Broken Ankle

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I fell on the steps, slippery from rain and broke my right ankle just 12 days ago now. I am scheduled for surgery tomorrow (actually today). I am really glad I found a good surgeon.

It was scheduled to be first in the morning and then they called me stating that I'm not on until 1 pm, which gives me more time to get even more rattled. Plus of course, my aspie self does not like changes. My husband is very supportive and has built ramps and modified the thresholds so I can get over them in a wheelchair. Luckily it is outpatient surgery so if all goes well, I will be home tonight (seeing as how this is already tomorrow.)

gosh I hope it is at least not stil slippery and cold where you are at. I have weak ankles meself and am too often having them turn on me, grace of god has so far kept me from a busted ankle. my dad had weak ankles as well. no ice-skating for me. you might, in your physical therapy, ask about a TENS unit to take some of the discomfort out of the exercises. the TENS unit saved my life with my shattered elbow a few years back.

Bummer, blazingstar! Well, best of luck with your recovery. Don't try to rush it. I broke mine July 6, and just now am feeling fully recovered. Be patient, and don't suffer unduly - use whatever they give you for the pain, and let others wait on you. They say the bone(s) will grow back stronger than before, so that's something.

Excellent luck on your surgery, BlazingStar.

Bummer. Try to relax, take it easy, and heal well.

Eek, that's an awful thing to happen to your ankle.

Changes to times for appointments are so annoying too.

I hope it's only temporary and you'll be okay soon.

I hope your surgery goes well. Wish you a speedy recovery. It is nice to have more time to mentally prepare the day of. Good luck!

I'm home and doing great. There is a nifty nerve block at the knee that gets inserted just prior to surgery. It is mostly a novocaine-type drug. This limits the amount of anesthesia that is needed and supposedly I got by with just IV meds, but heaven only knows. I was not conscious to check on it. There is a pump that keeps the novocaine-stuff flowing for about three days and supposedly will not need much pain medication in that time. I am certainly without pain now and basically it feels like your cheek/jaw when the dentist pumps you full of novocaine. Not comfortable exactly, but presumably better than pain.

I was really impressed at how professional the doctors, nurses, CNAs, anesthesiologists, etc. were, explaining everything slowly and getting questions, how everyone worked in concert, there was no rushing around or panic. This is how medical care should be implemented.

Thank you for all the support. It meant a lot to me. Noca, your little comment about mental preparedness permitted me to switch from panic to calm mental preparedness. Thank you. I had Dr. House talking to me the whole time about keeping cool and making jokes and not jumping up and running out.

Thank you all.

Did you have a birthday, too?

I really like the sound of a nerve block for the pain management. Great idea. Take care and heal quickly, but as Bea said, take your time and all the help offered.

New Years Eve. My knee scooter came on NYE and I was able to ride it a bit and help water my plants and see my orchid blooms. It is an all terrain type so I can take it outside. Love my knee scooter!

Nobody has said anything about PT yet, but I suppose that will come later. What is TENS?

Transcutaneous [through the skin] Electronic Nerve Stimulation, which is basically variable-rate pulses of DC that softly "shocks" the skin in little slivers of time, feels like a [depending on pulse rate and waveform selected] a buzzy tickle or a coarse vibration, either of which blocks the sensation of pain by overloading the sensory nerves in the area. you put the electrodes on either end/side of the painful area/joint. experimentation required for best location of electrode pads, also don't skimp, get the best quality ones, your skin will thank you later.

^^^ I used to see an acupuncturist who also hooked up the pins to low level electricity. But tens sees to be something different. I'll have to look it up.

I use tenspros.com as they had just the models that worked for me. you will want one that uses a rechargeable NMH 9-volt battery as those are easiest to get in and out of the battery compartment. you can wear it on a belt around your waist, with the wires going to your ankle. beware of snagging the wires on things, though.

This post gives me an idea, while I have my own acupuncture needles and can do my own acupuncture, I didn't have the device to hook up my needles to electricity like my doctor had, or at least I thought I didn't have it. I have a TENS unit (Dr. Hos) that if I could find attachments off of Amazon or something to attach the needles to the TENS device I could make it work. I find TENS helped with pain but I couldn't get the pads to reliably stick to my skin. I think if I had disposable TENS pads that might work better just haven't got around to it.

Hows your ankle doing today anyway?