I had surgery about 8 weeks ago- shattered ankle in 3 places- all kinds of hardware-still no weight bearing or physical therapy allowed.
I will get another X-ray March 20th. Which I believe will make it about 9 1/2 weeks post surgery. I am hoping the surgeon will say I can start PT then..
Is it normal to still b in pain?? burning- tingling-shooting pain- feels like a tight rusty handcuff around my ankle..& arch of foot. My heel hurts- shin- sometimes calf ..top of foot..Achilles tendon tight and burning..toes feel like they are tied together..so basically everywhere from toes to just below knee...
I'm taking pain meds and in addition wear a pain patch .. I'm scared I will be in chronic pain and never recover.
PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME THEY HAVE BEEN THROUGH A SEVERE ANKLE INJURY -SURGERY WITH LIGAMENT AND NERVE DAMAGE AND PAIN AND THAT YOU RECOVERED.
I fell and suffered a bimalleolar comminuted pilon fracture ( Shattered ankle ) on Jan 16/17 - had surgery - looks like I have a hardware store built into my leg now. I also have ligament & nerve damage.
Currently non weight bearing and wearing an aircast. I have basically no real movement in my ankle, as well as an extremely tight feeling arch. I can't curl my toes downwards either.
Marge - I am currently taking 2 Tramacet in the morning and then again at bedtime. Honestly I'm not finding the pain to be bad at all anymore , not unless I really overdue things during the day.
I had 3 breaks and dislocated ankle. I was non weight bearing for 10 weeks. During that time I had discomfort and discoloration when the leg was not elevated. After starting PT things began to improve. After 5 months I was walking quite normally and golfing. I am now almost a year and don't think about it much. It is a long and difficult process physically and emotionally. My advice take things slowly and RICE. Best wishes on your recovery.
Good morning yes my ankle was shattered my leg broke in three places (car accident). I suffered for 6 years with the pain and swelling and limping had 4 surgeries. They said I was too young (54) to have an ankle replacement because it only lasts 10 to 15 years so I suffered 6 years getting worse barely could walk. Last year went to a different doctor and he agreed something had to be done I couldn't even wear a shoe unless the back was open. So Dec 6, 2016 I had my 5 th surgery to replace my ankle. I have been walking without a cast or boot for 2 weeks I have no ankle pain swelling is down enough to wear a shoe and although feeling stiff I am walking with no limp!!!!! I do get that nerve pain which is awful that burning stinging shaky pain but even that is slowing down. I am so happy my friends are in tears when they see me walk now. There is hope...I don't know how old you are but I hope you don't have to suffer for years like I did. I hope this gives you hope. Good luck. Debi
Wow!! U poor thing to have suffered for 6 years!!!! Did u have help of any kind during this period- a good husband? neighbor?were you sleeping? Was any activity u did helpful? How did u spend ur time? Were u social or did that take too much effort? We're u able to work or exercise in any way?
I'm the same age as u -55- was a real active person- it is crazy to one day to be living life - the next getting surgery- being in almost constant pain-can't carry about simple routine of grocery shopping -sitting without leg elevated ,walking dog, carrying food to table, showering, exercising. Dropping phone down the toilet almost put me over the edge... New routine is ice- leg must always b elevated to be iced- going to the bathroom becomes a struggle, taking pills on schedule, not being able to sleep due to pain- getting depressed, frustrated everything is so difficult, exhausted from not sleeping, Trying to tell myself it could b worse - could b brain injury.. Fearing I won't heal.
Deb- THANKYOU so much for sharing ur experience- I'm so so sorry you had to go through it for six years!!! I am glad to hear u had success with the ankle transplant. Thank god- u must feel like crying from gratitude of having your life back.
I spoke to one other person who had a similar experience to yours- someone from my gym gave him my phone number and he is also having great success after the transplant so I appreciate knowing this may be an option for me if I don't get better after a certain period of time so THANKYOU for ur kindness of writing to me.
It sounds like we had our accident at the same time- mine was Jan 11th. I'm glad u seem to have managed the pain for now. That must be a relief!! I hope u continue progressing..I will b interested to hear when u start physical therapy and how you do with it- and if u get movement in ankle and arch loosens. Please keep in touch!
