Hi Leah- Hang in there! I feel so much better week by week. I am now rounding my 10th week, feel very happy with my progress each week, and I have to say where you are, is the sadess, lowest point. I remember about the second and third weeks in, I felt like I would never walk again and life as I had known it before, was over. I spent one day feeling really sorry for myself, then I started thinking there were so many people so much worse off than I was...veterans who had lost eyesight, limbs etc., and it was time to get out of the funk, and negative energy, and get on to figuring out how best to spend my time in bed and help my body repair itself. I broke all 3 bones in my ankle (pretty major break with a plate and 13 screws installed), although there are people on this website who have gone through so much more than I, and I got my cast off at week 7 (3 weeks earlier than they told me originally) and am getting around pretty well now with a boot, crutches and occasionally a walker, to gain my walking strength, and just was allowed to start walking only 2-1/2 weeks ago. I can put 75%-85% weight on the injured leg now (it happened very fast once the bones set by week 7 and I was able to get up on it), but I have pushed the envelope at every opportunity, while still following doctor's orders completely. My healed bones don't hurt at all, there is just swelling and some slight pain around the ankles and top of the foot, that is annoying, but I understand that does take a year to get over completely, but what I have read out there is by month four most people feel significantly better. It may be damage to the tendons that cause all the swelling, I'm still not exactly sure, since I haven't started PT yet and gotten more info (but that should probably happen this week). Find a pool when you are at my point, if you can, even to swim for just one day and you will feel so happy and alive when you do. Get up, dressed and out the door as much as you can, once you feel a little better. Be around others as much as possible. Once you start PT, you will be on another chapter, and they will work on gettng your ROM back and getting the ankle working for you again. I now can walk with one crutch and assume I will be able to walk without any crutches sometime in the next month. If you are patient, eat well, get lots of sleep, don't smoke, try not to drink much, get off all meds as much as you can, massage your injury often once the cast is off, exercise your upper body now to get the blood pumping (to bring oxygen to your injured areas), and keep a positive outlook, I think you will increase your chances substantially re. how good you feel two months from the point where you are now. It does gets better every week. Your body has been through major trauma and you have to give it time to mend itself. Two months seem like forever, but they pass much faster once you get to the half way point. I, like you, read everything I could find out there (and am still doing it) to help my healing, and have learned a ton. You have to remember also, that those who get better are probably not on these websites after a year, and what you are reading may be slanted because of this. The next advice i will give you, is to be sure to get a knee scooter...it changed my outlook on life and I was whizzing through my house by week three, once I realized I could do so much on it. Btw, my pain has been minimal since week two. That gets better every week and then you have some new pain as you start walking and do PT, but it is all very managable from my perspective. Hang in there Leah! You are at a turning point. Find some great movies, books, a computer, and/or projects you always wished you had time for...utilize this time well, because this too will pass. Hang around positive people. Read online the article "How the Giants put Posey back together - CSN Bay Area ". Remember this is a TEMPORARY problem.
