seemed to strengthen up a bit.. I just pulled it out for my good leg & plan to swap it over to my recovering one when I am allowed to put pressure on it 2 weeks 5 days (but whose counting) awe that wonderful day that I dream of standing and walking 🙂 and the reality that I won’t be able to stand or walk 😉 how wonderful lol

   My wife thought itd be like that anyway.. she thinks I’m the strongest man alive and physics don’t apply to me 😉

   ok… getting tired almost 11pm now..

   Louise
   I’m jealous 🙂 swImmInG… SaUnA 🙂 Ill be dreaming of that tonight… probably dream that I can’t use my leg & I’m sinking to the bottom though lol…

   that reminds me, I remember reading sOmWhere in the posts at sOmE point that some1 was having bad dreams or flashes of the accident and asking if any1 else had and when or if that ever stops.

   ::while driving a well equiped roll cage loaded, doubled up front push bars, side & rear push bars, lifted 3″ on 36″ beefy tires (Im painting the beast I was in 1st hand so you all won’t crenge as much when you hear the next part) It looked just like one of those hot wheels trucks w the tire mounted in the bed taking up all the room..
   Well, it was 4 and 1/2 yrs ago and I was in Texas driving out of my neighborhood down there. I came to the stop light (right on red) looked both ways, even though it was entering onto a divided highway; 3 lanes going right and about 100yds across the center to another light if you wanted to go left onto 3lanes of this divided highway. I was just going right entering where they were going 80mph.. all looked clear as I could tell just after dark, so I started to enter and heard a Semi’s horn blaring… apparently that day a construction crew had dumped a hUGe mound of dirt on the open area to the left of the stop light, obstructing the view as the hwy already had a slight curve and blind spot as it were… I didn’t even get straight and felt it hit me in the back left corner of the truck, lifting me @ an angle toward the ground while forcing us both towards the giant open grass in the divided section..
   I thought,(& double checked) my seat belts on, & if the windshield breaks I don’t want my hands getting torn up or caught in it, so I move them to the bottom of the steering wheel & then started praying, “Father… what do I do now?” I swear I heard a voice say, “kiss your a** goodbye” JUST KIDDinG!!… honestly..all joking aside.. I did hear a still small voice very peaceful in the midst of the speed and tragidy going on say, “just relax”.. I didn’t realize I was so tense until I did just that.. relaxed my entire body.. I beagn to think, ‘you know… its always those darn drunk drivers that seem to not get hurt and its probably because they’re bodies are so relaxed’
   So the truck was forced over this embankment nose 1st & all the lights were drivin into the ground.. I was alert the entire time.. I felt it flipping nose over tail in the air silently as I heard things shifting around in the truck.. then a slaM! & then summersaulting sideways quietly & felt a JoLt! this continued on 10 flips a person witnessing @ the stop light recounted to every1 L8r.. I started singing a church song.. figured if I was going to have to be awake through it all, I didn’t want 2 waste my time swearing 😉
   eventually it somehow came 2 rest on all 4 wheels & it was quiet (I was worried the semi was going to come rolling over me so I sat holding the steering wheel unsure if it was all over yet) My door fell open as I heard a lady, there were a few of them, rushing down to see if I was alright..
   she kept repeating herself,”OMG arE U Alright?! OMG! OMG! OMG!”
   I released the seat belt and was looking at my hands, my arms, my entire body as best I could, even running my fingers along my face and ears checking for any blood.. I got out of the vehicle, the ladies slowing about 15 feet away, the 1 still repeating OMG over and over asking are you ok..
   I spoke as I began to walk towards them, “I don’t know, I can’t tell, can you see anything I don’t??”
   the scary thing was… she didn’t respond or reply to me… instead she just kept repeating herself as if I wasn’t even talking to her…

   Ok.. if you’ve ever seen the movie Ghost?? I felt like one of the last scenes when the bad guy died but he didn’t realize it until he turned around and saw his body? u seen that? if so, you know eXaCtLy what I was thinking at that moment as I turned rEALLy slowly around .. I thought I was going to see a dead me in the truck. Of course I was NOT in the truck, but instead turned toswards the lady still crying and asked if sHE was ok.. she was NoT.. lol we had to get her a blanket & the paramedics came assisting her asking where ShE was sitting in the vehicle, lol

   Aside from the amazement and walking away w/out a scratch I was telling this to let the person who keeps or kept having the relapse moments know, I hAd those for a WhILe after THAT accident.
   I mean, I was cool calm and collective through the entire ordeal and even afterwards.. but for some reason the shock of it or that it embedded in my subconscious was phenomenal. I would hear a horn honk while driving 3 or 4 months later and crenge and have flashes during the day, dreams I would lurch up @ night from & even watched a movie ‘the Aviator’ where Leanardo Decaprio wrecks his plane across the rooftops.. I started sweating uncontrollably for the 1st time ever in my life and was squirming in my seat @ the theatre w tears trying to get it out of my head..
   So Yaaa.. I’ve been there.. good news.. it went away after bout 1.5 – 2 yrs I just didn’t notice remember anymore. I mean I can still recall it perfectly but even if I watch the same movie now it has no effect as before. So good things to look fwd to 😉

   Theres your fun story for the night, I’m OfF to sleep now.. w visions of a sauna dancing in my head.. tHaNks Louise
   lol

7. Liz,
   Thanks for your thoughts. Appreciate it. You know, I was trying to convey that I wish I felt some self pity, and I really don’t, and haven’t. In fact I feel fortunate that this serious break happened at 55 rather than 25. Then perhaps I would really feel shortchanged and pissed off. Feeling sorry for ones self is one of the four or five necessary stages of coming to grips with a life changing injury I guess. Not a psychologist or psychiatrist, so am shootingg from the hip here, but seems that it would be similar to grief acceptance in the loss of a loved one. The stages may be acknowledgement (I am aware of what happened), initial self pity and sorrow (Gee, why me, how could this happen to me?), denial perhaps (this isn’t real, I will bounce back, I’ll be one of the lucky ones and prove everyone wrong), anger or rage (dammit, why me, I am really pissed off, not fair, etc…) and finally acceptance (Man, I am really screwed, better just get used to it.
   I was stuck on the lakeshore, slowly doing a crabwalk on my butt towards my truck about 1000 yards away, for some time, lucky with no pain (was told that the pain circut or receptors never completed the circut back to my brain, but also an indicator that it is a bad one) until someone else showed up to run their dogs, and took me to the CDF (Calif. Div. Forestry) station. And during that time, crawling slowly, I knew this was going to be a very bad one, and it was. I think I dealt with all that stuff in one quick whack. Of course, a career in law enforcement forces one to deal with the real and the present and so acceptance came easy. Part of survival, I would guess.
   Or, I could be blowing smoke and hot air like a giant windbag. What is that up in the sky, anyway? A bird, a plane, no, just Clark, writing to the blog again. Well, at least, like Biden, I am keeping it shorter, and more succinct.
   But hopefully, most of the anklebreakers here will deal with getting back to normal and not dealing with worse things. I hope so anyway.
   Hope everyone is well. Watch your steps.

   Clark

8. Hi Everyone,

   It is a wet and messy day here in South Georgia… we’re getting all the water from tropical storm Fay. 🙁 Luckily I still have power but last night was rough. Spent an hour off and on in the bathroom due to a tornado warning. One touched down about 30 miles south of here but luckily by-passed us. It’s looking a little brighter outside today.

   LEE, Yay for the walking boot. Even though you can’t take it off at least you can open it up like you mentioned. And sounds like you’ve found some good help for around the house. Hope it works out. Are you walking with the boot yet? How is that going?

   DENVER, geocaching sounds interesting. I’ll have to check it out now that I have all this free time on my hands. lol Sounds like your spirits are up despite all of your injuries… going to bbq’s and date nights and church… I know the more I get around, the better I feel.

   DUSTY, Sorry to hear you had such a bad break and still struggling after a year. Is the pain/swelling/stiffnes you’re having from arthritis, since you have no cartilage left in your ankle? If so, I’m not sure removing the hardware would help. What types of measures, if any, has your doctor taken so far to reduce the pain?

   CLARK, You know, you are entitled to a little self-pity. You have been through such a life changing ordeal this past year and a half. I hate that your pain from the fusion hasn’t subsided. It’s healing on schedule right? I hope you can be getting back to the gym soon and feeling back to “normal,” whatever normal will be.

   LOUISE, I’m jealous… swimming? My therapist mentioned maybe doing some aquatherapy when I finally get out of this darn boot. I’m looking forward to it. I love the water. Right now I think I’d be terrified getting out of the pool though… scared I slip on the slippery floor.

   Well, I go back to the doctor this week. Not sure what my work status will be. Like I said before, I’m ready to go back, but then again, scared to be on my feet for so long. I’m getting around pretty good without crutches now, but my knee is killing me. It hurts worse than my ankle when I walk. Anyone else have that problem? I know it’s probably just from the way I’m walking in my boot. My therapist said it’ll probably work itself out when I get out of the boot. But still, the last thing I need is a bummed knee after all this is over.

   Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday.

   Take care,
   Liz

9. Hellooooo everyone!!!

   Denver….thats so good to hear that Caitlin is excited about getting baptised! I also go to church in the UK, and I just started doing the children’s church again today…it was ok, as I was just managing the sound desk at the back, changing over microphones and stuff like that, rather than bouncing around enthusiastically at the front like I used to…
   Im sure that will be happening again soon though! (Hope so at least!)
   So sad about her parents…. its just nice when you have a church family to turn to in times of need anyway! 😀
   Also…hope the date went well with your wife! 🙂

   Lee. Great to hear you have a helper/driver/babysitter!!! Im sure it will make life a lot easier for all of you!
   Good to hear you had a nice day with your kids too! Always good! Plus….you naughty person!! Leave your boot alone!!!!! hee hee. no if you can get lotion and and stuff inside it..thats great! The itchness of my cast drove me to near insanity when I had it on….
   Found out later that was due to an allergic reaction to something inside the cast, but however…drove me mental!

   As for me…I went for a swim yesterday! (Well…I say a swim, I spent most of the time in the spa pool and sauna, but anywho..)
   I did about 10-12 lengths of the pool, which is a 20m pool, and my leg started to cramp by the end of it, so I thought it was time to get out. It really loosened it up though, which was good. I am planning to really start getting back into the gym again, as my fitness is shocking compared to what it was before (even though it wasn’t THAT great before!) but I was out of breath after one length of breaststroke in the pool, so need to step that up a bit I think!!
   Not really much else to say…no more magnificant changes to report…although I am holding out for full use of my foot/ankle and leg back again very VERY soon, and Im working for it all the time! So with that, I shall bid you all a good night, and for those in the UK, a happy bank holiday tomorrow! (Sleeeeeep!! Woo hoo!)

   Louise xx

10. Well I’m off to church this morning.. I’m an avid attender & intrigued believe it or not. Very into helping out as much as possible & its been a great place for Caitlin after her mom died to learn & get excited about lifes experiences & give her better statistics on life

    Her Mother & father were both meth addicts.. her mom eventually went through a hUgE 2 year in-patient rehab program, they even let Caitlin live there w her after she got through the horrible withdrawl stages.. Its good she reached out to get her life back in order.. but those drugs sure can damage people. It had already took its toll on her body & she, even after being off of it, wound up losing all her teeth & was on so many different medications as her body was slowly shutting down over the next 5 yrs. She wound up just passing away of heart problems and an asthma atack @ age 33…

    So as was saying the statistics of a child of parents who’ve been there don’t shine too well in them not getting in2 drugs, Caitlin shared this w me as a worry so I let her choose a hand full of activities & directions that would allow her 2 make friends in many different areas to choose from as she grows up & goes through life.

    She was so excited about getting babtised at one point & shocked that I was not jumping up & down about it& that I took it calmly..she asked why, I then let her know, ‘Church is all about your personal relationship w Christ. I don’t want you to ever wonder if you did this for me or anyone else. Its always going to be a sacred moment and choice you can look back on and remember that you personally know Him and He knows you.. That way you don’t get upset with parental authority one day and rebel against Him your true friend;) ‘

    Shes doing well.. anyhow, I missed about a months worth of church and finally made it back 1st time last week. Never noticed it was so long to sit still til now squirming all around to get comfortable 🙂

    I’m bringing a pillow today.. to set up under my leg of course;)
    It helps slow down the blood flow to the bad ankle reducing swelling and discomfort and keeps it from having to fully rest on the floor.. I feel like Linus from Charlie Brown – always carrying around my small pillow while he’s dragging around a blanket 🙂

    Enjoy Your Sunday Everybody, We have coool whether today it feels gReAt:)

    quick thought side note- I don’t know if this is usual, I tHiNk it would be for some- I notice sometimes the end of my foot just above or around my toes feels slight burning sensation.. not sure if its from the excess blood flow, the wraps that were on for so long or some sort of athletes foot problems I now get to enjoy lol… anyhow.. I stumled onto this solarcaine spray years back when I got sun-poisoning (like the worst sunburn known to man & even causes flew like symptons). This spray stinKs for about 10-20 seconds, but it is immEDiate InStAnt relief of burning sensation. I sometimes use it just as I am going to bed, or need to put a sock on & feel burning.. It completely numbs everything for a bit & I don’t really notice as the feeling comes back so smoothly that its not bothersome..

    Have a good 1,
    Wes

11. LEE
    Sounds like it was thw geocaching that did us both in, lol…

    I swear it was about 3 weeks before my break that I got into it too.

    For those on the walking side of recovery, I’m willing to bet it would be a great way to get a lot of working out in while helping get your mind off of the actual workout. We all noticed that we were getting great workouts geocaching; breaking sweats, burning calories & my wife wears a pedometor WoW it logged miles without us realizing it.

    Your in the car, @ a park, walking round a few trees, then hunting round light poles, finally logging the find & jumbing (hobbling) back into the car down to another park all while navigating google maps or punching in coordinates on a nav system keeps your mind off of other things. Kinda good practice as we stretch the limits one day & hopefully getting to where I believe it was Louise is – forgetting the crutch and not noticing the walking-

    I love your scenario, ‘getting a massage & chalking it up as healing costs’…
    I got the mini fridge claming its part of the expenses, made a list of other things to get along the way too; I’m scheduled to get this new smart phone that has barely been released ‘HTC touch Pro’ it has the most amazing clarity, picture & tons of speed, power, room & memory w a slide out keyboard making it ideal to complete work from beD 😉 All the cell companies look to be releasing it under different names over the next few months, but its been code named the iphone killer.

    I usually wait til phones go down in price, but I feel like a female who just needs a new purse or to go shopping to feel like lifes going to work out…
    😉

    Went out today to a pool/BBQ

    It was @ a community pool over in my sisters neighborhood just down the road a couple miles..

    It was cool, cloudy & slightly sprinkled on & off. I brought a collapsable chair I found w a recliner piece built N2 it (found it on sale @ Big5 Sporting goods)

    It felt rEaL good just to get out. & I have this ankle brace I ve used if I every roll or sprang (prior to the break), its black & simple – it just has a hole for the heal & lays over ankle then stretches as tight or as loose as you’d like it then velcros into place. I don’t put it on tight now, but it gives a nice sence of security & hides the scars while out round so many people

12. one more comment – Geocaching – so much fun! I just learned about it a few weeks before I broke my ankle and we had started playing along, but have stopped since I’m rarely out of the house now. For those of you enough on the mend to dive in, it’s really fun and silly, but kids get a total kick out of it and you can make it educational to follow the items around the globe. I recommend it to anyone who likes games and treasure hunts. Plus it’s kinda a neat community thing.

    Ok – signing off now at 9:30 Pacific time. the clock on the blog seems to be in central time. Someone was curious about that a few posts back.

    -Lee

13. Hi all!

    Denver: Gastritis is a precursor to an ulcer. It’s basically an inflamation of the stomach lining caused by excess acid. Lot’s of Advil (Ibuprofin) is very difficult on the stomach. Once you get it, you can move on to the ulcer and then perforate if you’re not careful. It’s all a complication I’m not happy about, so I knocked it off all together. I was taking 600mg every 4-6 hrs for about 3 weeks, which can also wreak havoc on your kidneys. Tylenol (acetaminophin) has the adverse effect of killing your liver, so the OTC stuff should all be used relatively short-term and carefully. My brother-in-law has chronic pain from an illness and recommended darvacet or tramadol as non-addictive pain relievers that can be taken long-term. I guess they are addictive, but not nearly as quickly as vicoden. I was surprised to hear that one can be addicted with even just 1 pill per day. Clear signs of withdrawal are headaches, nausea and shakes …. all things I don’t want to experience with the rest of the medical issues associate with this leg break. He especially thought the darvacet would be good when starting PT. And, I tried Tylenol PM last night to help sleep. It did the job I needed, so no more vicoden for me at night.

    Also, glad to hear you had a date night! That’s pretty impressive, considering your pain. You seem to be a really great caretaker of all those kids and your wife. Remember to take care of yourself too. Your ice massage sounds like a nice way to start, but treat yourself to some pampering too. I just booked a massage for myself for next week. My back is killing me from all the crutching and sitting, so I’m chalking it up to the cost of recovery.

    On that note – I’m wondering if anyone has tried acupuncture to manage pain? I know, I live here in crunchy northern California where all this stuff is main stream. Most of the rest of the country thinks we’re flakey and nutty. But I’ve heard it can really help and I’m thinking about trying it. Now that the nerves in my leg are re-generating, I’m beginning to feel different pain I didn’t have before.

    Louise – the image of you kicking that sock and yelling obscenities is hilarious. I can see myself doing the exact same thing eventually. And good going with walking and not thinking. I never thought that would be an issue, but I can see now that it’s a way of life for me, so I’m glad to hear that it might just fade away with time.

    Today was a pretty good day for me. I’m sure I’ll pay for it later tonight with some swelling and pain, but I had a shower (always a treat vs. a quick sponge bath), watched my 7 year old and a neighbor girl (5) make up dances in my bedroom to old “80’s Madonna music (boy did that take me back to high school days), then we went out for a drive, an early dinner, and now just relaxing all together in the family room. Really beats spending the day on the couch alone.

    Oh, and we found a great driver/helper – exactly what I was looking for! She’s 22 and a student. Great with kids and is thrilled to drive, cook, do household chores, and babysit. she’s taking classes in the mornings, so will be with us from 2:30 – 5 every week day. My husband is thrilled to pass off some of the work to someone else and I feel really relieved to have found some help to get me back to work and take the pressure off of us at home. My mother couldn’t come from the east coast to help me, so she offered to cover some of the cost. Whew! What a relief. Let’s just hope I didn’t jinx it by writing about it.

    So, I discovered a small please with my new boot. Even though I’m supposed to wear it like a cast and leave it on all the time, I discovered I can open it up all the way and slide gel ice packs in the sides. I can also put lotion on my leg, which was killing me in the cast with the dry, itchy skin. Still no shaving, but I am looking forward to that day with great anticipation!

    Good night all and happy weekend. Keep healing.
    Lee

14. took my wife on a date tonight.

    Shes not much for pain and kinda passes the buck to our 15yr old girl (Caitlin) as far as bringing me things that I “shouldn’t” be carrying w crutches. But as far as being around.. she (my wife) is there by my side and has been seeing less and less of the outside world off of work since I’ve been laid up.

    She just caught onto this fun thing calle ‘Geocaching’ (forgive me if my spelling is a bit off or if I use abreviations since I’m on a cell phone w a keyboard.. makes it easier 2 be lazy, relax & take mind off of that thing that used to be my ankle=)

    So this geocaching is groups of websites that give GPS coordinates and hints, people take a navigation device (or google map it) & try to find these hidden objects. Sometimes its keychains, sometimes medalions, always a piece of paper=the log, to write down your name or your familie/pin name. It gets pretty fun & the family got a kick out of it. You’d be surprised there are literally hundreds & thousands of these caches all around everywhere; streets & parks we go to or live by, parking lots, garden centers or malls we drive to all the time.

    People exchange items & log them online, watching them travel around the US & even the world. Of course… I broke my ankle shortly after she got us into this and she went a couple times without me afterwards, but didn’t have as much fun. That & my phone is our internet & gps locator =)

    So I pulled myself together & took her out to Marie Calenders for dinner & we’re going to a movie tomorrow. kindof a date weekend as we both worked long days & were tired. I kept calm and classy, even though I couldn’t even eat 1/3 of my food & was getting nauseated from a long day, lots of pain, lack of medicine?? I don’t know.. but she had a good evening anyhow..

    We got home and I situated myself so I could lay w foot elevated & gave her a foot massage..

    I accidentally bumped the mini fridge dial up (quite an easy accident since theres no light in it). I grabbed an orange juice last night and it had turned to a slushy… it was GOOD..

    Quick TiP side note before I go 2 sleep for round 1 tonight –
    paper cups w about half a cup or so of water, placed in freezer creates a nICe massage block. Once frozen, tear paper cup off, lay down towl (on ottaman or armrest or atop pillows as preferred) place foot on 1 half of the towel while using other half to hold the rounded ice massager and begin circles on foot,ankle & lower leg.. Press harder as you get more used to it & as it numbs. My friend says he likes to smooth out the edges left by lines on the cup, I just find stiraphome (bad spelling I know) cups w the fewest lines to begin w & doesn’t seem to bother me. once I’ve massage a while I put foot into a 5gallon bucket of water w about 1/4 – 1/3 ice in it OR if you have one of those lunch/ice chests big enough for your foot those work nice @ home where your sitting lower & its easier to clear the top of.
    Do 7 – 10 mins dry it off, wrap ace bandage tightly for about 15 mins then unwrap & repeat 2 or 3 times..
    You can literally watch the swelling go down & it feels … well it doEsN’t feel is the thing 🙂 🙂 its soothing

    Night All

15. Dusty,
    If there is no cartilage, then that is likely your big problem. Taking the hardware out might have no effect or make things worse, but your doc will have advice or get a second opinion. If you get a second opinion (something I did) than take along all the X-rays. You will have to get copies or collect them from the hospital and the doc.

    Denver,
    You have a very challenging situation with the kids, your wife, your job, your ambitions, and then your broken ankle. I’m glad you are in therapy, which in the long run will halp a great deal. I guess the pain you have might be far worse than mine ever was, having reread your posts. Maybe you have more pain due to the pressure of jamming the joint with the bike accident, in addition to the break. Lucky you though, that the joint stayed intact, since many of us posters here had the joint completely dislocated so it looked like the foot was falling off the leg. I do hope that the pain diminishes so you can reduce the drugs you take and be more effective at your work. Keep in mind, and let everyone know, that ankle breaks are one of the most serious breaks you can have (aside from spinal breaks). Once you can accept this and let others know too, you may have a better time accepting your situation. All the best!

    Sandra,
    Your headaches could be caused by a major life changing situation (according to an article I just read). Breaking an ankle–or two in your case–is definitely a life changing situation. I hope you have a nice trip visiting with your mother and have nice weather too!

    Everyone!!! I had the greatest visit with Pam in the Milwaukee Art Meuseum. Pam is just a fabulous person; very caring; very beautiful too. She’s a class act. Her x-rays, which she carries with her, looked quite bad. I could see that the medial plate could give problems in the future and that it might have to be removed someday. It is right on top of the medial malleolus, in a prominent position. I was surprised to see Pam wearing “regular” shoes and walking normally as her ankle looked quite swollen…much more than mine. anyway, we had a wonderful conversation and a wonderful cup of coffee! I hope to see her again in October when I will fly into Milwaukee to go to my neice Heather’s wedding. It turns out that, because Heather is a new doctor, having just graduated from Wisconsin Medical College, that Pam, in her professional position, may have met her a few months ago.

