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One week post surgery, excruciating pain - what's normal?

Posted , 11 users are following.

natasha23931
natasha23931

Hi everyone! First time poster here, decided to sign up and ask the experts since I couldn't find any answers online.

I broke/shattered my fibula twisting my ankle a week ago. I had surgery to put in a metal plate and screws and was sent home 4 days later with pain medication that really isn't doing the trick. I was in pain after surgery but it was manageable. Then one day post-op they changed the cast. I had told the nurses it was starting to hurt for hours and no one brought me pain medication. Then I told the doctor who took me down to the fracture clinic. Then the woman who cut the bulky cast off. Then the one who wrenched my foot to a right angle with me screaming and crying the whole time. That night was terrible. It took an hour for them to get someone to prescribe me oral morphine, which didn't work. A doctor upped my dosage finally and then the new night nurse said it wasn't on the system and left me with no more pain killers, returning to the former mild dosage every 2 hours. Then finally, after 7 hours of extreme pain (I was even biting my fist or the blanket), they found someone free to give me I.V. morphine. The next morning my surgeon came to see me and apologised, saying they shouldn't have done it without pain killers. But I said I felt like there was something wrong. The pain in my ankle (where it was broken) had been extreme since that incident. It still is days later.

i know it should hurt due to the injury, but is this normal:

1. My little toe is completely dead, I can't move it on it's own. It moves with the other toe like it is glued there, but if I hold the others it won't move.

2. From my little toe to my ankle has pins and needles.

3. When I stand upright to use my crutches and the blood rushes to my foot, it feels like it is on fire and gets so heavy like it will fall off. 

4. Again, at the same time, where the surgery was, there is this "pinching" sharp pain in my ankle.

is this all totally normal? Is it possibly a problem with the cast? With the surgery? I am going to call them on Monday but it is the weekend and I am a little worried.

thanks and happy healing!

1 like, 20 replies

20 Replies

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  • julie54682
    julie54682 natasha23931

    Posted

        Thank you for listening to me and truly caring. I have been lost since this last accident. I have been to many physicians with all telling me I have severe PTSD. Sadly, I thought it's when victims constantly recall their nightmare event; reliving and replaying the "Auto Accident" over and over again. Or constantly dwelling on their "Attack from the Attacker,s". 

        Never realizing what PTSD really is, how deeply patients suffering from continuous pain will cause ill effects, and expecially how badly the medial community has on a persons healing process when they feel neglected, ignored, uncared for, or made to suffer with unimaginable pain because of "Patient Profiling"?

       Even if I did have some kind of "Breakdown" or severely traumatized in the second accident, (which I am sure happened) however, not once did any medical staff help aid me as I so desperately cried about my first accident, sobbing for my daughters, realizing what's in-store for me. That night after the motorcycle accident; I knew what I was about to suffer with. I remembered memories that where so vivid, so hard, so painful, they had been forgotten and burried. In fact, I was quite proud of what I had suffered from. went through, and how me and my little girls had survived. And then, fear hit me, my fouryr old daughters screams for mommy; her skull busted open, blood pouring out of her ear, and the side of her face bruising and swollen as I can just barely see her in some strangers arms. I'm trying to talk and I can't. I can't see my baby and I start to fear the worse. Next were at a hospital and my 4yr old has to be air lifted to better hospital; telling me prepare for the worse. My sister walks in holding my traumatized baby. Later I was transported to the same hospital as my 4yr old. It was the worse pain I had ever had in my life; but again, my pain was controlled.

       26 yrs later I am right back in the same place and this time "I am not liked" "The hospital staff watched me suffer in Pain".  I am so trying (needing) the nursing staff to hear my every detail; I could not stop those memories I had burried so many years earlier and I have paid for it ever since. So many doctor's telling me to "Move on", "That's what woman get when riding on back of motorcycles without helmet". Looked down on for being single? welfare? I was even told by the doctor when asking for a handicap plate, "Julie, you can walk". I couldn't understand thinking maybe he is right. Then last winter I realized why many older women were telling me to get a sticker so I won't fall in any parking lot. I am telling the truth. And now I am severely traumatized from not the accidents themselves but my painful experiences I have endured and suffered. 

       So now I have had to stop making house payments, take my pitiful 700 hundred month disibility check to pay for my medical needs. Two severe auto accidents caused by the negligence of uninsured drivers and "Attorney Commericals" I received nothing. Well, shattered pelvis with metal plate and screw holding me together for life. Broken neck, 5 broken left ribs, 5 holes in left lung, infections, traction, blood transfusion (1987), jaw re-wired and braces, broken tail bone, two scared little girls, forced to stop my divorce because I needed help. 26 yrs later it all happened again, this time I had no husband to help me, no support to care for me, and a head injury that kicked my butt.  I have owned my home for over a decade never missed a payment, even sunk money into it and now I gotta walk away from a 80 thousand dollar home, I owed 40 grand and it was sold at a auction for 15 thousand dollars. 

       The guys that bought were stopping by asking me when I would leave. Even took me to court trying to evict me. You would think I could come up with 15 grand to buy my house back but because of this last accident and my injuries no one will loan me money. Even my auto insurance stuck over 10 grand modifying my home last year because the ocupational therapist I was seeing at the time (vertigo, arthritis, unable to walk without falling) had made y auto insurance revamp my home installing a new handicap toilet, wall mounted wooden shower seat, hadicap grab bars throughout my home, new hand railing, building and installing over hanging awnings at every outside door way, furnished brand new oven with automatic timers, smoothed out all my flooring, repaired wiring. My kids widened all my doorways, opened up my bedroom, closets, and hadicap outdoor stairs. More work was approved when one of my doctors answered my insurance company "Wrong"? and the insurance then cancelled all my benefits stating that my doctor said I have healed and he encourages me to do more? (still haven't seen that) My doctor claims that is taken out of content. My vertigo is so bad that I have vomited several times at our local market. I just don't go anywhere and truly rely on help. And many people try to help me "Christains for free" sadly they can't afford to do extra for themselves and they definitely can't afford to pay my way. Sorry,,, Sincerely, Julie                                                                                                          

  • julie54682
    julie54682 natasha23931

    Posted

    I just can't get over this heavy fog I have been living in. Just when I though some of my fog was lifting it is now back and it's raining, snowing, and I am drowning. My family won't speak to me? Thinking I was awarded all this money, (was not) or I messed up by not suing? You can't sue in a No-Fault state when an uninsured person injures you. Motorcycles do not have to carry medical insurance in MI... Just because you have full coverage won't cover Medical for you or your passengers. This I know. My auto insurance coverage was the lowest anyone can carry when injured from an uninsured driver. It is up the your own personal self to make sure you are covererd when in an accident, especally in a No fault state.  These are just pics from my second accident. My first are all internally, traction, tubes, and lots of rehab... Julie
    • daphne23784
      daphne23784 julie54682

      Posted

      Hi julie. I know life seems so unfair and that no one cares for you, but I know the Lord not only cares for you but also loves you. If you call on him he will change your life and help you through your circumstances and you definitely won't feel alone ever again. I gave my life to the Lord and he has blessed me and changed my life so much. Put all your cares in his hands and see how great he is. If you don't belong to a church why not get into contact with a pastor from a church near you and ask him to come and see you and ask for guidance. I will keep you in my prayers. X
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