Please share positive broken ankle or general anaesthetic stories

[Saladmakesmesad]

Yesterday I had a nasty fall on a steep path in a gust of wind and instantly broke my ankle. The pain was and still is horrendous and my foot was dangling at an angle. I was taken to hospital by ambulance and they x rayed it, plastered it, x rayed again and said it’s badly broken and will need an operation. I’ve an appointment at the fracture clinic on Tuesday and I assume they’ll tell me what happens next and when. Oh and I had a bad reaction to the morphine they gave me (BP dropped).

Thing is, I’m petrified and in a lot of pain. I’ve never had a GA or any kind of surgery before. Everything I read on the internet (I know I know) seems to be horror stories of ankle surgery gone wrong or GA gone wrong. Please tell me positive stories to counteract them.

In case it’s relevant, I’m currently in a different part of the UK for the week (we live at my husband’s work and come up north to our house in the holidays) so my have to go back for the op. Also, I changer my name about a week ago on here but am an old-ish timer. And I have anxiety! There - that’s my whole very outing back story but please do be kind as I’m a big traumatised and v scared.

I would say definitely the initial break but I had bone fragments touching a nerve so if I moved it was excruciating.

Afterwards was more of a consistent but dull ache if that makes sense.

Anesthetic is fantastic. They may give you a sedative first, you go a little woozy and then the white stuff goes in and oblivion.

You wake up and an hour or more has passed and it feels like you have just blinked an eye.

One tip, I would pack a sandwich. They let you eat an hour or so after the anesthetic but the toast is soggy and the other food not great.

As a PP mentioned midazolam, if you are offered it take it, it is a sedative but it also causes short term memory loss so is used if a procedure is going to be unpleasant.

Re Dr google, I've said this before an a couple of people found it helpful.

If you are hammering a nail into a wall and miss and hit your thumb the following day your thumb will be swollen and maybe bruised.

At this point if you google "swollen thumb" you will get thousands of hits from cancer to auto immune to things you have never heard of. Google will not bring up the answer, "hit with a hammer".

I don't have any personal experience of a GA but I work within trauma orthopaedics so see a lot of people after them with broken ankles! The vast majority of them recover from the GA quickly and manage to get up and go home the same/the next day. Just make sure you take the pain relief when offered as it might not hurt lying still but probably will when you get up!

Broke both ankles about 16 months ago. I now run 12k runs, 5k trail runs and building up to a half marathon. Before I broke them I'd never been a runner! I'm late 40's.

I dislocated my ankle and broke both my fibula and tibia whilst hiking over 20 years ago. Had to be brought down by mountain rescue 😱😱
I was very lucky they operated immediately as the blood flow to my foot had been compromised, had a spinal not GA and was not put in a full cast just a back slab so that I could still move the ankle.
I will be honest and say that the worst time for me for the pain was when I had the cast removed and started physio and learning to walk again. Was in the cast for 6 weeks and then needed 6 months of physio.
Hope everything goes well for you.

Reading all these after a night of v little sleep and they’re definitely helping. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share a positive story. I did it on Saturday lunchtime and not being seen in fracture clinic till Tuesday lunchtime, which considering I’ve been told I’ll need surgery feels so long. I hope they book me in soon after my appointment. Because it feels like all this awful pain isn’t even healing time yet. (Sorry, feeling very miserable this morning.)

Positive, though probably not very helpful, story: DH had his shoulder pinned after a ski accident in an ordinary, not private, French hospital. As he came round from the GA he was greeted with “Your lunch, Monsieur” .
It was Coq au Vin, served with a small bottle of wine.

My DS has had over 20 GAs for surgery & investigations and I was the one terrified every time - but honestly they do this routinely so often & as PP said you will be the monitored in your life.

Speak to them & ask to speak to pain management team about alternatives to morphine.

I broke & dislocated my ankle & broke a vertebra & had my nose shattered, all while pregnant so couldn't have surgery - it isn't pleasant, but the worst but for me was them reducing the dislocation with no pain meds.

I completely understand your anxiety, but do not google! Ppl only post the worst case scenarios - nobody takes time to post saying "oh mine was great, very easy, wonderful understanding staff". My DS' surgeon knew us so well that before surgery, she would make time to just hug me after I left him with anaesthetists. They really understand how scary it can be.

Good luck with your appt & look forward to you updating.

I've broken so many bones :) You're going to be just fine. You'll wake up feeling SO much better! Pain was def worse for me at the actual break, when you wake up your bone is going to be all in the right place and supported.

Broke my ankle about 20 years ago and also had my foot hanging off to the side. Hospital straightened it and put it on a really bloody heavy uncomfortable temporary cast until my op the next day. I had one long plate and lots of screws put in. The long term cast I was then given was much more comfortable and light weight. I was non weight bearing on crutches for six weeks which was a complete pain but manageable. Definitely do the physio when the cast come off. My ankle is absolutely fine now.

