It’s been a while, but I had my final follow-up on my ankle today. Doctor said it’s looking good and I shouldn’t have to go back again, unless something goes wrong as it continues to heal. It’s been about 6.5 months since I broke it.
I’m still missing about 10% range of motion in my ankle, which I may never get back due to scar tissue. It will continue to swell and be sore for another six months. Apparently it generally takes a full year to get back to mostly normal.
The scar is still pretty prominent - it looks like a little shark took a bite out of my ankle on one side, and then a long knife cut on the other. I still have a slight limp, but it’s not so bad if I’m only doing short distances. Going down stairs is still a bit tricky, I just have to be careful to support my weight with the railing.
If I’m still feeling pain in December, the doctor said to check back in and they may need to take the plate out, but that would be another big surgery and he doubted I’d want to do that again (though the recovery wouldn’t be as long as the first one).
More rambling behind the cut:
I’ve also gotten even more out of shape than I already was before I broke it, since I now spend so much time just resting my leg to avoid pain. So I need to work on that somehow, which will be no fun at all.
Also, looking back, I’m realizing just how hard my depression and anxiety hit me and how that made everything so much worse and I really should look into treating that so I don’t suffer so much this winter. Because I know my anxiety will be absolutely out of control, given that all this started from just walking on the sidewalk on an icy day. But yeah, I was bad. It kind of hit me when I was in the waiting room and looking at other people waiting who were still dressed normally, or had something better than crutches to work with. When that was me, I wore sweats and a tshirt, and threw my hair up in a ponytail. I showered like, once a week because it was so much work. I felt gross all the time, but I felt too tired and weak to do anything about it. I cared zero percent about what I looked like. All I wanted to do was sleep. I didn’t want to go out to eat because I didn’t want people looking at me. I didn’t want to get a little scooter because I didn’t want to ask more of anyone and I didn’t have the energy to figure it out myself. I was a hot mess.
I’m super super super grateful my mom came out to help take care of me, and for all the help my friends did. Honestly don’t know how I would have made it through without them.
Anyway. It’s been a long trek and I’m emotional the end.
Not much has changed since the last update. I can walk without a limp for very short distances if I concentrate and go slow, but then it usually ends up hurting later.
It aches when it rains, and I’m suddenly very aware of all the foreign hardware in my leg.
My back doesn’t hurt so much, now that even when I do limp, it’s not as bad. Plus my muscles have probably gotten stronger.
Haven’t needed pain meds for a while now.
Gained back basically all the weight I lost.
Stairs are still the devil.
A weird part of me wants to start jogging when I’m back to normal, even though I’ve always hated it, just to take advantage of being able to run again.
So I finally made my post-op appointment today and the doctor says everything looks good. It’s normal to still be swollen and limpy and achey, so that’s fun. I have one more follow-up in three months, and he said that I should be mostly back to normal by then, so it might be my last appointment. It’s scheduled for the 5th of July, so I’m encouraged to know I should be walking normally by SDCC lol.
Can’t sleep because I have things to do so instead of actually doing them I’ll give you a bit of an update.
My ankle/lower leg still aches all of the time and it sucks. It looks like I might be in for some chronic pain and boooo. I still have painkillers but they make me sleepy and I only like to take them at night. I can walk a pretty good distance now, but I pay for it afterwards. Going down stairs/slopes is still really difficult. Still limpy. Still a bit swollen. Don’t ever break your ankle, kids, it feels like it will never be back to what it was.
I got really busy with various things and haven’t scheduled my follow-up appt yet so no update there. I need to do that this week oops.
So here’s what happened. Last Friday I went in for my 3 month follow-up of my broken ankle, and the screw going through my tibia and fibula hadn’t broken on its own, so the doctor wanted to remove it in a surgery called a syndesmotic screw removal. The next opening was the following Monday so bam, I was scheduled.
I went in at 6am and prepped for surgery with paperwork, blood test, urine test (which was super fun since I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink since 11pm the night before). Around 7:30, they drugged me up and off to surgery I went. I don’t remember much, just my doctor telling me it’s a lot easier to take the screw out than put it in. And they had to stick me three times to get the IV in because my veins are awful.
I woke up around 10am, feeling a bit nauseous, which is normal for me because my body reacts to stress with nausea constantly. The nurses mixed in some anti-nausea stuff into my anesthesia cocktail earlier, which I know helped but didn’t eliminate it. I kind of drifted back into consciousness over the next hour or so. The nurse helped me walk to the bathroom, and I could put weight on my foot without much problem. I just had to go slow, since I was still a bit dizzy and weak. Thankfully I didn’t need help in the bathroom and had privacy for that part.
I left the hospital around noon when a friend came to pick me up since I wasn’t allowed to drive for obvious reasons. I took my pain meds when I got home, but they made me nauseous and sleepy and gave me a head ache, so I just slept as much as possible while playing The Office on my tv in the background. I ate some french bread pizza for dinner, and the bread helped settle my stomach a bit. The nausea was honestly more annoying than any pain in my ankle.
I slept through the night without a problem and woke up feeling pretty good, considering. My headache and nausea were gone, and my ankle was a little uncomfortable, but not bad enough that I needed more pain meds. So I decided to suck it up and go back into work, since I really didn’t want to use vacation time or do any paperwork for sick time. Luckily (?) some wind knocked out the power and we were all sent home like two hours after I got there. So I took a nice long nap and ate a good dinner and played with my roommate’s puppy and took it easy.
I took a crutch with me to work, but they were more a precaution than anything else. I don’t really need them, my ankle is strong enough to handle short distances, though it hurts a bit if I push it. I took more pain meds a bit ago and I’m a bit ooOOOooO~ right now, but nothing too bad. These are not nearly as strong as what I had before. No weird dreams this time. And I feel A LOT more clear-headed. I was so incredibly out of it for weeks last time, but I’m pretty much already back to normal mentally when I haven’t taken a pill in 4-6 hours, which I’m super grateful for.
I can also tell a difference in mobility in my ankle. It’s still wrapped up but there’s not so much resistance in the joint when I walk. They let me keep the screw and it’s a long as my pinky, which is crazy. They actually asked me twice, and the first nurse asked with a sort of “it’s kind of weird but you can keep it if you want” tone so I said no. But the second nurse thought it was cool, so I didn’t feel dumb asking her to keep it. I’m going to put it in a jar with a picture of my xray and a fancy label. Right now it’s just in a biohazard bag in my purse, haha.
I can take the wrapping off tomorrow night and shower, but not bathe it until the incision site has healed. I tried to wash off the sterilization alcohol with some wet wipes but couldn’t get it all so it’s still kind of a sickly yellow in some parts. Oh well.
And now I’m really starting to feel the sleepiness so I think that’s it. I didn’t see many stories about the surgery when I was looking it up before hand so I wanted to get everything written down was it was fresh. Next step is another follow-up appointment I still need to schedule within the next 7-14 days. I’ll do that tomorrow. Probably. Now, sleep.
General update cuz it's been awhile: -I'm like 90% when walking on a flat surface. Declines and down stairs are still difficult. -Still swollen. And really achey tonight because I think I took the stairs too fast -Went to Target by myself yesterday hooray -Can't remember what it's like to walk without a limp or pain. And forget running entirely.
