5 weeks after ORIF

I dislocated and fractured (Bimalleolar) my right ankle on Nov 15th 2014, just walking the dog! slipped on a steep path in a local park.Like you i heard the pop of dislocation and realised by the wierd angle of my foot something was very wrong.I had no battery on my mobile so the guy i was chatting to at the time of break called an ambulance, thankfully a first aider was there and he called my husband.

My dog is rather bouncy and large, so wanted her looked after so i could sit and assess the damage.Yep definately broken/fractured whatever the term , not good.

The ambulance took nearly three hours to arrive!! and i was more calm than everyone else around me (who were furious).Especially as we are 2 mins by car away from a hospital.Unfortunately the steep slope of the hill i was on made it impossible to move without excutiating pain.....and not once did i think it was going to take so long for an ambulance.Otherwise i would have got there myself.

By the time the ambulance ladies got to me they both said 'oh it's broken and dislocated, how are you not screaming your head off', honestly by that time most of it was numb.......they looked worried as they had trouble finding a pulse and when they did it was faint!!

Ok now i was worried, finally got me drugged up with something and moved me down the hill, only for the ambulance to be stuck in the mud at the bottom.One of my rescuers had a landrover in the car park and winched us out!!!

They asked me 'if you don't mind the noise we shall put the sirens on as we have taken too long'.They put an air cast on my leg to support my ankle , which sprung a leak mid journey by then i had been pumped with so much morphine i did'nt really care.

I had emergency orif surgery early the next morning and have a rod and screws in the inside ankle and a plate and screws on the out side, at my two week check up my ankle had to be realighned!!no painkillers.I have to say the most painful experience of all.

four weeks after that cast off, 6 weeks in a black air boot, and crutches got rid of boot and just started gradually putting weight on, it is gradual and patience is a  must.

i am now back at work 3 days a week, , but find my foot swells by about 2pm so i elevate and stick a bag of peas on it.....work have been very good.

i have pretty good mobility in the ankle except for the dorsal flex which is good enough to walk but not flexible at all.Mornings i still have to use a crutch for the first half hour of movement very stiff , but some mornings its fine.

unfortunately i have some nerve damage i have numbness on the inside of my right knee several of my toes i cannot feel and over the right side of my ankle. Some pain also in my knee, but this could be from muscle wastage.i have been told i may or may not get the feeling back in these areas!

I have my last check up at the hospital by fracture clinic next monday when i assume i get x rayed again and discharged.Also the nerve damage will be assessed then.

It's been a long old journey, and still a ways to go.....trust your body and what it tells you you can and can't do.For me i have found some of the mental sides effects of this harder to deal with.

Firstly getting over my fear of needles, so i could inject myself with blood thinner every day for six weeks!, the boredom and feeling of helplessness in those first 6 weeks.Letting go of the guilt, of letting work mates down during a very busy period.And acceptance of a far from normal working ankle, disapointment at how long theses thing take and accepting it.

I to have got a balance board and stretch bands and incorporate thenm in my daily exercises.I can support my weight on my right foot alone , but if iwere to let go of the wall my balance is awful, so i work on balancing.Going up on tip toe i can do well with both feet on the ground , but switching to one still needs work.I cannot walk to work but can manage a day at work!, so am working on extending my walking time.

I have overcome my fear of taking my dog out for a walk, and although she is big and strong and will pull if she see's another dog,i find ways of doing short quiet walks acouple of times a day! These will increase as i get stronger.

I hope everyone here heals well, and learnes a little something from their own individual experience..... in the time i sat at home i took up a new craft and got inspired!

My very best well wishes to you all. 

Still obsessive 're exercise and do approx an hour a day every day and still go for physiotherapy sessions twice a week.

Very quickly forget the pain and lack of mobility from a few months ago.

Beginning to get back into sport slowly.

Hope everyone else is recovering well.

Glad you're doing very well now. 

I fell down 4 weeks ago and had bimalleolar fractures on my right leg. I had surgery 3 days later and am currently non weight bearing. Still have 2 more weeks to go before i can walk (not sure protected or not). I'm just hoping I can make it in time for the UK (i'm going to start uni in Sept) 

Trying to stay positive but it's tough... hopefully i can get well soon. 

I do some simple ROM exercises for my right ankle when i remove my splint to go to bed at night... 

I am 5 weeks post orif.

In air boot.

I find it to be uncomfortable and makes my foot swell.

Too tight? When I lossen it my foot bangs around in it....not good

Any words of wisdom?

I have not been sleeping with it.

Dr. said I did not need to, but my ankle will let me know if I need to. Conformable while sleeping.

Thank you...

MYRA6972

How interesting to see this discussion, 2 days out of the plastercast and 6 weeks after a bimalleolar fracture of the right ankle treated with an ORIF plate and six screws.

And how very humbling to realise that despite all my worries, I seem to be in slightly better shape than some of the other people here...

I found the Zimmer frame very hard going- pain in the left Achilles' tendon (but I'd been warned to place no weight whatsoever onto the right leg), and find the elbow-crutches I was issued when the cast was removed much more easy to walk with. Haven't been given a boot, and (so far at least) there's no swelling; there again, I have to wear compression stockings cos of a pre-existing heart condition, so perhaps they're helping to keep it down.

Now that the cast is off, I have some pain when I walk, and after, but I suppose that, while the bones are properly set (confirmed by an X-ray after the cast came off) there are still ligaments to mend, just as if this were an ordinary sprain.

I came on here to ask how long this is likely to continue, but after reading the thread I can see that everyone 's different!

One thing I have learnt from everyone's accounts is how useful physio exercises can be. I shall chase the hospital straight away, tomorrow morning, rather than waiting for them to contact me- hope the NHS queue isn't too long!

Thank you so much! Nice to feel one's not alone in all this.

hello I fell over and broke my left ankle which resulted in me needing a emergency operation the next day,had plate screws and pins. I'm 5 weeks into operation,I have a cast,my last appointment I was 4 weeks 4 days after my op,my consultant gave me a cast shoe to start weight bearing in house,I've been doing small.steps around house with zimmer ,I tried 1 step today, found it quite difficult,he said I will have the cast removed next appointment if all is well,im.thinking I should have a boot then, my ankle swells up in night sometimes, just hoping i will be able to handle the steps better without cast as its so bulky,had enough of injecting twice a day in stomach,hope everyone is ok,I work in a factory standing for 8 hours not sure if I'm gonna able to do that amount of standing for that long when I eventually do return. Hope everyone is OK and healing.