When to send back to school after broken ankle?

[DressedToThe90s]

My son managed to break his ankle quite badly and had to have surgery earlier this week with two screws put in. He’s starting to feel a bit better now and I was wondering when he can realistically go back to school. Originally I’d thought he’d go back this Monday coming, but I’m worried about how he will move around the site without exhausting himself and being in pain. I’ve offered to get him one of those knee scooter things but he refuses point blank! He’s in a plaster cast up to his knee, and will have it changed to a lighter one and stitches out in another weeks time. He’s Y10 so really can’t afford to miss too much school at this point. Would be interested in hearing what others have done in this situation as well please! I’m actually not sure he’ll be able to put his school
trousers on over the cast which is another worry 🙈

AIBU- let the poor kid have another few days off school to heal
AINBU- try and get him back in ASAP and see how he gets on

I think speak to the school first. They have likely done this before and may be able to advise what is in their risk assessment for ensuring he is safe. I would imagine if you’re worried about him getting overtired he could do a half day initially?

Talk to the school and find out what they can put in place to make it easier for him to get around. Some schools are better than others.

How is he managing his pain ? I have recently broken my ankle and due to the amount of painkillers I was taking I slept a lot during the day. I still get tired very quickly. Hopefully though as he is so young he will get better much quicker than I did.

You need to talk to the school and they will need to do a risk assessment of the best way.

it may be for a few days easier if the teachers put work online or he is based in one place in school until he can move around more confidently (leaving lessons before the rush!)

Too hard to predict so try Monday and see how it goes. He'll enjoy the attention

He was in a fair bit of pain earlier this week, but we’ve got him some better pain relief now from the GP (hospital said he should be fine with paracetamol 🙄). He’s managing to move around the house more but I don’t know what’s reasonable to expect of him (he will definitely milk it for as long as he can so I want to make sure I get the right balance!).

I’ve been in touch with school but they haven’t mentioned a risk assessment, although they’ve said he can have a lift key. Maybe I need to go in first thing Monday and talk to them about it. How long should I expect it to take before he is more mobile?

Also recommend speaking to school. Where I work there is a base for students that can't manage a full timetable for various reasons- social/ emotional/ anxiety/ physical etc, and teachers are asked to send work for the student to get on with.

Once he does go back the school must make sure he moves between lessons alone (with a mate). When DD broke her arm the school immediately made sure she avoided busy corridors.

Is it swollen? Should he keep it elevated at all during the day? If school can facilitate some quiet rest times for him it might be ok.

Maybe suggest just going in on half days for a week or two, or even just a lesson or tutor session? As annoying as it is he needs to take care while it heals up.

Wait until the stitches come out and ask them to send some homework.

Swelling and pain will be the worst for the first 7-10 days anyway, and he'll only have a backslab on, which he'll potentially destroy moving around the school.

Once the wounds have healed, stitches are out, lighter cast is on and swelling is improving, he'll be much lower risk of anything going awry, and will find it much easier.

Yes - he’s meant to have it elevated for 50mins every hour at the moment so that’s something else to factor in. My instinct was to keep him off until the stitches were out and the lighter cast was on, but I wasn’t sure if that was just me being excessively cautious. I’m also worried he’s going to get so behind in his schoolwork- he does do his schoolwork but could definitely put more effort in, and he’ll take any excuse to slack off. He’s not one of those kids that would be asking friends for lesson notes!

He needs to be at home in that case!

He needs to be at home at least until the lighter cast is on and he doesn’t need to keep it elevated. However, school should be setting at least some (probably online) work for him whilst he’s off - he’ll struggle to catch up otherwise. We have supported some students in this sort of situation by having a Google Meet / Teams call so they can hear the lesson (literally just a camera facing the teacher / whiteboard and any slides shared) but that may not be possible or suitable for other students and/or in other schools.

Keep him home. He can read through his text books and watch some bitesize stuff.

