10 weeks later and I may need pins, anyone have anything similar happen

Foot care
1

Hi,

Back on the 30th of may i broke 2nd to 4th metatarsal. After three weeks i was kept in, the drs thought i needed surgery on my lisfranc but turned out i didnt. Seven weeks later brings me to to today when i had my appointment at the fracture clinic. After and xray showed the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals are not healing as well as suspected and the 2nd one looks displaced (all 3 fractures were non displaced). I asked the dr do i need pins and he said it certainly looks that way, but he put me into a cast for another 2 weeks because he wants the natural healing process to go to 12 weeks!! S

So I'm still in the dark about needing surgery. I not a dr but i am worried about the way my 2nd metatarsal is healing.

If anyone can share a similar situation i would really appreciate it

Thanks

2

I broke my 5th metatarsal as well as my ankle, lateral malleolus, back in February, both were non displaced, a week later a gap had opened up in the metatarsal fracture and the consultant wanted me to see a surgeon. Saw him a few days later, he informed me that the bone ends were now too far apart to heal and recommended putting in a screw asap as the "window of opertunity" was only small. I hadn't the faintest idea what he was on about but apparently once a fracture goes over about 4 weeks any operation on it requires cleaning the ends of the fracture. So they either do it early or they leave it to the end of the expected healing time.

Of course even having it operated on isn't a guarantee that it will heal any quicker, my last x-ray showed it still hasn't healed, they hope that full weight bearing will encourage bone growth, I'll find out next month if it has.

3

Hi susan

Going by the xray i saw it looked like the bones had joined but it looked a mess, the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals were definitely not straight. Its just bothering me because i will be 12 weeks nwb when my next appointment and if i do need surgery i will be starting back at 6 weeks recovery time again.

4

I know it's a horrible thought having to go through that again, six weeks ago I came out in a rash on my foot, first where the scare is, then all over my foot. The skin then peeled, then it started all over again over most of my body, my GP thinks I may be allergic to the screw which would explain why it hasn't healed. If this is the case then it will have to come out and be replaced with a different type.

5

Oh Susan that's awful, you hear of people healing in the 6-8 week time line and you ask yourself why cant I be in that timeline!

I hope you won't have much of a set back, you have had your fair share of it by the sounds of it.

I'v never had an operation in my 35 years so the thought of that is making me pretty anxious too. . Oh wont this be over soon!!