    OK, will follow up with more later. I have a lot to do since I’ve returned as the world passed me by for the days I was in the midwest. It was a great trip!! The car ferry over Lake Michigan is fabulous.

    Watch those feet!!
    Anklequest.

16. Hi everyone!! WOW….so many posts over the last few days!!! it has taken me a while to catch up! 🙂

    To whoever it was asking about the drugs…try to get off of them as soon as possible really. As i think someone already said, they can get addictive. I had some drugs in hospital, and morphine (which made me high as a kite, as they had me self medicating for a day or so!) plus I was taking tylenol and tramadol (if that’s how it spelt!) paracetamol, and probably a tonne of others. When I was sent home (which was just under 2 days after surgery!) I only took paracetamol for a week or so, and finished the course of Tylenol which was for 2 weeks. I took one tramadol tablet, and it made me feel so sick and dizzy I ddin’t take a more!!!!

    Denver. Sounds like your going through a lot. I do hope it works out for you!! Keep with it, and just take one small step at a time (literally! hee hee!)And yum!! Oreos!! I really fancy some now! 😀

    Lee. Good to hear you got a boot now, although boooo to not being able to have a bath!!!! I have to say, having a bath after getting my cast off was such a great feeling, as was having my first shower when I was allowed to weight bear on it, so keep that final goal in mind! 🙂
    Also, I thought I had pain from the metal when I was in a cast, and I thought it would be a major problem, but it was fine when the cast came off. I think the cast was just pushing on it, and it was causing me a bit of discomfort. I hope it’s the same for you! Now it only hurts when something hits it. Ohhh…the other day, I was taking some washing out the machine, and I dropped a sock on the kitchen floor, and instead of bending down and picking it up (like a normal, sensible person does!) I thought it would be an intelligent efficient method to try and hook it up with my foot, or kick it along the floor to the radiator!! But instead of kicking the sock, I totally missed, and kicked the fridge, on the inside of my ankle, and it hit exactly where one of the screws slightly pokes out of the skin!!! WELL……..I am normally a woman of decent spoken language, and rarely use “naughty” words, but I was even slightly ashamed of the amount of bad language that exited my mouth at that moment!! Ohhhhhh my GOODNESS!! I thought I was either going to pass out, or vomit on the floor…it was so painful, and brought back the memories of breaking it again!! Brrrrrrgh! So in a word…dont kick fridges…it’s not very helpful and it hurts a lot!!!!

    Dusty. Thanks for posting!! My physio told me the other day that I might not get back the full range of motion in my ankle because the metal work is in there, so I guess it might help a bit with the stiffness! Prob best to speak to your doctor see what they say…unless someone else has had it removed on here???????

    To anyone else I have missed…hello!! I got a bit sleepy reading all the posts, as there have been quite a few in the last few days.

    I have been off to a safari park today, which was great fun, but involved a lot of walking. i drove up and back as well, which was about an hour and a half each way. Its a park where you drive around the reserves with the animals in, and where I was on and off of the clutch all the time, it did make my ankle ache quite a bit. Was good fun though! I was walking around for about 4 hours or so today, so it does ache now!!!
    Something I noticed yesterday though…I went out for lunch and round a friends house etc. was that I wasn;t thinking about EVERY step that I was walking. Up until now,i can honestly say that I was thinking in advance about EVERY step, as walking on my ankle ached or hurt. It was only at the end of the day yesterday that I realised I hadn’t thought about walking that much that day! I was quite pleased when I realised this.

    I am still doing my physio exercises I have been given. I got given a lot more on weds to do, which include heal raises on a stair,and walking around on my tip toes, which I do find quite hard, and painful, but it has to be done I guess!! My calf muscle does not like this one!!!

    Anywho…hope people are enjoying the sunshine (if you ahve any…) and the summer!! Keep stepping forward and looking back at the journey!!

    Louise xx

17. thank you for the blogs

    (time now 2am)
    I … well.. appreciate it & know so far this is the place where its no lie everyone truly understands on some level one way or another the hardship, determination, pain, loss, fear and hope

    I am 31 nxt month and love to…. well… used to love to run. I easily beat a 4min mile…
    love mountain climbing…
    was the best cross country runner & the schools track and field junky..

    …things that my family doesn’t see as they run down a toilet in my mind…

    I got some smaller crutches for the kids & they love playing with them.. while @ the same time they are learning what they believe is a huge degree of what we’re all going through or have gone through. In reality though, still..
    we know that mastering the crutches,use or lack there of is just a pin point of what this has actually done to our, or changed in our lives or paths…

    I believe I remember reading about don off of blog 1.. the bad drunk driving accident tearing up him and his wife?
    If that’s correct.. I know there are so many in worse shape than I am.. and its hard to feel & have to step into the role of need rather than being the strength..

    going to chew a vicoden & go back to sleep..

    sometimes I go as long as possible w/out med that when the pain hits.. pain isn’t even the word and hours til it starts to work is hours too far away..

    my brother filled me in on the secret of time release and oreo cookies.. cause those pills taste nasty.. but 5- 8mins til relief kicks in… well.. lets just say that times up and I’m goin back 2 sleep.. w the taste of oreos stuck in my teeth rather than norco..

    night all

18. ANKLEBREAKERS.

    A quick note. I check both blogs daily and when I decide to add to it, I usally copy to Ankle Two from Ankle One. After I do so, and go back to check that it has posted, I usually find that several have posted before me, and they were not there when I checked. It does not mean that I only post about myself or do not care about the others. If they were there when I checked, I would have commented on them. Suddenly, there they are, and were not there before I checked earlier. Maybe it is a time change thing. I think all posting carry an east coast time stamp. I noted that Denver’s and Lee’s were about 1030 PM, and mine said 12:12 AM, and its only 10:30PM Pacific right now. But then I do tend to ramble on a bit. Just don’t think that I am ignoring anyone.

    Dusty, good to hear from you. Sounds like you had a bad one. Removing the screws after a year may help take away the stiffness, but may add to fragility or make you more prone to injury. Hard to tell. I would wait a while longer to be sure that you are permanent and stationary (solid healing, no surprises) before you take that step. But as I am fused and still have an Achilles plate behind my Achilles tendon and calf, with three very long screws that reach through to the other side of my tibula, as well as the two very long fusion screws, and I will never have them out, I cannot relate, but I know there any many out there that can advise you. I hope that you are not headed for a fusion.

    Denver, man you are going through alot, and as I am single with no family life, there is one guy out there that I know will step up to the plate and offer excellent advise. Don has undergone such truama and pain, along with his wife, and family, as participants in Don and wife’s healing and rehab, that I know can give you the inspiration and support that you need. But coming from me, and I have had my share over time, with other things and now this ankle, I can say don’t give up, be tolerant, when you blow, offer hugs and kisses and appologies, as I am sure your family knows what you are going through. A broken ankle and rehab affect everything you do. It amazes me just how misunderstood and unappreciated an ankle break can be. I was ignorant of how bad things can be before my break, and of course now I am very tolerant, and full of sympathy, empathy and understanding for others, and not that I was a jerk before that, far from it, but now I am more tolerant.
    It isn’t easy, and it won’t be for a while. As for the meds, as I said in my earlier very lengthy post, I am not affected by them, except that they work. Meds affect every one differently. Acetominiphin has always been hard on the stomach. Usually have to take with food, like a banana or something, which counteracts the acid effect. Aleve, or Naproxim sodium, if that sounds right, may be better for you. Less hard on the stomach, lasts much longer and is a stonger (for some) painkiller. I usually take 2 or 3 advil (Ibuprofin) with a 325 mg asprin for bloodthinner twice a day with my Norco 10. Doesn’t affect me.
    But hang in there, you are not alone. Believe it or not, we collectively, have all been there and felt the pangs and fears and stresses on family that you are going through. It is not easy, and will not get easier for a while. Just hang in, realize your limitations, none of us are perfect, and when we blow it allows us to let off the steam that would prevent a really really big blow. So don’t beat yourself up more than you need to.
    Hang in there, as it may not get easier for a while, but it will, in time, and you will make it.

    Take care all.

    And Anklequest, welcome back.

    Clark

19. ADVISORY: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS INFO AND RECOLLECTIONS ON ANKLE BREAKS REGARDING PAINKILLERS, FUSION, AND SELF PITY, AND MAY BE A BIT LENGTHY, AS I TEND TO RAMBLE ON A BIT. ANY ONE NOT DESIRING TO READ ANY OF THIS ARE FOREWARNED AND ARE ADVISED TO SKIP THIS POST AND CONTINUE ON TO THE NEXT ONE. THIS IS A SLIGHT ATTEMPT AT HUMOR.

    Hey Melanie,
    So good to hear from you again. Glad you are doing well with the running and biking. Good for you. With a small dose of self pity I can say that I miss doing both of those things. I ran track in high school (of course the Olympic track events are on now, which brings back memories, not of the Olympics, of course, just running track) and was the fastest qualifier on the 880 for the Police Trials, back in 1975. I was 23 yrs old back then. The guy running with and next to me flew in from Hawaii for one of the three positions offered with the police department, 3 postions and over 1500 applicants, even back then, but I crossed the line and he and I kept running against each other, and I finally outran and outlasted him, and when he quit, I slowed and we walked in together. For those too young to recall or even know about it now, the country was broke back then, following Vietnam, New York was considering bankruptcy, and every state, county and city entity back then was feeling the hurt. Gerald Ford instituted a 2 year wage and hiring freeze, nationwide. When anyone quit or retired, they were not replaced. There were no knew positions at all. None. It affected me because although I was already a deputy sheriff and I was hoping to lateral over to the local police dept. and work there. Just much busier than the county, more action, more chance to do and to learn, and with police work, most of it is on the job training, after the academy, because it all concerns people, violation against society, against the public good, behavior, tactics, the whole thing. When the freeze was lifted after two years, on Jan. 1, 1978, I was first on the list then and hired by the police dept and had a great 5 year career, until I retired with my knee giving out following an arrest. You still had to qualify to be hired, but if you were already in the business, and were lateralling over, you were given preference, presumably because you were a known quantity.
    And now of course, I will never run again, or even get close to it. Can still ride a bike though, so there is a silver lining. But that will take a lot of work and retraining, as that will not be the same either, but I can do that. Poor me. It has been a year and a half since my break, and four operations and I have yet to give in a feel sorry for myself, because this time, even though I drew the short straw, there are many many in worse shape than I, and so I get a bit nostalgic for the past, but hey, I had a past, and I’ve got my memories. I want to of course, wah wah wah, but it doesn’t cut it. Surely I am through all the phases of a life changing injury like this, but I don’t feel like I have gone through any of them or have processed it. I knew when I heard the crunch and heard the snap and ligament tears that it was a bad one. So I think I had immediate acceptance of my situation, right then, and just dealt with it. Because although I joke about it, really, what is there to process? We all deal with this particular injury every day, and every time we sit up, take a step, whatever, we are reminded that it is with us.

    My ankle, post fusion (which I now feel like I should have done, so heed these words anklebreakers, DO NOT GET A FUSION UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY ABOLUTELY NEED ONE!).
    Take it from me. My doc said I did, so did the 2nd opinion doc, and it was getting worse, but was not as painful as I am experiencing now. Very much pain, and it was supposed to relieve the pain. Very little to no mobility, so you are really hobbled, REALLY HOBBLED. As in very slow. Perhaps its a phase, don’t know, but perhaps I will have grown into it and in a year and not even feel it. I was also motivated to have the fusion now because I was in the process of moving to the north coast then, and in a transitional phase, and with the break and 3 operations, I was getting nowhere, so decided to take action and just get it done. My doc said that with the tolerances in my ankle being so far off, that in a short amount of time I would feel arthritic pain as I have never felt before, and meds could only do so much. When you reach the end of your legal tolerances, then comes addiction and abuse, and that was not an option, not that I was worried about that. I feel that if you really need the pills, by all means take them. I do!
    Many breakers have voiced concern over becoming addicted. For info, (so I have been told) I have been taking the strongest allowable controlled narcotic painkiller without a tripilicate (a triple copy form: one copy stays with the doc, one for the pharmacist, and one to the State Dept. of Justice, to keep an eye on doctor shopping for meds like Rush Limbaugh was doing with Oxycontin, which requires a triplicate. Percodan, percocets, Oxycontin and Oxycodone are all triplcate required drugs, I believe, either a Class 1 or Class 3 narcotic. (anyone out there with better facts feel free to correct me, as I am not a pharmacist). I have been taking NORCO 10 APAP 325 since the break. 1000 mg’s of hydrochodone with 325 mgs. if Acetominiphin, twice or 3 times daily. And they work, don’t even feel a buzz. When I don’t have them my ankle and other body parts hurt like hell (20 surgeries so far, most from police work; 3 foot, 4 ankle, 6 knees, 1 lower back, 1 shoulder, 3 eye, and the rest kids stuff, tonsils, etc…) so when you run out, the edge is gone and you feel it. But I have never overdone it or felt like I was addicted. I have run out and felt pain, but have never gotten sick or felt withdrawls or anything like that. And I have waited a while to refill, and never outran the scripts. No sense taking too many and not getting refilled dut to time limitations. Docs and pharmacies know if you are taking too many too fast. Lucky I guess. Non addictive personality. Smoking, drinking, etc… never claimed me. Quit smoking years ago, still have a beer or stronger now and then. But I do need the pills, because when you feel the pain, you want it to stop. I doubt that it will ever go away to the point that I don’t want to take the edge off. If that makes me an addict, then I will wear the title proudly.
    Anyway, back to you, if you had a bird coloneas your surgeon then you are probably in good hands. Don’t worry until you have a reason to worry. It may indeed be nothing. I am praying for you.
    I don’t write in much anymore. Seems most of the old timers don’t, and things change, and evolve. Nothing stays the same.
    OK, back to me. I sent photo’s of my xrays to Anklequest, who is a very smart one, and she emailed back and asked me where the bottom of my fibula was. It had been cut off during the fusion at a 45% angle and was just gone. Now I had seen that, and wondered about that, but never really thought about it. And she really made me think about it. I have always taken an active participation in my injuries, and was told by my ortho doc (one of the best by the way, board certified, the whole bit) and he is the type to just to it and not tell you. I was told that a bit of my hip would be harvested to rebuild the ankle, and after the surgery, no surgery on my hip. The procedure he used is called an ANKLE ARTHRODESIS, and it is used to provide the most stabiltiy, least amount of trauma, to stabilize the ankle. The bottom of the fibula is cut off and part of that bone fragment is used for the restructuring of the ankle. You just don’t have an outside ankle bone, and there is in fact a slight depression where the bone used to be. Two large, 3/8 inch or bigger, perhaps 5 or 6 inch lnch long bone screws are used, drilled up throught the bottom of the calcanium, through the talus, and into the bottom of the Tibula. And that is why (I think) it was so painful. There is so much truama and intrusion into all of those bones, and nerves in those bones, that during the hospital stay I lived on painshots every four hours, and seemed in a near delerious state most of that four days, although I was not, really, but of all my operations in my life, it was definately the most painfull, and not because it was the last. Anyway. That’s over now.
    The fibula is still in place right next to the tibula with connective ligaments, tendons and such, and there is no chance of it moving or slipping or causing any problem. It’s just when you are used to the idea of it being there, and being attached, and then you find out that it is gone (thanks again, Anklequest) it doese cause concern. So I Googled the facts and found the ANKLE ARTHRODESIS procedure. Still mad at the doc for not telling me what he was going to do, but not quite as mad.
    For all you anklebreakers out there who feel changed, less strong, older, more dilapidated after your break, don’t feel alone. I am 56 and feel like I am now in my 70’s, seriously, not kidding, and that is the hardest thing to fight, I think. The feeling of loss of control and age setting in and nothing you can do about it. So I joined a local gym around the corner, and am fighting it. And I will be that older, distinguished guy with the white hair and the cane, boring everyone with stories of my past, of the old days. For one thing it does make you relate to and feel akin to the others one sees, now in the same boat. We are all in this togather, now matter how alone we feel.
    That’s it. Done.
    Melanie, keep the faith, and don’t quit smiling. You will beat whatever it is, and besides, you sound too busy with the husband and kids to allow yourself to wallow. Keep up the good work and good hearing from you.
    Hoping all of you anklebreakers out there are doing well. Watch your steps.
    Clark

    Copied from Ankle Break One.

20. good to hear you got the boot & the cast is off =)

    My swelling before surgery hurt so bad that they tried to monovalve my cast (cut it from center top of foot, all the way up shin) just for this, but it didn’t allow for swelling to the inside of ankle Tibia. They had me rate pain on 1-10 I said 12 or 14 & they had me in that morning and cut both sides to leave me w/ only a splint consisting of the portion under the foot all the way up the back of my leg & have me hold it on W 1 or 2 ace bandages.

    Its nice to still have around considering I have a walking cast (w the pump) but its heavy 2 be up and around for a long time.

    That & after a day I found myself relaxing a little toO much & would bump my gOOd ankle w it. I swear thaT hurt worse than my bad leg & got me worried I would be off bOth feet:o

    so this is why he has me w no cast after 10 days of surg. because I’ve proven I went 10 days prior to visiting him & everything was in line and swelling was vEry low as I kept it elevated, had it in bucket of ice water most of the time & a friend lent me their ice cooler pump they used when they had knee surgery (works great @ night even over the wrap to keep the temp down I’d wrap it around the splint to keep temp just right).

    He’s let me go cast free til Sept 12th as long as I don’t fall or put weight on it. That’s how I’m able to move it around. It helps work it out so it relaxes a bit more @ night & sudden nerve jerks don’t shock me as much.

    what is gastritis? I mentioned body doesn’t respond well to Tylenol, really just advil.. but qurious, what is the efect I could have if taking Lots of advil..

21. Hello, my name is Dusty, I broke my leg both bones in about 12 pieces, my doctor said when he opened it up it kinda fell out like cornbread… Its been a little over a year now and I still have alot of pain and swelling. I have 17 screws and two plates right above my ankle, I dont have any cartilige in my ankle at all. I can walk with a slight limp, I hope it will get better but the doc says it will probally get worde with time. I have read some of these posts and some say removing the metal..does anyone know if that would help my stiffness..Thanks, Dusty

22. Denver – welcome. I’m sorry to hear about all your injuries. It sounds like you’re managing well though and have the right attitude.

    Anklequest – the drug thing is tough. I too hated the narcotics in the hospital and quit the vicoden in less than a week after I got home – didn’t want to take too much. But I really needed something. I was taking advil and tylenol, and ended up having to quit the advil because it gave me gastritis. Now, it’s pretty much nothing. Maybe a Tylenol here and there if something is really hurting. And I do occasionally use a vicoden at bed time to ensure I rest comfortably. But there are times when the pain is so irritating. It keeps me from moving around as much as I’d like to, which isn’t good. And it makes me cranky with the kids to be in pain. I’m not sure what the answer is. I know I need relief sometimes and do use what I was given to handle it.

    So, my excitement over my new cast was short lived. As the day wore on my leg swelled and it was so painfully tight! My toes were asleep and tingling. Had to make my way to the Dr. this am to have it changed. Didn’t sleep a bit last night, but got up this am, drove myself to the Dr.’s office (maiden voyage with my left foot- not something I will do often, but good to know I can if I really need to), and low and behold, he put me in a boot. So, my break and surgery was 6 weeks ago today and I was supposed to be another 4 weeks in the cast. So, now I’ll wear the boot like a cast for 4 weeks and continue to use crutches. Hopefully this will be better. But still no shaving or washing without it. Darn! I was looking forward to a good bath.

    Pam – tell me more about your tibia screw pain. I have a lot of pain under my sutures where my tibia screw is, but I can’t tell if it’s the steri strips that are still all over my leg pulling or something inside. I worry that this metal pain will be an issue. At least October is soon. How are you managing with your kids?

    So nice to hear of folks meeting in WI. How cool. I used to go to school in Ann Arbor, in the early 90’s. And we’re often back that way to see my husband’s family.

    Have a great evening all!
    Cheers,
    Lee

23. AnkleQuest

    I escaped it being trimalleolar just slightly.. there were two more fractures but it stayed in place so the surgery was for bimalleolar.

    2 plates, 1 for Tibia & 1 for fibula & 8 screws.. 5 in Fibula & 3 in Tibia.

    I usually don’t have problems w pain as far as everyday life. I take mAybe 1000mg of Advil over the course of a yr.

    But the 3.5 weeks prior 2 surgery Dr required no advil & take vicoden. Tylonal (Acetaminophen) does nothing for me. Best guess is that since I had recent jaw injury & was round the clock 4-6 hrs taking 15mg V & 1000mg tylonal my body got used to huge amounts of Tylonal over those few months. ?

    I had quite a bit of healing pain as I was out & about for the 3.5 weeks til surgery could happen & it trying to heal wrong, & open, was very painful. enough to where I couldn’t sleep & I have 2 work about 55-70hrs a week. Rest,..well..I’d do my best. & even had to bring bucket & keep ice @ work as well as home. And kept elevated on working bench @ work.

    This is tearing me apart.. My relationship anyway.

    I get nauseated and fight off headaches when off off the medicne (vicoden), but worst of all I am very irritable (not good w blended family) and shakey hands (not good when you work under 10x lenses & build teeth all day..or night if need be)

    My wife is not the take charge kind of woman & is just kinda stepped back during all of this & the kids are pushing the envelope more and more to where I have to step in/ or, hop in rather.

    Then if on medicin I can’t concentrate, am very brutally honest whether bad or good, has caused arguments @ home & @ work & I am unable to multitask or keep the home functioning on this newer tighter budget of less work & Drs bills. (wife has turned over the finances 2 me last yr w her losing vehicle & bad spending habits)

    We started counseling in January as she has an abusive controlling X who doenst understand the importance of the children 1st and making sure they are raised well, not conditioning them against their mother (blaming her for their relationship not working out & telling them she deserved to be beat because she was tearing their family appart //mind you, she never cheated,flirted or even hung out with anyone ever while they were together,however he had//) & …well… Its tough for her to be the one teaching the children in a good manner when she split the custody & never was the fwd person.

    The kids were very respectful as we dated and loved hanging out, until their dads relationship didn’t work out & he said it was my fault that he and their mom couldn’t get back together.

    Counseling is helping teach her & I how to do as far as raising the children w/ consistancy & handling the taking on of this other teen who’s mother passed away.

    so; 2 teenagers in high school here 1 girl 15, 1 boy 15, & the two younger; girl 11 & boy 10

    ((breathing slowly))sighhh

24. Denver,
    Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Did you have a trimalleolar fracture? It wasn’t clear.

    My comment on drugs..try to do without. Most of us here do not use any or many drugs. I didn’t use any at all except an occasional tylenol after surgery and I had a very bad break. The morphine during my hospital stay made me very ill and so I decided to go without anything when I left after 4 days. Now I am not a glutton for punishment so if painkillers are truly needed yes, but at this point you could try to do without. Addiction problems with vicodon are very troublesome. What drugs are you taking?

    As for PT right now, wiggle your toes and move the foot as much as possible.

    Hello to all the rest on this board. I just got back home from the midwest so will post more later.

25. Guess I was wrong.. still up reading back over the more recent comments/stories

    I can fill some in on what I do know and areas I do have experience in as trade offs to the great benefit of this site and uplift.

    So here we go

    LEE
    If your Dr hasn’t already told you by now, blood clots actual do form in order to rebuild bone =) so for this case its good, yet its frowned on to take blood thinners just for that reason – don’t want to stop the process nor have clots break free 😉

    as for the stomach issues – bananas =) bananas.. usually the stomach upsets are actually associated with the vicoden (or lack there of) and even causes weird head aches.

