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Tri-malleolar fracture surgery issue

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vijay92418
vijay92418

I slipped and fell on the driveway on a snowy day on Jan 8th and broke my ankle. I went to the local hospital and was operated on the same day. Later after three weeks, the doctor told me that the fibula is not aligned on the lower end (5 mm instead of less than 1 mm gap between tibia and fibula) and he wanted to perform another procedure by putting a rod thru fibula  (thru the third screw on the plate that was put in during the first surgery) and tibia to fix the problem. I later found out from another surgeon who first requested me to get a CT scan done and upon reading the results on the CT scan the surgeon mentioned that this case is more complicated and will need to undo the first surgery to fix the leg in a proper/correct manner. He also suggested that I can postpone the post-surgery for a while so that my ankle heals completely (bones and muscles/ligaments/skin) so that the chances of infection are minimal. My worry is that, till the time I go for the post-surgery, I will have to walk with the help of crutches. Also, the physical therapy (6-8 weeks after the first surgery) will be very painful.

Should I go for post-surgery surgery now or go thru physical therapy first and then how long should I wait before I go for post surgery?

Thanks in advance.

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  • Guest
    Guest vijay92418

    Posted

    So sorry that this has happened to you.  It is such a difficult question to answer that I am not surprised others may have shied away from it .. not many will have been in this situation.  Ultimately only you can decide, weighing up the perceived upsides / downsides of each.  I have to admit that if I were in your unenviable position, I would be tempted to get the revision surgery done sooner rather than later, solely on the basis that I would not want to endure going through recovery only to have progress halted by surgery occuring later on, then having to go through it all over again.  However, I understand that in the very short-term there are the additional risks of infection, etc., and it may be tempting to give your ankle a rest before inflicting further surgery on it.  However you decide, I wish you best of luck with your recovery.
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