Fractured Tibia and Fibula (Broken Lower Leg Bones) with Fixation Surgery (Part 2) (doctors, healing)
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Linda,
I get the creeps everytime I remember the fall too. Will be a long time before I'm comfortable going down the front stairs of my house again. My husband is taking our daughter trick-or-treating and I will have to give out candy so was going to have him set me up at the bottom of those same stairs (I get chills just thinking about being next to them) to give out candy there so no one goes up or down them on Halloween because I'm so freaked by my fall. I made my first appointment for PT today ... set for Friday morning. Do I need to anticipate that I will have a very uncomfortable afternoon and night from swelling after? I am still NWB but am going in to work on ROM for my ankle and knee.
We always hand candy out at the bottom of our stairs also! I broke my tib/fib stepping from stairs and I imagine I'll always be freaked out by stairs. Now I have to stop to think -- up with good foot first; down with bad foot first!
Michele,
I am hoping that PT will help push along the WB since I am starting PT now for ROM in ankle and knee and he may be able to encourage surgeon that it might be ok for WB as tolerated. I was told at the hospital that I could use the foot of my broken leg to help balance if needed as long as I didn't put any weight on it so I've been standing on my left foot then putting my right foot down flat on the floor and have sort of been cheating a little bit probably as I'm not sure I can do that without some weight being transferred. My ankle was kind of floppy in the back of my leg before I started doing this and doing some ankle movements trying to get the stiffness out. Ankle is feeling a bit more like it should now but as soon as it swells I can't get hardly any movement out of it so swelling seems to be key to ROM for my ankle. My knee is stiff almost all the time probably from the rod placement - have a numb spot on the right side of my knee that tingles if I touch the edge of the scar from where they inserted the rod so must have caught a nerve when they inserted it. Last visit to OS he put a bandaid on where he stitched up my leg from the bones coming out. No boot, no cast, no anything but a bandaid like you'd put on a knee scrape. It actually makes me laugh when I look at it. Who'd ever guess I had 3 spiral compound fractures and wasn't allowed to walk with just a bandaid on my ankle?
I would imagine you'll get "The Boot" when you are allowed to become WB! My ankle is quite swollen compared to good ankle and the boot feels pretty good -- shoes don't feel good on side I broke but I think soon, I may be told to not wear boot, I guess.
Hello to all the new injured people! Healing all depends on the person, Age, bone structure etc.
Just aslong as you do your physio, youll heal quicker.
I thought id give a quick update and ask a question to others whilst im at it.
Im now FWB. I never thought this time would come., ive still got my stick which my PT has asked me to carry with me for a comfort thing. Hes told me to walk for 10 minutes everyday. and when i go up the stairs to put my bad leg first to strenghten it up.
This is the question.
Ive got a terrible limp. Im trying to not to it, concentrating etc but its extremely hard. I dont feel the leg is strong enough to not limp yet as ive only been FWB for 6 days. Any advice? I dont have a mirror that i can practice walking up to apart from when im at physio once a week.
LOL good question -- I can't figure out how to walk without a limp either! Have you ever tried walking barefooted vs. with boot or shoe -- all a big difference from each other!
Definitely get it looked at! I noticed a small lump where the plate is, too, and that's where the plate is broken. I don't have much pain there - I was shocked to hear that the plate and bone are broken! I do still swell up and have pain more in the foot area, and have a lot of trouble trying to stand on my tippy toes to reach something out of the cabinets.
I'm trying to decide now whether I should seek a new OS. I'm quickly losing faith in this doctor between the infection and the broken plate.
Thanks for the info on the other board. I'm going to look at it now.
Take care,
Tina
Thanks Cristina,
I scheduled an appt for 11/10 to get it checked out, better safe than sorry! It is not real painful to walk on , but if I press on it , it feels like a bruise, pretty tender and it wasn't there before.
I also have trouble standing on my tippy toes, but it is getting a little easier.
I think getting a second opinion is a good idea, it can't hurt to have another OS take a look and see what they say and then make a decision.
Again, so very sorry you are still struggling. Let us know how things are going. I don't post here much anymore, but do check in to read and I will update on my OS visit on the 10th.
hello i just had a tib fib surgery. screws, bolts and plate. just under the knee. i am having lots of tingling in feet. is this normal? did anyone go through emotional rollar coaster?
hello i just had a tib fib surgery. screws, bolts and plate. just under the knee. i am having lots of tingling in feet. is this normal? did anyone go through emotional rollar coaster?
The tingling is more than likely down to nerves that have been servered or moved during the surgery, i had it.
