My Broken Ankle: Week 2

English: An Xray of the left ankle showing a SalterHarris type III fracture of medial malleolus. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bimalleolar fracture and right ankle dislocation on X-ray (anteroposterior). Both the end of the fibula (1) and the tibia (2) are broken and the malleolar fragments (arrow: medial malleolus, arrowhead: lateral malleolus) are displaced. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To start the week off I notice I have some crazy atrophy going on by day 8.  Day 8!  In a weeks time my leg has visibly shrunk.  My biker legs are disappearing.  My muscle is turning to jelly.  It's flabby and saggy like an old lady's under arm.  I can only imagine how it will look after 5 more weeks of this.  I'm not very happy.

NOTE: The first two x-rays are not mine. The 3rd x-ray with plate and screws below is mine.

I've started to decrease the pain pills this week, and this allows me to focus on tasks a bit more and sleep a bit less.  The pain is subsiding.  I'm actually surprised how well I sleep through the night on my back with my leg propped in the air.  This week I'm no longer taking pain meds on a schedule, but more as I realize I'm in pain.  I start with just one pill and take a 2nd one only if the first didn't do the trick.  I find I seem to need more pills first thing in the morning and late in the evening.

I've starting researching broken ankles quite a bit this week bimalleolar fractures, trimalleolar fractures, and some cool videos seeing people break their ankles.  I'm surprised there isn't more information out there about broken ankles.  What I do find is never what I want.  I keep thinking I'll be fully walking at the end of 6 weeks, but it doesn't seem that will happen based on the many things I read.  It is rather depressing.  I just want to run and bike again like I did before this happened.  I read things that say there is a 50% chance of arthritis after an ankle fracture.  I've read things that say there is only a 10% chance.  This I've only found as a quote from a profession sports team doctor - and I think perhaps they mean 10% chance it will be so bad they can't fix it with tons of drugs so they can keep playing.

I finally got to see the OS at the end of this week.  I hadn't spoken with him since before I had surgery on day 0.  I've been dying to know why my fracture looked like exactly and what they did to repair it.  I only knew that I had 3 fractures prior to the surgery, but no other specifics.

I was disappointed to find out they didn't have the x-ray's of my fracture at the clinic/office.  But while I was there they removed my heavy plaster cast.  That was so nice.  Only to reveal the ugliest cadaver man's foot I had ever seen.  And it was on my leg!  This freaked me out.  It was numb and felt and looked like it wasn't mine.  I kid you not it is a man's cadaver foot, and this is what I have referred to it as ever since.

The PA removed my staples. There were 6 on my inside ankle and maybe 8 or 9 on my outside ankle.  I was sure this was going to be a painful process. It wasn't so bad.  I think the outside staples hurt a bit to remove, but the inside didn't have much feeling.  I think my skin was sort of numb on the inside though.

Next I was wheeled into x-rays.  I was so sure this was going to hurt.  After experiencing the extreme pain of x-rays the day I broke my ankle I knew what I was in store for.  Turns out x-rays were completely painless this go around.  Back to the room I went.

This is my actual x-ray. 

The PA came in and pulled up my x-rays.  They were pretty cool.  Turns out I have 9 screws and a plate installed. My husband only took a photo of one of the x-rays, but it looks pretty cool from the side.  I still would like to see how it looked before the hardware was installed.

The OS came in to see how I was doing and talk to me.  He told the PA to let me have a boot. The PA wanted to put me in a fiberglass cast.  I was so happy the OS said a boot would be fine.  I wanted to shower and wash my leg with out having to cover a cast up every time. I didn't want a stinky itchy leg.  Another guy came in shortly after and got my boot and put it on.  He also got me my offical doctors note stating I cannot return to work until after I have my 6 week follow up appointment.  I had another prescription written for pain meds (I never got it filled).  I wanted to stop taking them and switch to just Tylenol as needed, but just in case they thought I should have a back up plan.

By the way, Tylenol is the only recommended pain pill for broken bones.  Apparently ibuprofen, naproxen and other similar drugs (Advil, Motrin, Alieve) all hinder healing of the bones.  So don't take them unless your doctor orders you to.