broken ankle update..
Wooohoo.. so it’s been three days that I’ve been dealing with this broken ankle now. I can’t believe it’s only been three days, it honestly feels like forever. I’m learning how to do things all over again, since apparently this world isn’t really designed for people with one leg and two arms operating crutches. Simple things like.. um, carrying things. My friend Alex told me that her sister had devised a “magic basket” filled with everything that she needed as she hobbled around during her period of one-footedness. In it were her medication, water, chapstick, and a phone.
So, I’ve turned my circa 1999 manpurse into my magic basket… And, as a bonus, I found my chinese chop, which was lost for the past year!! I remember exactly how I lost it last year… I kept the chop at my office at CNET, and when I was moving my stuff out, I wanted to make sure to put it somewhere “safe” since it was really important to me not to lose it. So, in the manbag it went… and there it stayed for the past year. ha. It’s crazy how it’s impossible to find stuff when you’re actually looking for it.
Anyway… Percocet has been a fantastic help in dealing with the pain. It’s much nicer than Vicodin, I think… I find that Percocet seems to just deal with the pain in my ankle, whereas Vicodin seems to dull *everything*. I mean, yes, Percocet also makes you kind of dizzy and happy all over, but it doesn’t seem as dumbing as Vicodin. But yah.. Percocet is good stuff man. I can totally see why this is like schedule 2 narcotics. Wee.
April 13th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
sorry about the injury, dennis! hope it heals soon .. and in the meantime enjoy the percocet and chill time!
April 29th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
hey man….justbroke my ankle on a hike in the woods – it was on top of a mountain ridge and i had to be choppered out in a sling – took them 3 hours to get to me….pain was too f….in intense. came out of surgery yesterday – 6 screw and one plate. still hurts like hell! hope uou recover real soon!!
art the gimp!
September 18th, 2006 at 9:18 am
hey dennis, i broke my ankle bout 8wks ago whilst on a boating holiday, had to be ferried down to the ambulance on a wooden plank on the back of someone elses boat.. my foot looking something like the scene out of the film (misery). one op, one plate and eight pins later im now well on the way to walking normally.
hope your recovery is swift, enjoy the spaced out feeling from meds!!
November 4th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Hi Dennis-
I had a very similar injury this past June. I’ve been left with a plate and screws and actually dislocated by foot as well. Wondered how your recovery is coming along and if have any advice and/or tips about dealing with drs, rehab, etc. Getting ready to go back to work soon and could use a little encouragement.
Best of luck! Thanks!
August 10th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Hello! I hv recently fractured my ankle very badly. I had surgery to reset things & insert pins & some metal. I am on the 16th day of recovery. Had a soft cast for first 11 days & now hv aircast. Still can’t put weight on injured ankle & due 2 hv followup in 15 days or so. I am very very sad about the situation because I am so umcomfortable, hv swelling and sparatic cramping in foot & calf. It is very difficult 4 me 2 fall & stay asleep bcuz the aircast feels heavy on my ankle, there4 elevation is not comfortable. I am most relieved when standing up or either in a sitting position. I am unable 2 really go ne where bcuz the bus stop is up a hill. I am a wife & my house looks horrible bcuz it Hurts, & Takes Up A Lot Of energy 2 try 2 do stuff on crutches. My husband is so use 2 me being inddependent that he doesn’t believe that my pain or discomfort is that bad and he often ignores my requests for help. I basically need help with everything. I just need some words of encouragement from sum1 who understands. Tks
September 27th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Dennis,
Welcome to the club. It gets better, but watch the Percocet. Schedule II’s are Schedule II’s for a reason, and fighting an addiction is more painful than a broken ankle, so I’ve beent told.
Broke my right ankle with a TriMallealor fracture 18 months ago, actully broke 5 bones; outside and inside Fib and Tib,Malleali, Tibia, Fibula and Talus. Walking dogs up at the lake, slipped on a small rock and rotated inward, and fell down. Heard all the crunching, breaking, etc…. but never felt any pain, thank God, That was the only break I got. Took me awhile to crabcrawl to my truck, but other dog walkers arrived before I got there and called a rescure unit, Off to the ER for XRay, then Fentenyl for relocation, then out for surgery. Doc said the next morning that it probably would not turn out so great. Didn’t, but 3 operations total with hardware added each time finally left no choice but to fuse the ankle with the fourth operation.
Now fused, 6 months post op, a Norco 10 (1000 mgs Hydrochodone) in the AM and in the PM. a brace and a cane, and that’s it. Had to sell my high performance car, could no longer shift it anymore, right foot is dead, no feeling, no movement. The fusion was by far the most pain I’ve ever felt in the over 20 operations I’ve had (retired poiice, many on the job injuries, knees finally retired me). Had plates right and left, and one up the back, next to my Tib underneath my Achilles Tendon and calf. Ouch. That was the third op and second most painful.
So cheer up. It will get better, and hopefully you will make a complete recvery. But get off the Perks ASAP.
Lucky for me I don’t have an addictive metabolism, otherwise would have been fried long ago,
Take care, Cheer up. Do the work, Stretch the toes, stress the muscles, raise the leg, ice it down, pull on the rubber leg band when the PT gives it too you. It will get better.
Take care.
Hoppie
November 15th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I broke my Tibia and Fibula while vacationing in Cancun almost 3 weeks ago. Had the bones set there and opted for the surgery here in the US. It was the most frightening experience of my life breaking my bones in a foreign country where my insurance doesn’t work and English isn’t the language spoken. A plate and 8 screws later, Im in a cast and patiently recovering from this immobilizing injury.
I have now coped with the fact that I have to depend on other people. I’m now able to do more things on my own (thank God) like put my own pants on, brush my teeth and go to the kitchen for food although it takes alot of energy to do. I still have swelling when I get up to do these things. The wheelchair definitely helps! I was depressed into the 2nd week and I’ve snapped out of it and opted for the positive approach which is take care of myself by eating more nutritious food, exercising my leg to get blood flow, taking vitamins etc. I go back to the doctor on Wednesday and I hope to get out of this cast and into the removable boot. Goodluck to everyone and I hope all of you fast recovery.