Everyone on this thread has deffiniatly been through an emotional rollercoaster and most of us still are, youre not alone! X
hello i just had a tib fib surgery. screws, bolts and plate. just under the knee. i am having lots of tingling in feet. is this normal? did anyone go through emotional rollar coaster?
Teresa, I had tib/fib surgery same as you 7 months ago. I was just sitting here rubbing my tingling foot and toes! I had a compound fracture (bone ripped out of skin) and I think that messed up tendens and ligaments in foot, therefore tingling. Bones are doing much better healing and I couldn't put ANY weight on my leg for 20 weeks, but it is the foot/ankle that is my issue now. You are not alone in this -- all of us here have had pretty much same process to go though but all a little different recovery timeframe. I am walking with one crutch and soon to be with none. It is a journey but we progess!
Been back to see specialist today, he is happy with leg so far (broke my tib/fib, op 5th July, I have been full weight bearing for about 7 weeks now, no crutches or stick etc, still a limp though!), but he has given me a Exogen 4000 Ultrasound Bone stimulator to use for the next three months to help with bone growth. Has anyone else used this and what were the results please. Thank you
hello i just had a tib fib surgery. screws, bolts and plate. just under the knee. i am having lots of tingling in feet. is this normal? did anyone go through emotional rollar coaster?
Teresa:
I've had tingling in my feet, esp toward the toes and the ball of my foot. It seems directly proportional to the amount of time I spend with the boot on and the leg not elevated. I can usually get it to stop after soaking the foot in warm water. Does anyone else here have this experience?
I've also had the rather ugly sensation of something 'ripping' inside my ankle (where there's a numb spot on the outside). My OS said the ripping sensation was the breaking apart of scar tissue around the bone, and I needed to keep flexing the foot if I wanted full ROM (he said this after checking the xray and determining that nothing was wrong with the bones).
UT...................
Thanks! Well, my visit went FANTASTIC! My leg is completely healed! I got the OK to go back to work........I am so excited! Ill be job hunting on Monday for sure! I too felt strange when i took my paper work up to the front desk and they said ok thanks...good luck. I am also very used to getting those appointments in a couple weeks! Im gonna kinda miss all the girls in the office and the doc and the PA too! You really get to know them over the months.
I am feeling great though. I am ready to lose some of this 15 or so pounds I gained during the healing process...I started Weight Watchers on Monday.......its working ...I can feel it! It is really not that hard to do. The hungry feeling gets better with each day of my diet.
I think that I have been babying myself when it comes to my leg....I do not do a lot of things for fear that I will mess thigns up. Breaking a leg is pretty damn traumatic! I need to get it into my mind now that I am healed and okay and can start new again! I am feeling empowered today!!!!!!!!!
Hi Linn...congrats on not having to see the OS anymore. I know, its a weird feeling at first because you were so used to it but its great news that you don't have to go back. It came to a shock to me too. I was like, "Are you sure?".
I too, also "babied" my leg a lot even and even to this date. I walk on it and started to go to the gym again but I too notice that on certain times, I limp when I don't have to because I keep thinking I should be gentle with my leg while walking still.
I couldn't be happier to be walking again but I think you're right, breaking a leg is like nothing else because you can't help but remember what you had to endure. And not being able to use it for 5-8 months as you used to is very difficult to adjust. And when you finally adjusted, you are asked to revert back to your the old way of thinking.
I am still getting used to it now but I can't help but to think 7 months ago how it broke and to know that I was not able to walk for months on end really makes me afraid to take chances again in life. Even to this day, when I watch sports and see people twisting their ankles or just colliding on a jump or falling down, I can't help but cringe at the thought that it was me at one time.
Hopefully we will all get over it one day but we should be very happy that our bodies are so able to recover and heal.
Anyhow, great news and good luck with your 15lbs!
UT
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We always hand candy out at the bottom of our stairs also! I broke my tib/fib stepping from stairs and I imagine I'll always be freaked out by stairs. Now I have to stop to think -- up with good foot first; down with bad foot first!
Teresa, I had tib/fib surgery same as you 7 months ago. I was just sitting here rubbing my tingling foot and toes! I had a compound fracture (bone ripped out of skin) and I think that messed up tendens and ligaments in foot, therefore tingling. Bones are doing much better healing and I couldn't put ANY weight on my leg for 20 weeks, but it is the foot/ankle that is my issue now. You are not alone in this -- all of us here have had pretty much same process to go though but all a little different recovery timeframe. I am walking with one crutch and soon to be with none. It is a journey but we progess! 
tingling and numbness
