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Hey guys, I have a question hopefully someone can answer. It may be no reason for concern, but... I have noticed lately that my foot is super-cold almost all the time. Usually from the break site down to my toes, it's just so cold to the touch even. Has anyone else had this? I am 4 months since my accident. I don't know if I should call my OS or just wait till my appt in June? Anyone that has had similar experience I would appreciate your input. Could it be a blood clot? Thanks!
Hey guys, I have a question hopefully someone can answer. It may be no reason for concern, but... I have noticed lately that my foot is super-cold almost all the time. Usually from the break site down to my toes, it's just so cold to the touch even. Has anyone else had this? I am 4 months since my accident. I don't know if I should call my OS or just wait till my appt in June? Anyone that has had similar experience I would appreciate your input. Could it be a blood clot? Thanks!
Hi, I'm the one that got the blood clots. I have heard that we don't have the best circulation in our legs below our knees so maybe that is why your leg/foot is cold(?) You may want to go on line to find some of the signs to look for for a DVT. But NEVER hesitate or feel silly calling any doctor about any concern you may have -- it's your life -- trust me I've learned! And if I am not comfortable with what my OS tells me, I also call my regular doctor and ask same thing!
Michele
i broke my right leg on april 11th,2010.i have never broken a major bone in my body before.this is the worst pain in the world.i broke both the tibia and fibula basically right in half tripping on a area rug over a step onto a concrete floor.i had emergency surgery a few hours later.i spent three days in the hospital and then finally came home. i have days were i think i am doing better,then i have days were i am having the worst pain.the worst part is not having my four year old son living with me because i am unable to care for him with this injury.luckily my sister in law is caring for him.that is the hardest thing that i have to go through.he does come home on the weekends,but i am unable to do anything with him as he is a typical crazy boy.watching him leave on the weekends is the comparable pain to having this broken leg.he is my reason to keep working as hard as i can.does anyone know when i am supposed to feeling some relief because all i feel right now i pain and i cant sleep due to elevation of my leg.i am just sick of dealing with all of this and cant for everything to go back to normal if that is possible.sorry about rambling,but it is hard to talk to people that don't have any idea what i am talking about.thanks for listening.
Gabby - you found the best sight on the Internet for your condition -- you are not alone! I couldn't imagine going though this with a child -- just about impossible! Keep your spirits up!
Michele
I have a question I am hoping somebody can help me with. My son broke his tib/fib.last week in a dirt biking accident(compound fracture). However, since he is growing (14yrs. old) the surgeon didn't put in any plates, screws, etc. He just cleaned the wound, and re-aligned the bones,stapled the wound and put on a plaster cast from thigh to foot. However, when we went for our 1 week follow-up appt. yesterday, I almost cried when I saw the X-rays. I was expecting the bones to be somewhat lined up with each other, and instead saw they are still sitting beside each other in his leg clearly broken. He told us that calcuim will grow around the break and fuse the 2 pieces together, but they aren't even lined up straight on top of each other. Will he just have a huge knot around each bone? This seems crazy to me, he also said that because of the break, the bones will grow longer so you don't want the bones lined up on top of each other or else that leg will be longer?? Any help/ links would be so appreciated, as I have never heard anything like this and think a 2nd opinion maybe needed!!
Trust your gut, get a second opinion right away. Do your research, find another highly recommended OS to take a look at him. It can NEVER hurt to see what another specialist thinks, even if it is for peace of mind it is well worth it, especially with a child that is still growing. You can always stick w/your first OS if they are on the same page and you trust him/her.
Take Care & best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery,
Nanny
Sooo, I went to the dr this morning to have them check why my foot and leg is so super-cold lately. Good news kinda: they switched my doctor and the new doc told me to start PT and partial weight bearing. So, now I'm allowed to put 40-50lbs on that leg! Maybe I'll be walking again soon. We can only hope!
I have found this thread very helpful so I thought that I would add my experience...
First some background as it may be relevant to healing time, etc. I am 33 and I work out and run 4-5 times a week. I would like to say I am of an "athletic" build but maybe I am just thin? I was riding my dirtbike when I broke my fib about 1/3 of the way up, clean horizontal break and it was not aligned correctly. I also broke my ankle on the inside (basically the knob above your foot where you can see your ankle bone stick out.) I had moderate swelling and minimal pain....of my foot. Being forced to sit with one leg elevated for the next few days created all sorts of pains. My butt and lower back hurt far worse than my ankle. It was hard to find a comfortable position. No amount of pillows or blankets would do. Also, I felt like all of my other muscles were so sore trying to compensate. As it turns out, things would get better soon.