    LOIS- your hilarious =)

    LOUIS- its awesome seeing the progress and how your pushing it=) please keep filling us in

    Ok, so this is me and my life (short for now)

    I’m the bread winner of the home.. Names Wes,
    I am a dental ceramist & currently looking @ going back to school to become an Anesthesiologist. (i dON’t make the big bucks in this field)

    I have a wife who had 3 children when we met and as we got closer to being married she had a close cousin (like her sister) pass away, leaving us full custody of her teenage daughter. We’ve had her now about 2 yrs and got married by the JP for now as I promised we could do the bigger wedding in a year…

    Unfortunately that would be 27th of Sept =( and aside from the financial pinch this is hitting us with, all of us on this site know I won’t be walking let alone dancing by then.

    Shes gradually accepting moving this out til NeXt year as we are paying for it on our own and shes always wanted a big wedding, was robbed of that from her X and I have been a DJ since I was a teenager, seen every wedding know to man, lve to dance & want an awesome reception unlike all the ones I’ve seen.

    I try to hide the pain. I have to remain strong for a house of 6
    ….if you guys (guys is just colorado slang for people, no offense ladies) knew how happy I am to finally find a place where I could read, be understood and ..cry.. well.. I can’t thank you enough for the support of all your words.

    I carry my own plate of food to the living room with my thumb & forfinger while my palm rests upon the crutch or if its a heavier plate- I just use my hip to swing the crutch to the front (i know I risk the chance of damaging an all important nerve) so I flex my arm pressing the crutch up under the side of my chest flexed as well to keep from being hurt.
    I carry my own drinks (ih quick note, it sucks having to run/hop/crutch or crawl to the bathroom but drinking lots of water helps with all the meds (tylonl in them anyway)

    I had the kids trying to help me out with food one weekend I was laid up in bed upstairs all day on medicin but they didn’t realize how much food I take in normally let alone how I have to keep up with the medicine so as not to get nauseaus.. got a grilled cheese all day.

    I’m not going to get upset w/ them =) I put a mini fridge in the room and stocked it so even n middle of the night I can grab something or get milk to offset the vicoden.

    I ve gone my entire life never breakin a bone & w/in the last twelve months I got my jaw broken, wired shut for 7 weeks, now this =/ go figure. (Thats what worries me bout the vicoden.. having taken it solid throughout the jaw made me pretty immune to the doses given for the leg so they bumped it up)

    I just tell every1 my life hasn’t had any good stories for a long time and that must be why I’m here now.

    My brother and I live in two different states but are best friends & both train, lift, work out frequently and understand a lot of medicines, foods, muscles & that part of things.

    That both helps and makes this harder due to the fact that is my release and I can not work out for so long.

    My other release is riding motorcycles =(
    don’t even need to fill in that blank.

    Which reminds me
    LEE- I had a close friend break his leg Tib & Fib all the way through & was right leg cast all the way up past knee. He borrowed family members automatic truck with bench..drove with left foot and was able to slide the straight leg across the straight across floor. I know gas prices are high, but I’m able to use ur Taurus with left foot. so maybe you know someone who may swap vehicles for a while or even possibly able to get good deal rental if your a good talker with agencies. It may be cheaper than paying driver. I always put a throw pillow under my leg/knee to raise it up so its more relaxed & barely touching the floorboard.

    I miss being the calm one and the care taker of my home… My wife was in the Mrtg industry and as it was going south I told her to go to school as she had always wanted to and never been able too.

    Shes now been a dental assistant since Dec. Shes great at it, but its still not enough for me to be out of work. I’m able to work piece work and the contract company is being nice enough to let me do swing shift working nights or afternoons if I’m up or unable to sleep OR nauseated in the morning..

    hmmm.. goodnight for now, let me know if I can be of any help to you all as you are all of great help to me,

    Denver

26. I’m new.. read soooo many from both sites..

    Official Break- July 5th 2008 =(

    Thought it was a sprang.. well.. at least I hoped it was a sprang. I did keep it iced in a bucket of ice water for 7-10 mins in & 15 out. that helped me go a LoNg time til I was able to get the surgery from the Dr I heard of doing amazing work here nearby.

    I broke it riding my dirt bike. Fully geared up, riding foreVer, I was busy watching our kids making sure all was well (first time on a National Track). Somehow I misread a jump and the hit on the otherside jammed my foot. No wreck, just a new sensation & a week of crutches. That is, until I could no longer sleep & went into a friend for Xrays.

    It took 3.5weeks from the time of the breaks til I could get the surgery.

    Kids were telling me the riding boots didn’t do any good, until the Dr explained that everything stayed perfectly ligned up and after opening up for the surgery he found that my soft tissue and ligaments were in great shape.

    Anyhow, I’ve been reading and studying and being careful. I kept the swelling down so the scar looks very smooth even now just 3 weeks out of surg. I have already had the beginning signs & pains of arthritus for the last 5 yrs and avoided doing surgery until this presented the bill and forceful time to go ahead and get it done.

    question, concern and issue for now is – how did everyone do with the medicine? My brother was addicted to Vicoden last yr and I fear such things. even if I have the mentality & strength to stand above this, it still leaves me moody, blunt, nauseated, tired & even found hyper sensitive to things in my leg which honestly aren’t pains worthy of being upset about. On the flip side I’ve tried getting off the medicine and am unable to keep nausea down and hands steady and eyes open w/ mind enough to build detailed pieces @ work.

    I tried my ideas to back me off of the medicine, but Dr request I keep on it longer. its been 22days since surgery & w/ the spacing needing to set longer I am told zEro weight for 3 weeks 2 more days (not that I will be able to walk on it@ that point or even stand for that matter) He said he was going to do cast for final 5 weeks but would give me the option to just use my splint and or walking cast on and off so long as I didn’t re injure it. this way I could shower semi-normally and keep cleaning the dual scars to minimize the viewing pleasure. this has given me a slight advantage as I am able to keep the muscles from completely deteriorating & tends from entirely locking up through flexing excercises.

    I lost the information on what is good PT (or PT information site) so I can target reasonable goals and also so I don’t go too slow or too fast… know my boundaries so to speak.

    Well that’s my long entro for now, sleeping pills fiNaLLy kicking in,..look fwd to reading more,

    Denver

27. LOUISE, the class sounds like fun. I wish we had something like that here. Sounds like they really push you to use that ankle. I see people rolling on those stools alot during therapy but never racing. lol They usually are just going round and round the small track using one leg or the other. Funny. Sounds like your ankle is doing well though.

    SANDRA, sorry to hear you’re still having pain and stiffness. Are you still going to therapy after a year or is it something you just have to work out on your own with time? I’m almost 3 months post-surgery and still have alot of stiffness, mainly where the cartilage is missing. I wonder if that’ll still be hanging around in a year. Well, enjoy time with your mom on your weekend getaway. Hope your ankle does well for you and the weather cooperates! 🙂

    Lee, walking? YAY! Walking made me feel so much better. I do still replay the accident in my mind alot. During the first few weeks I would dream about it and wake up startled, like I was falling. I haven’t done that in awhile though. I still get paranoid walking on any floor that is not carpet and I’m SCARED of wet floors! It was raining today and I was so nervous to go out. I know I’m going to freak my first time going out in the rain, you know like when it’s raining and you run into Wal-Mart real quick and everybody’s wet footprints are on the floor when you first go in. I’m already worried about that! lol I know it’s something I’ll have to get over but I’m just paranoid now. 🙁

    Hey Pam, I hope that removing the screws will help with the pain and swelling for you. October is just around the corner. How far are you post-op? Sometimes I wonder if it’s my screw causing my pain, it’s at the exact spot where the cartilage is missing, so it’s hard to know which is the culprit, although my doctor says it’s the cartilage. What kind of pain are you feeling from the screw, if you can put it into words?

    Well, I’m doing okay I guess. Walking now completely without crutches! Sometimes my foot feels fine and other times it’s so sore when I walk, and it pretty much stays swollen over that “spot.” 🙁 I’m managing the stairs at my parent’s house fine, taking them one at a time, not going up or down normally yet, but at least I can get in and out of the house. 🙂 Therapy is going well. I enjoy going because I get some exercise on the machines and I really like my therapist but I feel like I’ve come to a standstill… my range of motion doesn’t seem to be improving. The PT says that it probably won’t until I get the boot off and force it to bend with walking. I have normal ROM from side to side, but not up and down. I’m anxious to get the boot off, but nervous that my “spot” is going to hurt too much. Have any of you come out of your boot, only to find you needed an ankle brace of some sort? That’s what I fear the case will be for me. We’ll see. Anyway, I go back to the doctor in a week. I wonder if he’ll release me to work. I’m getting so bored around the house but also scared of being on my feet all day! I feel ready in some ways, but not in other ways.

    Okay, enough rambling. lol Hope everyone’s doing well.

    ~Liz

28. Hi all- Hope everyone is doing ok! I had an appointment with my ortho doctor today & he took anothe x-ray because of the pain/swelling I am still having. The pin he put in to support the chipped part of my tibia is poking right at the skin & is causing my pain & swelling. The plate on the fibula bone is also causing me problems/pain, so my doctor told me to see him back in Oct. and then we will talk about scheduling surgery to remove the pin, plate & screws. I also have a plate & 2 pins on the tibia side but he didn’t say anything about removing that one. However in looking at my x-ray today, I didn’t realize the screws on the tibia side go all away across my bone (yuck……….no wonder why he told me after surgery I would have a very strong ankle). So that is my update.

    Don- I’ve been meaning to write to you that I was very sad to hear that you & your wife were hit by a drunk driver & how bad your injuries were/are. My heart goes out to the both of you for all you have gone through. A very good friend of mine was hit by a drunk driver Dec. 07′ and she sustained multiple injuries like you and your wife. She was pinned in her car & it took 11 fire fighters to get her out. She had back injuries, broken arm, smashed right ankle, left femur bone was sticking out, crushed left knee. I talked to her yesterday & she is still walking with a walker & will need another surgery on her left leg & knee (this will be # 4). She has not been able to go back to work yet but wants to.

    Keep healing everyone!

29. Hi all,

    Just updating. Saw my Ortho yesterday. Got a new, stronger cast and a little better set. He’s sent me home to work on WALKING! I can’t believe it. He wants me to put 50% of my usual pressure on my bad leg. Holy cow! He said that he wants me to loosen up the ankle with the walking because he can’t get it set to 90 degrees yet. It’s all too tight. So, 10 days of walking and I get another cast for 2 more weeks. Then I’m off to a boot. There is a light at the end of the LONG tunnel.

    And, I got myself off medical leave today too, so back on the normal payroll at work, just working from home. Also been interviewing drivers to help with getting the kids to and from school and eventually me to work, and though it will be expensive, it must be done. I feel like things are starting to come around. Whew!

    Louise – your class sounds like great fun! Keep it up. I can’t wait to be able to do something similar.

    Lois – way to go at Costco – good for you! So you just don’t give in when it gets twitchy

    One last question for you all – I still keep replaying the accident in my head, all the time. I can’t make it stop. When does that stop or turn off? Do you still get the willies watching people play sports? It’s been so difficult to watch the Olympics this week – all the track and field folks make me wince.

    Enjoy the rest of the week. We’re having beautiful weather here in Northern California, so I’m trying to soak it in before I go back to the office in a week or two.

    Cheers,
    Lee

30. Whizzing through all these stories has made me a little dizzy so I will have another look in the day-time.

    Christi – positive to hear of your comments about going downstairs. This has been a persistent problem for me, one I am still working on. Things are getting easier, but it’s still variable.

    At work I should have a Personal Evac Plan – which is a joke – as there was a fire alarm recently and I got left on the refuge point by myself not knowing if I was going to be rescued. Have made a complaint, but who knows if any action will follow.

    On annual leave at the moment, but at home this week, and spending money shopping for the house and for me. It’s quite exciting thinking about autumn this year. It’s always been my favourite time of year, but as I did my breaks at the end of August, spent five weeks in hospital, came out not walking, and did all the slow crutches stuff and so on, I missed out on autumn, and really looking forward to it.

    I did not get out at all much during autumn and winter (all that wet, windy, ice and snow is a bother for broken ankles) I did not get any new clothes at all last year, so feel I could have a little spree this year with some justification – just so I look decent at work of course!

    The shoes are still an issue. Trainers are most supportive, but I am hoping for something a little more shoe-like for the winter. Any fashion-tips welcome!

    Don. Sorry to hear about your knee. I find kneeling down really difficult, and getting up is awkward. But I hope you had fun at your camp.

    Have just booked a weekend break in North Wales with my mum for end of August. Hope it does not rain too much, or all the scenery disappears into the clouds.

    Night

    Sandra

31. Hello I am still here!

    Just read some emails from first site and wanted to say a special Hello to MELANIE and I hope that all is well. I will get round to reading the posts on this site asap.

    Don – hi. How are you doing?

    And Clark, nice to hear you hanging in there.

    Hello to Ankequest if you are out there.

    And for Sticky. That’s amazing. Running after one year! I am still walking – mostly without a stick, but still carry one! And sometimes, I still get so much pain I feel I need it.

    To catch up with me. I had foot pain last time I posted. That has been easier – with self-massage and stretching, and changing shoes around, no shoes in house etc. But it still comes and goes. Ankle can get easier, but then gets tight and painful again.

    It’s an ‘inner triangle’ as I think of it, running down inner side of Achilles tendon, along foot and diagonally across inner ankle bone. Everything inside that area gets tight, and sore and hurts. Can get pain in other places, but that’s the main one.

    That’s my weakest ankle, the one with the metal in – the other one was also broken but is much sounder.

    Still exercising but prone to getting weak and flakey, so need to check that out. My head has also been a problem recent, i.e. I get migraines, but they have been almost constant over the last several weeks. So I suppose I ought to get that checked out too.

    Anyway everything feels okay today and I have walked without any problem – coming up to my one year.

    Weirdly, I got bitten on both my knees last week, and I do react, so my right knee went red to around a saucer size. A few weeks ago I got a similar bite on inner ankle bone. Anyone think that my bits of metal might make me even more attractive to biting insects?!

    Now on anti-histamines, and avoiding damp humid places – which is difficult here in soggy, moist, yet somehow warm England.

    Night for now,

    Sandra

32. Hello everyone!!!

    Melanie! How are you doing if your about and reading this?? havn;t heard from you for a little while (although a little while in my land is like 2 days!)

    Lois. Great to hear your up and walking about a little more! Keep with it! 🙂 Thats great.

    Lee. Thats great about your pain meds (or lack of should I say!) every small thing when your dealing with broken ankles is a corner turned, so keep with it! 🙂

    Well….as for me, I have had my first “ankle class”/ physio appointment today. I had an appointment last week, but that was mostly just for assessment, so today was my first proper physio session. The physio put me in an ankle class where there was about 8 of us, and 3-4 physio’s and you just kind of do stuff more on your own, how you feel you want to. For example, to start with, they did an exercise with a a rope ladder which they put on the floor, then we had to either walk, jog, run, criss cross step, go backwards etc through it. Going backwards was very difficult. Then moved onto cardiovascular machines, such as rowing, cross trainer, stepping machine and cycling machine etc.

    Then my physio took me to one side and had me work on my balance and strength, which is my issue to be honest, so had a go on a wobble board, step ups, and also a big round blob, which felt like a blob of jelly, and had to balance on that. You can tell my calf is not working properly, as I my leg started shaking every time I put any sort of stress on it, so I have been given a lot of balancing exercises to do for next week!!

    The only exercise I had real problems with (other than going backwards through the rope ladder!) was balancing on a rubber type or foamy beam and walking accross that….I kept falling off all the time, which was rather embarassing I have to say (although I did not wreck the clinc this time!).

    Oh and we had a race up and down the clinic on stools with wheels on the end….that was very fun!!! It was the guys against the girls scooting up and down on some wheely stools! hee hee.

    SO yeah…overall, it was really good fun more than anything. My ankle does ache a lot now, but I hope it has done some good! I guess we shall find out next week, whether anything is easier or not!!! I know I can deff go back to the gym now though and not make a total arse out of myself on the machines, so thats one good thing!!

    Hope everyone else is doing great!!!

    Louise xx

33. Just a quick hello to EVERYONE. I am concentrating more on walking more normally the past couple of days. I go up onto my toes frequently, for example while standing washing dishes, and shift my weight from side to side, forcing the lazy calf muscle to work. Went to town shopping with my husband yesterday, walked all over including on Costco’s hard floors and did fine. Lee, my husband was impressed and said so. See things do get better. I did not take my cane and when my leg started to hurt a bit I simply refused to favor it and walked through it’s objections. Interestingly, it would stop hurting for a while and then later try to act up again. Still to be ignored. I am expecting my sister for a week long visit commencing this afternoon, so I will not likely contribute to the blog for that length of time, but I will try to keep up with the reading. (Melanie, still thinking of you. ) Chins up everyone,,,but eyes down.

34. Hi all,

    Catching up after the weekend. I can’t tell you how good it is to read everyone’s stories and how well you all are doing. I know I will get there. At this point, it just feels like it’s been forever already and I can’t imagine it ever being over. But all of your stories tell me it will be and I need to stay positive.

    I had a great day yesterday – no meds all day until bed time, and then, only because it helps me sleep. Could this be the corner I was looking to turn? I do hope so, because it means I can get back to work soon and have something to do other than worry and think about my leg, and stress about how my kids are getting here or there!

    Christi – yes, it seems like there are lots of “dumb accidents” that cause this kind of damage. amazing, huh? All my friends want to know if I’ve got brittle bones or are osteoporodic. I’m only 40, and still feel 30. I can’t even imagine!

    Liz – I hope your boot is dry and you’re out of your chair – that’s a great visual!

    Lois – wow, complications from trying to make it all better. I too am taking calcium and vit D, along with magnesium. Hopefully it won’t be too much and I won’t have the same problem, but yowza – no fun! thanks for the good advice and words of encouragement. My husband seems to think the cast is coming off in 4 weeks and I’m going to magically get up, walk and drive and take on all my normal stuff. He’s nuts. I’ve told him as much, but he says I’m being negative. My Dr. also told him to expect a long road, but I think he hears what he wants to hear… I mean, I wish it were true, but I know better. Sigh. Husbands.

    Until later – happy crutching, hobbling, limping or walking, as the case may be. You all are in my thoughts.

    cheers,
    Lee

35. Christi,

    Thank you so much for your encouraging post letting us know that it can get much better in the 1-2 year mark. For me it’s been 8 months of frustration and I only had a distal fibula break in the right and rolled the left, nothing compared to your injury.

    Some good news for others like me who are filled with anxiety about their outcome – I called an old acquaintance of mine today who had a hideous ankle break five years ago, asking her for advice. She said she had awareness of the injury for the first three years and then the past two years it has felt like a normal ankle, no pain at all.

    Karen

36. Liz (and Lois!) Glad my embarassing story at the clinic made you laugh! It certainly made me laugh, so much even now, when I tell someone, I end up crying with laughter and giving myself stomach pains!! Good times hey??! 😀

    I start the ankle class thingy next weds, so will let you know how that goes, but that IS my physio. I wont have a one to one with anyone. I think in the states, people seem to have more PT than we do in the UK. I mean I had to fight for it, as the consultant didn’t seem to think I needed it! I was like….seriously?? I couldn’t believe it really that he said that!! Hmmm….

    No I haven’t been back to the gym yet….keep meaning to but just been so busy this week,a dn am very tired. I am planning to go for a swim at some point!!

    Lois. So great about your ankle….
    A lot of it is just getting on and doing it really! As i have said before, I tend to go into things head first and think about them later. I went out to lunch with my Mum the other day, and I was talking about stuff that I had been doing recently, such as working with the kids this week (which has been great, but hard work and tiring!) and I was talking about going back to playing netball (when Im cleared to) and she started moaning at me, and getting annoyed with me, because she says Im doing too much, and should be resting blah blah blah! Ill stop when its hurting, but other than that…you just have to get on with it! I can do the stairs now, although still have to leap off of them looking a bit odd I have to say when going down, and cant RUN up them yet, but am not going up and down side ways like I used to!! But yeah….thats great for you!! Well done, and keep it up! 🙂

    Dan. Thanks for posting!! Wow…you sound like you have had a few medical ordeals!! Good to know that you came out of the previous ones!! And you will come through this one as well!!
    I love your determination!! I am also very determined to get back to how I was! I am aware that I will prob have a weakness there (as my mother reminds me ALL the time!! I think she is just worried, but its not good for your positivity!!) but in my mind, there is not even the possibility that my ankle wont get back to normal. I have always automatically thought that it will be back to normal with a bit of work, and I was actually genuinely suprised when the physio told me that my range of motion may not get back quite to normal with the metal work in there. If thats the case, then the metal’s coming out!! I dont care if it’s another few weeks on crutches or whatever, It will be better in the longrun, so yeah we shall see!!

    Anywho…have a great weekend people!!

    Louise xx

37. Lee~

    I was just catching up on the comments from the last couple of days and wanted to let you know, that if you read my other posts where it tells how I did my trimalleor break you would realize you aren’t the only one who did it in a ‘dumb’ way. I was helping move a mattress down some steps missed one and rolled one ankle and the other tried to just roll but the force and angle must have hit it just right as it broke all of the bones and dislocated it. My foot was just hanging there. My mom who broke hers like 20 years earlier couldn’t come near me as it brought back too much remembered pain. I still cringe eveytime I see ankle breaks on movies. I never thought I would be able to do stairs again without flinching on every stair but I am able. Anyways I just wanted to let you know there hope I’m over two years out and I can tell you it gets better with each month sometimes even each week.

38. Hi Lois,

    Great news and great work!

    Keeping stretching your hamstrings with the towel exercise. When I first started doing them I had a fair amount of pain shooting up the back of my calf, but after a few days that stopped (except when the therapist is really working me over).

    What I haven’t told you or anyone on this site before is that I’ve had 5 lumbar laminectomies (where the ruptured disc material is excised). All surgeries have been on L4-L5 and L5-S1 (lowest two discs). First surgery in 1972 (when I was 24), last surgery was in 1994 (when I was 46). Irreversible damage was done to my sciatic nerve resulting in numbness in the end of my right foot (the one I broke). I can flex the toes down (plantar flexion), but not up (dorsiflexion). If you were to press downward on my right toes with your right hand, I would have no strength to keep you from pushing them down.

    Before my last surgery, I was told that unless the surgery was successful there was a chance I may never walk again. The recovery was long and painful (about a year). But I was motivated by being able to hold, walk with and play with my 2-year old daughter (another daughter came along two years later).

    As background, I originally hurt my back playing tennis in the summer of 1971. And yet, only weeks after surgery I was out hitting tennis balls off the garage across the alley. I still play tennis (well I was playing until I broke my ankle). Two weeks ago when I asked the doctor if I could play tennis, he laughed and said, “Not until I take out the long screw between your fibula and tibia (scheduled for September 2, 2008).” I have the day marked on my calendar.

    Throughout all my medical adventures I’ve seen lots of doctors and gotten lots of advice. Some of it was good, some questionable, some downright baloney. I learned that I am the best judge of how I feel, what I can do, and how much risk I’m willing to take. I’m no daredevil, but in your words, “I’m not going to settle.”

    Something funny you may appreciate. In an earlier post, I mentioned that I visited the therapist on Monday 8/11. I was advised to practice balancing on my broken leg. Initially I could only do it for a few seconds without grabbing something. By the end of the day, however, I was able to stay up for 2 minutes (with a lot of wobbling). OK fine.

    But then I decided to test my “good leg.” The therapist didn’t suggest that I do this, but did say it was difficult to know how long I should be able to stand on my broken leg without a baseline on how long long I could stand on my “good leg.”

