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I had a compound tib/fib fracture at the ankle level last August 2nd, 2008, because of a bad bicycle fall on the street, no automotive vehicle involved. I had ORIF: plate with 6 screws on fibula and 2 screws on tibial maleollus. I used to work as a bicycle messenger here in Mexico City, but not anymore. I am looking for a job now as a salesman. I am also 47.
6 weeks NWB. They removed syndesmosis screw on September 10th, then I started physiotherapy. Just as you mention: the pain caused by physiotherapy has been really intense, but I have been able to overcome it. I should tell you that physiotherapy is of the absolute utmost importance: you ought to stick to it. When you are not able to do so for one or another reason, you'll pay for the bad consequences.
I used crutches for 3 weeks, then a cane for another 4 weeks.
Now I am able to walk without a cane and with no limp. I am able now to walk about 2 or 3 miles in a row. (Very thankfully, Mexico City's weather is really very mild).
My ankle is still a little bit painful, it still swells a little bit, but nothing in comparison with previous pain and swelling. I also wear compression socks. Range of motion is almost recovered to 90%.
In regard to my bicycle:
I have been always a bicycle fan. In the past, I have been able to ride my bicycle 140 miles in a row, from Mexico City to Queretaro, in 6 hours.
When I was in the excruciating pain and swelling of the after surgery, and then in the not so moderate pain of the physiotherapy, and then walking with a damned cane, I was always wondering myself: Will I be ever able to ride again my bicycle??? Even more important: Will I be ever be able to walk without this damned cane???
It happened on November 4th: I started riding again, only 3 months after my accident...
I should tell you that I was VERY fearful and insecure... I was able to remember so clearly the fall, the hospital, etc...
But in some way or another, I have been able to overcome the pain and the fear, little by little.
Today, December 14th, 4.5 months after the accident, I was able to ride my bicycle for 40 miles: I went to a Christmas concert at the Conservatory, and then I went to the gym. The worst part: to climb a flight of stairs of a pedestrians bridge, taking my bike, wearing my bicycling shoes... But I was able to do it!!!! I can tell you something: I won't do again the stairs part!!!
There are no deers in Mexico City, not even in the zoo or somewhere else... But I can tell you that M. C. is one of the less bicycle friendly cities all over the world...(this is starting to chage, little by little) And nevertheless there are stubborn cyclists like myself and many others...
So, what else can I tell you? I am not a Semper Fi Marine... but I am a cyclist in Mexico City. Up to which extent are they equivalent? Certainly I don't know, and it is quite feasible that being a US Marine is much more strenous.
If me, as a cyclist, have been able to recover in this way (the traumatologist and the physiotherapist are so surprised) you certainly will be able to recover.
Attitude is the key!!!
Follow the doctors and P.T. orders!!!
Keep a positive attitude, despite the pain, the swelling, the fear, the insecurity and the uncertainty... Read your favorite book, read your favorite poetry... If you don't read poetry... Well, perhaps this is the very moment for starting it. I am a Walt Whitman's fan: I sing the electric body... Watch your favorite movie. Call a good friend over the phone... Breath: breath deeply and slowly, once and once again. LIfe is a thorough mistery. This kind of accident is part of the mistery, and it is not up to us to solve it, but certainly we have the ability to recover...
In the last follow-up appointment, last Friday, my doctor asked me: Are you happy buddy to recover in such a fast way?
I was speechless: "Happy" is not the exact word...
Certainly I feel an enormous relief. But I feel really very grateful. Gratitude is the exact word for me.
I am so grateful to spin again on the pavement, feeling the air on my face, the sun on my head. To listen again to the music of a live violin concert, going there with my own feet... So extremely grateful to everyone: to the doctors,to my family, to the nurses, to the hospital, to the physiotherapists, to the musicians, to my neighbors, to all of you around this forum...
Certainly I wish and I am sure that absolutely everyone around this forum will be able to recover: Remain Semper Fi to your own recovery process.
My absolute best wishes to everyone.
