ORIF Surgery - right leg/ankle - general adivce please!
Posted , 9 users are following.
HI,
Been thinking about posting for a while but plaster tech's adviced no searching the web!
Would like to get some hope for the future 
Sorry if this is the same as many other posts!
I broke my ankle/leg on 21st April and was in hospital awaiting surgery in pain most of the time till 30th April.
From then till now I have pretty much been in bed the whole time and only gone to toilet and back. In the first few weeks when I ventured out of the bed room I spent hours recovering from the pain of swelling so have gradually done less and less! I have been on paracetemol and Naproxen for nearly all of this time.
Cast possibly/hopefully to be removed for boot Tuesday 12th June, will there be any light at the end of the tunnel with the boot?
As nice as it should be having people to care and bring breakfast, lucnh etc, I am fed up now and want to repay some of the kindness I have been shown and want to get back to being upright!!
I keen hearing with regards the swelling, keep your foot raised, take ibuprofen/naproxen, drink lots ad wiggle your toes, but none of it seems to make a massive difference!
The bad bit.... I have always been physically strong (not worlds strongest man but can move concrete slabs withough too much issue) but mentally, like a lettuce leaf and wonder if that is the bit that is making it harder, depression etc....
Can anyone turn the lights on ?
1 like, 33 replies
vanessa2018 freddy41742
Posted
Hi Freddy,
How are you and how’s your physio coming along?
I’ve had good news and bad news myself. The good news is that my wrist is doing really well; numbness almost gone and strength almost back to normal but the bad news is that I’m developing a frozen shoulder - for goodness sake - I could cry!!!
It started off as a pain in my shoulder, sort of like toothache and I mentioned this to my physio and he said we’ll keep an eye on it but started to get a bit stiff and now I can’t put my arm behind my back!! I can still lift it above shoulder height thankfully to do my hair but cannot reach behind me to put things in my back pocket!
My physio has given me exercises to do but they are really painful and has said he’ll refer me to the musculoskeletal department in the hospital for further investigation. My GP doesn’t think it’s a frozen shoulder but all the symptoms seem to point in that direction. I have to attend a shoulder exercise class starting on Monday so we’ll see how things go with that. An option was also mentioned about a procedure called hydrodilitation where sterile water is inverted into the shoulder cavity along with a steroid and anaesthetic to stretch the cavity to slow the shoulder to move more freely ??
I’ll just have to wait for an assessment with the musculoskeletal department and see what they suggest! I’m still going back to work in September even if they have to carry me in on a stretcher! Fortunately I can still drive at the moment!
Anyway, I hope you are feeling better and more positive - take care! 😃
freddy41742 vanessa2018
Posted
Hi Vanessa,
As you say good and bad, glad to hear about your wrist but not good about your shoulder.
It really is one of those situations where you don't need further issues whilst recovering from something else especially as bad as your wrist has been.
I hope the physio can work some magic on it, althouh if the exercises are painful that sounds like a struggle. The injections sounds uncomfortable but at the same time surely that is better than surgery would be! lesser of too evils in some way but either way not what you need at the moment.
Do you know how long you will have to wait for the musculoskeletal appointment? hopefully not too long!!
In a much more minor way than your situation I feel lilke I have had good and bad. My ankle is much better and the physio is going well. I have finished with the physio in the pool and am now mocing on to a lower limb sessions that are done in the gym to strengthen more. I can walk around ok but occasionally have to remind myself I don't need to limp and occasionally its sort (especially after whatever she did yesterday) but the soreness is defintaley getting better each day.
I think I am also less stiff as for a while if I sat down for any period with my leg up and then got up to get something I would be bent over and shufflig a bit for the first few steps like have seen people in the 80's and 90's do and I found that a bit difficult to deal with as being 40 but hat semes to be getting better.
I am a little anxious that I can feel one of the screws but am told this is normal and find due to how close it is to the surfance so trying to ignore it, as difficult as that can be!
On the bad side the doctor says I have trigger finger as I went to see him because of pretty bad pain in my left hand and my middle finger difficult to close and open. He said surgery was the only course if bad which I am not keen on but he said there is a steroid injection they can do, which I am also not that keen on I was hoping for some physio.
and then some magic!
The physio had a quick look and said it wasn't too bad so told me some stretches to do so fingers crossed!
Not sure what the weather is like with you but it has certainly got cooler which is much easier to deal with
I hope you are fine for return to work and the stretcher isn't required
I have been back a few weeks and am already back into the feeling of madness that I left 4 months ago but at the same time it is nice to be back part of something, especially when I think back to how bad I was when I was spending the days staring at the cieling! Nice to be doing something more productive!!
I too am driving around a lot more now which as you say is good so really hoing you return to work fine and enjoy it!!
I hope you have an excellent weekend!!
Regards
vanessa2018 freddy41742
Posted
Hi Freddy,
Glad to hear that your making good progress but sorry to hear about your finger - it seems that one thing always leads to another! My father-in-law suffers with a trigger finger where it locks into place and is painful - he’s also suffered with a frozen shoulder also so understands what I am going through. He had a steroid injection to help with his shoulder and found it very beneficial so that may be an option for my as my gp is willing to do this.
I’m still waiting for an appointment with the musculoskeletal department and am attending a shoulder exercise class following physio at my local hospital. At 44 I’m the youngest person there but at least I get to meet people in a similar situation. I’m trying my hardest to not let my shoulder problems defeat me and to keep moving- on the plus side my broken wrist is much better though to the point where I forget sometimes that I broke it!
Glad to hear that you’ve settled back into work - I’ve also returned this week for mornings only at the moment to ease myself back in and have been really busy. Like you said it’s nice to be part of something again and to feel useful. I am finding that my neck is aching now as I am sitting at a computer most of the time but this disappears by the evening - I’m sure I’ll get back into the swing of things soon.
Hope the physio improves your finger and let me know if you have a steroid injection as I will be interested in hearing if it has helped you in any way!
Take care 😀