Broken Ankle

[rightfromwrong]

I dislocated and broke my ankle in a number of places four months ago. My foot was almost turned back on itself.

I've had a number of operations and need more.

I'm still in a wheelchair and my family's life has changed completely because of it.

I'm shocked by how something can happen so quickly and have such a big impact. I now feel quite nervous of lots of things.

Once I'm up and about again, will this anxiety quickly subside?

The day I did mine, my consultant told me to wiggle my toes as often as I can. I did it every time I remembered.
Felt like I was doing something all the time to aid healing. I do credit that little comment (and a really awesome Facebook support group) as being the 2 most useful things I had.
I wasn't allowed to weight bear for 3 months, I'm a bit of a pollyanna unfortunately for those around me, but I cried a lot during that time.

That all sounds very grim for you. I haven’t experienced such a dreadful break but don’t underestimate the effect that general anaesthetics have on your mind as well.
I have had 6 in the last 3 years, the final one last week, and I am struggling with my low mood. Dr said that every GA will take its toll. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. In my case I feel guilty as I am cancer free and should be happier. I ended up on Google the other night looking at low mood after anaesthesia. Things will get better.

Do you think you could use a knee scooter or a knee crutch.

This is a great suggestion.
What I do is use the wheelchair as a knee scooter - with the seat facing towards me, I kneel on the seat with my bad leg, hold on the handles, keep good leg on the floor and scoot!
I'm actually quite fast now

😂😂

Sorry, I gave up on my walking frame today because I could build up quite a speed but I couldn’t get my coordination right and I either stubbed my toe on it or hit myself in the shins with it.

im doing really well with one crutch instead.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I've looked at a knee scooter but the occupational therapist doesn't like them as they aren't very stable? I've heard good things about them!

With all due respect though, she's not the one who is struggling because she can't get around.

So my 15 yr old used a knee scooter and zoomed around the place, cross country and up and down and around his boarding school. I did get him the one with the wider wheels so it was more stable because I guessed he would act like a fool (teenaged boy!) and it made a huge difference for him.

I made do with an office chair around the house. I desperately wanted a scooter though!

I'm having an unexpected issue with remembering my foot being at the wrong angle. My memory of that seems to do something to me, and it's worse if I try to think exactly how my ankle actually broke due to such a simple slip. I can't remember and when I try to, I feel sick.

Does anyone have any similar experiences with some kind of trauma of the actual break, rather than fear of slipping?? (I am certain that I'll also have many future moments of fear of slipping, and worry about recovery)

Not sure whether to start a new thread, please advise if I should.

It was a week ago I dislocated and fractured my ankle when out walking, I waited just an hour with my friend for help, and then another 2 to get air lifted off. It was really cold and stressful, but not long.

It got set that night, and then a few days later I got surgery to put screws and plates in. Now in a cast. As I live on my own, I've been able to come to my dads in a different town. He has been brilliant.

My sisters seem to have a lot on just now and am needing to speak to someone, and found this thread when googling fractured ankle and mental health! This chat so far has been really helpful, with tales of different experiences of recovery and difficulties.

I can't recall my actual fall either very well and mine wasn't as stressful as yours!

How are you coping with day to day things?

I can really understand how your feeling op. You do feel really helpless, useless not being able to do things and I also got really down.

My break was a few years ago and I still am a little hesitant in certain weather or pavement's etc. I almost did a lot of damage to my foot due to some condition where my brain did not register my lower leg after my cast came off, it was consistently wet with cold sweat but was hot to touch as if it was dying, sorry cannot remember the medical term. My goodness the physios and other medical staff were excellent. It was a long recovery but I did recover all be it with a slightly larger ankle and many pairs of boots given away as my foot had changed shape.....but that had a silver lining as I had to buy new ones!

Joking aside the whole showering, washing hair and getting to the toilet was a pain, my poor husband trying to get me into a tiny shower cubicle on a plastic stool was quite painful (he has a bad back). I too felt guilty with him doing everything, but thank goodness he was around or I would of been really stuck. I could not even make a cup of coffee and carry it with the crutches, it was very frustrating. I was even making myself quite ill on an night time as I was scared to get up to go to the loo with crutches in case I fell over. I also had a injection every day for 48 days which my DH gave me after practicing on an orange.

You think its never going to end, but it does and you will recover of course some will recover quicker than others, your break sounds really bad and it will take time dont compare yourself to people who have broken ankles. Work with your physio do all you can to help yourself, I know others who gave up and are left still in pain. Oh and I found a limbo cover for my cast when washing handy.

When I went out eventually to the supermarket I used an electric scooter then borrowed one. It helped at first but I felt I was becoming to reliant on it so gave it back.

The first time I stood up on both my feet together and lifted my heels off the floor holding onto a chair I actually cried. The ancient Wii was a godsend to help with my balance as well. All small steps.

I will say many people just shrugged when I told them what happened, as if to say 'its only a broken ankle'..........

One bit of advice my fabulous physio said when I was discharged was when you go out, walk like a toddler as in with purpose and stride ahead...it helped.