Had GA 3x and all fine. The risk of something going wrong is obscenely low. So low the figure isn’t reportable. I did some digging and found 0.01%.

Had almost the exact same experience as you OP! Broke it badly in bad weather, needed a GA for ORIF.

Similarly bad reaction to the morphine.

GA was great! I was very nervous but the staff are amazing and will make you feel totally at ease. And then you'll just wake up! It's honestly so much easier than you imagine. You will be absolutely fine - and will feel very well rested!

I was very nervous and my heart was racing so they gave me a sedative prior to the anaesthetic. It was pleasantly like being drunk and to my eternal embarrassment I recall rambling on like a drunkard to the medical team. Then they gave me the actual GA and I went out like a light. No problems whatsoever.

I used to work as a nurse in the recovery room, and can assure you that GAs are very safe these days. I have also had a GA myself for a minor op, and it was absolutely fine.

I now work on a trauma and orthopaedic ward and see people with broken ankles all the time. Once they have been operated on they are usually much more comfortable, as they are pinned into the correct position as well as having a plaster cast on.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

My 5 year old broke both of his arms over summer in a freak accident. The right arm was a particularly bad break and needed two lots of surgery. He was in a lot of pain before the operation and was dosed up in bed for a week before his appointment. They said the wait is to allow the swelling to go down so maybe that’s the same for you.
He was much more comfortable after he had the surgery and casts put on. It was his sixth lot of GA he’s been absolutely fine before and after all of them. He quite enjoys it now. It’s scary for anyone going under GA, if you’re anxious about it I would absolutely let them know, I was more worried than DS but the doctors were very reassuring.

His break was one that can sometimes heal wrong and his elbow wouldn’t have been able to straighten, luckily that didn’t happen, but they were very insistent that he stick to his physio even if it seems normal. He got another year before it will be as strong as before and will never play tennis professionally but they did an amazing job on it!
You’ll be fine OP and more comfortable once it’s done!

OP, I’ve administered over 30,000 general anaesthetics and spinals over the course of my career (retired anaesthetist), and almost every first time patient was as worried as you are! It’s perfectly normal to be anxious, and part of the anaesthetist’s job is dealing with your fears beforehand. I did the majority of ankle surgery under spinal (I had a regular weekly trauma list, and also an elective lower limb ortho list), as it means your fracture site will be completely numb for hours, and we also mix opiate into the spinal to prolong the pain relief even after the numbing wears off.
If you prefer a GA, that’s fine, but you may wake a bit sore and need morphine in the recovery room.
We try to prevent that by giving you IV painkillers before we wake you, and the surgeon can infiltrate local anaesthetic into the wound at the end of the op, too.
If you have other health issues, such as serious lung disease, you may be unfit for a GA and a spinal would be your only safe option, but the anaesthetist will discuss that with you pre op.
Try to relax- it’s just another day at the office for your anaesthetic and surgical team, and afterwards you’ll wonder what you were so worried about!

I broke my ankle badly and had surgery about three years ago. Nothing to it! Expect to be tired for a few weeks after the op. I also had a sore throat from the breathing tube and not much appetite for a few days but it was fine. Regarding ankle recovery, get yourself a backpack- absolutely crucial for carrying stuff around the house and even though it's the last thing you'll want to do, make sure you move around as much as possible as it really aids recovery

This time last week I was in the operating theatre for a knee replacement. First I was given a spinal but that didn't work (not sure why) so I ended up under general anaesthetic too. Made waking up harder as it was a while before I could move my legs.

Have you ever had an epidural?

@LizzieMacQueen Yes I had an epidural when I had my second child (though she was born soon after and it seemed to wear off straight away so not sure what happened there.

Thanks @Babdoc for sharing your experience! I had assumed GA but maybe they will do a spinal. I’m not sure which I’d prefer, guess I’ll go with what I’m advised. The waiting is so hard. I just got told in A&E it was broken (which I knew) and would probably need surgery. Then the doctor told me that they could see a break in one side but not the other and that ‘like when you snap a polo mint’ he’d expect to see a break in both sides. And that I was experiencing pain at the opposite side to the break. Then they cast it (without straightening the foot) and x rayed it again and said yes I’d need surgery, and booked me in for fracture clinic as early as possible, which (from Saturday) was Tuesday. I hope I get a lighter cast soon as this one is hugely heavy and pulls painfully on my ankle when I crutch to the loo and back. 😖

My mum did exactly this last year. Had op, had physio and all back to normal - dog walking etc! Think she’s looking forward to going on holiday to try and make the scanner beep!

I never appreciated my two working ankles till now. So much dread about the weeks ahead. I don’t mind the struggle I just don’t want to be in pain. 😭