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

Oh gosh, I knew it would take a while to heal but didn’t realise it was going to have such a huge impact. Have never broken a bone myself so didn’t know what to expect. I’ll talk to school and make sure we get a really good plan in place or he’ll get so behind 😢

Lift key
spare chair to put his leg up
Tracksuit bottoms if trousers won’t fit
Crutches.
we did this a few years ago.

I went back to school a week after breaking my foot on crutches but didn’t need an op or anything like that (I’m a teacher). I would suggest when he does go back: wear joggers, trainer on other foot for balance and grip, lift key, leaving lessons 5 mins early with a friend, obviously no PE, an extra chair to elevate his foot in lessons.
He will get very tired- got me out of doing cover lessons and lunch duty!

Thank you so much, some great tips and things I hadn’t considered. Good idea for the trainer for the other foot and I’ll ask if he can wear joggers instead of trousers.

Speak to the school had to for both mine last year!

DD badly sprained her ankle - we were allowed to come onto site to drop her off at the office and pick her up from there. She was given a lift pass, permission to stay in at lunch and break time and her timetable was rearranged in terms of rooms to keep walking to a minimum and be near the lifts. She did it at school and they rang to organise that afternoon. Dropping and collecting her was a pain though given she usually made her way independently! She also wore trainers on the foot not on the boot

DS cut his knee needing 12 stitches - he wore tracksuit bottoms for the duration, was in lunch and break time and was given a foot stool so he could rest his foot

DD had op on Friday (screw in one bone, plate and several pins in other) home Saturday, school on Monday for broken ankle.
Order some crutch pad things to reduce pressure on his hands (squishy things that go on the handles).
School gave a lift pass, 5 minute early pass and any upstairs lessons that were inaccessible by lift were room changed to downstairs.
Keep up the painkillers to the max - same with nothing prescribed so she alternated paracetamol and ibuprofen 2 hourly. Pain did become an issue if she didn't keep that up.
She took a small cushion with her to put on a chair with her leg up.
I dropped her off slightly earlier so I could drive on site each day.
She didn't want to miss school but some days were harder going certainly.
Id definitely be sending him in on Monday.

P.s. she's now out of plaster but definitely milking getting away with trainers for as long as she can while it's still a bit swollen.

Yes DS wore joggers I think for a full half term! (did it the first Monday) as he much preferred them!

DH broke his ankle with a clean break, no surgery, and was signed off with for a month. Your son may well need to be off for weeks, and you need to put his health first. He's likely to be very tired as his body works to recover.

School can send work home for him.

Did the hospital or GP have an opinion on when he’s fit to return to school?
I would have thought that is much too soon in view of the fact it clearly was a more complicated break that required surgery and would need several weeks off a least. I knew a child who had 6 weeks off for similar, came back to school couldn’t cope and was off again a fair while.

maybe school could send him lesson plans/homework etc ?

Hope he’s on the mend soon,

My son did exactly the same but in year 11. He didn’t go back until he had the stitches out and was out of his back slab and into an air boot and crutches. In school he used the lift and left lessons early with a friend to get to the next lesson. Just watch his mental health too as my football mad son found it really hard not to be able to play football and keep up with his friends going out etc. Mentally it was much harder than physically recovering for him, something I hadn’t expected.

Most schools will:

give lift key if needed
allow him to leave less s 5 mins early so he is moving in clear corridors
obviously no pe
allow jogging bottoms and comfortable shoes
allow someone else to help him by carrying bag

I’d suggest getting gloves as crutches are fucking brutal on the hands. You might find a manual wheelchair easier

My son broke his ankle in September, but not bad enough to need surgery. Just a cast. He did it on Thurs, back at school on the Monday! School made sure he didn’t do sport (yes he still tried to play football ) and he had a chair during assembly so didn’t have to sit on the floor. He’s year 4.

Could not agree more. My son in a normal week plays football twice, tennis, swimming lesson and Park Run at weekends. Sport is wrapped up with his identity and not being able to even play footy at break affected his mental health. He didn’t even want to go in to school at all. His sports teacher cracked it by making him referee - that helped no end. He’s only year 4 though but even so, I was amazed at the mental impact. Luckily he’s back to full power now!