    Well, I was able to stand on my good leg for 2 minutes as well (also with a lot of wobbling). However, the next day my “good” ankle hurt like the devil. I couldn’t put weight on it without pain. The inside of my left ankle just below the tip of fibula was sore to the touch.

    I still took Scamp for his walks, but took it easy, and periodically iced my left ankle. By the time I saw the therapist on Thursday 8/14 my left ankle was coming around. I mentioned this to the therapist and he laughed. For starters he said I shouldn’t try standing on one leg for so long. He said I probably strained the tendon that runs down along the outside of the ankle.

    Decided to leave my good ankle alone for now and it is good as new again. Going forward, the therapist suggested that I close my eyes when standing on one leg to reduce the amount of time I’m on it. Wow, that makes it a lot harder. So far, I’m only able to stay up for 5 – 10 seconds at a time.

    Again, thanks for your kind words. Keep pushing and never settle.

    Dan

39. Dan, I am so glad you joined this site and decided to challenge us. Well me anyway. I was so happy when I could walk again and work around the house and in the garden that I had stopped going to physio. But I was putting up with three things in particular that concerned me a bit. I had accepted them as perhaps permanent disabilities. These included: 1. difficulty in taking longer faster strides (like when you march up the street to get to an appointment) This did not hurt so much but did make me limp badly enough to use cane. 2. Not being able to bear weight on any smaller area of my bad foot. Like completely unable to climb a ladder. 3. Not being able to raise up onto the toes of just the bad foot. I could go up onto my toes of both feet, but if I tried to go onto the toes of my bad foot alone, it was like a disconnect with my brain, and the bad foot would remain flat on the floor.

    But Dan, you challenged me not to settle, so I returned to physio yesterday afternoon. WELL GUESS WHAT??? My ankle is just great. Great range of motion and everything. BUT… my calf muscle is not great. It seems that muscle enjoyed the vacation that it had while in a cast etc, just too much and now it seems to have decided to retire. So, yesterday it got electric shock therapy to smarten it up. (actually just some mild electical stimulus) And I now have exercises for it. Those exercises consist of just basically what you were saying. Stop pampering the darn thing and start making it do what it is supposed to do.

    Never mind the 5 minutes, slow speed on a flat treadmill, but instead it is now 15 minutes of whatever speed, but on a gradually increasing incline. Never mind the carefully walking up stairs sideways holding onto the rail with both hands so I don’t fall again, they include walking up stairs and downstairs face first normally. They include getting onto both toes and then shifting my weight from side to side, forcing the muscle to hold me up. Also a few more exercises are included. WHAT THE HECK…. I did not get through this ankle thing to have problems with an atrophied calf muscle. So, everyone although I still think that it is important to be careful and use caution, especially in the first few months, Dan is correct… there comes a time when it is important to challenge ourselves and our bodies and not settle for less than perfect. Yesterday, that seemingly simple exercise of standing on my toes and shifting my weight from foot to foot at the physio office resulted in sweat just pouring off my face. It was anything but easy, but very necessary if I want to get back to normal. Thanks for the good advise and for the challenge Dan.

40. LOUISE… Just went back and reread your note about your first PT appt. lol I had read it earlier and meant to comment but got busy and forgot. lol That is hilarious! You had me laughing out loud for real. hehe When do you go back. Hopefully every appointment will be so interesting so you can keep us entertained! 🙂 The class for ankle breakers sounds interesting. Let us know how that goes. Have you been back to the gym yet since given the okay to go? What types of machines are you using? I am SO ready to get back to Gold’s.

    Well, I have my foot elevated now, had to get the ice out around midnight last night because it was swelling and sore. All that walking really did it in. 🙁 I hope it will pass soon. I’ve been rolling around in my desk chair all morning because I had the bright idea to wash the liner of my boot last night, thinking it would dry overnight. Nope! Still soaking wet. 🙁 It’s out in the sunshine now drying. I feel lost without it!

    Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday! Enjoy your weekend.

41. HELLO TO EVERYONE:
    LEE: I wrote earlier today, but my entry would just not post. I am sorry about your ankle but happy that you found us. I think that you will really benefit from the information and support you will receive. Believe me, those on this site, or other ankle breakers, really are the only ones who truly understand what you are going through. I found it a godsend, because friends, neighbours, husbands and children just do not quite understand. One good thing though is that my ortho surgeon told me husband to expect a long slow recovery of at least a year. As a result after the cast came off, my husband was just so pleased at every bit of progress that I made that it became much easier. But there were several times in those two casted months, where if I could have walked or driven (prohibited as it was my right ankle) I would have been out of here. In truth, I am sure that my husband likely felt exactly the same way. This situation i just frustrating to everyone. But, it REALLY DOES get better. Clark, one of the men on this site, once called ankle breaks the gift that just keeps giving. ie one complication leads to another. In that vein, be a bit cautious about watching your fluid intake and avoiding awkward trips to the bathroom. Between that, and I suspect the fact that I was prohibited from baths and showers for two months (only sponge baths) I managed to come down with a very miserable urinary tract infection. The other ridiculous thing that happened during that time was that I had decided that if my bones broke that easily I should be taking a calcium supplement. So about three weeks into that, shortly after waking up, and while drinking morning coffee, I suddenly ended up in agonizing pain. I made it to the bathroom where I lay down on the cold floor, writhing in agony and vomiting profusely. About 15 minutes into this, I was just as uddenly fine again. I do believe that I had passed my first every kidney stone, caused by too much calcium.

    RE: MELANIE: MELANIE would have had her post op two days ago and today was the day she was to have her biopsy. EVERYONE please keep Melanie in your thoughts and prayers. There are some things even more frightening than broken ankles. Melanie please let us know how you are as soon as you can.

    PAM AND ANKLEQUEST: Glad you two got to meet. Jealous that Anklequest gets to meet everybody.

    LIZ, KAREN, AND TAMMY… Hello to you guys,
    LOUISE: loved your story about destroying the physio clinic. Hee Hee as you would say.

    Hello, to CLARK AND DON. Hello to everyone else.

    Dan, I will talk to you in a separate post. Good Night everyone.

42. LEE, I found that searching the internet too much for information became quite depressing after awhile. All I could find was the negative stories. This site has really helped because there are people at all different stages, with so many different stories. It’s nice to chat with people going through the same things. I meant to suggest earlier too that you might want to push for therapy as soon as you can. I know you’re still in a cast now, but as soon as you get to a boot go ahead and ask for it. It has made a world of difference for me. If nothing else, it has given me an outing twice a week and someone to talk to and ask questions of on a regular basis (since we don’t get to see our docs that often). I really enjoy going, for the exercise, and overall sense of accomplishment. Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there because some doctor’s don’t seem to send you right away. As far as meds, I was on Percocet before and after surgery… on a morphine pump at the hospital. I took the Percocet for about 3 or 4 weeks after surgery, gradually weaning myself off of it. I haven’t taken one in over a month and don’t have much pain at all except for one particular spot where the arthritis is developing from the cartilage damage. 🙁 I’m just dealing with that for now though without medication.

    KAREN, Does your doctor or PT have any explanation as to why your ankle is caving? Is it just from lack of strength? Have they indicated that it is typical for that to occur after ankle breaks? Just curious if it’s something we all have to look forward to. lol I hate that you injured it today. Hope the ice helps.

    Well, my ankle seems a bit sore tonight but I’m sure it’s due to all the extra walking. I had therapy today and am now officially without a crutch! YAY! My PT told me I didn’t need it anymore. I knew I really didn’t but I kept carrying it as a security blanket I guess. He had me walk alot today and work on my gait. He had me walking up and down the hallway towards a full-length mirror to focus on not limping. It went well but when I walked the way he wanted me to, without the limp, my knee kept popping. Ouch! Anyone else experience this? Also, I find sometimes that as a step down with my good foot a sharp pain shoots through it (like I stepped on it wrong or something). The last thing I want to do is injure my good foot! Anyone have that issue? I’m sure my feet and muscles are just readjusting to carrying my big butt around. lol

    Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. Stay safe.

    ~Liz

43. Hi all- This afternoon, Anklequest & I got to meet for coffee in Milwaukee, WI as she was visiting relatives & it worked out for us to meet. We had a great time chatting & exchanging our stories on our ankle breaks.

    Lee- as for the having the metal removed, Anklequest & I were actually talking about that & it really depends on your situation. I know my ortho told me that if I have problems, like constant pain with the plate on the fibula side that he would remove it. However, he would like to keep all the hardware in for at least a year. I see him again in Oct. so we’ll see how that visit goes.
    As for the pain meds, take your vicodens as you need them, that is really what they are for, to help ease your pain. I tried to wean myself off on them as well, but when I started therapy my therapist told me to take a pain pill about an hour before my appt. & boy did that help. Now I take Naproxen for some of the achiness & swelling & that seems to be working fine.

    Karen- your ankle will get stronger over time. A friend of mine is 5 years out from her break & you would be amazed at how well she recovered. Definately a light at the end of the tunnel.

    Nite all!

44. I’m 8 months out. Now that I’m walking a lot more, I’m noticing my broken ankle caves outward at times. It happens when something unexpectedly hits against my body or I walk on uneven ground (a few weeks ago skinned my knee) due to it. Today I slightly backed into my shopping cart causing the ankle to cave, lost control and banged loudly into a display, people staring at me – quite embarassing.

    And, each time this happens, I reinjure, sprain my ankle. I had to come back home and get the ice out again which I haven’t needed for awhile.

    I’m doing the best I can with the PT exercises I was given, have done them without fail twice a day for months now. It’s scary because I don’t want to continually fall for the rest of my life. I can only hope my ankle will get stronger over the next few years.

    Karen

45. Hi all

    Thanks for the words of encouragement. It’s good to hear you’re all doing better and getting back to normal. I think yesterday I read a bunch of early post from people who seemed to be in really bad shape months and months after their fractures. I was getting pretty worried. But I’m thinking today that my recovery will depend upon what I put into it – lots of rest and good care now, and lots of work later with PT. I’m just so afraid I’ll never really be functional again and I’m worried about how I’ll get through the rest of my life. Just need to focus on one week at a time.

    I will most certainly ask my Dr about the swollen red and purple toes and the blood clot issue – it’s just good to hear that all had similar experiences and it’s probably normal. Today’s struggle seems to be with the first signs of pain around the fibula bracket when I move around. I think the cast is pressing on it. I certainly hope that’s the case, because if this is how it feels normally, I’m in big trouble.

    Dr. says I have possible 2-3 more surgeries to look forward to – 1 to remove the metal, then an MRI and possible repair of a ligament they could not fix at 1st surgery, and then ligament repair on the left ankle (so I don’t do it to that leg later on). How am I ever going to get through all of that? And it seems to be a big question as to weather or not the metal should or should not come out?

    Another question for you all – what kind of medicine routine are you on? I had serious narcotics in the hospital and came home with vicodin, but I tried to knock that off after about a week. I still take it at night when I’m having a bad day so I can sleep, but otherwise just taking ibuprofin and tylenol. Oh, and low dose aspirin. Any other great tricks? Anything else I should be asking the Dr for? The ibuprofin is hard on my stomach ….I’m eating crackers in the middle of the night to deal with it.

    You all have encouraged me already and I will stay tuned in and chatting. It’s helpful already. Louise – I know what you mean about trying not to get up to go the bathroom unless I MUST go – especially at night from a dead sleep. I try to avoid drinking too much for just this reason! Pam – Im glad to know that managing a family and this CAN be done. I’ll look to you for continued inspiration. It must have been especially hard with a preschooler – at least my kids are older (7 and 10). You must truly be a goddess! And Liz, I’ve decided that I just need to call people and ask for help. I know if it was me on the other end of a call for help, I’d do it without even a second thought. I have for many new moms and sick friends. So now it’s my turn to ask. Gotta swallow my pride and just do it.

    Until later, ankle-breakers.

    Cheers!
    Lee

46. Hi Lee!!!

    Thanks for posting! Sorry to hear about your ankle though!! Its a plus AND a minus whenever someone new comes to the site, as it means someone has broken their ankle!!

    Yeah, as both Pam and Liz have said, it does get better. I am erm…. hang on (I need to work this out!) Sixteen weeks post break and surgery (did mine on 23rd april!) and I had 2 large pins removed from my leg on the 7th of july, so have been walking since then really!! I was told 5-6 weeks in a cast, then he changed it to 7 weeks, THEN when the cast was off, I had to wait another 2 and a half weeks STILL non-weight bearing before I could have the op for the pins to be removed! It is SOOOO tempting when I didn;t have a cast on as well to put weight on it, so I had be very good! hee hee. It does get so much better. I noticed such a difference in the first 2-3 that I started walking, I seem to have reached a point now, where not much more is happening, but my ankle is starting to limber up a bit!! I have been to New York a few weeks ago (I live in the UK) and I am working with kids on a programme all this week….so you could say I am somewhat back to normal. I am also driving a car no problem, and I drive a manual (left ankle broken, which is my clutch leg!) and starting to get most of my range of motion back.

    It is a long process, but it does get better. It is frustrating, and many times I have ended up in tears, sooo frustrated and angry at myself and everyone else. Get friends to rally round for you,a nd get your kids to do as much as possible. Try and stay positive, and keep yourself occupied! Too many days of watching Jerry Springer is enough to depress anyone! Dont bring it upon yourself like I did! ha ha!

    As for the purple toes…yes, this was normal for my ankle. The 1st week, it was just always swollen, then weeks 2-5 ish, everytime i stood up, my toes would swell, and go a very dark purple, and it felt like the blood and fluid was rushing to the ankle, and my ankle was trying to explode out of the cast! It was quite painful I have to say, so I used to try not to get up for the loo etc until I absolutley HAD to! lol! But yes…that gets better, but if you ARE very worried, speak to your doc!

    So yeah…keep smiling! Take care, and keep us updated!!!

    Louise xx

47. LEE, Sorry that you’re here (because that means you have a broken ankle.) 🙁 Hang in there… 5 weeks is still early in the healing process. I’m 10 weeks post-surgery (12 weeks post-break, tib/fib and dislocation) and I am feeling SO much better now. There is a world of difference between my 5th week and my 10th week. It WILL get better like Pam said. Although, at times, I know it doesn’t feel like it will.

    Not sure about the blood clot issue… mine used to immediately swell and turn colors when I put it down from elevating it. I know it’s a pain but just keep it elevated AS MUCH as possible. Looking back though my swelling started easing up about 2 weeks after surgery. I would definitely ask your doctor when you go back.

    I know what you mean about help disappearing… same here. People don’t realize just how long this recovery takes. They just expect us to be better by now. Hang in, you’ll get there! Keep us posted on your progress! 🙂

48. Hi Lee- “Welcome” I am sorry to hear about your break. I was in your same exact shoes a few months ago. I broke my fib, dislocated by tib as well as chipping it on May 4th (all from running in my flip flops while playing tag with my 2 boys- they are 6 & 3). I have 2 plates, 9 screws & a pin in my ankle (way too much hardware for me). My ankle to looked like it came from cyber space by being out of place every which way, I almost passed out from looking at it. I wore a boot for 6 weeks, then was allowed to slowly start weight bearing so I wore an air cast for 2 more weeks. By the 4th of July weekend I was walking on my own, but with a limp. Today I still have a lot of swelling in my ankle at the end of the day & have been having pain with just about every step I take but it seems to be subsiding as long as I do my PT exercises.
    I too am the gate keeper of our home & when I was non weight bearing for all those weeks, my husband had to do everything & got very tired of it fast. I felt like the end of the tunnel was never going to come & will my life “ever” get back to being normal. I know that in a year from now this will all be a bad dream. Trust me, it WILL get better, it will take time, but it will happen.
    Blood clots are very common in injuries like ours. Are you taking a baby aspirin a day? That will help. I remember my leg always getting really red/purplish when I would stand up. Have you talked to your doctor about it? Keep your leg elevated at all times, even when you are sleeping. I know it starts to get old by sleeping like that every night, but even today I still keep my leg elevated & I am almost 4 months out.
    I have found this website to be a savior for me by not only reading what everyone has gone through, but having the support & encouragement from everyone. Not to mention being able to vent frustrations on this site, I think my husband was sick of hearing about poor me by week 2 post op.

    Have a great day everyone!
    Pam

49. I’m new to this site – just found you all while searching about broken ankles and have spent the last few hours reading all the posts….wow – lots to think about. I am 5 weeks out from a tibia/fibula break and dislocation, 2 screws in the tibia, plate and 12 screws in the fibula. Had emergency surgery 2 hours after the break. Was in a plaster splint for 2 weeks, then fiberglass cast for the next 3 weeks, though changed weekly because of swelling. I get my 4th cast next week.

    Initially, the Dr. told me I had 6 weeks in the cast … then upped it to 10 last week. I’m so disappointed. I know there will be a boot and air cast to follow, then lots of PT. I know it’s going to be a long road. But I’m a working mom with 2 kids and a Silicon Valley husband who is never home, and no family in the area. And of course, it’s my right ankle, so no driving for Lord knows how long. I feel like my life has come to an abrupt stop and it’s making me nuts. We’re largely getting along – have hired a little help, lots of friends bringing dinners, and just generally letting it all go a little, but I feel like my world has blown up! I’m back to work a few hours a day from the couch (I too work for a high tech company that is ok with telecommute, for a while anyway). But helpers are disappearing and my helpful husband is tiring of doing it all. I’m the do-it-all mom, so it’s a big eye-opener for him.

    To make it all more exciting, I’m nervous that I may have a blood clot. My father is a vascular surgeon on the east coast and he has me scared to death. As long as I sit with my foot up, all is fine. When I stand up, my foot swells and toes turn red, then darker, then kinda purple. Is this normal? Should I be concerned? I see the Dr. in about a week – I’ll ask then, but my Dad is insisting I get an ultrasound asap. Just trying to get to the Dr.’s office is a major logistical nightmare, so less is more.

    Ok – I’ve vented a little. Would love all of your support and advice. Oh, forgot to say how I injured myself . It’s so stupid – I need to make up something better. I simply fell off a curb coming out of a Jamba Juice with my 7 year old … I have a long history of sprains and torn ligaments from my youthful gymnastics days. This time I was in flats and just rolled my foot – when I looked back, it was clearly not right – bones sticking all over the place and my foot at the oddest angle – arrrg, it still gives me the willies and nightmares to think about it. When does that end?

    Looking forward to participating as I slowly make my way back to some form of normal, whatever that may mean.

50. Hi Pam,
    GREAT! What a nice boss you have to let you have coffee with us. I’m your same hight, but older.
    It’s likely there will be two or three of us having coffee.

    To Everyone! If there’s anyone else out there in the Wisconsin area, join us for coffee in the Millwaukee Art Meuseum Cafe tomarrow from 2-2:30. All anklebreakers welcome!!!

    Don, great to hear from you again. Great to hear about your vacation. I’ll be seeing you soon for another lunch.

    Dan, thanks for your inspirational message about progress. It makes me think some of us are too timid.

    By the way, I’ve been watching the Olympics from time to time, and have heard about ankle surgeries some have had.

    Take care everyone!

    Anklequest

51. Hi Anklequest- I’m so glad you posted, I was able to rearrange my meeting & was planning on coming to the Art Museum between 2:00 & 2:30. I look forward to meeting you! My boss & I area really close & once I told him about this, he told me to go meet you. He said it was like you & I were meant to meet. I’m about 5’6″ tall, 36 years old, light brown/blondish hair. I’ll most likely be in black pair of dress pants & probably a grey top ( I like to plan my outfits in advance, ha ha). I might be “limping” a little bit since my foot has been bothering me. I’ll meet you in the Art Museum Cafe. See you then.

52. Hi Pam..just a quick response.
    Can you suggest a place near the ferry? Or perhaps come to the Art Meuseum around 1 or 1 :30?
    anklequest.

53. Greetings Ankle Breakers
    Theresa

    Believe me I can understand and sympathize with your feelings as well as your sons. To start I was in a car crash with my Wife in the car. We were hit by a drunken drive while we were on our way home from a friend’s house after dinner. My Wife and I have been together for 30 years and of that we have been married for 26 years. She had a broken left arm a broken right collar bone, broken back damaged right knee and (their words) Splattered intestines.

    I had two broken ankles broken right femur broken back broken left arm broken ribs (and on and on) Too many injuries to remember. Oh yeah I also got congestive heart failure and died 3 times and was on life support for 4 days. But after all of that stuff I will tell you the most frightening thing I could ever imagine was not being able to focus my mind clearly enough to tell if my Wife was real or a figment of my imagination. Had I lost the most important person in my life? Could it possibly be that I had not done everything in the world to protect Her? These two questions haunted me for almost a month before I got my head cleared enough from the drugs and anesthesia. Once that was clear and I could think a little I began to think My God how much of a burden am I going to be on my family? Are they going to have to take care of this 47 year old handicap gimp? Am I going to bring my whole family down because some Drunk hit me?

    I also prayed that the drunk had of finished me rather then make me a burden to everyone that I Love. If my Wife had died in the accident there was no way I wanted to stay around. Life without her is not even worth thinking about for me. But I also knew that I had to keep going as I had 2 Daughters. 1 got married on July 12th and DAD got to dance with her at her wedding. And the other is going into her senior year of High School. So I knew I still had to see that part through till the end. In that situation we have a tendency to crawl into our own world and forget what we have to be Thankful for. We forget how much just being around may mean to others, how we impact their lives? His pain is tremendous his battles great but he will survive these; He will pull through but not alone. MOM. He will need every ounce of your Love and Strength. The same determination you went though and the pain you went through to bring him into this world.

    Be there ne gentle when needed, be hard when needed and walk out of the room when the tears start flowing and it tears you up inside seeing him in this condition. But he will rely on you more now then ever and for all of that I have to say I admirer you for your strength and unconditional Love of your Child. It is by far the most powerful emotion known to man. Motherhood is a job they say that is never done. You give us life you nurture us when we are sick you laugh when we are happy and you comfort us when we are down. Our very strength and ideology comes from our Mothers. You will make it through this and we will all be here to help you make it. All you need to do is look and we will be here to help and answer questions if we can or just be a shoulder to cry on when you need, or just someone to listen when you need to vent. So just look for us and write we will answer. Keep safe and always keep moving forward.
    Don
    (copied from broken ankle after 1 year)

54. Well hi there all humans with a broken ankle formation!!

    Don. Great to hear you had a good time away, although the screwing up of the knee is not so good!! I keep squating this week, as Im doing some kids work, and I keep squating down to talk to them, and it hurts…a lot, and I find it very difficult to get back up again, although nothing as bad as yours! It was good that you could help someone out though (I am hoping you helped them out anyway, after the trauma your knee went through! 🙂 ) Good to hear that it is recovering though for you!!

    Dan. Wow…sounds like you are doing great!!! So good to hear that! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your story!

    Lois. Hee hee. Thanks for the advice on the erm….hand carved canes!! I shall um…make sure I get myself one of them, and post the others out to you all! 😀 lol!

    Liz. Well done on walking round the house without your crutches!! Thats awesome! 😀 As I said before, i kept leaving mine all over my flat, and not even noticing! Thats so good to hear!!!

    As for me…I have been doing work with children this week, which has been fun, but very tiring and quite challenging, not only just generally, but also for my ankle too!! as I said earlier, I keep squating down to chat to the kids, or whatever, totally forgetting about the ankle, until Im down ther, and then its quite painful to try and get back up again! Also its a very get up and go type of week, and we are always inventing some sort of jumpy song, or run-around-the-room-in-search-of-something-cool game!! I have a 3 year old boy who clings to my leg and refuses to let go, which makes life slightly more difficult, as I have an infant child to tip my off balance as well as my general lack of balance! hee hee.