Also I might add, I started to look online for some answers. This was my first broken bone. I had no idea what I was in for and how long. I found some widely varied recovery times. Some posts show healing after 6 weeks and others took 6 months. The horror stories were certainly discouraging. Especially when I would hear accounts that the doctor told them they may always have a limp or not be able to run again. Of course, that sounded outrageous (I do realize that some have extenuating circumstances). I follow motocross and supercross and I tried to find out what a pro-athlete's recovery time was. I found 3 recent cases were the rider had his accident on a given Saturday, and by the 7th Saturday was back racing again. I thought this was incredible. They started riding gently at week 5 or 6 and must have eased in to walking slightly before that. If you have ever watched supercross, you will realize that even with dirt bike suspensions, racing is a high impact sport. I realize that they probably have every advantage and are being very aggressive on a recovery schedule. But, I still thought I would rather be closer to a 7 week guy than a 6 month one.
Anyhow, after the accident, I made it to the ER within a few hours. I got xrayed, and then had a semi-hard splint like cast put on. The outside looked almost like ace bandage. Not sure of the correct name. This was just so my leg would be somewhat immobile until I could see a surgeon. This unfortunately happened on a Friday afternoon so I had to wait until Monday morning to even call the orthopedic surgeon's office. They got me an appointment that day and scheduled a surgery for Wednesday. The ortho said he wasn't sure about the fib yet, but the ankle was definitely getting some hardware. He put 2 screws in my ankle and just put my fib back into place. I got a semi hard cast again.
As for the surgery, I received a nerve block prior to the surgery and then was given anesthesia. The block completely numbed my leg below the knee. The whole surgery process was interesting and pain free. I was only out for maybe 30 minutes. As soon as I opened my eyes, I sat up and was basically wheel chaired out to my ride (standard procedure). The nerve block wore off in the early evening at which point the ankle area really started to hurt. Now, I generally try to be tough so I waited to take any percocet or oxycotin. (I had an ancestor shot in the leg in the civil war and another one have his leg sawed off in a coal mine accident.I love modern technology, but I wanted to see how "soft" I was!) Plus, a buddy had told me he never takes pain meds because they don't work for him and he just feels loopy. I only slept a few hours that night and finally just got out of bed at 5am. I sat on the couch until 9am when I finally decided that I was tough, but would be borderline stupid to skip pain meds altogether. So I took an oxycotin followed by a percocet and felt great. Literally, better than ever! I iced and elevated and took an additional percocet before bed that night. I had my first good night of sleep in a week.
After 2 days, I was off the pills. Pain was light and mainly only when I stood up as all the blood would rush to my foot. Also, my stiches/staples would really start to hurt on occasion. I realized that as my cast could rotate slightly or slide up or down my leg (as little as a cm due to sitting position or swelling) it pressed my surgery incision against the hard cast which obviously was still very sore. It felt like the kind of pain you might expect if someone had given you a 3 inch slice across your ankle and then stretched it open and rooted around inside. Sometimes I could gently push or pull on my cast to wiggle it into a more comfortable position to give my cut some breathing room. Also, I am told that maybe they didn't put enough padding inside. But generally I was pain free a few days later.
For the first week after the surgery, it was hard to get my leg in a comfortable position. I found that just propping it up wasn't enough. I needed to keep my leg/toes pointed up. So I found that rolling up towels really help to keep my foot in place. I got out of the house almost everyday. I sat across the back seat with a folded pillow under my knee. I even when to a sports event at a stadium in doors. I think that I had crutched about 1/4 mile in all. But, I was very careful with my leg. I used my crutch to prop my leg up a little off the floor. I would place the top of my crutch under my seat, or the one next to me, and I could place my casted foot onto it. It was actually quite comfortable.
At 2 weeks, I had an ortho appointment. I had my staples removed and was given an aircast/boot. I was told that I could remove the cast for sleep and showering. I was worried about rolling over or getting my foot stuck in some blankets and twisting it in my sleep so I left the boot on. I found that I could roll onto my stomach and hang my toes over the edge of the bed. Also, I can comfortably sleep on my side with the boot on. This was the first relief/good news in 2 weeks. I was also allowed to place my foot on the ground carefully as long as the air cast was on.
By this point, my foot was slightly fat but nothing else was very swollen. I didn't really elevate or ice, but maybe once a day if I thought of it or was bored. ok, this is part 1. I am pressed for time and will continue with part 2 later. Hope this helps.
