and my foot is still turning very red/purple when I put it down. Is this normal? It also swells but not very much. It's mostly the color and hot feeling that are very bothersome. My bone is healed and I can weight bear as tolerated but I think I may just be afraid. I don't do a lot because it's really uncomfortable to have the foot down. If I just bite the bullet and start keeping it down will that help? Any advice appreciated as I am tired of just laying around get fat and lazy! I want to start leaving the house again!
How about trying swimming which is excellent exercise and the water will make it easier to get used to walking again as you gain lost strength and confidence. Good luck. Richard
You poor soul. Same situation here, exept I can't still bear weight, 3 months after surgery ,multiple feactures, ( the doctor said, I should start WB asap and only 25 lb. for now). I'm scared like you and on the top of it,I'm elderly and have an osteoroprosis. My foot is getting purple when foot is not elevated. I'm trying to massage it, as much as I can. That gives me some relieve. Just got my knee scooter and rode it in the yard today. I'm clumsy to begin with, so not fun yet, ( fear of falling in my eyes, LOL),but I think the scooter is the answer for me, for now. Write often on this support line. These people truly get it and I don't know what I would do without them and their knowledge , helpful tips.
I'm in San Francisco area, ( don't know how I got assigned my "dog liver" name tag, but all good,LOL). So please write! I get your pain and discomfort! Also,get all vitamins in your system,like D3, calcium, multiples etc.
And time, more time. It could take up to one year with this recovery, but what choice do we have?
Hang in there💛
Hi Jennifer,
I am 8 weeks post-op after breaking 3 bones in my ankle. Everything you mention is exactly what I am experiencing. I have been told this is a normal part of the healing process. The burning/numbness sensation on the bottom and top of my foot gives me the most trouble now. Like you, I am weight bearing as tolerated and I am having difficulty learning to trust my ankle again. Good luck with your recovery and remember it takes time 
13 weeks since break, and 11 since surgery here, feels like years stuck in this house. My foot is super purple with zero feeling except pain when it's down, it's a mess. You are doing better than me, my fracture is not healed and I'm not even allowed to try to walk in boot. My doc said up to a year of the purple and swelling.
Same here, Kim. 12 weeks after multiple ankle feactures and dislocation. Stuck at home, depending on others, can't have a boot on yet. No use,right now. No matter how much I massage/manipulate my foot/ankle ( and my PT guy too), my foot is like frozen in time and it hurts occasionally. ( Ok, everyday). Gets purple all the time. Have multiple " hardware" in my foot too.
I only hope that it will get better.
So we have 3 months behind us now, hard to be positive, after daily pains and discomfort, but what I read, it could take a year to heal.
I just got my knee scooter today, so hoping to roll around the home,instead of the office chair with wheels. I'm not stable on crutches and walker is hard for me too, but the scooter looks promising.
I wait everyday for new posts from people like you....it is a horrible journey to go thru, but at least I have people to cheer me on and I get lots of possitive and helpful tips. Best luck to you💛
Thank you Richard😁 Maybe I will take a friend up on their offer to visit and swim!
Hi!
And thank you so much for responding. I'm so sorry that you are going through this too. It's just so frustrating. I had two surgeries for my trimalleolar fracture and now have two plates and 12 screws. My surgeon assured me I would be walking in 8 weeks. At this point I do stand while in my boot with about 25 percent WB to keep my balance but thats it.
I don't want to be a baby but it feels so weird and not right when it turns purple that my stomach literally turns and I have to go put it up again! And I'm usually really tough! I've had more than my share of horrible injuries and surgeries. This has been my biggest challenge. So much love and strength to everyone on this forum because life after ORIF surgery (for the foreseeable future) is no fun at all!
I would hear of someone breaking their ankle and not have too much sympathy as that doesn't sound too bad, right?! Haha! Boy have I learned my lesson. And I can understand why some get really depressed. It's not just the being dependent, the pain, the struggle for recovery. It's no one cleaning the house to your standards. It's (in my case) my dog getting anxiety from my week long hospital stay and then the big change to normal routine so now he is stress peeing in my bedroom. It's endless lonely hours. It's weird new symptoms in the middle of the night. Last night I had my middle toe twitching for four hours! It's all that and SO much more!
blessings!
Im so sorry this happened to you too! Trusting the ankle is definitely an issue but HOW to trust the darn thing when your foot is turning all shades of colors and when you look down it looks like you wearing a plum colored short boot!
I really hope you are feeling much better soon!!!!