    I had my first physiotherapy session today. They didn’t really do a lot to be honest, as most of it was assessment! She told me that when Im moving my foot up and down there is only about 15 degrees difference between my good leg and bad leg (like 15 degrees at the top and 15 degrees at the bottom!) but side to side is like 40 degrees difference each way! Booo… 🙁
    I am starting a class specifically for ankle injuries which my physio runs next weds for an hour a week, so that will be interesting!! I have also been referred for a full podiatry assesment, because apparantly, I have flat feet, and roll my feet very inwards, which is why I have been getting pain in the bridge of my good foot, and a lot of pain in my back, because my bad foot doesn’t roll inwards as much as it used to, so my good foot is rolling more to balance it out (or something along those lines!!) but that may take a while!!
    Oh…a funny thing did happen though while I was there. On my way in, it was very windy, and lots of dirt and grit was blowing and getting in my eye, and by the time I got in the building I think I had an entire leaf in there, so my eyes were streaming, as they were full of stuff. The lady at reception thought I was crying (either in pain, or because I was worried) so took me into a little side room, and asked if I was ok, and I just looked at her and was like “um…yeah. I just have something in my eye!” and she then got slightly embarassed bless her!

    But THEN…when I was having the physio, the physio made me stand on my bad leg to test my balance. First time not too bad, but the second time, I totally lost my balance, and tripped/stepped/hopped backwards, fell out through the curtained area, into the corridor, knocking over a heap of papers on my way, and stagered into a rather full waiting room of bemused patients, relatives, and reception staff!!! Also in the process, I had pulled the curtain somewhat off of some of the curtain hooks and temporaily broken the curtain rail!
    WELL….after that,i was totally embarassed, the physio laughed, but then continued on, and I was laughing so hard, I was crying!! Everytime I stopped for a second, I would just see myself doing it again, and again, and just crack up laughing again!

    So….in a nutshell….I cried a LOT during my physio appointment, embarassed the reception lady, made the reception lady do a lot more filing, (as i knocked over a stack of papers) broken the curtain/curtain rail, and made a total and utter arse out of myself! So, all in all….I think it went swimmingly!!!! 😀

    But…on a slightly better note, I have been told I can return to the gym, although to take it easy, so it means I can start getting my fitness levels back up again, as I have pilled on the weight during my lack of mobility, and gotten rather unfit too!! Hmmm…

    SO I shall bid you all good night! Speak to you soon!

    Louise xx

55. Greetings Ankle Breakers

    Just got back from vacation and had a great time, weather was good and got to see a lot of friends. Did ok with the uneven ground and camping for two weeks (if our type of camping can be called camping) I had an airbed and wall to wall carpet in my tent so not to bad. I got to relax and sit and watch didn’t do too much up until the last Saturday.
    Then I did something stupid 🙁 One of the fighters got hurt on the field (for those of you that don’t know I do medieval recreation) Full contact armored fighting. Anyway they called me onto the field because of my medical training and I went out. I was fine knelt down by the fighter and instead on kneeling in front of him with the direction of the hill I knelt sideways and the pressure on my good knee was not too bad till I tried to get up.

    Well you guest it I screwed up the ligaments and cartilage in my good knee. So have had to use a knee brace and try and do exercises to relieve the pain. Fortunately it has been 3 days and it is finally easing up. But other then that dumb mistake I had a great time and my Wife only got to give me hell for being stupid 1 time Yeah me way to go.

    I am glad to see everyone here and that you are all improving. Keep working and doing everything you can to improve. Push forward but never over do what you can or what you are told. I have seen too many have setbacks because they have pushed harder and further then they should have. Keep moving forward with caution always in mind.

    Lois

    Thank you for your kind words, But in truth I am the lucky one to have a family that I have. They are pretty much my inspiration and driving force behind everything I accomplish. If it hadn’t been for them I don’t think (no I know) I would not have had the will or the determination to push through all of this to get back as much as I have.

    Sandra, Clark, Ankle Quest, Celinda and any I may have forgotten.

    You are the ones that have been around with me through most of this time.
    Thanks to all that have helped me along the way and have given me a ray of hope when I thought there was none. You all have given me a reason to try harder and not feel sorry for myself. Even small things that may not mean much too any one else can mean a lot to the person that needs that little push forward. Every little bit helps.

    Thanks again to everyone and remember keep the right part of your feet on the ground that way you will always have your legs under you and not spread all over like most of us did when we broke our ankles.

    Keep safe all and good luck talk soon
    Don

56. Hi Tammy,

    Sounds like your doctor told you pretty much the same thing my doctor told me. Wait 8 weeks to allow the ligament to heal before putting weight on the broken leg.

    First, you need to understand that timing is an inexact science. My doctor explained that he preferred to let my broken right leg heal for 8 weeks before putting full weight on it. He went on to say that the long screw between the fibula and tibia was put in to prevent twisting of the ankle so that the torn ligament between the two bones could heal properly.

    With the knowledge that the doctor would not remove the long screw until 12 weeks (which meant I would be walking for 4 weeks with full weight on the broken leg with the screw still in place) I asked him what would happen if the screw broke. He said it was no big deal and reassured me that he wasn’t going to go “digging around in my leg” to extract the screw. He said it would be fine to leave the broken screw in my leg.

    That told me that the real risk wasn’t putting weight on the broken leg, or breaking the screw, but putting torque or a twisting motion on my broken ankle.

    Yes, I ignored the doctors orders and began putting some weight on the leg at 4 – 5 weeks, and actually walked on it (for short distances) at 6 weeks. Even then I was still putting most of my weight on my good leg. But I was careful not to twist my broken leg or subject it to unusual force by aggressively jumping or running on it.

    I’ve got 3 weeks to go before the doctor takes out the long screw. So far, so good.

    As I have said before, everyone’s situation is different. You need to be comfortable doing what is right for you.

    Good luck, Dan

57. Hi Lois,

    Glad my story helped motivate you.

    As you know, everybody’s situation is a little different. True, I’m a chronic rule breaker. But as Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood) said in Magnum Force, “a man’s got to know his limitations.”

    First, I listen carefully to what my body is telling me, second I know that pain is actually a good thing – especially when you’re trying to retrain your muscles to do things they haven’t done in a while. I also understand that the biggest muscle I have to deal with is my brain.

    The doctor has told me that I can put as much weight on my broken right leg as I want. He did say I shouldn’t run or jump for a few more weeks until the long screw between my fibula and tibia is removed. (Of course, I have cheated a little bit).

    Like anything, you start small and gradually build up to doing more. The week before I saw the doctor for my 8 week exam, I knew I was going to be driving to the cabin. So I drove more. I knew I was going to be walking Scamp, so I began taking him for walks. The first one was just to the end of our street (less than a block) where we visited the scene of my fall). Then part of the way around the block, then all the way around.

    I also knew I needed to clean out the gutters at the cabin. Before I left, I started experimenting with a little 3 foot step ladder, then graduated to a 6 foot step ladder. At the cabin I hauled out my 22 foot ladder. Of course, I always led with my good leg, but gradually gained confidence. By the end of the weekend, I was able to scale the ladder with confidence and even quickly scoot down to dash for the phone in the cabin (I cheated a little bit on the running part).

    Of course, I was highly motivated to do these things whereas you were not when you were looking at boats with your husband!

    Side note on the phyical therapy from yesterday. I’m sore today, partly because of the manipulation of my ankle, and partly from working on my exercises at home. While at therapy yesterday, I was asked to stand on my broken right leg like a flamingo (with my left leg NOT touching the ground). I couldn’t stay up for more than a few seconds. However, after repeated attempts at home, I was able to work my way up to standing on the broken leg for 90 seconds. I did find that it was easier if I was wearing tennis shoes (rather than barefoot), and if I held my arms out like a tightrope walker rather than keeping them at my side.

    All I can say is keep pushing yourself, don’t be satisfied, make incremental progress each day and you’ll be amazed what you can do over time.

    Take care, Dan

58. Hi all~

    Great work Dan! But for some reason I have a much harder time disobeying the doctor. My Doctor said you need 8 weeks for the ligaments to heal before taking the long screw out. He also said that if you put weight on it…it can snap the screw which makes removal much more difficult. I am glad that things worked out so well for you. Keep us posted.

    Liz~ My little ones are 3 and 1 Soon to be 4 and 2 (Sept. and October babies) I broke my ankle in Feb.

    Trying to squeeze in 3 pt sessions by Thursday before I see the Doc again and before I head out on my trip to Maine.

    Heal up Heal up
    Tammy

59. Dan, you REALLY are doing great. Impressive. You have motivated me to get back into physio, so I will call in the morning. Thanks for that. I was supposed to go back, but as soon as I could walk unaided, I just got too excited about trying to catch up on all the landscaping etc I could not do in March to June while in a cast or unable to walk. Your break sounds a lot like mine,,,a shattered fibula, broken off at the bottom and split upwards about four times with shards of bone all over my ankle… ???? (plates, screws, rods etc) I would really like to know how you can climb ladders when I can’t even yet (March 9, 2008) put that much weight on just a small area of my foot. I now use the shovel to landscape with my left foot, (good one) rather than the right one (bad one) which I used to use. My husband was looking at perhaps buying a new boat, and dragging me around to see them. Big problem, in the showlots, I could not climb up the boat ladders to see inside them. I didn’t really want to get a new boat anyway, but I was truly not faking not being able to climb those ladders.

    Speaking of buying things, my husband came home with a Blu Ray player and the movie “Bucket List”. What a great movie that is and I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. Morgan Freeman was at his “soul touching” best and Jack Nicholson, just plain makes me laugh.

    LOUISE , just think in a year or you will be posting us from China, Japan, or Africa. If its Africa, you could send each of us one of those wonderful hand carved canes that I have seen. Hee Hee.

    Hey Crutchless LIZ… That is great. Keep it up eh.
    Sandra::: how are you doing??? Missing you and hope you are well.
    Keep your spirits up everyone.

60. LOUISE!! That’s such great news! lol You don’t know how bad I’ve been wanting to skydive. I was worried after I broke my ankle that it wouldn’t be an option because of the possible force of the landing. I would definitely do a Tandem dive because I have no clue what I’m doing. lol And it’ll probably be a year or two until I do it because I still have a lot of weight to lose and I was going to do it as my reward for reaching my goal. Me and my personal trainer were going to jump together. 🙂 Oh, and by the way, I’m so jealous!! I’ve ALWAYS wanted to go to Africa! Anyway, thanks for the encouraging news. I’m excited again now that I might possibly be able to skydive in the future. Have fun with the kiddos today.

    Wow, Dan! Sounds like your recovery is going great! My break was about 2 weeks before yours and I’m still hobbling around with a crutch. It’s encouraging to see someone that is getting around so well after an ankle break, although our breaks were a little different. I broke fib and tib. Anyway, thanks for sharing your story and keep us posted on your continued improvement.

    Hope everyone else is having a wonderful Monday. I’ve actually been walking around the house this morning crutchless!! YAY! 🙂 Headed to therapy this afternoon to share the news! hehe

61. Dan…sounds like your doing great! Congrats to you!! I start physio tomorrow, after having 2 long screws removed on the 7th july…but I was told not to weight bear until they had been taken out which was very frustrating!!! Grrr….

    BeWytched. I am sorry to hear that you are in a lot of pain with your ankle and knees, but thanks for posting!! It is always great to have different people at different healing levels etc!!

    Liz. Well…as for skydiving. I have done 2. I did one in Sailsburys (Uk) and another one in Swakopmund (Namibia in Africa). they are awesome!! I personally wouldn’t see the problem with doing it if you were doing it as a tandem skydive with an instructor, because you are not putting hardly any stress on the ankle, and when you come in to land, they land for you, and you keep your feet off of the floor until you are back on the ground! I wouldn’t advise doing it in your current state, but I certainly plan on doing another one (or 5!) when i can afford another one!! I can see why bungey jumping would be a no no (as the cord is attachted to your ankles!) so I cannot do that again, but I wouldn’t see the prob with a skydive or 2 hee hee! It is an awesome experience.
    And in answer to your question, I would teach abroad in most places to be honest! Maybe either china, or somewhere in africa maybe?? I wouldn’t mind!! hee hee!

    Anyway…to everyone else hello!!
    I am just off now to start doing the children’s work at a youth conference, after a full day at work (Im so tired!) and I have my first physio session tomorrow, so I shall let everyone know how that goes!!!

    take care people!!!

    Louise xx

62. I am a male, 59 years old. Update on my recovery from a shattered right fibula. Injury suffered 6/03/08, surgery to repair multiple breaks 6/10/08 (plate and 7 screws).

    In a splint (cast) for one week post-surgery. Advised to wear a removable boot after that. Initially told to put NO weight on right foot for 6 weeks, then partial weight over the next 6 weeks. Doctor encouraged me to work on flexing my foot up and down.

    Around the house I quit wearing the boot within one week (learned that flexing the broken leg is extremely important). Used crutches on level surfaces, slid up or down on stairs.

    At 2 weeks I put on a pair of sneakers and began driving the car, using my left foot for the brake. Also began swimming several days a week. Quit wearing the boot entirely (even when going outside the house) at 3 weeks.

    At 4 weeks post-surgery saw doctor. He explained that a long screw had been inserted between the Fibula and Tibia due to a torn ligament between the two bones. As a result of this tear, he altered his original opinion about how long I should stay off my right leg. Originally he said 6 weeks no weight, followed by 6 weeks partial weight. Now he said I should stay off the right leg until 8 weeks post-surgery, but then could put full weight on it.

    At 5 weeks post surgery rode 5 hours in the car with my family to our cabin in Northern Minnesota. Crutched to the water and swam. Began hobbling around the cabin without crutches, putting partial weight on right leg.

    By 6 weeks I stopped using crutches entirely. Began walking very slowly, putting most of my weight on my left leg.

    At 8 weeks I saw doctor. He said everything looked good. Gave go ahead to walk on my right leg (which I had already been doing for 2 weeks). Scheduled minor surgery to remove the long screw between Fibula and Tibia for 12 weeks post surgery. Doctor said I could put as much weight on my right leg as I wanted, but said not to run or jump on it until the long screw was removed. Doctor also ordered physical therapy.

    Drove by myself to our cabin with the dog (Scamp, year old, 70 pound, male Samoyed). Walked the dog more than a mile each day. Rode my bike a bit (mostly on level ground). Swam.

    Began physical therapy. Amazing increase in flexibility and endurance after only one session. Therapist began by measuring my right ankle movement. Then he manipulated my right ankle – putting firm upward and downward pressure on it. He gave me two exercises to do: 1) Writing the alphabet with my right big toe, 2) Wrapping a towel around the bottom of my right foot and pulling toward my abdomen. This exercise stretched my hamstrings and initially was quite painful, but after several repepitions at home it stopped hurting entirely.

    Following the first therapy session my ankle hurt for about 24 hours, then calmed down. Am walking the dog daily, stretching the time and distance we cover. I can now go several miles with little discomfort.

    Still swimming, climbing ladders, doing basically everything I was doing before. Some discomfort if I overdo it, but rest and elevating my leg bring relief.

    Second therapy session today. Rode stationary bike for 5 minutes. Then therapist manipulated my right ankle. He put a fair amount of upward, downward and side-to-side pressure on my ankle. He was impressed with my range of motion. Then he asked me to sit down with my feet flat on the floor. He put a 10 pound medicine ball on my right knee and asked me to raise my right foot off the floor using my toes. I did 30 repetitions. Then he had me stand and do the same thing. Finally he asked me to try to balance on my right leg without putting my left foot on the floor. Could barely stand for a few seconds without grabbing something to hold me up. Have another therapy session scheduled in two days.

    I have broken all the rules, but continue to get stronger and more flexible. Not recommending that any of you do the same, but do encourage you to test the limits of your ability, challenge your doctor and listen to your body.

    Good luck to all.

    Dan

63. LOUISE, YES,,YES…YES..teaching english sounds exactly like what you are meant to do. You could combine your education with your love of travel and adventure and experience a lot of the world.

    PAM, Just some suggestions which MIGHT work for you, (if you are not already doing them) because they did work for me. Wrap your ankle with an icebag for at least an hour before sleep every night. Continue sleeping with your leg elevated three feet over your heart level… (ie sleep on a love seat or chesterfield with your bad leg thrown up and over the back so it stays there ALL night.) For your numb pinky toe, put a tuft of toilet paper between it and the next toe to separate them and force it to work/wiggle independently). Massage it often. Hope you find something in this to help you become more comfortable.

    ANKLEQUEST and PAM what fun if you two could meet up. (Pam don’t let Anklequest talk you into taking any pet Woodchucks though)

    BEWYTCHED: Great to have you join in. You sound as if you have been through the mill with that ankle break. Kudo’s to you for being so gracious to those who seem to have fewer complications. I hope you will continue to post, because I think that you have a wealth of information that you can share with some of us on this site. For example, I would be very curious to know why you had complications of non healing??? ie what country… are you in??? what age bracket??? smoker??? Hope to hear more from you.

    LIZ, Hugs right back. If you doubt for one moment how far along you have come..go back and read your own posts from the beginning… I did that with both mine and Louises’ a while ago. It’s amazing, you will see your depression gradually lift and your fear gradually subside as mobility slowly increases. Just a question for you, Do you have a cane?? I don’t know, because I never had a boot,,, but do you think that you could lose that last crutch if you used a cane??? It is certainly easier if you can do it. hind.

    Melanie,,, still praying for you.

    Don and Clark,,, hello to our favorite guys.

    Still missing Karen, Sharon, Ana, and a few others.

64. HI all~

    Liz~ I start back with Professional Development Augus 26 and with students on Sept. 2. My Maine trip is taking me away from the 16 to 24 of August. I’ve never done that before and usually live at school that week. That is why I have been in so early.

    As for therapy…I am 6 months from my break and 3-4 months into therapy. I don’t think that is typical. The RSD is what I am mainly going to therapy for now.

    Here is my experience with RSD…I think I pretty much had it the entire time after the break but did’nt know it because the numbness and strange sensations were everywhere at first just due to the surgery,etc. But as things started to heal elsewhere I could pinpoint the sensation and knew that it wasn’t normal. Basically I have it in 3 toe and on the surface of my foot. It feels like my foots waking up from being asleep all the time and it responds with lots of sensation when it is rubbed or touched.

    From what I can tell from the site Diane sent me to is that it usually occurs shortly after the injury and most people have extreme pain requiring pain clinic intervention. Lucky so far for me the pain/sensations are bearable. (KNOCK ON WOOD) It also says that most cases do not go away.

    However my doc said it should. We shall see.

    Thanks to everyone for listening to me vent.
    Tammy

65. Hi Everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying the last few hours of the weekend. 🙂

    TAMMY, When does your school start back? I think you’ve told me before but I forgot. lol Hope your schedule calms down a bit soon so you can get back to therapy. Don’t feel guilty. Sometimes summer can be more hectic than the school year it seems. 🙂 Is 6 months typical for physical therapy? My doctor or PT hasn’t really specified to me yet how long I’ll need to go. Enjoy your vacation to Maine!

    LOIS, Woohoo, for moving faster on your treadmill. 🙂 Every step counts! Oh, and for driving! I’m jealous.

    LOUISE, teaching English abroad would be awesome! There are so many opportunities for that in so many countries. Where would you want to go? How many times have you been skydiving? I’m worried I won’t be able to do it now after an ankle break. I really, really want to. In fact, I already had it planned with some friends. It was going to my reward for when I reached my goal weight. I was so excited! *sigh* Do you really think once the ankle heals it’ll still prevent us from being able to do it?

    BEWYTCHED, Welcome to our anklebreakers group. Sorry to hear of your situation. There are a few others (well at least one) that suffers from RSD as well. When did you know you had it? Is it something that develops immediately after surgery or did you start having pain months, years down the road? When did you have your fusion? Please stick around and offer us some insight into your experience. Alot of us here aren’t even a year out from our injury. I hope you can get relief from your pain somehow soon. Are you doing any type of therapies?

    Well, I’m still hobbling around with my one crutch, but I think things are getting better little by little. I’ve been going on walks in the evening with my mom just to give my foot a little exercise. Last night I made it up the street, past about 2 houses, and then turned around and came back. We walked for 10 minutes. Today we went a little further (about 3 houses) and it took me 15 minutes. My foot feels okay during it. It hurts to start off but then it seems like it feels better the longer I walk. Weird. I guess because maybe it loosens up a bit. Still having soreness around that cartilage spot but still praying it will improve.

    Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. I’ll check back soon.

    ~Liz

    P.S. Did I mention that I’m so glad I found this site? It’s so nice to chat with others who are going through the same thing as me!! *HUGS*

66. Great site! I had a trimalleor left ankle fracture shatter and dislocation with tib fib spiral fractures almost 7 years ago. Initially I had surgery for internal fixation and had to have the hardware removed due to non healing after 9 months post injury. The pain never went away and I was diagnosed with RSD of which I suffer on a daily basis. I cannot take the meds they want as I have other issues so no Furinol or Morphine for me. I had an ankle fusion as a last resort from which I have not noticed any difference but worsening pain. I am on forearm crutches as I cannot walk unassisted anymore. I use a scooter for the bigger trips as my right knee is now arthritic due to being relied on so much. I am glad to hear stories of people lucky enough to have healed from this injury and wish you well on your continued road to healing.

67. Liz- Your break happened a few weeks after mine, I injured my ankle on 5/4. Have you tried walking without the aircast on? When I started walking I wore one too, but then about a week of wearing it, I ditched it and dared to walk without it and it felt really good. I’ve also put arch supports in my shoes & that helps a lot with the pain. I was doing therapy, but didn’t really care for my therapist (she was kind of a “b- – – – “. Seriously, she was so cocky & would double book me with another patient (usually men) and would be flirting with them & not watching me while I was doing my exercises. Often times I felt I wasn’t doing them right & I’d try and ask her a question and she would be too busy with her other patient. So I have made an appointment for Tues. with an athletic trainer. One of the doctors I work with suggested I do that so I’ll see how it goes.
    Tammy- I have heard that therapy can last that long. Hang in there, in another 6 months it will “hopefully” be a bad dream (can’t wait for that day!!). How old are you children? I know exactly what you mean about trying to fit therapy in with your full time job & kids. My boys are 6 & 3 and they want to run run and run. Before my injury I was very athletic & running around with them playing games, riding our bikes, with them. I really think this has been hard on them seeing their mom like this.
    Lois- I totally agree with you, it feels so much better to walk in my bare feet or flip flops. I’ve also been doing the treadmill at a speed of about 2.0 and it feels pretty good. How far out are you post surgery?
    Louise- Wow, you can wear pumps?!? How does that feel? I tried on a pair of my work dress shoes with a small heel & when I stepped on my foot, I swear I could feel the plate move. My husband has his annual work party Oct. 4th & I have an adorable dress that you need to wear dress shoes, so my goal it be able to wear a nice pair of shoes then & be able to walk in them. You have such a positive attitude! I enjoy reading your posts, your young spirit keeps me going!!! Even though I’m 14 years older than you! LOL!!!

    Ankelquest- what a small world that you will be coming to Milwaukee….. I actually only live about 10 minutes from the Lake Express Ferry. I took the Ferry to Michigan last year for a wedding. The ride from Milwaukee to Michigan was rough, but the ride back was excellent. I would love to meet you, however I do have a meeting that afternoon at work from 2pm-3pm. What are your plans after coffee at the Art Museum? Maybe we could meet up after that somewhere? The hospital I work at is about 6 miles from the Art Museum.