Manuel
Healed broken ankle bike messenger
Quote:
Originally Posted by marinemeatball
Monica, you are doing all you can. LOL, the unknown is always the scariest part. Once you get there you realize, it's not as bad as you imagined. My knee still swells up like a grapefruit. I think someday we will be recovered to the point where we don't really think about it. Maybe the plates in my leg will hurt when it gets cold. Arthritis in the knee. It will be a reminder and then we'll forget about it and move on. I have been a United States Marine for 21 years and I hope to run a USMC Physical Fitness Test in a year before I retire. I think that staying in shape will be good but I will need to find a new career. I am being positive and looking for the silver lining. Maybe I'll go back to school and get into Radiology.
I'm 47.
OMG! You had to go and remind me of Nathans!! hahaha!! I ADORE their french fries. The one where I grew up, every Tuesday nite was bike nite, and TONS of bikes (all kinds) would show up and ride thru the huge parking lot showing off their rides. My dad owned a motorcycle dealership, and I worked there from the time I was in 7th grade so wen I hit my teens, I always had someone to ride with. Then when everyone was ready to leave, we would head out for a nite time road trip thru the more rural areas. It was awesome!!!
I miss those pastries soooo bad, but I am lucky. There is a great Italian restaurant 30 min away and they have perfect Cannollis!!! And In Augusta, GA there is a pizza place and the owner is from NY so it is the next best thing to real NY pizza..
anyway...! It sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving! U R so lucky.. It was just the 2 of us, and a small turkey breast but I made all the fixings and we enjoyed it.
Oh, I don't have either one of those sites. I'm just on that classmates. Well I better go, I am being ms. chatty today!!!LOL.
Hope you are doing better!!! Monica
It did end up being a great Thanksgiving, under the circumstances. My parents didn't get in until late (about 9pm) and I just got home from the hospital about 1pm, but all in all, I was so grateful to be home that nothing else mattered. Hubby cooked - it was hilarious, really, because he was in the kitchen yelling out things like "How do you make mashed potatoes?" but he pulled it all together and made a fantastic meal.
Hi Joe!! OMG I am so sorry you got hit so badly. Especially from the shin UP! Mine is from the shin down so I also have full motion of my knee (thank God!) My cast starts about 3 inches below my knee. I have been doing my own sort of PT, flexing my toes, ankle doing leg lifts, flexing the muscles. I read on this site someone mentioned picking up marbles wiyh their toes! I'm thinking of trying it soon. And I absolutely agree with you on the mental attitude! That can make or break the whole ballgame, so to speak. I love this site and being able to communicate with other people!! I hate that we are all hurting but I feel that we all support each other, keep spirits up kind of like a team effort. When I was in the hospital for the week following my wreck, I too was getting shots in the stomach for the clots so I know how miserable they are. I hope you are not in too much pain at this point, but as always stay strong!! Enjoyed talking with you! Monica
That's what I was instructed to do before leaving the hospital - flexing toes, knee bends, and leg lifts. I tried picking things up with my toes (not for PT purposes, but out of necessity because I dropped something....lol) and I can get some and not others. I think I've got my toes back to normal movement range at this point, but I work them everyday. The swelling is more under controlled as well - I haven't felt my cast be too tight for some time now and I even have a large gap at the top.
I had a compound tib/fib fracture at the ankle level last August 2nd, 2008, because of a bad bicycle fall on the street, no automotive vehicle involved. I had ORIF: plate with 6 screws on fibula and 2 screws on tibial maleollus. I used to work as a bicycle messenger here in Mexico City, but not anymore. I am looking for a job now as a salesman. I am also 47.
<snip>
Manuel
Healed broken ankle bike messenger
Hi, Manuel, and thanks so much for sharing your story! This is the kind of tale that I really need to hear! I'm glad to hear that you are back on the bike and doing the thing that you truly love. I really hope that my recovery is quick like yours, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get there.
Unfortunately, I'm an overweight mom of three who only started working out back in March. I dropped 40 pounds this year, but still have a ways to go to hit my goal weight. I hope that doesn't slow down my recovery at all. My upper body just wasn't prepared to take on the crutches, but I am doing a lot better with them now than I was when I got them two weeks ago. Right now I'm not supposed to be up and around too much because my foot turns a dark shade of purple when I am, so I keep it elevated and iced as much as possible. On Wednesday I'll be 3 weeks post op, so 3 more weeks in this cast and then on to the fun stuff! (At least, as far as I know at the moment. I hope it doesn't change!)
Yes, this kind of situation is a tremendous challenge for anyone, woman or man, fit or unfit...
