Hoping someone has had a similar experience and might be able to give me some advice!
Over 4 months ago I broke my 5th metatarsal......I went to the local hospital, was told I needed to see the ortho surgeon, waited 5 hours, then sent home with a boot, no instruction and didn't see the ortho. 2 weeks later I had a follow up appointment at the ortho clinic at the hospital with follow up xray.....once again, ortho was busy, didn't look at my foot or xray and popped his head into the room to basically tell me i was ok and to see my own doctor in 4 weeks. 4 weeks later another x-ray, which seemed to show it was healing but had some way to go. Another 6 weeks in the boot, then x-rayed again yesterday, and that x-ray showed it has now stopped healing and is non-union.
I'm very angry with the hospital as reading what I have above it seems I should have been told not to put weight on it for at least some time.
This morning my doc is arranging an appointment with a surgeon but I will not let them do surgery as I've had many life threatening drug reactions in the past. Are there going to be other options for me?
WOW!
I really feel for you. You're right someone should have told you no wt bearing. It's been a long time since the injury, so you need to take charge. Please expand on what your drug reactions are, are they severe or minimal? You need to weigh the risks /rewards, the anesthiologist and you can go over this prior to surgery. There are many different meds that can be used instead of one's which cause a reaction to you. Also, I suggest to look up the surgeon or another one (google, healthgrades etc...) I am so sorry you had to go thru this but, now it's all forward from here on out! Good Luck!
Mary
where do you live that you are getting such poor medical care? I can not believe it.
Thx for your reply. The drug reactions have been life threatening/serious and I have had those type of reactions to pretty much every drug they have ever tried me on. My allergist's advice years back was not to take any meds unless it is a life/death situation as the meds could put me in a life/death situation. So surgery is not an option. The doc has recommended 2 local surgeons....they both seem good....i called one and earliest they had available was 9 November but they have me on a wait list in case there are cancellations. The other was closed but I will try them on Monday to see if they can see me sooner.
I live in Australia. It makes me sad as my father (who is now deceased) was a radiologist and would have been able to tell me it wasn't healing right at a much earlier stage had he stil been alive.
I would get a 2nd opinion by a orthropedic foot specialist the doctor not a physicians assistant.
I needed to have surgery for the same reason and the doctor needed to do a bone graft and put in a titanium screw.
But I'm having a lot of pain still but I believe with Phyical therapy it will be ok
Good luck
Thx for your reply. Now have an appointment with ortho surgeon on 9 November which was the earliest I could get. I am also on a wait list and they will call me if they get a cancellation, which I hope they do as don't want to leave it another 3 weeks.
I broke my 5 metatarsal in April it took 10 weeks to start to heal I was in airboot non weight bearing .for 10 weeks. then 2 weeks walking with cruches slightly weight bearing then 2weeks with one cruche then 2weeks with 2 cruches with shoes then 2weeks with one cruche I had 14 weeks phisio as my ankle stiffened but now I am out walking every day my phisio was great.
so sorry for you. are you in the UK? doesn't sound like you had good physician advice.
Australia.....and I agree.....based on what I am reading about others being told not to weight bear at least at the beginning, it does seem I got bad advice. It was the local hospital that originally treated me.
That is great great newsc
So, finally had my long awaited appointment with the foot surgeon yesterday and what a disappointment it was. Waste of time and money. To begin with, my fracture looks pretty much the same as it did 6 weeks ago and is non-union, yet he expressed disbelief when I told him it was painful. He says most people don't have pain associated with it? WTH? Basically says 95% heal within a year, mine probably isn't healing cause I'm a smoker, and if it doesn't heal I can live with it, most people do without pain he claims. Suggested I try something called a grogen stimulator which will cost me about $2000 for the 4 months I will research those.
He also told me people walk on these fractures from day 1 etc, but then gives me an info sheet on the fracture, written by him, which says there should be no weightbearing for at least 2 weeks!
Arghhhhhhhhhhh!
When I touch the skin on top of where the fracture there is a bump out which I am pretty sure is the bone, and it even feels like it is peircing my skin from the inside out at times.
Now what??????
Major error in post above! It's now 4 days short of 4 months since I broke it, not 6 weeks!
Sorry, another error in post above (why doesn't it let us edit?)....the device he suggested is called Exogen.
Omg, that doctor is nuts!! Where do you live? I had painless surgery, non weight bearing 4 weeks, in boot 4 then normal. But mine was non displaced. I believe a screw helps you heal faster. Was back riding my horse and in tennis shoes fast. I am so sorry but you need a new physician!!!
I will go back to my gp this week and see if i can get a referral to a different surgeon.....can only hope I finally see a good doc about this.....4 months is a long time!
I am so sorry for you!! I went to a foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon who said all 5th metatarsal
Fractures heal better with surgery and will not recurr.
Let
Us know. You really need to be totally non weight bearing for any healing
OH MY drug reactions are definitely life threatening. I believe this will heal but you will have to be totally off your foot for another 8 weeks if there is a non union. I do recommend bone stimulators however, my doctor had a rep drive one out to me because my medicare ins. would not pay. and I live in the country. I still have it 5 months later, seems he will ask for it when needed. Said they run $2500!! That is quite a bit of $$ . I did wait 4 weeks to see if my facture would heal and when returning to my physician she said 60% but, would be NWB another 6 weeks. I asked her to put a screw in which menat 4 off, 4 in boot then healed. I have also had a total shoulder. Can not imagine not being able to have surgery. They could do a block which works great. let us know. S
I'm in Australia and in a similar situation although I don't have pain. I broke my 5th metatarsal at the end of July 2016. 1 week in cast at the hospital followed by 7 weeks in a boot WB and then told it was healing well and to resume all normal activities with the exception of running which I could resume in another 4 weeks.
I did as I was told to do and resumed running after the 4 weeks and all seemed fine. It was a little uncomfortable sometimes but never painful.
4 months post break I went to the GP for something totally unrelated and he told me to get an xray so that he could have a record of where it was at with healing.
After I had the xray done he called and said that it was a total non union and that it would probably never heal. I'm a keen hiker and enjoy my fitness so this really distressed me expecially when he told me there are no further options.
I asked for a referal to a Orthopedic surgeon and had an MRI and told me that he thinks it is healing really slowly and may take up to 18 months to heal. I am also on 3-18 months of no running, hiking or walking for exercise...so frustrating.
I totally understand your anger with the hospital and your frustrations. After reading a lot of other people's experiences I don't understand why I was WB with a boot from week 2. I wonder if it would have healed quicker with 6-8 weeks NWB.
I'm now 6 months post break and going to see if a podietrist can give me some advice.
Good luck and I hope you can find an alternative to surgery and get healed and pain free soon.