68. PAM..BINGO!!

    We’ll be coming to Milwaukee on the “Lake Express” Ferry across Lake Michigan from Muskegon on Thursday the 14th. I think we leave Michigan around 10:30AM. The ferry a high speed faerry,so it only takes about 2 1/2 hours to cross the lake. We’ll be at the docks then about 1PM (you could meet us there–we be 3 middle aged folks-I’ll be driving- in a cherry red caravan with Blue NJ plates). Then we’ll be heading for the Milwaukee Art Meuseum. I’ll plan on having coffee in the Art Meuseum Cafe (that area before the ticket desk facing the Lake) around 2-2:30. So you could also meet me there. Greenfield isn’t very far from either place. I’m sure I’ll be the only one at the cafe to have a black neoprene ankle wrap around my right foot and will be wearing running shoes. I have short blond hair, glasses, medium height, about 35 lbs overweight. I might be with Michael and my sister Anna, who we will have picked up in Michigan. They may be in the Meusem if they are sick of hanging around me after several days or I might be by myself. Anyway, it would be great to meet you. I almost met Clark this summer in CA and am sorry we missed eachother.

    The wedding is Saturday in a Luthern church somewhere in Madison on the west side. We are coming back to Milwaukee sunday afternoon and going back over the Lake to Muskegon at 5 PM.

    How about it? Any possibilites for meeting each other?

69. hello everyone!!! 🙂

    Tammy!! Why should you feel guilty about getting your classroom ready?? If it’s something that you need to do, it needs to be done! Don’t feel guilty for doing things! Well done you! I am the same with limping I think…I think it’s not really there, and then people tell me Im limping really badly! Hmmm….
    Hope you have a great time in maine though! 🙂

    Liz!! Hee hee. I have told them not to give me any runners next week at the conference! I told them I will NOT be able to run after them, so they laughed and said they wouldn’t! I spoke on the phone to the organiser, and by the sounds of it, there may be quite a bit of walking involved, so we shall see how that goes! :S
    Anyway….WELL DONE YOU for ditching the walker! See, I said it is something that would just take time, and a bit of confidence! 🙂 Thats great! Once I was on one crutch, I found I was accidentally leaving it in the bathroom, or the kitchen or whatever, and then I would look around for it, without even realising I had left it there, which is when I lost it all together really, because I obviously didn’t NEED it really! And well done for the stairs as well! I remember my first attempt at stairs! It was scary! :S

    I also notice that my other foot hurts more than my bad one, right on the inside on the bridge at the bottom….it KILLS sometimes!! But yes, I think that this is because you may be compensating for the balance or something?? And my knee on my bad leg also seems to hurt by the end of the day! Hmmm….will have to ask about that when I start my therapy on tusday!

    I knew that I had ruptured the ligaments because I got told before I went in for the surgery. I think it is something that can be seen on an x-ray, although dont quote me on that!! Thats one of the reasons that they did the surgery, because the ankle was so unstable due to the dislocation mostly!!! Dam ankle dislocations and breaks!!!!

    Pam….great to hear from you!! Shame to hear that you are still in pain, although it is only 3 and a half months from surgery, so it’s not like it’s three and a half years!! Keep smiling! 🙂 Im sure the pain will decrease with time, and therapy if you are having/going to have it??
    Im sure it’s been good to spend time with your family! And I know exactly what you mean about shoes….shoes are my thing, I love them! Im sure I have had a conversation with someone about shoes before….I LOVE my shoes, and can only really wear flip flops, and one pair of trainers, and a few pumps! Grrr….. my swelling is slowly going down (I think?!?!?!) I can still walk at the end of the day now, which is a sign it’s getting better! 🙂

    Lois…..
    Well….you should know a lady never discloses her age!! hee hee…Im only a littlen. Im 22, so that may explain my slightly quicker healing time maybe?? (No offence meant to anyone! 🙂 Although, I dont want to speak too soon, as Im certainly not there yet!! Eeek! I have no idea what I want to do. I enjoy working with kids. I am currently just going into my last year of university doing a degree in Early childhood studies, but Im not sure if I want to do that as a career! I love it voluntarily, but not sure as a job choice. Im thinking about teaching english abroad for a year to give me an idea if it IS what I want to do! hmmm….. I just want to get away from sales, or moaning customers! hee hee. we shall see. 🙂 But no…I think Ill leave a sky diving demonstrator for the moment at least anyway! 😀
    Its a good job your neighboar isnt blaming you isn’t really??! Hee hee. Probably best you didn’t talk about the ankle and the fainting anyway! 🙂

    Anywho…happy saturday everyone! Have a good rest of the weekend! 🙂

    Louise xx

70. hello everyone!!! 🙂

    Tammy!! Why should you feel guilty about getting your classroom ready?? If it’s something that you need to do, it needs to be done! Don’t feel guilty for doing things! Well done you! I am the same with limping I think…I think it’s not really there, and then people tell me Im limping really badly! Hmmm….
    Hope you have a great time in maine though! 🙂

    Liz!! Hee hee. I have told them not to give me any runners next week at the conference! I told them I will NOT be able to run after them, so they laughed and said they wouldn’t! I spoke on the phone to the organiser, and by the sounds of it, there may be quite a bit of walking involved, so we shall see how that goes! :S
    Anyway….WELL DONE YOU for ditching the walker! See, I said it is something that would just take time, and a bit of confidence! 🙂 Thats great! Once I was on one crutch, I found I was accidentally leaving it in the bathroom, or the kitchen or whatever, and then I would look around for it, without even realising I had left it there, which is when I lost it all together really, because I obviously didn’t NEED it really! And well done for the stairs as well! I remember my first attempt at stairs! It was scary! :S

    I also notice that my other foot hurts more than my bad one, right on the inside on the bridge at the bottom….it KILLS sometimes!! But yes, I think that this is because you may be compensating for the balance or something?? And my knee on my bad leg also seems to hurt by the end of the day! Hmmm….will have to ask about that when I start my therapy on tusday!

    I knew that I had ruptured the ligaments because I got told before I went in for the surgery. I think it is something that can be seen on an x-ray, although dont quote me on that!! Thats one of the reasons that they did the surgery, because the ankle was so unstable due to the dislocation mostly!!! Dam ankle dislocations and breaks!!!!

    Pam….great to hear from you!! Shame to hear that you are still in pain, although it is only 3 and a half months from surgery, so it’s not like it’s three and a half years!! Keep smiling! 🙂 Im sure the pain will decrease with time, and therapy if you are having/going to have it??
    Im sure it’s been good to spend time with your family! And I know exactly what you mean about shoes….shoes are my thing, I love them! Im sure I have had a conversation with someone about shoes before….I LOVE my shoes, and can only really wear flip flops, and one pair of trainers, and a few pumps! Grrr….. my swelling is slowly going down (I think?!?!?!) I can still walk at the end of the day now, which is a sign it’s getting better! 🙂

    Lois…..
    Well….you should know a lady never discloses her age!! hee hee…Im only a littlen. Im 22, so that may explain my slightly quicker healing time maybe?? (No offence meant to anyone! 🙂 Although, I dont want to speak too soon, as Im certainly not there yet!! Eeek! I have no idea what I want to do. I enjoy working with kids. I am currently just going into my last year of university doing a degree in Early childhood studies, but Im not sure if I want to do that as a career! I love it voluntarily, but not sure as a job choice. Im thinking about teaching english abroad for a year to give me an idea if it IS what I want to do! hmmm….. I just want to get away from sales, or moaning customers! hee hee. we shall see. 🙂 But no…I think Ill leave a sky diving demonstrator for the moment at least anyway! 😀
    Its a good job your neighboar isnt blaming you isn’t really??! Hee hee. Probably best you didn’t talk about the ankle and the fainting anyway! 🙂

    Anywho…happy saturday everyone! Have a good rest of the weekend! 🙂

    Louise xx

71. Great to hear from Tammy, Liz and Pam and hello to all others.

    PAM, keep posting. I sometimes have trouble getting posts to go through too, and I keep hitting the send button until “you already said that” pops up and then I know the post has gone through. You sound as if you are doing somewhat better and I think getting out and about with the family will help you improve. I thought that good oxford type shoes or good jogging type shoes like say Nike’ would be what I would be most comfortable wearing after this break. That is not the case. Oddly, I seem most comfortable and walk best in bare feet, or in a little pair of leather sandals. I have used “crocs” for wading in the shallows of the lake and they help my balance for that but otherwise make my ankle ache.

    LIZ, Nice to hear from you as well and you sound like you are coming along. I think you will find that the gym equipment will help you get back strength in both your legs and will be helpful overall. Just remember that slow and easy does it and do not overdo. Say hello to your mom and tell her we like her a lot for all the help she is giving you. I had the same problem with my good leg aching a lot, and even both knees, which I had not had trouble with previously. The last week or so (now 5 months) I have not experienced that problem, so I guess things are strengthening. I upped the treadmill to 1.5 speed last night for 5 minutes and that went fine.

    TAMMY, great to hear from you too. I just cannot imagine trying to cope with what you and some of the others cope with. Broken ankles, back to work, little kids to get to sitters??? WOW. In my case, my husband cooked for two months and the girl up the street vacuumed, cleaned, and mowed the lawn each week, before I gradually began taking over. By about four months, I could do most everything myself, but SLOWLY. However, I still have to get the girl to scrub the bath/shower because I cannot stand on tiptoes in the tub to reach and scrub. It feels so unstable, and it is exhausting. I am beginning to find that my pace and stamina are beginning to increase now thank goodness. I felt like a snail for a while. Tammy, I was reading a bit about RSD last night on the internet. It sounds awful. Are you feeling better now??? Boy, I hope so. Could either you or Diane?? (I think her name was) tell us a bit about RSD as a complication to a broken ankle… just in layman’s terms. We know you are not a doctor, but expect you have researched it. eg. Does it occur almost immediately after a break??? Why and under what conditions does it occur??? Can it happen later on??? How long does it normally last before disappearing again???

    We are having thunder storms and rain showers last night and today. I am really enjoying the freshening, cooling and quietening effect along this lakeshore. No boats, sea do’s, ultralights, or helicopters racing around. No fireworks. A chance for the lawns to green up again, and a chance for my two puppies to get over the cranky moods that being overheated was bringing on. (I guess that latter comment is also true of my husband and me as well.) Somebody on here said it,,, everyone is sounding perkier and more positive these days… even those who are still having some troubles seem more hopeful. Take care everyone and enjoy the last few weeks of the summer. I should probably try to do a bit of travel visiting too, now that I can drive,,, and go and visit with my adult kids and grandkids before the summer is out.

72. Hi all~

    Sounds as though most of staying positive these days. I have been struggling a bit..I am almost 6 months post break and surgery and still need to be going to therapy. However I feel very guilty that I have been working hard to get my classroom ready because I am taking a trip to Maine the week before I report back to work and I only went to therapy once in the last two weeks. My mom came over and asked why I was limping so much more this week. I wasn’t even aware that I was…another clue that I need to be at therapy. It yets very tiresome trying to find a sitter for two little ones though and then when school starts working all day and then trying to fit therapy in before getting to my little ones.

    Just needed to let that all out!
    Thanks,
    Tammy

73. Hi Everyone,

    It’s nice to stop by and see so many new posts. 🙂

    LOUISE, Hope you enjoy working at the youth conference. I hope they’ll go easy on you and give you the well behaved kiddos. lol But from the way your getting around lately I think you can handle the wild bunch. 🙂 First your hobbling all over New York City and then climbing spiral staircases at a Castle! What’s next for you? It’s great to hear you are getting around so well. It seems our breaks are very similar and only about a month apart (mine happened 5/20). My biggest problem too has been from the dislocation. That is what caused my damaged cartilage issue. How do you know if you have ruptured ligaments? Is that something they can see on an x-ray? I hope it heals for you soon! Let us know how therapy goes. I’ve been going since about week 4 after surgery and honestly haven’t had too much pain during my sessions (execpt for when my therapist decided to do a deep pressure massage… I almost slapped him it hurt so bad!) But other than that not too much. I actually really enjoy going because I feel like I’m accomplishing something and getting some exercise in too (on the cross-trainer, bike, and seated stair stepper).

    LOIS, lol, I got a chuckle out of your neighbor fainting. Poor thing. Luckily a nurse was standing by. 🙂

    ANKLEQUEST, hope you enjoy your trip to the Midwest.

    MELANIE, I hope you get good news next week at your appointments. I know you must be worried. I’ll definitely be praying for you. Keep us posted.

    PAM, glad to hear you’re getting around more with your husband and kids. Not so good that you’re having pain with every step though. It’s amazing how long these ankles take to heal. *sigh* Are you currently in physical therapy? Maybe that could help?

    Well, as far as me, I’m seeing small progress day by day. My pain (in the cartilage area) has eased up a bit but still a concern. It hurts when I bend my foot certain ways during walking or therapy. Walking is slowly but surely getting better. I’ve ditched the walker and am now hobbling around with one crutch (still wearing the AirCast boot). Oh, and I did stairs for the first time this week. My therapist watched me do it during therapy first and so now I have been doing them at home all week to get in and out of my garage door (about 5 steps). I went to Dollar Tree with my mom yesterday just for something to do and to see how long I could stay on my feet. After about 30 minutes, my knee and muscles were aching. It’s weird because my good leg felt worse than my bad leg! I guess I’m using it more for support. And the bottoms of my feet were throbbing. I guess I need to start walking for about 30 minutes everyday to start building some stamina.

    Well, hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Stay safe.

    ~Liz

74. Hey everyone- I’ve been having the most difficult time posting to this site. I must have tried to respond at least 4 times & it doesn’t go through.

    I’ve been keeping up with everyone’s email. Melanie- I will pray that everything is alright for you.
    Ankelquest- where in the mid-west was your wedding? I live in Greenfield, WI, which is a suburb of Milwaukee.

    I’m just about 3 1/2 months or a little more out now since my surgery. I still have pain just about with every step I take (will that ever end??). I also having swelling on a daily basis. UGH.. very frustrating. Can’t wear any of my cute shoes & had to go out and buy a few new pair so my foot would fit comfortably in them. Still have some numbness & tingling feeling by my pinky toe. The ankle is still very weak, but I have been working on some balance exercises.
    I did see my ortho and he said that if I have pain & problems he would take all the screws, pin, & plates out. I see him again in Oct. & then he said we should try and keep the hardware in for at least a year.

    As for getting my “life” back to normal. I’ve been able to do a lot more with my husband and kids. We went up north this past weekend, got to spend the day on the lake & have some relaxing time. I’ve also told my boss that I need to slow it down at work, so I have been taking off on Friday’s to recoup.

    I also think about Theresa & her son all the time. I have a good friend that was in a terrible accident last Dec.,very similar to her son, in which I would love to talk to her about it and tell her how my friends progress has been over the last 8 months.

    Speaking of addictions, one of my employee’s found her 32 year old son dead Thursday night of a heroin overdoes. How sad & scary that drugs are so addicting. We hear to many time it takes the lives of our loved ones.

    I hope to keep posting more, as long as I dont’ have any problems. Have a great weekend everyone.

    Pam

75. So, my summertime cottage neighbour still is not blaming me for her faint. In fact she invited me for lunch yesterday, for her homemade zucchini and beet top soup. It was delicious. I kept my mouth shut this time about ankle breaks though, and talked instead about trips to England, Scotland and Wales which we did in 95 and they did in 98. More polite lunchtime conversation. Glad you guys found some humor in the situation. After being shocked,feeling guilty and being ever so relieved that her registered nurse daughter Laura was there to administer first aid; if I am honest I have to admit that I found it a bit amusing myself. This neighbour is a nice lady though so next time, I will have to find a neighbour that I am less fond of to tell the story to.

    Melanie, I don’t blame you one bit for not taking the anti anxiety medication after reading the suicidal possibilities. The GP who first saw me at the hosp emergency with my broken ankle got on a kick about the fact that I smoke…(regular cigarettes). My only vice actually because except for a few glasses of wine a year…I don’t even drink. He suggested that I take some newer medication to quit. I went “whoops wait a minute here…isn’t that the stuff that is causing all those people to commit suicide?” He replied “oh well yes it does have that side affect.” I said, “I’ll take my chances with lung cancer…thank you.” I actually quit smoking cold turkey on my own when I broke my ankle, to aid the bones in healing better… but unfortunately I have also started again 4 1/2 month later. (bad bad me)

    Anklequest Helpful perhaps to know you are not alone. To know you are not to blame. To know that no one sees you any differently, because you are just like us. To know there is little that you can do to “fix” other people’s problems. To know that no one can help someone unless that person really wants to be helped. To know that often you have to be very careful when trying to help others, that you are not just setting yourself up to become their next victim ,, in their quest for money/drugs or whatever. (Your inlaws situation??) To know that sometimes a tough love attitude is what it takes… which does not mean that you don’t love and don’t care, but does mean that you do really love and care. Listen good lady, you have a great time on your trip okay. Have a great time with your family reconnections and a great time at that wedding. WE WANT TO HEAR THAT YOU DANCED THE NIGHT AWAY.

    Louise, hello high energy lady. So, what is it that you would really like to work at???? how old are you??? and what would it take to get career wise, where you want to go. Perhaps sitting around with a broken ankle (although that does not exactly describe you does it?) is a good time to examine where one has been in life and where one wants to go in moving forward. After all, a re examination of ones career choice, recreational activities etc is warranted after having a broken ankle I would think. I know if I was still working I would not be able to do my old job,,, at this point in time anyway. So think about it,,, and no I do not think that sky diving demonstrator is it.

    I too would like to hear how some of the others are progressing… where are you Pam, Karen, Ana, Sharon, etc etc etc.

    I think, I tend to think about this site, not just a blog to tell the facts about our broken ankles, although that is an important part of it, but almost as group therapy for those of us who have suffered broken ankles. I don’t know if the guys will like me saying that. But all of you on this site have helped me tremendously in that regard, and I would hope that I have been able to offer that back to you. Spirits up everyone,,, and chin’s down watching our step.

76. Hee hee. Oh and clark….

    “Ankle breaks are the toughest gifts that just keep on giving. Even when you wish they would not.” That made me chuckle to myself! So SO true!! 🙂

77. Hello everyone!!!!

    Melanie! Lovely to hear from you again. I cannot seem to load the other site any more….my laptop is just too slow, and so I am glad you posted on this site too!!! I had a great trip thank u!! Im getting there slowly I guess!!
    I am very sorry to hear about your situation….I really hope that works out ok for you!!! 🙂 Good to have u posting back again! 😀

    Anklequest…have a great time at the wedding! 🙂

    Lois! Yes, I am a rather high energy type of person, and rather adventurous I have to say! I get very bored easily, and get itchy feet if Im in one place for too long! I love doing adrenaline sports like sky diving and bungy jumping (although won’t be able to do that anymore! 🙁 so I am very glad I did one when I did!) so yes….I live for travelling, and doing exciting things!! hee hee. But yes..I hear what your saying, and there needs to be a balance between work and play!!! I need a job which will entertain and challenge me, rather than admin work/data entry (which is pretty much about 90% of my job!) and talking to people on the phone. Some people love the job, but its not for me…I personally find it mind numbing, and I get a head ache by the end of the day, where I am staring at a computer screen, backache because of the rubbishy chairs (I dont get any special chairs, because Im only part time,a nd obviously part time people’s backs dont matter! Grrr….) and general brain cell loss by the time I finish the end of the day!! ha ha.

    Ok…Ill stop moaning about my job now….I can look forward to my next holiday (which I am hoping will be either India/Nepal or Brazil! yay!) Not for some time yet though!

    Anyway…I have my first physiotherapy appointment on tuesday, so looking forward to starting getting this ankle moving, although not really so much to the pain, which I know is going to happen! But ho hum! Got to be done! 🙂

    Take care everyone!

    Louise xx

78. Thanks, everyone, for your responses re pain. Somehow it was helpful.

    Sorry I got into that but glad you understood what I was saying. Every once in a while I go through periods of sadness when there are certain unexpected triggers. I guess a broken heart never really goes away. This “family” has managed to break my heart over and over. My husband warned me years ago that it would never end.

    So Pain can be worse than broken ankles. Our soldiers get hurt badly, come home, and have a harder time with their psychological wounds while their physical wounds mend.

    I think of Don and his bad car accident and the pain he and his family went through. His broken ankle, bad as it is, is only a small part of his pain.

    MADD mothers have broken hearts forever for they have lost the innocent lives of their children.

    Theresa must be in great pain over her son’s accident. I hope she knows we care about that. Theresa, if you are there let us know how you are doing.

    I’d like to hear updates from Celinda and some of the others. How about that other guy, the mountain climber who broke two ankles. I wonder how he is doing.

    MELANIE, MELANIE, what a difficult, difficult situation not knowing what is going on with your tongue. I hope it turns out to be nothing. Thanks for sharing all your latest happenings with us. It sure makes one realize how fragile life is when someone just dies in your driveway and then you find out you may have a big problem yourself. Stay positive, for that is the most helpful.

    Lois, yes, your neighbor probably fainted from your story but simply blamed the heat. Yes, it is comical, and certainly not unheard of. Some folks cannot handle that sort of thing. I have a brother who can handle everything, but cannot stand the sight of blood for some reason. He practically faints any time someone draws his blood.

    I wish there was an easy line to draw between use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. But there is not. Alcohol in particular has a huge cost to society. I think the drinking and driving statistics are still very bad, not to mention abuse within families. Painkillers are less of a problem but I do know someone who became addicted to morphine, then methadone due to back surgery after a car accident. After 10 years she recently overcame it and amazingly, her pain now also is almost gone.

    OK< anklebreakers! I hope everyone can become painfree like our recent poster, Stickly. I expect that I probably will always have some sort of problem and pain with my ankle, but it is nice to know that there are those who can become completely healed.

    I’ll not be posting for a week or two. Am going to the mid-west for a wedding and will be dragging my husband around visiting relatives where I grew up.

    CHEERS!!! Take care everyone.

    PS: On the critter front…Fatso Chuck, the wood chuck, has now made our back deck his sunning quarters. He sprawls out like a big fat cat. This week my husband looked out the bathroom window and saw a beautiful big buck (stag) looking him right in the eye, happily munching on the remaining flowers. since then, Big Buck, and his tag along, Little Buck, have been seen daily around the house finishing off everything that remains. I don’t have the heart to chase them away. I tried throwing rocks and that wasn’t much of a deterrent. We are talking of getting a gun that shoots tennis balls if there is such a thing.

79. LOIS, I laughed out loud when I read about your neighbor! I guess I should feel bad about that. Hee hee. The descriptions of our breaks, months and years out, seem much less awful TO US than to folks we are just telling about it. When I tell someone my toes were looking at my shoulder blade, they ALWAYS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION make a face. And then when I tell them I am sure they could hear me in AZ SCREAMING the F-word (from New Mexico), then they laugh.

    And about Elvis, I am originally from Memphis (don’t know if I ever mentioned that) and my dad was in a hot rod club with the Pelvis before he was really famous. The Memphis Rodders. And I too am a fan of Elvis. I LOVED him in the 70’s (his comeback years). Did you ever see the movie “Change of Habit” with he and Mary Tyler Moore? My FAV Elvis movie. Not much singing (believe it or not), and he was a cutie pa-totie.

    And regarding meds…..they just SCARE me!!!! The doc’s gave me a prescription of Ativan (I think that’s it) for anxiety to help me “cope” with all the stuff going on with my “mass/ thingy”. I read the side affects and twice in there it mention “suicidal ideations”. Well…..let me tell you! I chose to have the anxiety and a good cry now and then rather than thinking about offing myself. I can kind of relate about what you said about your son becoming addicted so fast. My best friend of 37-38 years has 3 younger sisters. One of those sister’s told me she tried crack cocaine ONCE (same as your son) and knew if she EVER used it again, she too would have been hooked. Just too scary…..