My dd is currently assisting a girl in her class who broke her ankle and needed surgery. They leave classes 5mins early to give lots of time to make it to the next one and dd carries all of her stuff for her. Maybe the school would put something like this in place for him?

50 minutes out of every hour?? How can he possibly go to school? You would never expect that of an adult if there was another option

He needs to work from home if it has to be elevated. School must set him some easy work to keep him ticking over.

Talk to school.

dc’s school have a ground floor classroom for those who can’t mobilise as normal. They are supervised by a teacher and work through the days lessons online. They allow vehicle access before/after school starts so you can drive them to the door of the building, same with pick up.

the risk assessment is being able to make stairs, and wear appropriate footwear.

I’d say to go back when pain is manageable, and he can get to the toilet etc without (much) assistance. If they can’t provide ground floor class, it may have to be a little longer.

He needs to stay off if he needs to elevate it. My ds y12 fractured his femur last October. He was able to use the lift, could leave lessons 5 mins early, I drove him in and could drop in off in the disabled spaces, didn't have to wear school shoes and wore shorts or baggy jeans.
When he does go back buy some gel pads for his crutches. DS came home the first day with sore blisters hands from using the crutches all day. The gel pads were brilliant. Got them off Amazon

I'd say your son will need to be off at least another week until his lighter cast is on and stitches are out. If his leg needs elevating for 50 mins out of every hour beyond this next week, then he'll need to be at home until he doesn't need that, unfortunately - it's not practical in a school environment really. It also gives school time to put any necessary measures in place for him.
I completely get the worries of keeping up with his school work, particularly with him being in year 10. School will hopefully be able to send work home for him. If you haven't got the info already, I'd also check which exam boards etc. he's using for each subject and get some study materials for at home - they'll be useful anyway. I can't speak for all boys, obviously, but it's always been a struggle to get mine to do work at home without a lot of pushing. I do find that having a variety of materials at home helps and then at least they can choose something.

My child had similar to yours. They had to stay off school 8 weeks after their surgery. Then when they went back they was not allowed to change lessons with everyone else. They moved around the school 5 minutes before everyone else so that they didn’t get caught in crowds. They also used the lift and not the stairs. This was for roughly 3 months after they went back to school.

The surgeon who did the operation gave me a sick note for the 8 weeks that they were completely off school but school didn’t even ask to see it, think they were happy that they were off as it would have been harder for them to return to school while in recovery with how much would need to be put in place.

Completely agree - it’s just I’m not sure how long he has to keep it elevated for (as in how many days after the surgery!). It’ll be 5 days on Monday so it might not be so necessary- he’s certainly more mobile round the house today.

I’ll drop school an email today and then go from there. I hadn’t thought about the practicality of going to the loo, carrying backpack, navigating busy corridors etc. Poor thing- this is the last thing he needed 😢

Oh my gosh, 8 weeks?!?! That must have been a terrible break - your poor child! He really can’t be off for 8 weeks - I’ll get him a wheelchair and go in with him myself if needs be 😬

I’ve been there myself. I’d definitely give him another week off to let it settle, he doesn’t want it getting knocked about in the early stages and there’s a lot of hustle & bustle in school.

I remember having a few weeks off work as sick then had to work from home as I couldn’t get up to the top floor of their building (no lift). It fell during a lovely summer though so I made the most of that working in the garden.

hope he recovers well. It’s amazing how resourceful you become on one leg.

@DressedToThe90s it was a very long 8 weeks…for us both 🤦🏼‍♀️
We had a wheel chair for the first 2 weeks then crutches. Finally walked unaided after 10 weeks but needed a year of intense physio.
wishing your son a speedy recovery! ❤️

I would wait until after the stitches are out and cast changed. It’s really important in the early days to keep it elevated. School is hard on crutches and so tiring. We are week 7/12 of it at the moment but it gets easier 🙂 Managed our first full five days this week which felt impossible when first returned. My 11yo had four weeks off school in the end as it was just too difficult with stairs, moving around lessons and the pain was hard when it wasnt elevated so much.