I here you I have many of those same painful areas! I'm now 11 weeks post op and it has got a bit better. I'm still not weight bearing due to a bone graft not healing and get my X-ray March 16. I really found my cold therapy machine to be a Godsend. It helps with the pain a lot!!! I'm really getting tired of being sore and in pain and want life to be back to normal. I still have to get another surgery to take a plate and screws out. I know it is a difficult time and I hope it will get even a little better for you. Try to keep positive, I even got a meditation app and I do little meditations each day which they say helps with pain and it did. I tried acupuncture as my knee was so sore and it also helped. I hope some of these suggestions are helpful . Good luck and God bless I will pray for you!
Hubby just corrected me said mines not really a shattered ankle - I shattered my Tibia/Fibula but it's right at the bottom - I'm going for X-rays mid week and I'll be seeing my surgeon as well , so I'll let you know what he says .
How did you break your ankle , what were you doing ?? I was walking down to our barn to feed the horses lunch - there must have been ice under the snow
Everyone is different but several of us all had Trimalleor breaks just one year ago. We all noticed a significant improvement at about 12 weeks. Much less pain and swelling and we thought we might be human again. I does get to be depressing when you can't do much but elevate it and ice it but there IS a light waiting for you down this tunnel..HA I still have a little teeny pain every once in a while (crapppy weather for one brings it on) It will be better soon.. and we are hear to listen because we seriously understand.
I know u do seriously understand- it is such a gift to connect with ours who are struggling with the same thing!!i im glad to hear u are recovering from the pain and appreciate your support! It is hopeful to hear that at 12 weeks I might be feeling much less pain.
Margie we have a few things in common- our names - this terrible injury. We both get X-rays soon to see what is next- u 3/16- me3/20. I'm glad u were able to find the cold therapy which gives u much needed relief- I don't know anything about that but will look into it- someone also told me needling helped? I will look into that as well.
I so agree with u about meditation app- I tried that in the beginning and it helped with my tremendous anxiety over this whole crazy thing but need to do it again so thanks for the reminder!!
I also have an appointment with an accupunturist tomorrow. So THANKYOU THANKYOU for reaching out and sharing ur experience.
I'm glad ur husband shares in all of this with you
I injured myself taking a hike on mountain in Arizona. One minute was having a wonderful day - next jumped down and ankle rolled and smashed it😫Had to b rescued by firefighters helicopter and ambulance was taken to trauma center for surgery-Crazy
Good luck with X-ray and please let me know ur progress. Maybe one day in the future all of us from this group can get together and depending on our progress hopefully take a walk and share a meal..inot in pain sharing our war stories and recoveries
My husbands a firefighter - when I fell he was up at the house, thankfully I had my phone in my jacket pocket . He called 911 and identified himself as an off duty firefighter - told 911 I had a severe Tib/Fib fracture with angulation - I was laying in a foot of snow on acreage - took paramedics just under an hour to arrive - they failed to page out fire fighters 😡 It was the most brutal pain I've ever experienced. They're actually investigating why paramedics took so long and why wasn't Fire paged out.
Your injury sounds awful and I'm so thankful you had all the right rescue personnel responding to help you !!
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The cold therapy machine is basically an ice machine that has pads that you can wrap around your injury and it constantly circulates the cold ice wAter. You can safely keep it on for hours. About $150-200 online but totally worth it. Better than constant icebags . Yes keep in touch and let me know how the X-ray goes!
I'm in Canada and it is snowy and freezing here right now.
What does your doctor say about the pain? I had a trimalleor break, plates and pins and i'm almost 7 weeks post op. My toes are numb still...they feel like there are rubber bands around them...but my ankle isn't in much pain. Every once in awhile I'll get pain here or there, but it goes away. I stopped my pain meds week three. Is your ankle still in the cast? Or are you in a boot?
Doc says my injury was very severe and complicated because I shattered as opposed to broke my ankle and also shattered my synesmosis which is a joint that is very fibrous high on ankle which connects tibia and fibula...
I'm am jealous that u were able to stop ur pain meds- but at the same time happy for you.
Yes I think you describe that feeling of rubber bands too tight around toes perfectly. You said you don't have pain in the ankle- that's great - I have it from toes to heel to Achilles to shin to upper partof foot to arch etc- I was told it all connects to each other - sometimes 1 side of ankle or other-it moves around.