With the carrying a coffee - I had an old handbag I slung around my neck and a good quality travel mug. Once I got a bit better I would manage a travel mug with a handle on my crutches

I broke my ankle badly as a young woman in 1987 .It was a complicated open fracture .I basically smashed my ankle to pieces and recovery was long .It was in fact a life changing injury . I have had to live with pain, swelling and inability to take part in so many sports and leisure activities since then I have had numerous surgeries , finally having a joint fusion with bone transplant in 2015. The recovery for that operation alone took 18 months and I have had to give up my job a nurse as I just could not do it anymore. I am now facing a knee replacement due to a change in gait and a pressure on my knee joint.
Therefore if I can give you all any advice it would be to not rush your recovery .Make sure that you get adequate physio before fully weight bearing (which I did not get ) and continue until you are sure that all is well .if you don't you will pay the price somewhere along the way .
'Just a broken ankle' is unfortunately very often the response but as i said above this diagnosis can be life changing for many.I am in Facebook group for Ankle Fusion and some of the stories are just horrific .

Backtorealitynow I am finding this attitude in a lot of friends/aquaintances that it is “just a broken ankle”. They say “I hope you get better soon” in a way like I just told them I have a bad cold.

I too got the ‘just a broken ankle’ but it’s clear broken ankles range from a slight crack to a trimalleolar fracture which I had and beyond that to a full crush injury. It didn’t help that a family member had a slight chip that healed in 4 weeks.
I used to say to people that it wasn’t just a broken ankle and likened it to the footballers injuries on tv where the ankle is hung off and the cameraman won’t focus on it cos it’s too horrific to show. Each injury is individual, don’t hesitate to put people in their place for saying ‘just a broken ankle’

@PenguinsCantFly Yes I think not being able to remember must be our brains way of coping. But it's a bit annoying too.

Thanks for asking - day to day I'm ok, I have my amazing dad. A few down moments here and there. By reading all these comments I see I may have quite a journey in front of me.

I understand the 'just a broken ankle' reaction well already!

Re going upstairs. I used to go up on my knee (bad side) and use my fog the other side so sort of rest on my knee and push up with my good/ better side. Come down on my bum.
I had a Zimmer frame upstairs, crutches and wheelchair downstairs. I didn’t know about getting a cover for the pop so only strip washed for months

Mine was like the horrific football injury some players have…😵‍💫😱

A few tips for getting around as I have spent quite a bit of time on crutches in my life.

Going up and down the stairs especially if there is no weight bearing allowed , I just went up and down on my bum and left a pair of crutches on each floor .It does require upper body strength to pull yourself up on the bannisters but that comes quite quickly .I have four floors in my house so needed to do this .Ditto out in public where there is no lift available. I went up and down stairs on my bum especially if floors are wet Just remember to put on an old coat

For working in the kitchen , put on an apron with a pocket to stuff whatever yo need into it to get from fridge to stove etc.Otherwise tie a jute bag around your neck and put everything in there. Have a stool to rest your leg on while you work.

To shower , a sturdy plastic bath stool is useful so that you can sit down and stretch your leg out .Bin bags tied with duct tape to keep the cast or boot dry.
Otherwise get into the bath while it is empty and then fill it with water all the while your leg resting on the side of the bath.Let the water drain out before getting out and fill the bath with dry towels to prevent slipping .

I have never tried a knee scooter as I reckon Im too clumsy and would probably break the other leg.

Sending hugs. I broke seven bones I. My foot and ankle. Know running around. My advice is pay for a specialist who can give you exercises to help get you back on your feet. And exercise

cont… daily exercises. Swimming lunges squats. You will get there. And once the swelling starts to recede a therapist can get on more to help manipulate. Good luck

Yes, I had the same issue for quite a while after I broke my ankle in my 20s. It went on for quite a long time but it did fade eventually. One of my triggers was sitting on a bus or a rattly old car when the floor used to judder it somehow reminded me of the break and I would feel awful. For many years, on buses I sat with my other foot sideways underneath the bad one, to deaden any vibration. I don't know why it was such a trigger, as I broke my ankle riding a bike and it had nothing to do with buses. At the beginning it was like a horrible PTSD type reliving of the experience, and gradually faded to the kind of teeth on edge feeling you get when someone scrapes a blackboard. Then it faded to nothing at all. Some research into PTSD after car accidents suggests distraction is important - they got people who'd been injured in car accidents to play tetris as soon as possible while they were waiting for treatment and the tetris group had less PTSD than the control group. So probably distract, distract, distract is the order of the day when you find yourself reliving your experience.

When I broke my ankle I was horrified to be told by a physio that the recovery would take a year. It felt like altogether too long and it was scary and horrible to think about. But then when I got to one year and I wasn't fully better I assumed that was as good as my leg was ever going to get. But it continued to improve for a good few years after that.

@deplorabelle Thank you for sharing that. I'm glad the triggers have faded and that your recovery happened eventually. Interesting to hear too that it continued. I'll try to distract myself - instead of trying harder to remember it! 😝

For this who have been here --

When you were at the Big Boot and crutches stage, what did you do at night?

I usually have to get up in the night and don't feel steady enough yet to walk with no ankle support at all, and will still need crutches.

Did you wear the Big Boot to bed?!