I am 3 and a half months past ORIF and 2 weeks past the op when 2 screws were removed. I now walk more or less normally but after walking my foot swells and sometimes goes purple. I also experience pins and neesdles in my toes and numbness of ligaments on top of my foot. I believe that all this is a normal part of the long healing process.
Ugh that just stinks! I totally feel your pain and frustration. I'm so tired of these walls and I'm mad at myself for not being able to get past the color and the pain to put the foot down more often. And when I shower it's the worst. I always reinsure a tendon behind my knee from trying not to put the foot down and the water does something to make the foot look even worse. From every day showering to now every three or four days so I feel like garbage on top of it all!
O thought long and hard about posting and answering with bad things etc. But I think it REALLY helps to know you are not alone in this. I think very few ankle fractures that require surgery heal fast and on track. We NEEd this place to not go crazy!
Thank you so much for the reassuring post Anna! Can I please ask why you had the screws removed? I really believe that the ten small ones are fine but one of my two long screws is pressing on blood vessels and nerves adding to my pain and problems. It also feels like it wants to pop out of my skin. My doctor and husband say I'm wrong. So I would love to hear why you had them removed! Thank you!
Jennifer, my doctors of the hospital were keen to have the two big screws removed. They told me that sometimes those screws break when left in and also that, if left in, they can limit the ankle movement. I now find that I no longer have the sensation that sonething is 'stuck' in my ankle and I have less swelling. By the way, after the screw removal op I was able to walk straight away and tdid not have much pain. Good luck with everything Jennifer.
Hi Anna, I'm currently 4 weeks post-ORIF but they went ahead and scheduled my second surgery to remove one long screw in mid-September. My doctor said the long screw would have to be removed in order for me to get full range of motion back in my ankle because right now it's restricted. What scares me right now is that they're saying I won't be knocked out with anesthesia for the screw removal surgery and that it is classified as an outpatient surgery. What was your experience? I can't imagine being awake as they go back inside my foot to fetch the screw.
Dear gimpyleg.
Tell your docs to get you OUT completely,for your screw removal. ( I get my removed in September). It is really cruel to even suggest otherwise. I had discussed it with my surgeon. They are options in anesthesia and you don't have to be witnessing this unpleasant event. Good luck....the pre-op is enough for me.
Ps. Good decision, to get these big screws out. It makes sense ,in my case and many others too, but not for all also...every case/ankle is different.
Best wishes💛
Lol, the showering, omg how do you do it?! I sit on the edge of tub, lift my legs over, and let the shower run on me. I'm twisted and turned funny, and my foot gets worse than any other activity! It's so painful I may as well be homeless because I'm always dirty (at least I feel that way). I've been sitting here all day trying to get the gumption to endure this pain, lol! What's one more day? Haha
I have hardware too, and I just got my knee scooter 3 days ago. Forward ok, but in reverse is kind of a joke. You know fighting off the pain while pushing backwards, it's real work. My back and hip feel screwy on it as well, ouch. Crutches are dumb too. I'm just a bundle of positivity lol And I never wear the boot, I massage, ice, elevate, and it's still pretty much stiff and swollen.
...sounds like me, Kim. It is pretty hellish experience in all. Now my back and hip is affected too. I think that I will forever be limping, but I'm 63 years old, so any walking/limping is better than ♿ or walker.
On the scooter. Please be careful, the brakes are a joke!!!!
Keep me posted on your progress. None here, yet ( ouch).💛
I just want to get to the point of limping, lol. I just started Exogen 12 days ago to increase the blood flow, for some reason no callous is noticeable yet. Appt. next wed, c'mon already fracture! Could very well be my bad smoking habit, I'm trying hard to cut back - tough. I'm 47 but definitely feel 97. I got the scooter thinking it was my ticket to freedom, I was going to get out of here, LOL as if. My son starts school in 6 weeks, must gain some mobility by then to get him at school - tick, tock.
Hello Gimpyleg. I had the screws removed under the general anaeathetic and it was a day surgery as an outpatient. I was told to walk srtraight away with full weight bearing
.
I was given pain killers but did not really need them as the pain was bearable. After 2 weeks the dressing etc came off, the wound is healed and I am back to doing the full range of exercises to regain the movement. At some point weeks before my screws were removed, one hospital doctor had said that the screws "would be removed under the local anaesthetic because it was a small op". But the consultant on the day told me that removing the screws under the general makes it a quicker op for the doctors! Good luck.