Day 49 and Counting

I too have found my life turned upside down, as most of us have, so I know what you are going through. I'm only 42 but have always been up and about. I retired several years ago from my job, restaurant management, but still maintain my house and yard as my husband works away from home. I also take care of 3 of my grandchildren 5-6 days a week, a 2 year old and 2 infants. I opened my door on 2/8 to let my dogs outside and and the next thing I heard a loud crack, felt severe pain and was on my rear end. My dogs just stood there staring at me. I was almost certain I had broken it and a trip to the ER confirmed it. A break of my medial malleolus, posterior malleolus, fibula and widening of the syndesmosis. Yep...I had to have surgery. A small blessing is that my daughter and her husband are transitioning to a new town and decided not to renew their lease, but instead move in with me while they shopped for their new home in another city. It's been a Godsend that she is here to help take care of me. Her daughter is one of the babies I usually care for while they work, but her boss has given her time off to stay home with me and my other daughter is paying her to watch her babies (the other infant and 2 year old). I think the worst part of it is sitting her feeling useless, wanting to get up and do the things I know need to be done. I'm an avid gardener and as Spring is starting to peek out here in Texas, I am stuck inside on the couch unable to do anything. I had surgery on 2/15 and everything is looking good. Doc wants to do another surgery in a few weeks to remove the screw and pins and I'm hoping that everything has healed well and I can start bearing some weight on it. Keep your head up!! We are all here to go through this with you. I'm impressed that you were able to keep your boot on 24/7 after surgery. I usually can only take a few hours of that monstrosity before I have to take it off and give my incisions a rest. The pain is terrible for me when I have it on and propped up.

I am at day 89 and back to work full time. Just started full weight bearing in shoes 2 weeks ago and back to work one week ago. Was doing great but it gets hard back at work. When you are full eight bearing in shoes there will be swelling, may last for weeks or months, my dr says. It makes it uncomfortable to downright painful by the end of my shift. Be prepared for that, he didn’t tell me until I called concerned. Keep it up as much as possible, keep going to PT and ice it every night after work. It’s a long process.