Ankle surgery repair

Hi, Linda ..... A great place to start thanks for those tips....going to get a stretchy band today. I walked without my scooter for a bit yesterday really taking it slow didn't know how much of a mental game as well as a physical one this would be. Fear of doing too much or not enough is tough to figure out without PT but I am giving it all a try Thanks!

Great info on exercises Linda! What type of stretchy band did you get?

Hoorah, hoorah!  Today is my very last day (hopefully ever!) of sitting in the tub to take a shower (I shower every other day during this recuperation). Beginning Saturday morning, I finally STAND to take a shower.  And Saturday evening, I finally, FINALLY will sleep in my bed again--after nine weeks of sleeping on the damn sofa! 

Yippee!!! You have waited so long for this! So happy for you!!!! Let us know how it all goes. I knew you would stand fully soon! It is weird how one day you can just stand there unassisted, and you wonder how it happened that day....but it does...finally!!!! 

Patti, I must say, you get five gold stars for your 'cheerleading' posts.  You are always very positive and encouraging with everyone.  I'm sure everyone else feels the same.  Kudos to you, gal!!!

Ron....That is awesome news its those little milestones in healing that really help onward and upward!...

I got it from the PT.  They are just strips of soft rubber, they come in different colors.  Mine is yellow ( the weakest one).  I would think you could call any PT and they'd give it to you or charge very little for it.

You are very sweet Ron. It is such a wonderful group of people here on this site, with you included!  It is a pleasure to be part of it. I appreciate the way everyone is so supportive to each other and it really has made a difference for me. I have learned so much too. How was your walking today? I bet you are getting stronger every day. 

Thank you very much Linda. I didn't realize the bands were color coded by strength. Great to know. I am hoping I will get the okay to start PT at the end of next week and right now I am just trying to gather as much info as possible re. the next step. Appreciate the info!

Think I overdid it a little walking.  Discomfort in one part of the foot.  I had sort of wishfully thought that once I graduated to full WB things would be pretty much a breeze from that point on.  But I think this getting back to normal is going to take longer than I had hoped.  

Me too! The top of my foot was sizzling last night before I went to bed and I was wondering if you were going through pain too, knowing you would have pushed as well. I think the problem may be caused partially from being up on it for too long in the boot, without taking a break to let it breathe and elevate. What do you think? I have noticed the best seems to be to walk, then to put it up and ice it, and repeat that throughout the day. Does that work best for you? I feel no pain, no gain (to an extent)...but am trying to get the right formula, so it's not too painful in the evening. Yesterday I had a bunch of meetings and went almost all day sitting, standing and walking in the boot, without taking it off or putting the leg up to rest in between. Paid for it last night! I guess we are both still learning how much to push and what we can do.. What part of the foot was hurting for you, that side with the screw? Does anything else hurt? Why does it take up to a year to get rid of this darn swelling? Seems like the tissues should heal faster than that. Guess our systems are still working overtime to fix everything we tweaked in there and we have to give them a break now and then to do their stuff.

Sad about Prince dying. I had some friends who met him at the Warriors game recently. I saw him in Las Vegas a few years back and it was the loudest concert I had ever been to, and my whole group's ears rang for two days after, but it was a great concert! Sounds like he may have had an overdose on Percocet possibly, due to a hip problem he had. I guess that stuff is seriously strong! I know he had a diamond studded cane at the Warriors game according to my friends...he did rehab in style! But I guess he may have pushed too much with his concerts...sad.

Patti, I was trying to find your original post but couldn't using the Search Patient feature using your patti123.  I was trying to remember your original injury.  Not only something broken but torn tendons, correct?  I'm now thinking that the bone part is the easy part to heal.  It's the tendons that take so damned long.  I was going down my spiral stairs yesterday and coming back up knew that I was placing too much weight on the foot but had to get back up (now I realize I have to come back up backwards because of the nature of the staircase).  I hope I didn't do any lasting damage but now I realize why they want you to take it gradually.  Those torn/damaged tendons are just going to take their sweet time in healing.  So the idea of 'no pain no gain' may not be the best advice here.  I'm speaking for myself, too, of course.  