Yesterday I went to the OS for a check up since it has been 2 months since I've had hardware removed. We discussed my pain. I told him that I don't walk much during the weekdays - just go to my office job and pretty much sit most of day. I told him that this past weekend I browsed at a couple different stores and by the time I was done, my foot/ankle was in good pain -- probably enough to take a pain pill but I don't take anything unless I absolutely need to so I didn't - (just getting used to pain I guess). I told him that if I wanted to walk, let's say a swap meet, I would be lucky to make it only half way would be my guess. He pressed on a couple spots in front of ankle - about 1 inch from center (on the end of the one inch marks) and I felt pain from the push -- tendons? Anyway, he said pain could be from tendons or maybe even arthritis. I go back in another 2 months. At that time if there is still pain, he said he'd shoot some "gel" stuff in my ankle to see if that helps. He gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatory (I still wear compression sock for swelling) -- has anyone used anti-inflammatory for swelling - does it work? He said he didn't think PT would help me at this point. He even mentioned ankle replacement as last option -- I've decided that I am going to really try to figure out the areas where I have pain. This morning while walking, I noticed when my foot rolls, I have pain in the ball of my foot -- like the bones hurt -- maybe I am not walking correctly and babying my foot? I also feel a real tightness around my ankle area -- scar tissue? tendons? I don't have full ROM -- would a new ankle give me that? I don't think I've heard of anyone that has had an ankle replacement(?) -- ok, don't want to think about that anymore. Anyway, yes, the hardware removal did help because I had a screw sticking out in front and that hurt but it didn't take all the pain away. It has been quite a journey -- broke tib/fib March 28, 2009 (compound fracture) -- break a leg and it affects my ankle and walking -- who'd ever guess that? Maybe the tendons broke, snapped, stretched when leg ripped open? Well, my next "landmark" will be at next OS visit June 30th --- hopefully there will be improvement.
Michele
I am hoping someone can advise me on what to do about this pain I have in my mid calf. I fractured my tibia/fibula Jan 2009. I am scheduled to have the hardware removed the end of this month. I have had problems since the fracture that the Dr. feels is secondary to nerve involvement. The plan is to remove hardware hopefully releasing a nerve. My question to anyone who has any opinion ---is what you feel is causing this pain in my mid calf. Isulated to a small area and feels like someone is stabbing a knife and turning it around. My lower leg and foot has been numb for a while now. Pulse is good. Edema comes and goes. Never goes totally away but never over 2 plus. Dr. is aware of those symptoms ---it is this calf pain that started today and doesnt want to go away. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Julie
I am hoping someone can advise me on what to do about this pain I have in my mid calf. I fractured my tibia/fibula Jan 2009. I am scheduled to have the hardware removed the end of this month. I have had problems since the fracture that the Dr. feels is secondary to nerve involvement. The plan is to remove hardware hopefully releasing a nerve. My question to anyone who has any opinion ---is what you feel is causing this pain in my mid calf. Isulated to a small area and feels like someone is stabbing a knife and turning it around. My lower leg and foot has been numb for a while now. Pulse is good. Edema comes and goes. Never goes totally away but never over 2 plus. Dr. is aware of those symptoms ---it is this calf pain that started today and doesnt want to go away. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Julie
What was your pain? I see you posted this a week ago. Just curious because I had blood clots that went from leg to lungs. I felt the stabbing and twisting of knife in my back which was "the sign" for me -- I never had pain in my leg when blood clot was there (or I missed the sign if I did have pain)-- I would always suggest that anyone who is not comfortable with what OS tells you to check with your regular doctor. OS mainly concerned with bones! I've had my hardware removed and still have numbness and slight tingly feeling in ankle area and top of foot and toes -- I'm almost convinced that I will always have it the rest of my life!
Woot, I go to PT today for the first time since my break in December. I'm pretty excited. Hopefully it won't be too terribly painful. We'll see.
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pain in mid calf
What was your pain? I see you posted this a week ago. Just curious because I had blood clots that went from leg to lungs. I felt the stabbing and twisting of knife in my back which was "the sign" for me -- I never had pain in my leg when blood clot was there (or I missed the sign if I did have pain)-- I would always suggest that anyone who is not comfortable with what OS tells you to check with your regular doctor. OS mainly concerned with bones! I've had my hardware removed and still have numbness and slight tingly feeling in ankle area and top of foot and toes -- I'm almost convinced that I will always have it the rest of my life!