    CLARKE, My husband believes, “When it’s your time, it’s your time”. I sort of waffle on that, not sure why. I read about Theresa’s son and his accident, and think, “Not his time”. I think about you with all your….challenges and am amazed you were not killed. I went to school with a boy, and then ran into each other again, he as a police officer and myself as a Juvenile Probation Officer. I come to work one day and find out he had been killed the night before. He was called to a possible burglary and on rainy, wet steets he slid into a telephone pole, which he sheared off. Fell on the car and killed him. Just never know…..

    So, the motto is, “Never go to sleep angry with anyone, and never let your loved ones leave in the morning without a kiss goodbye”.

    Alright, take care all!

    Melanie

80. Hello AnkleBreakers!

    Anklequest, I offer my sincere appologies to you for bringing back memories of the pain and suffering you have felt. I am sorry for that. I have family members that have been ravaged by addiction. It takes its toll on everyone. None of us are exempt.

    Melanie, really good to hear from you again. I am praying for you and that your “thingy” is not a problem. I am glad you are doing well. Sorry to hear about the poor fellow in your driveway. Just makes us all realize that we are all here walking on eggshelves, held by a thread, from some trajic outcome.

    Hello to you as well, Lois. Glad you are doing well also.

    Liz, glad you had a great New York trip.

    Theresa, your son has really been through the mill. Hard to imagine that anyone could go through that, but he did and is improving. Ankle breaks are the toughest gifts that just keep on giving. Even when you wish they would not.

    Hope everyone is well, and as ususal, what your steps.

    Clark

81. OOps, I forgot. I wanted to comment on Don too. Don, I am impressed. You sound like just the greatest, hardest working guy ever. It sounds like you have well set out priorities and you wife an daughtes must be very proud of you.

    Hello to Clark as well. Well, that’s my book for tonight. Goodnight all.

82. First of all to STICKY, who reported on the other site. Congratulations on your one year anniversary. And huge congratulations on running 1000 miles with no pain. WOW.

    Anklequest, What a sad sad heartbreaking story. I have not lived through your exact scenario, but having working with inmates, their families and their victims I do know the story. I had one son who became addicted to cocaine in his very late teens and early 20’s. He said he tried it exactly once and was hooked. It took several extremely difficult years, of great pain for him and his family ( including me) but he did finally beat his addiction and that is now about 20 years ago. He knew that if he wanted a life, a home, a family, this had to stop and he fought hard. I am very proud of him for that. These days, he has a beautiful home, a lovely intelligent wife and two of the brightest cutest little girls you could imagine. He is a happy and grateful man. We also had a niece, a child of my husband’s brother, who grew up with her estranged mother, and she was not often seen by this side of the family. I had met her but did not know her well. She was a beautiful girl, and a talented actress seen in movies, on stage and television. She also modelled. However, someone in the film crowd with whom she associated had introduced her to heroin and she became hooked. The last time my husband and I saw her was when we received the disturbing call, requesting we come to a hospital. She as in an ICU hospital bed, looking like a sleeping beauty, but completely brain dead. A dirty heroin needle had introduced a brain infection, which caused a coma within about 24 hours and then complete brain death occurred. All that was left was her mother’s decision to make in when to pull the plug. So horribly tragic.

    Who hurts the most??? Well, I think that it is those of us who do not try to mask our feelings and do not try to hide from life by numbing out with substance use and abuse. I feel deeply for you Anklequest. You are obviously a good person who cares deeply for others and greatly values your family.

    Melanie, Oh my, what a time you have had. I wondered what happened to you and missed you. Your life would have been stressful enough with just the first incidents you mentioned, never mind new health concerns. I certainly will hope and pray for you and your family. This thing seems to have developed so fast though that to me it seems less likely that it is malignant. It seems more likely that it is some kind of infectious type of thing. Please let us know on the 12th or as soon as you can, because we will all be worried.
    Escalators…. yes I did use one and used the same format you apparently did. Getting off with the good leg first was easy, but it was the getting on with the good leg that took me a few minutes to figure out. I was the only one trying to use the escalator at the time, which is a good thing or I would have had a traffic jam behind me. I am like you Melanie in that you said you only took Oxcotin for 4 days after your ankle break…. I was first given tylenol 3’s and then following surgery something else… much stronger. This something else ??? had instruction which read that I could only take it for a maximum of 5 days, and then must “wean myself off”. I tell you those words scared me enough that I took NONE of it; although I had paid a fortune for it. I stuck to a couple more ty 3’s and then took nothing, just used ice and elevation.

    The other concert that I saw, was Elvis Presley at a small outdoor concert in Vancouver, BC when I was 13 and he was about 19 years old. He had his first hits out at the time,,, but in an era of not a lot of tv etc was not terribly well known. Me and my same aged cousin were standing right in front of the stage with a hundred or so oher kids…. Life was much simpler in those days. Elvis was really cute at that age, and we girls were all screaming like crazy. Occasionally, in this area they still show clips of that concert and all us screaming teeny boppers on tv.
    And last, but not least, Louise, you may not like your job and you may find it boring,,,, but what you lack in job excitement, you definately make up for in your day to day private life. Your posts indicate that you are an adventuresome and fun loving lady who is very personable and who makes friends well. You might find an exciting job preferable, however that could also have the down side of zapping all the energy you currently spend on enjoying your leisure time. High energy, careers tend to do that to people, who then discover they have little energy left over for having fun.

    Me, well today I was standing at my fence talking to a neighbour who was visiting her summer cottage up the street. I have met her before, but this time she introduced me to her young adult daughter, Laura. Laura is a Registered Nurse, and was very interested in all the details of my accident surgery and recovery. So here I was describing in detail, the fall, the blacking out, the shock reaction, the pain, the bulge on my leg, the break details, the surgery etc.etc etc. But we had kind of worked backward in the story as I had not initially intended to provide so much detail. Right about the time I got to the part about the blacking out, coming to and the shock reaction, my neighbour suddenly fainted dead away on the other side of the fence. I have to say that I felt pretty stupid and sorry, but she insisted that it was just because she was hot and dehydrated. I am not sure I believe her and I think I will be less graphic in the telling henceforth.

    Keep healing everyone….

83. Copied from “1 Year Out”

    ANKLEQUEST, Just read your entry about your family. I have not had an addiction or abuse touch my family of origin they way yours has been affected, but my husband has a sister….We do not know where she is, if at this point she is still even alive. Her children live with the father’s. One child is already making poor decisions. When I worked at Juvenile Court I saw family after family devastated by drug and alcohol abuse. In Albuquerque, I saw it in family’s there. I truely do not even know why people want to experiment with the stuff. Not even marijuana. Anything you ever read or see, NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING good ever comes out of it. Yet folks still think they “can handle it”. When I broke my ankle, and then after my surgery, they gave me Oxycotin. Took if for maybe a total of 4 days because I hate the sense of being out of control. Well, I am so sorry for you and your family. And angry at your brother-in-law for the pain and devastation he caused.

    I am sorry I have been absent. I have been reading intermittently, but have just not had time to do an entry. Let me briefly update you.

    About a month ago a man died in my driveway. As some of you know, my hubby is active duty military, and we live on base. We were having plumbing trouble, so I called maintenance and they sent someone over. He snaked the main line into our house, confirmed with the guy outside that the water was flowing, then left. I mopped up the water in our bathroom, put all the soaked towels into the wash, called my husband to let him know what was going on. Maybe 7 minutes passed. I walked past our front door and saw a fire truck, an ambulance, two SP cars (Security Police) and lots of maintenance vans. I get out front and they are loading someone into the ambulance (the rear of it is facing away from me). I ask a neighbor what is going and and she tells me a maintenance man had collapsed! Never regained consciousness! After a few more questions I realized it had been the man that had JUST BEEN IN OUR HOUSE!!!! Couldn’t believe it. I had to sit down. Part of this story is last summer I did CPR on a co-worker and he made it, so I really beat myself up for me not following him out and me doing CPR on him. The thing is CPR was done on him by his co-worker that had been out front. And then the EMTs did the AED thing on him twice and he just never…..came back. He was 51, a widower of about 6 months, heavy smoker, overweight, blah blah blah. I think he just did not take care of himself.

    The next week was my daughter’s birthday, so all the preparation for that. I was so stressed! Does anyone else out there get stressed about your kid’s birthday parties?

    The next week I had dental appointments and a scheduled doctor appointment for myself, and some other routine stuff, so that was just a crazy week.

    So, now the big thing. Last Monday I came back from my interval running/ walking and when I walked into the house I had an absolute searing pain in my left ear. Sat me down it hurt so bad. I took an Ibuprophen 800 but still fell like I had a crick in my neck all day. Even a little throbbing in my ear, but as you all know, after the pain we have been through with our ankles, this ear pain was VERY managable. Tuesday morning I had a cramp sort of in my back just below my left shoulder blade. I thought it had just become an extension of the cramp/ eustacian tube thing in my neck and took another Ibuprophen 800. Got through the day. Wednesday, still having neck/ ear/ shoulder tightness and pain, again still very managable. Thought it was just stress or something. At lunch on Wednesday, I suddenly noticed I was having trouble swallowing! Later that afternoon and that night my speech deteriorated. So Thursday morning I called my doctor for an appointment. I went in and I think they thought I had a TIA or a stoke. I felt I hadn’t because my dad had a TIA in 1988 and I knew I had none of the other neurological symptoms. None. Just my speech. Well, my primary care doctor called the neurologist (who was at the dentist) and he said to admit me. In the next 24 hours I had a CAT scan, an MRI (which they promptly lost for about an hour), and an ultrasound of my two carotid arteries. The CAT scan was fine, the ultrasound was fine, but my MRI showed I have a “mass” at the base of my tongue. Off to the ENT I went on that Friday afternoon. Bottom line is, I go in on the 12th for pre-op stuff and then the 14th for a biopsy and more poking around. Initially the ENT admitted to being “gloomy” about what it could be, but they scoped me and he said “Hmmmm…..not what I thought it was going to be”. Said whatever the “thingy” was, it was symmetrical, which apparently made him feel better. Looking at the pictures later, my husband and I really thought it was the back of my tongue, just swollen! That is what gave the ENT some measure of hope. That it is symmetrical, just swollen on one side. The ENT said there are 80,000 different kinds of cancer and 40,000 different kinds of things that aren’t cancer. So I am praying it’s one of those 40,000 other things. Plus I have been living a very healthy lifestyle (eating right, exercise, etc) for over a year now and never smoked and rarely drink. Because I am on Weight Watchers, I look at a beer and think “chocolate”. So it just does not make sense for me to have cancer. But as we all know, it’s still possible. So, for you believers out there, please keep me and my family in your prayers. And really the only symptom I have is my neck and tongue. I sound like Sylvester the cat (”Thufferin’ Thuccotatsh”). And I can’t spit. Which sounds like “Yeah, so”, but have you ever tried to brush your teeth and not be able to spit? It’s very frustrating.

    Okay, enough about me.

    CLARKE, you are such a goofball. Of course I knew you were being sarcastic when you said, “Melanie, you think you are so smart”. Althought the CAT scan did confirm that I had a brain!!! I just have been followig these blogs long enough to know how you sound/ write. Very articulate and intelligent. And I am THRILLED you are still participating! I think about THERESA’s son and how even though his accident happened less than two months ago, all of the entries in here can help him in some way or other. If the pain will allow him to read. I remember in my first days after the accident and then surgery, I could do nothing but feel sorry for myself and cry because of the pain.

    And THERESA, go through and read and re-read all these entries. It will take weeks. I’m not kidding. And read the entries on the other site. It is all important and informative. Even almost three years out, it has helped me feel less isolated and made sense of some of the things I have been through during recovery.

    Which, LOIS, I find amazing! Most 21 year olds are pretty into themselves and appearances. So for him to have done that, dance with an “older woman” at a mall, I think that is HUGE! And we do end up laughing at some of the things we have gone through. My husband still calls me “gimpy”. And do any of y’all watch the Pink Panther movies (with Peter Sellers)? When my ankly is giving me problems, I will say “Swine ankle”, or “Svine ankle”, in my best Inspector Cleuseau (spelling?) accent. And, after almost three years, I have discovered I have titanium in my ankle. If I had had metal, I would not have been able to have the MRI. And LOIS, how was your escalator experience? I went on on my good foot and got off with my good foot, pulling my gimpy one behind. Is that what you ended up doing?

    LOUISE, I am so excited to hear your trip went FANTASTIC! I sort of did the same thing about the crutches. Just gave them up. Didn’t actually lose them, though. And I had to work through the fear and pain to give them up. It is so SCARY!!!! I was sure my ankle/ foot would not support me. And I was SURE it was not healed and would break again. And, and, and…..I finally got to the point I could “What if” myself to death. Now, having said that, my mother had her hip replaced several years ago. A few months afterwards it popped out. So now she walks with a cane when she goes outside. Not around the house, where it popped out, but when she takes the trash out, to and from her car, to a shop, church, whatever. Gives her a sense of security.

    DON, I was so happy to hear about you being able to dance at your daughter’s wedding. My father died about a year before I got married and that was a tough day for me, as well as a joyous one. I am sure he was dancing, just wish it had been here with me. I am also glad that the meds allowed you to be…upright and able to function. I know your daughter was over the moon. I think in most instances, dad’s (or step-dad’s or uncles) are so very important in a woman’s life. YA-HOO FOR YOU!!!!

    I missed you guys.

    Melanie

84. Anklequest. It is so sad to hear you talk about this in the way you are. I have had some painful (emotionally painful) experiences happen to me in the past, but nothing quite as painful as you are describing!! I really hope this passes for you very soon, and things get easier.

    Lois. Yes, I broke and dislocated mine on the 23rd april, so will be 4 months at the end of august. I did a fair amount of walking today, as I went out with a friend, who didn’t quite understand the concept of parking close to where we were going. We went round a castle in our city, as she has not been round there, and was confronted with a very small very narrow spiral staircase, which I went up fine to the top of a lighthouse, and then totally forgot about coming down again!! I did get down, but it was a hairy experience I have to say! hee hee. Just took it one step at a time. I also went in a little strange underground tunnel, which was quite wet and slippery, and the whole way round I was paranoid I was going to slip and fall again, but I was ok!!!
    We also played a game of crazy golf, went for lunch and then went shopping, so as of this moment, my ankle is quite swollen, and achy!!!

    I dont think my striding is tooooo bad, although when my friends are walking faster than me, it is hard to keep up with them. We have to walk quite slowly! Although I did manage to half jog half limp across the road today to aviod being squished by a car, but I didn’t even realise I had done it until I had done it…..

    I work in a call centre at the moment, for an insurance company. It is a highly entertaining job, which I LOVE!! (that was sarcasm if no one got that! I hate it!) So i sit down most of the day, apart from my horrendously exciting trips to the photocopier, fax machine, water cooler, or toilet!! I should only be there for another year or so then I can get a proper job hopefully!!! I am only doing this work over the summer in addition to my job, as I only work 20 hours a week!
    Oh, and I wouldn’t worry too much about going up on your toes, mine doesn’t do that either!!! My toes just dont feel strong enough to be honest, plus I still dont have the range of motion in my foot to be able to support my myself even if my leg did have the strenghth!

    I think any ankle break is serious, and even if you did “only” break your fibula, it still was obviously a bad break! I broke the tibia, and fibula (fib in 2 places and tib in one place!) and dislocated it, but the actual breaks were reasonably clean cut, it is the dislocation which is causing the problem, because I totally ruptured 2 ligaments in my ankle, and then damaged some more surrounding it. Thats whats causing ME the problems I think rather than the actual breaks, but hopefully i should be starting physio soon (reminds me….I need to arrange that!) and hoping that will help with my range of motion! I have recently found though, that my other foot on the inside of the bridge is really hurting, and my neck and back is KILLING me recently when Im walking or standing a lot. Im not sure if it’s because of my balance and the way Im walking, or what, but I may have to pay another trip to the doctor if this continues….hmmmm…………….

    But to everyone here, speak to you soon!!!

    louise xx

85. Clark & Lois & Louise

    PAIN!!!

    The PAIN of a broken ankle is not as bad as the PAIN of broken hearts and lives.

    CLARK..much as I LOVE the music you cite, your mention of that famous Altmont concert brings up PAIN and the dark side. My brother -in-law was there, front stage, “the sunshine boy” high on drugs, and remained so for the next few years, killing his 6 year old son in the process, and later destroying the lives of his next four children and now more generations. We had no contact with him for 30 years as he lived in and out of prison & on welfare: a brillant cad with no desire to work for a living. Then he showed up here in the late 90’s wanting to “take care” of his aging parents. They took him back in while he stole the $ and sold the house, taking the mother-in-law and caused us more grief and PAIN than I can even bare to think of. I am in touch with one niece, now in her 40″s, who has been able to make something of herself through a lot of therapy, despite a cruel and abusive upbringing. She has a lot of PAIN!! Her children and grandchildren are in PAIN as this guy continues his influence, teaching his grandchild to grow and sell pot and deal other drugs.

    I have been thinking of this since your post. Your inadvertent trigger cause me PAIN for the past few days thinking of all this again. You too have seen that PAINFUL down side I am sure, having been in law enforcement.

    The PAIN of a broken ankle is not as bad as the PAIN of the wasted lives I see moving from generation to more generations.

    Hopefully my next post will be better.

    Anklequest

86. Hello, Karen, Tammy, Anklequest, Sandra, Clark, Liz Louise,,,, oh dear who have I missed… well simply hello to all of you. It is always hard to remember who has written in lately. ( I guess I should take notes but I am too tired tonight to do that ) Anyway, I just enjoy everyone’s posts so much, They are always full of interesting bits of information, interesting personalities and interesting lives. Liz, I am sorry that you are missing the first bit of school. It sounds like you just love your job. Good for you, but best to rest up for the time being. Anklequest,sounds like you had an interesting museum tour with your sister. Good stuff.

    Clark, the looking back was interesting (amazing how music stirs old memories eh). Everytime I have ever heard the song “there’s a summer place” I relive riding through a newly opened tunnel under the Fraser River at about 100 miles per hour in a convertible on a summer night when I was 15. (wow how long ago is that- try 50 years ) These days, I would be freaked out thinking we would have an accident and I might break my other ankle. (My neck might not worry me- but please not another ankle) But we were indestructable in those days and I will forever be grateful that I did not have this break until I had so many good year behind me.

    I remember reading about that Rolling Stones concert with the HA bouncers. I did see a Stone’s concert in Vancouver… maybe about 15 to 20 years ago and they were fabulous….(” I can’t get no”…) , but there were no bouncers and no rowdy crowds… just lots of “skunky” air in the place… which being the prude I am I could have done without, but the concert including the stage effects was great. Looking back is fun, but looking ahead is also important. Lots more fun and more experiences for us all in the future. I mean look at “Louise does New York” she is NOT, going to stop having fun and she is thinking about her next trip already.

    Louise, you are amazing. I will be at five months on August 10, and although I seem to be making steady progress around the house and on my property, including walking about 400 feet in the beach sand yesterday, (a first) or even if I just walk a bit up the street, but I am still having trouble when I go into town and begin to stride to my destination along the street or go into a larger store. It seems that the purposeful striding to reach a destination point is just not coming along well. For that kind of walking, I need to have my cane with me and I need to utilize it at least every three steps. I don’t have much problem with swelling anymore, and it does not hurt that much, but I get limping rather badly after the first few strides. So Louise, I marvel at you because you are more recent than me I believe, and after all, I did only break just my fibula, although I did a real number on it, including breaking it off and splitting it upwards about four times and having splinters everywhere and getting a lot of metal in it. But why is purposeful striding so difficult for me.??? Is it the thing which is hardest for everyone??? Well, if this is as good as it gets, I am still extremely grateful that I have this much mobility back… but the truth is that I really do hope that I will get more. It just feels as if it does not have enough strength yet in it. The other wierd thing is that I reach for something and go up on the toes of both my feet, but I cannot go up on the toes of just my bad leg…. Its as if the lift both heeks off the floor cirsuit is still plugged in,,,, but the lift the right leg heel only circuit, has been disconnected… . My foot just does not move off the floor. Does not even try to move. Complete disconnect to the brain.

    I am curious Louise,,, what do you normally work at??? Perhaps it is back here in prior posts. Do you normally work with kid, or is the mentioned job something you do in summer only??

    As much as I am really enjoying each of you, I would like to see some new participants as well. Not that I wish broken ankles on anyone though. But it is harder to not drift away from the broken ankle stuff we are expected to stick to, when there are no new entries, or at least consistent entries, for us to encourage along. Staying up too late here and keep falling asleep at my computer screen… Better go.

87. Hi Liz!!!

    It had been very quiet on here recently hasn’t it?? Maybe everyone is occupied with holidays or kids off of school etc!

    Yes, my trip to new york was great! I am very glad that I did it, and that I managed as well as I did to be honest. I was very pleasently surprised! 🙂 Yeah, I have only been weight bearing on it for just over 4 weeks now, but I was only at 2 weeks when I went. I did take one crutch with me on the plane and around the airport, but I pretty much lost it as soon as I got to new york to be honest, and on the way back it was more of a pain in the backside than a help, as it would fall over, when I was trying to get tickets out and stuff, and just got in the way!!! Hmmmm…..
    I was very surprised, although it does still swell up a LOT,although not as bad as it used to about 5/6 weeks ago, so thats one good thing.

    I never actually had a boot, I had my cast off, and was still non-weight bearing for about another 3 weeks, until I had 2 screws removed at the beginning of July. When I had the cast off, my foot was just left free, which felt weird to start with but i did get used to it. Then when I had the op, I was wrapped in bandages, and I had a black velcro shoe to wear, as none of my other shoes would fit over the bandages until the stitches came out. Then I went back into my normal shoes. Mostly I am wearing flip flops as they don’t constrict my foot at all when it swells. I also wear one pair of trainers, which easily fit on, and also some black and white pumps for work, as Im not allowed to wear flip flops really! I did try wearing some heals round my room, just to see if was going to happen anytime in the foreseeable future, but I did manage to walk around the room in them, although had a very odd walk, which varied between a massive limp and a very strange strutt! Very glad no one else saw me! hee hee! I shall not be going out in them any time soon! No no me thinks!!!! Not yet! ha ha!

    Its a shame you were not back at school for the 1st day, although 4 weeks is a long time, it may take a little longer than that, especially if you need to be able to run after a few!! I am doing some kids work next week for a large youth conference which is coming down to portsmouth, and Im going to be working with the 2-11’s, so Ill let you know how that goes! I have explained to them the situation, and told them not to give me any challenging ones, because last year when I did it, I got them ALL!! All the ones which no one else could control or cope with they gave to me!! Hee hee. It was fun, but very tiring too!!!

    Thats good news about the cartiledge (hopefully!) filling in though!! Just have to keep hoping for that hey?!

    With walking without the walker, I think that will just take practise and time. I found that I could only just about do a few steps without crutches when I was allowed to weight bear, and then my knee would give out, and it used to hurt a lot, but I used the banister along the top of the landing as a bar to hold onto with one hand, and then practised walking using that as a bit of support. I found my arms needed to be way out to the side in order for me to balance properly, so you could try putting your walker just a few steps in front of you and walking towards it, rather than holding it up in the air whilst you walk?? Might help a bit??

    I thought I was starting to loose my limp (which I am loosing it a bit!) but I got to work today, and a manager told me how painful my leg looked because of how I was walking on it, so I guess it feels better to me because I know how I looked at the beginning maybe?! Dont know, but I felt a little disappointed I have to say!!! Booooo…..

    So, I am going to try and call the hospital tomorrow to get the physiotherapy appointments made, so I can get started with that, and then hopefully, I can start going back to the gym and loose the puppy fat that I have put on since april! hee hee!

    But to you and everyone else…..keep going, it does get easier!!!!
    Take care!

