Still can't walk without pain after 11 weeks

I have decided anything to do with the ankle takes forever.

Hi Sorry to hedar you are suffering too. I am now 3 months since I damaged my foot and ankle and am still not able to even walk around the house without pain and difficulty. I can manage the supermarket shop but am in considerable pain after 5 or 10 minutes. I saw my physio today who agreed that I should have made some progress by now so she has referred me back to the hospital for an MRI scan to see what is happening. I have an appointment on Friday so will see what the consultant says. I am amazed at how much damage can be  caused simply by being knocked over by my dog!

Glad to hear you're getting an MRI.  Definitely a good idea.  Hope they find out what is causing this long healing process.  I know too well about dogs.  Many years I partially tore my ACL by being thrown off balance walking my dog!!  Ron

I also know about dogs,but being a postman it's usually about getting chased and bitten by them.A little old lady once said to me 'come in son my dog won't bite you' I said 'I would rather your dog would tell me that not you'.😀😀

Chris, what is it with dog's and mailmen? I have two little dogs that love everyone except the mailman. I always say a burglar could come in and they would lick them to death, but they get down right nasty when the mailman gets close.

My doctor told me that long after my bones have healed, the soft tissue damage will continue to plague me. I hope that is all it is, it would be terrible to find out something else was wrong after 3 months. Please let us know what you find out. Praying for good news.

Exactly,Apparently when the mailman/postman goes to there door they bark and go nuts so they think they have chased him away as he leaves.I have come across dogs that go mad behind the letterbox but have seen the same dogs out with their owner away from the house and they are fine.Its a territorial thing. It's the small dogs you have to look out for.

I think it unlikely that I will be given the MRI on Friday but hopefully the consultant will agree to one. I damaged some ligaments on the top of my foot last year (my lovely dog again!) and they took 3 months to stop hurting but the difference was that I was seeing an improvement week on week. With this injury I have made no improvement for at least 7 weeks. I will post agin after my appointment on Friday. Thanks to all for the good wishes.

When I was a kid, I had a paper route and everyday this same little dog would chase me down the street biting my heels. So, I understand.

As a kid it was seen as fun,but a different story now. Couldn't run now with this injury.And the dogs people have now seem to be more vicious and bigger.We have little posting pegs for pushing the letters through the letterbox,Where you have mailboxes am I right.

Ours are either by the road or on our houses. Our mailmen carry pepper spray and will use it if a dog gets close to them.

We could do with that over here,We got a battery operated device called a dog dazzer,it emits a high frequency signal which is supposed to stop a dog from attacking you.It says on the instructions that it works best at a distance of 2 metres.😀😀That's too close to find out it doesn't work. Better throwing it at the dog.

We could do with that,We don't go into the property if we feel threatened.

Interesting why some posts get 'moderated'.  If you click on the 'Why?" up in that post, it gives some interesting reasons.  Even a period placed in the wrong position can trigger it.

Strange it sort of kills the conversation when it happens.

I have just got back from the meeting with the consultant after waiting nearly 2 hours whilst other people coming after me went in! It was not successful! He was very patronising, just skimmed the letter from my physio and said I didn't need an MRI. He seemed to think I had previously been referred for NHS physio. He was very dismissive saying that these things took time and didn't seemed to think that nearly 7 weeks with no improvement was a problem. In fact he said that as I was out of the air boot that was an improvement! I got really annoyed with him especially as I learned from a nurse that the consulatnts see who they want to see first irrespective of the time of the appointment! The only thing I got out of it was a referral for NHS physio but told that it wouldn't be every week just so I could be taught exercises to strenthen the muscles. I pointed out that my physio had tested the muscles and said they were very strong! I was nearly in tears when I left with the sheer frustration of it all. If finance was not an issue I would go and see a private consultant and I am still pondering whether to go and have a private MRI. I will have a chat with my physio and see what she says. He said that I can't harm the ankle by walking on it so I guess I will have to get some painkillers from my GP so I am able to walk the dog as I can tell my neighbour is getting a little weary of walking her for me after 3 months. Hr also said that it could be another 3 months before it improves!  I am so cross that I have wasted 7 weeks thinking that hot and cold baths for the foot and having my leg up most of the day was helping my recovery. I will report back after I have spoken to my physio.

Oh geez, I am so sorry to hear about your bad experience with the NHS.  I must tell you, I lived in London for nearly 10 years and I remember the first time I visited an NHS doctor.  He was sitting at his desk in a grotty office with peeling wallpaper, smoking a cigarette!!  Yes, private care is a better way to go but that's neither here nor there at the moment, as it may very well be prohibitively expensive.  So we do what we have to do.  So if I understand correctly, he's refusing permission for an MRI?

Manic at, I am so sorry this is happening to you. I am learning a lot about differences between doctors in the US and UK. Doctors here don't hesitate to order MRI's or to have you go to PT 3 times a week. However, they also get $300 a visit. Our doctors are very expensive. My injury is covered under workman's comp, but when I scheduled my first visit they hadn't approved it yet and they were quick to tell me that if it wasn't approved by the time I got there I would have to pay $300 up front. Medical services here are so expensive that people file bankruptcy on medical bills just to save their homes. Guess there are good and bad on both sides.

Our NHS here is usually very good and my GP is brilliant so my experience today is unusual. In fact we are really lucky here with our GP practice which is pretty near perfect. I can't help wondering whether if I had been working or had a young family, I would have had better treatment.  Who knows. I will report back when I have heard from my physio and seen my GP>

Thank you for your kind wishes. Our NHS is usually very good and this is quite unusual in my experience. Our advantage iover the US is that we have a choice as to whether to use the NHS or go privately. I had private medical insurance when I was working and had quite a bit of private treatment then when the NHS waiting lists were too long. Things have improved now particularly if something serious is indicated when you have to be referred by your GP to be seen by a consultant within 2 weeks and this seems to be working well. I think I probably just had the misfortune to have an arrogant consultant this time.

What happens if you don't have any insurance in place if you get an injury? The service we get on the NHS is very good considering the monies it takes to run health system.

That is really good that you have a choice. It sounds like you just got a doctor that didn't care, unfortunately. Can you request another one?

If you don't have insurance you pay upfront for doctors and hospitals do the minimum and set you up on a payment plan, if you miss a payment they take you to court. NHS sounds much better.

It really is a good system even though it has its problems regarding funding and staffing shortages,If we had to pay for our medical problems then people might think twice about running to the Doctors with minor ailments.A pill for every ill.I wouldn't like to see the minimum being done for our type of injury.We would be in worse shape than we are now.

Chris, I do have very good private medical insurance here (New York City) which is paying for 95% of my treatment but to show you the difference, my total bill (just so far) for my broken ankle is around $35,000 (around 24,000 British pounds).  So you can see the enormous costs we have here.  It's just unbelievable.  Ron

I know that is big bucks and there is some injuries that will be substantially more than ours.You can see why hospitals in the US run after you with those sort of figures.We complain but the complaints would be even worse if we where paying those sort of amounts you are talking about.