Do you have a beanbag he can use to elevate his ankle at home? It's so much more comfy than faffing about with cushions.

Sorry one more thing. Watch out for the “idiot” teachers. I’d got the main teacher and PE teacher on board with making sure he didn’t do sport or sit on the floor. Unfortunately the teaching assistant went rogue and made him walk the “Daily Mile” despite him having a cast. I went mental when I found out.

Lots of good advice here. At our school we'd do a risk assessment and be happy to have him back as soon as he was feeling able.

We would probably put the following measures in place, along with a reduced timetable for the first week or two.

• Leave classes 5 minutes early to get around when it's quieter and allow a bit more time
• lift usage - we don't give out keys but he would be able to have a buddy or two that could collect and return them to medical room and help with his bags if needed
• pass to go the loo
• pass to come to medical for pain relief as needed - we'd also ask you to sign a consent form so we could administer what he needed without calling you and ask you to supply it in the original box with the prescription label on if not over the counter

Oh some brilliant advice, thank you so much. I’m reading and taking everything on board. I’ll name change after this as it’s quite outing, but I’m especially worried for his mental health as he was very ill four years ago (stage 4 blood cancer, needed chemo) and missed almost a whole year of school. It’s taken him so long to find his confidence and get his fitness and health back. Sports have played a huge part in making friends and helping him feel normal, and I’m devastated for him that this has happened. I think getting him back to school would be the best thing for his mental health, but obviously if he can’t manage it then that’s that.

I hope you can get sorted with school and get him back asap. My 11yo has been able to take a friend with them when leaving lessons early which has really helped and school have accommodated it nicely in all ways for them.
This is a fourth surgery for them on their leg which I think has slowed recovery. Missing sports and the social bit is really hard but friends have really stepped up and help by carrying bags and running around after them! We have had unlimited online gaming to make sure there is no missing out socially outside of school, although I’m sure your son has more freedom as older but we have tried to make life as ok as we can for them while recovering as it’s a long time.

You need to talk to the hospital op not people on Mumsnet. If he puts weight on it too soon he could seriously mess with his recovery.

Oh he’s not putting any weight on it either way - absolutely not. I just want to get the right balance between helping him heal and keeping him mentally strong and not panicking about getting horribly behind with his GCSEs, which I know will be disastrous for his confidence and overall well being.

It’s really early days. I’d definitely keep him off another week till lighter cast on and he’s not needing more pain relief other than para/brufen. He might need longer. If he does, that’s ok. He’ll catch up. Support him while he needs it. Mine was off 4weeks with a broken ankle inY10 before going back with cast and adjustments, he did part days not whole days. He caught up well.

Thank you, that’s reassuring. I guess it’s all still very new and we will adjust - it’s just sent me into a bit of a panicked spiral remembering how he was when he was ill. Having a plan in place helps me to cope as it’s something practical I can do rather than feeling helpless! He’s happily gaming with his brother at the moment and we seem to be keeping on top of the pain, so there’s definite improvement from earlier this week.

What does the doctor say? One of my form-Year 11-broke both tibia and fibula a few weeks ago. He had to have serious surgery too, screws and plates. He was back within 2 weeks after his parents spoke to the school medical lady who organised for him to leave lessons early with a buddy and to use the lift for lessons on the first floor. He was then told to ditch his crutches within a week of his return and put pressure on but as your ds has broken his ankle, advice may well be entirely different. Hope he heals up quickly and without complications.

Gosh bless you. In that case unless doctor advises, I’d try and get him back ASAP. My son enjoyed the other kids making a fuss of him. Get the PE teachers on side to keep him involved without moving too much. Being ‘monitor’, ‘ref’, handing out vests, being in charge of the whistle etc. Not sure if your lad would do it, but my son liked having a racquet and bouncing tennis balls against the wall. The amazing after-school-club lady stood for ages and ages with him, passing him tennis balls and letting him see how many consecutive hits he could do. PE teachers also got him from having one withered leg to running 2km park runs in under 9mins, and taking part in tag rugby and footy tournaments and they helped him get back to that level safely. Took a couple of months after the cast came off but now you’d never know he’d done it. He did it playing football!