    Louise xx

88. Louise! What an exciting trip you had to New York! 🙂 Your ankle did so well. You must be proud! lol What great progress. It’s only been about 3 weeks since you started weight bearing right? I could have that wrong. Anyway, just curious… are you still in a walking boot or are you wearing normal shoes? You are doing so great! I hope to catch up with you soon. 🙂 I’ve been told I’ll be in the boot for at least 3 or 4 more months though. Is that typical?

    Well, some good news… I had an ortho appt on Thursday and they took new x-rays. When the doctor put them on the light he mumbled something under his breath and then left. He came back with my old x-rays (taken after surgery). He put the 2 up side by side and pointed out to me the joint where the cartilage is missing. He says it appears to be filling in some. He was pleasantly surprised I think. He said it’s probably bone filling in with maybe a little bit of cartilage… I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high but this is really good news. I’m still so worried about the arthritis situation. Every bit of good news gives me hope. The spot is actually feeling a little better, still sore but not quite as an intense as before. Maybe it will keep improving. My physical therapist today told me not to get my hopes up to high though.

    I’m still hobbling around with my big air cast and walker. Walking has gotten easier but I just can’t seem to ditch the walker. I can take a few steps while holding the walker off the ground but as soon as I try to walk not holding it at all I have a huge limp and it seems to hurt worse for some reason. It’s been 3 weeks since I started weight bearing. I feel like I should be further along. I wonder if I should move to a cane or crutches.

    Also, school started today and I’m not there. 🙁 It will be at least 4 weeks until I can return to work. I pretty much need to be off the walker and steady on my feet before I go back and teach my class. I have to push wheelchairs, lift kids, and keep up with a few who are runners. I’m really hoping to be ready in 4 weeks. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

    Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well in their recovery. It’s been quiet in here the past few days.

89. Good Morning VietNam, or should I say . . . Good Morning Anklebreakers.

    I never had the honor of serving in Vietnam, and would have gone in a NewYorkMinute if my number (lottery number back then, 1971-72) had come up, but it didn’t. I remember pulling over in my MGC (with the big straight 6 cylinder engine) and listening to the DJ on the local AM station reading off the numbers. For 1971 I was over 250 out of 365, a sure bet I wouldn’t be drafted. No one wanted to be drafted to that war, back then, but many of my friends died there. No one would want to be drafted to Iraq today, if there was a draft, but they would go, it they were called, and I would also, then and now, if my number came up. It seems just like yesterday that I was listening to the read out of those numbers. The following year I again had a high number over 250, assured that I would not have to go. But I would have, yet I did not volunteer. It was a bad war for the wrong reasons. Much like Iraq is today. I went into Law Enforcement instead, and made a 30 year career out of it, mostly, so I guess the force guided me into a parallel direction, at least, one that I could somewhat control, and perhaps could make a difference. I hope I did. Perhaps that is for others to judge.

    I would never have passed the physical anyway. Blind in my right eye, but it looked OK. And I knew how to fake it. Could still see out of the side with peripheral vision, just not straight on, a gift from an Opthalmalogist when I was 7 to correct a wandering eye. He cut the wrong muscle and I never had normal vision again. But you adjust. It was fun having double vision back then, seeing two heads on the teacher at the front of the room, two blackboards, whatever. But I could never make myself crosseyed again, that was over. It just didn’t work like it was supposed to anymore. But at 7, what did I care? I knew how to fake the machines at the DMV (over the years I became an expert at those crazy machinges), and I never had a problem with parking, shooting a gun rifle, except that I had to shoot with my left eye on the rifle sight, and shoot with my left hand and hold the rifle with right hand, backwards, when I was right handed, which drove the FBI guys at the Academy nuts, but I made it anyway. I was OK for the County and City, but not the CHP even with corrected lenses. Their standards were tougher than the local cops. But no one ever knew, and no one ever suffered because of it. I learned to adjust. Just like we all do to some extent with our broken ankles.

    But I am talking about Time Travel here, much like the protagonist in Slaughter House Five (Kurt Vonnegut, 1969) in which Billy Pilgrim can mentally time travel to different times and places in his life just by wishing so, several times without wishing so, and I too have time traveled. Back to those times and places, much like pulling over and waiting with anticipation to find out my draft number, or sitting outside my ex girlfriends place while she was inside with my replacement, using all my strength to grip the wheel of my car and not go inside and make things worse. But I was smart enought then, to drive away and let her make her choice, althought it hurt. But I grew up a bit. We have to in those situations, or we don’t move on.

    Much like dealing with a broken ankle, as minor or as bad as it can be, we have to deal or we don’t grow as a person, and we don’t move on.

    Today I bought a time machine at WalMart. An old junior high and high school pal, just a dear freind really, is bedridden for the most part, with dead kidneys that require nightly chemicle dialysis (for the last 10 years, beyond transplants) and just two years ago suffered a stroke that paralyzed his left side completely (and I thought I had it rough) so that he is mainly bedridden. He is all there, fortunately, and has a loving wife that will go the distance for him, and even he doesn’t think he has it as bad as some. An optimist for sure. That’s Dan.
    So I purchased this DVD/CD everything recorder, that will record anything from cable or dish to a cd, and any type of audio that can be downloaded from a stereo component stack; XM, Sirius, CD’s, tapes, records, AM/FM, whatever, just hit record and let it do it’s thing. $98.00 with tax. A time machine that will record our oldies from the late ’60’s and early ’70’s (and there must be some old hippies or counter culture non conformists out there that can relate. Put on a cd, Chicago, Crosby, STills, Nash, the Eagles, Credence, Santana, whatever, the best music that came from that time period, not to knock the ’50’s that got it started, but this was our time, and it was great. I was close to the stage at the Altamont Concert on Dec. 6th, 1969, with my older sister and her boyfriend (who was in the movie Gimme Shelter) being chased by the Hells Angels for his beautiful fringe leather jacket. They never got his jacket, but we had to pull over at a station to allow him to rinse out his pants after we escaped the chaos, it was so bad, and he was so scared.
    Long hair, Frye Boots, round glasses, a VW Bus and a beautiful girl and her Irish Setter, are my memories of that night. I met her at the stage, she was beautiful, rocking out to the Stones when they appeared on stage, which sent the crowd wild, with everyone pushing forward 500,000 strong from the edges, squeezing everone in like sardines, and she asked me to hold her dogs leash, while she danced, and I did. The crown pushed in, the dog went nuts, I dropped and picked up the leash, pushed into the stage with everyone else, and met a ritht hook from some bodyguard Hells Angel that knocked off my glasses and knocked me back into the crowd. They stood me up, I grabbed the dog, the girl, and yelled at my sister and Jeff to follow and we got the hell out of there. 5 or 5 died that night, one stabbed by the Angels (he had it coming I guess, he had an open knife out) but several others were trampled and run over in the parking lot by the crowd and others.
    I drove her home to Oakland. Her name to the best of my recollection was something like the actress Claudine Longier, but it was more like Claudine Maurier (pronounced like Mawyaaaaay) or something like that. We never reconnected and I have often thought about her, but she is gone, somewhere lost in time.

    A wonderful time to grow up, back then. So much going on in so many ways that we were so unaware of, yet had so much meaning down the road.
    So with this recording device, I have sifted throught the used vinyl stacks, the used tapes and CD’s for musice from that time, to go back in time. to time travel. And it’s easy.

    Close your eyes, and listen, and allow yourself to take yourself back, way before the fall, the break, the surgery, the PT, the memories of the pain, and the disability, and for awhile, for memories, making cd’s of another time, for a friend that can only remember those times in his minds eye and his ears, and travel like Billy Pilgrim to a better place and time, and listen to the music again.

    I’m listening to it now and going back in time. America is playing Ventura Highway, and it’s like I’m driving that schoolbus again in the morning on the highway route, south and then north again, from Napa County south to American Canyon and back up the east side, picking up all of those sleepy junior high and high schoolers again, in the fog, listening to America, Seals and Croft (Summer Breeze, Diamond Girl), Carly Simon (Your’e So Vain, you probably think this song is about you), Chicago, Santana, the Eeagles, they are all there. Back in time, a thought, a memory, away. From that portable radio stuck between the window fans, which was alway stolen after a few months, and I had to replace it, again. Back in time. You can take yourself away from all of this for a while, if you just let yourself go.

    Hope everyone is getting better.

    Clark

90. Lois! Thanks very much for the post! Yes, I do realise I have come a long way very quickly, which is great. I had an appointment at the fracture clinic this morning, and what a waste of time THAT was!!! My appointment was at 9.30, and I didn’t get seen until 10.30, and I was only there for about 5 mins if that!! The consultant came in and looked at my ankle, Ummmed and errred over it for a few mins, pulled and pushed it around for a bit, and then announced that I was coming along very well, to stop baby-ing it now, and get on with things as I would normally! He also announced that I didn’t need any physiotherapy, and when I protested to him, he reluctantly decided to refer me for one or two sessions! Hmmmmm……
    Obviously I can’t do things as normally….I can hardly go for a run or anything like I did before, so that was a stupid comment for him to come out with! Silly man! Oh well….so I need to call and make an appointment for that in the next few days, but the hospital for the physio is only about a 10 min walk, so I should be able to get there quite easily!!!
    I was just sitting at the hospital today looking at everyone in their casts and stuff, and I was smiling to myself, because I remember the feelings of frustration that I had, and all the upsets, such as the BBQ’s where I couldn’t get my own food and needed wheelchairs when I went away in May! I am so glad that part is over, and Im moving forward (literally! hee hee!) Howz your recovery going Lois?

    Anklequest! Yes, obviously a walk in the city is just what I needed! Hee hee. It did hurt by the end of the day, but the compression stocking deff helped a LOT! So if you are doing lots of walking around or whatever, maybe consider wearing one?? I had to go to a pharmacy and get measured for one before I went, and it was a grade 1 compression stocking, rather than just a flight sock that you get in the shops!! Had a few issues being measured though…I have very big calves in comparison to my ankles, which made it difficult, but we got there in the end!!!!!!
    The museums sound interesting, but I know what you mean about standing, it tends to do the same for me, and hurts a lot more. When I went up the empire state building, we were in a line waiting for over an hour and a half, and by the time we finished, my ankle did throb a bit, but it was worth it! 🙂
    I do leave my flatmate to do the dishes, but she doesn’t do them very often, so I have to do them!!! Boooo…. 🙁 hee hee.

    So…I hope everyone is doing well!! I shall now go and start planning my next holiday somewhere exciting I hope ha ha! We shall see!

    Louise xx

91. Louise,
    You sound like a very different person.

    A New York walk is the cure!!!

    Walking CAN improve things greatly, as it moves extra fluids back up the leg and helps gets the knots back out of the muscles.

    And here I was a bit skeptical about you going to New York as it seemed like you were still having some serious problems. Losing your crutch…great stuff!!!

    For everyone who plans to fly, I read in the NY Times that the US olympic runners wear those tight socks on airplanes. It helps keeps their legs in shape. I guess we should all do so.

    Last week I spent two days in the NY Metropolitan Meuseum of Art, helping my sister do some research (she is an art professor). For the Brits, we also saw the Turner show, many of which came from the Tate in London. Visiting a meuseum is/can be more difficult than walking around NY because meuseums involve “standing.” For me, standing puts much more pressure on my ankle and I always have worse effects from standing compared to walking. Those of you who stand to wash dishes, get out there and walk the dog instead and let someone else do the dishes.

    Watch Your step! No more skinned knees, please!

92. Louise, just in out of the garden where I have been trying to catch up for all the lost time in the spring. Glad to hear you had such a fab time in New York and Canada at Niagara Falls. (my country but I have not yet seen the falls). I would also just love to see New York. Oh well, the REALLY good news is that WOW, you managed to do ALL of that with no crutches…. DO YOU KNOW HOW FAR ALONG THAT MEANS THAT YOU HAVE COME….???? I guess you do, but what a difference from prior posts where you attended barbeques, couldn’t get up to get food and ended up at home in frustrated tears and exhaustion. I am SURE that was you. LIZ, and EVERYONE else take note…. it does happen. Louise, I just feel so excited for you “OUR LOUISE DOES NEW YORK- THE BIG APPLE” that I just had to comment right away,,, but you are likely in bed sleeping off the jet lag.

93. Hello all anklebreakers!!!!

    Well…..so many posts to read. I have read them all, but cannot remember who put what without going back and reading them all over again, so I shall say hello to everyone in one go! 🙂
    Karen….very sorry about your fall, although good that you didn’t do any damage to your ankle again!

    Ok, so as for me, I am back from New York, flew into London last night and got back the early hours of this morning! Am rather jet lagged at the moment, as I didn’t wake up till 3pm Uk time, as its only 10am NY time! hee hee.

    So, New York was FAB, I had a great time, and to be honest it really helped limber my ankle up quite a bit, rather than just being sat at home all day long. I took one of my crutches with me to NY, but I only used it at the airport on the way over. I lost my crutches by the second day. I managed to walk around NYC without any crutches, although I did wear my flight sock, which helped stop the swelling. By the end of the day, i was limping somewhat, but it was worth it! I went to see the Little Mermaid on Broadway, saw Central park, Times Square, and went up the Empire State building. Such a good day!
    We also went to Canada to see Niagra Falls, which was great too, and again, a lot of walking again, but this time it was without the compression sock, so my ankle did swell a lot.
    Some people that I met over there didn’t even realise that there was anything wrong with my ankle until I showed them the scars, which was good, as I was obviously not walking so much with a limp! 🙂
    I also can go up AND down the stairs sort of normally! Going down, I need to kind of jump of the stair before, making me look a bit silly, but it means I can go down the stairs a little easier and a little faster too! 🙂
    So all in all, it was a great trip, not just for me, but also did my ankle the world of good! Still got a limp, and it still is very stiff, but Im getting there I think. I have an appointment at the fracture clinic tomorrow morning, so I am gonna push for Physiotherapy then!

    Anyway…hope everyone is doing great!

    Louise xx

94. Ouch Karen…I am so very sorry you took that fall. Sounds like it hurt. It just seems like it is so much easier to fall these days because our stability just isn’t what once was. You know we all walked for a lot of years before our broken ankles happened and we likely seldom looked down in those days. So now, here we are, all paranoid to watch our every step, and when we forget for a second we blame ourselves.

    Hi there Liz, you seem to be coming along fine now. Keep up the good work. And Sandra and Anklequest great to hear from you both with all the wisdom you impart. Still missing Melanie and her interesting comments and hope Ana is okay as she seemed to be having some concerns and set backs. Hi to everyone else too. ALSO wish we would hear more from THERESA, the woman who wrote about her son’s accident on the other site. I keep thinking about her because it sounded as if both she and her son were pretty upset and depressed.

    As I have mentioned before, I have tended to ride a stationary bike for a few minutes in the morning to limber up my leg/ankle. I found it helped tremendously. This afternoon after a brief walk up the street with both legs feeling wobbly and the bad one providing a constant dull ache… I wondered if, at almost 5 months, I could handle walking on the previously forbidden tread mill. Well, I did a whole 5 1/2 minutes on it at 1.0 speed, (the slowest) with the emergency stop button thingy in my hand just in case. It went well. Because I was not having to look for curbs, rocks, or holes in the road, and did not have to look down, I focused on my posture and my walking gait. At the end, most of the dull ache had disappeared and I am walking better around the house. I don’t understand it, but just seems that if I can get both legs limbered up and stretched out, it really helps me with general walking. Otherwise, both legs can feel quite weak and wobbly. It was successful enough that I am now adding it to my morning routine. If you do decide to try this just remember that I was on THE SLOWEST SPEED and only for a very short time. I don’t anyone to hurt themselves.

    Take care everyone.

95. As far as weight loss or gain goes, I stayed the same (normal weight) but my blood pressure, which had been borderline shot up higher, not terribly high but high enough that I had to start blood pressure medicine. My internist said the lack of activity pushed me over the edge – the gift that keeps on giving!

    Sandra, I see you have a new pain under the ball of the foot. This also occured to me when I began increasing activity and it was diagnosed as sesamoiditis. I wonder if that could be what you have. When we increase activity, all kinds of new pains come up, it’s incredible! My foot doctor helped me with that complaint, did some sort of tens therapy, like an electical buzz on the area and after the three treatments it still wasn’t completely gone, but noticed a gradual improvement over the next few months. I’m rarely bothered by it now.

    Lois, I had my fourth ultrasound treatment today and it has definitely helped. I am still aware I broke my ankle but the grin and bear it with each step is gone for now. I hate to be too optimistic in case it comes back.

    On Monday, just one hour after my ultrasound treatment, I was walking to my car down our driveway, not looking down, my heel on my broken side caught an uneven edge of pavement, ankle caved out and I went down on the concrete so hard that my sunglasses flew off my face. Thankfully my ankle was not injured but scraped the flesh off my knee, lots of blood that is still seeping. It’s nasty. I’m so mad at myself because I had let my guard down after being so careful and looking down for 8 months.

    Karen

96. Last week I took my sister to the “shore” for a few (hot)days, to Wildwood NJ and Cape May. The ocean areas there are just fabulous. We did a lot of walking, on the beaches and the Boardwalks. The Wildwood boardwalk is 3 miles of “shops”, with 3 big piers of rides, etc. and thousands of teenagers & college students..the place to go for the summer. This is a good reminder of who my students will be this fall and a great way of keeping in touch with that generation. At age 62 they probably think I’m an old foggy limping granny.

    On our way back we ran into 3 hail stormsand lots of traffic so that took 7 hours of stop and go driving for me.

    Now my ankle really is swollen and hurts so I am “resting” it for a day or two.

    I’m telling everyone this just so that you all will know that life does get back to normal. I did everything that I normally would have done at the shore..well, maybe a bit less walking but not much.

    While there I saw a young man driving down the road at a fast clip on one of those handicap vehicles (you can rent them there). He had a bright orange glowing cast on his ankle, which was proped up on top of the handlebars & crutches on the back. It looks like this young man was not going to let his broken ankle keep him away from Wildwood. I was quite inspired. Had I not been in a hurry to meet someone at an ice cream shop I would have stopped & chatted with him.

97. IMPOVEMENTS are everywhere in the posts. Maybe daily improvements sometimes don’t amount to much, but think in terms of months and that should show progress.

    For the new folks, I’m 62, about 2 ½ years after a trimalleolar fracture which was complicated by an open wound that took months to heal. The open wound was my first priority. The bones healed fast—6 weeks. I never had a cast because of my open wound which required new skin growth. I was walking without crutches after about 10 weeks because I reactivated a very severe case of carpel tunnel syndrome in both hands. Had PT only about 4 times because I was very determined to get back on my feet and so did everything at home plus more.

    Lois, I agree with your comment on the self-absorbed society. I too notice all broken bones much more now and am much more patient with folks who have difficulty getting around in stores, at school, etc.

    Sandra, that remark at your place of employment was simply cruel. I lucked out. My boss had had a similar broken ankle 5 years ago. When someone tried to encroach into my “territory” she put a stop to it instantly. I did work a lot via phone and divided up my responsibilities to my staff. That worked very very well. And getting back part time after 2 months being out was very helpful.

    Lois, I too lost weight. 25 lbs. The food tasted like soap. Maybe the shock? I think it was partly because of the lingering effects of morphine or something. Now I’ve gained it all back and am back to being 30 lbs overweight. Sigh! The weight battle is endless. and I can no longer run, which I use to do. The best thing I could do for my ankle is lose that weight. Someone here lost 60 lbs. How did you do that?

    Clark, you are the miracle man. I’m so glad to read that post of yours. Getting that curved sole shoes will help a lot. My curved sole running shoes, which I still wear constantly, help me a great deal. It keeps the impact force on my ankle at a minimum and certainly has helped with my walking, gardening, etc. I wear them to school as well. Everyone there knows it is important for my ankle. I’ve told everyone I may have to wear this type of shoe the rest of my life or I may have to have fusion if I don’t take good care of my ankle. I also threaten to kick people around if they cause me trouble. This makes people laugh as I am about the last person that would do such a thing.

    Clark, I’ve been watching news about the fire in Yosemite. Since I was just there in that area, along that road, it seems so real to me and so very horrible. Nature can be cruel. I

    Flat foot, Lois, yes, it feels like my foot is flatter and I think it is. This can be part of the “moving “ pain problem, since everything in the foot shifts; joints, muscles, tendons, etc. and so pain results. I’ve been working on strengthening my arch by standing on my toes and I think that has helped a bit.

    RSD Tammy WoW that is so bad. Keep up on the meds to reprogram those bad brain signals. I think that’s what the strategy is, not so?

    Liz, the depression will be further and further away as you walk more and more. Be brave! Dump the walker and/or crutches around the house. Ask Sandra! They become “crutches” really fast. good luck!

    Karen, when all else fails they sometimes try ultrasound. It once helped me a great deal when I had a bad case of tennis elbow that didn’t improve after two cortisone shots. So I hope your progress continues. A month from now things will likely be much better.

    Pam, I only went to therapy 4 times. I realized I could do everything at home in one way or another, plus I was very very highly motivated. I discussed it with the therapist and he agreed and gave me suggestions. I had a great range of motion and so it was not necessary for him to work on that. I felt the cost was too high for the benefits I was obtaining even though it was covered by insurance. That is not to say some people need a lot of therapy. I saw people in therapy that were not doing much on their own and some that really did need the help. My doc said that a lot of ankle “progress” is based on the individual’s ability to do the work that is needed. Look at our athletes. They put in the work and the training and get the results.

    Lois, I Loved the story of the cane fight!! Maybe I’ll go back to getting some humor back in here once I have some time. Ok, everyone, let’s get some humor in here!

    Vacation has kept me busy. I’m sure some of you know what that is about. Houseguests, travel, getting behind on cleaning the house, etc. I think Don is on vacation too. I will be traveling to Michigan and Wisconsin in a week for weddings, etc. so may not post much until end of August.

    I’m sure I missed some posts!

    What ever happened to the person who posted about her son’s horrible accident? Sounds
    like they could use some help and encouragement.

    PS: Fatso Chuck showed up at our back door yesterday and hissed loudly and then barked at me. That’s the first time I heard the language of the wood chuck. He/she still thinks they own the space under the deck.

98. Lois I lost nearly two stone in the first six weeks plus, which included five weeks in hospital, so I put it largely down to rubbish food. However, I have been told by different physios that such rapid weight will also include loss of muscle. I also lost bone density due to immobility. Unfortunately, I put my weight back on – most of it – and again some of that will be muscle. But I definitely need to lose some weight now!

    And Lois, I got into a really chilled space after doing this and spending six months of work (I broke both ankles which slows things down). But it is harder to hang on to that ‘mindfulness’ when back at work.

    Tammy, sorry that you have an additiona problem. It seems that when we injure our ankles, we do more than break our bones. Hope it goes well for you.

    Hi to the rest of you sleepy people out there.

    Sandra

99. Tammy, thanks for your explanation. Yes it did help to clear up my misunderstanding of RSD. Boy, am I sorry that you are suffering from it, and I hope to goodness that I don’t get it. It does not sound the least bit nice. Is it expected to ease off as the ankle etc injury heals itself.???? Would that be the normal progression???

100. Lois~

     Raynauds is different than RSD. Raynauds is an auto-immune disease that causes the small vessels that carry blood to constrict especially during cold weather or especially emotional times they constrict and cause color blanching, numbness and cold.

     RSD is Reflex Sympathetic Dystropy and it is a disorder that develops after trauma to an area. It is nerve condition where Raynaud’s is a blood vessel disorder. Basically the nerves in the area are messed up and send signals and over react to normal sensations. The brain reads these signals as pain.

     Hope that helps to clear it up.
     Tammy