I really thought the getting to 100% WB was going to sort of be the beginning of the end.  But now don't think so.  Depressed again.  I see this dragging out for months.

It is hard to know how much damage I had, because I had the operation while on vacation while out of state,  and only saw the surgeon in the ER the late afternoon before the surgery, and one day later when I went to his office and he looked at the incision. At that point I was still trying to understand what bones I had even broken in there, since I had the surgery the morning after my injury and had stayed overnight in the hospital, and was hopped up on morphine and couldn't get to a computer to know what exactly i had even done to myself. I found out later I had a trimalleolar break....all three bones, and they put one plate in, and 13 screws. I have the longer incision up the left outer leg for the plate and two other small incisions, that now look like super small cuts. One of those was on the top of my ankle and one on the inner side of my ankle. I think the top of my foot pain may be from the impact or from the top incision work (or maybe it's just all the fluid from the breaks causing pain there). Since I asked my doctor here to read the surgicial notes he got from the surgeon re. whether I hurt the syndesmosis, because you had mentioned that to me, he just said "no", that I didn't. Then I asked him if I shattered the bones or just broke them and he said he couldn't tell from my x-rays. I never heard the surgeon say anything when I talked to him in the ER, except that I had broken 3 bones, due to the strong twisting impact during my fall, so i assume they were clean breaks and have no idea about tendons. I really need to book a call with the surgeon and I haven't done that yet. He would be the only one who could answer these questions.

Thanks for reminding me. I really need to do that.

 

Thanks for refreshing my memory re your injury.  I think with such an injury as yours (and mine as well) it's more likely than not that some tendons were damaged.  And I'm beginning to think that is what causes the long recuperation, not the bones.  My PT guy this morning also told me that the screws themselves could cause some discomfort until they have totally 'knitted' into the bone.  But certainly take it easy for if it is tendon damage, you don't want to tax them.  And sorry for the complaining earlier; I think I didn't do any damage and just overdid it for one day.  Just some days I'm so damned impatient and as a result focus on it too much.

No worries ever about complaining. I do it too and it makes everyone feel so much better to share pain and achievements. As you can see, I write, and too much for sure, to vent. As far as the "no pain, no gain", I meant more about the muscles, sorry...not the tendons. You are totally right. We need to be careful of the tendons. You are very good about evaluating and breaking down the parts of the problem, and it has been so helpful to me to have someone at the very same stage, going through this at the same time!  How bad are your tendonns feelling right now? Have you been icing them a lot? I hadn't thought that much about those. That must be what is aching me too. I think your screw must be causing some issues as well, since they want to take it out. As others have said it is good to let pain be our guide. A little must be okay so we can move forward though, right?. It is that balance that is really hard to figure out. And I am so sorry about your stairs too. What a bummer. Everyone here has written that stairs are the hardest..don't be down about that. Really...I think sofas are way more comfortable than beds btw! But I know that was a big goal of yours. What about the knee pads so you can go up and down for the time being? They are cheap on Amazon and will be great for your leg muscles, right?

I just looked for the first time at my weight for curiousity reasons, now that I can stand, since the trainer kept asking me. I was afraid to look. I found out I lost four pounds, just as he had guesssed. I thought I might have gainerd a few. I think that was all muscle, since I can't imagine this lack of movement has made me lose any other weight.  Have you been able to check yet? It's hard to know until you can stand though.

Sorry for the typos. My computer keyboard is delaying for some reason this am. Need to reboot. 

Could you refresh me re. your break Ron? What was the syndesmosis damage? And besides that you broke one or two ankle bones? I did want to tell you I could not have climbed, and pushed gently off two feet on my behind going up stairs last week, without total pain from the injured leg, and this week I can. I am not sure how the syndesmosis works into this though. 

Patti, I broke my fibula and injured the syndesmosis, that small area between the fib and the tib.  When I fell, it pulled that apart.  It's very common with a broken bone in the ankle.  The screw pulls the two bones back to their proper place and holds them there as the syndesmosis heals. Otherwise, there would always be a problem there.  Also damaged some other tendons but none that required surgical intervention.  I'm attaching that xray again just to refresh your memory.