I also lost some 18 pounds since the accident...
Swelling control is really important: follow the anti swelling measurements: Ice for not more than 20 minutes, every 4 hours, foot elevated above heart level (even when you are sleeping). As soon as you can, start wearing low compression socks. Always aks your physician/physiotherapist. Ask them also what you can do in order to improve your strength, always considering that this is a gradual process, and you have to avoid by all means to overdo it... But it is neither advisable to "underdo" it.
I am sure you will be able to achieve a great recovery.
Manuel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cristina1
Hi, Manuel, and thanks so much for sharing your story! This is the kind of tale that I really need to hear! I'm glad to hear that you are back on the bike and doing the thing that you truly love. I really hope that my recovery is quick like yours, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get there.
Unfortunately, I'm an overweight mom of three who only started working out back in March. I dropped 40 pounds this year, but still have a ways to go to hit my goal weight. I hope that doesn't slow down my recovery at all. My upper body just wasn't prepared to take on the crutches, but I am doing a lot better with them now than I was when I got them two weeks ago. Right now I'm not supposed to be up and around too much because my foot turns a dark shade of purple when I am, so I keep it elevated and iced as much as possible. On Wednesday I'll be 3 weeks post op, so 3 more weeks in this cast and then on to the fun stuff! (At least, as far as I know at the moment. I hope it doesn't change!)
Yes, this kind of situation is a tremendous challenge for anyone, woman or man, fit or unfit...
I also lost some 18 pounds since the accident...
Swelling control is really important: follow the anti swelling measurements: Ice for not more than 20 minutes, every 4 hours, foot elevated above heart level (even when you are sleeping). As soon as you can, start wearing low compression socks. Always aks your physician/physiotherapist. Ask them also what you can do in order to improve your strength, always considering that this is a gradual process, and you have to avoid by all means to overdo it... But it is neither advisable to "underdo" it.
I am sure you will be able to achieve a great recovery.
Manuel.
My doctors have me icing constantly right now. I have heard not to ice for longer than 20 minutes, but my doctor told me not to follow that. In the hospital, they had two large bags of ice on my leg at all times, but that is through a hard cast so perhaps that is the reason? I've got the swelling a lot more under control now than it was even a week ago, so that's a plus. The pain is gone, too, now, except for once in awhile I can feel the staples rub against the cast and it's uncomfortable, but not really painful.
Right now there isn't a whole lot for me to do but play the waiting game. While I can't wait to get this cast off, I am truly dreading actually seeing what my leg will look like - surgical scars, staples, loss of muscles, fracture blisters, etc. I know it's going to be a shocker, to say the least. I'm far from vain, but I am not sure if I am prepared to actually see the mess down there. I'd never make it as a nurse - things like that make me queasy.
Thanks so much for your kind words. I do appreciate it.
I haven't been on in awhile, but wanted to let everyone know things are improving for my hubby since his motocycle accident. We did get a second opinion in which the Dr. said the fibula still was no where close to healing. They have ordered up one of the bone stimulars for him also. (been over 6 months now). If that does not work then they have two more options the last being surgery and a plate on the fibula along with the T1 rod in the tibia. His screws in his ankle still bother him and they may consider taking those out, but they did not see anything wrong with them. He still takes pain meds but usually only in the evening. (He works on his feet all day) He does not have much of a limp and he has been on his Harley quite a bit the last two months...he even let me go on two rides. So things are getting better it just takes awhile...Hang in there everyone.
By the way his leg is still swollen after 6 months, and his ankle is almost twice as big as the good one, but the Dr. says that is ok, some people take up to a year for the swelling to go away.
I had this same problem. I went and got a second option after three years of pain. The doctor took an xray and found out one of the pin in my ankle was pushing against a major nerve in my ankle. I having the pins removed tomorrow. Sometimes I could not even walk on this foot because of the pain. It was a very sharp pain. I thought I was going to have to live with this for the rest of my life and I hate pain.
Hi Everyone,
Well, went to the doc tues (was afraid to get onlne with this internet exp virus) for my xray check and here goes. All is looking well, good amt of healing, still a ton of swelling in my foot and ankle. OUT OF MY CAST!!!!! YAY!!, Now in a cam boot...boo , BUT I can take it off, but it is so darn painful!!! and I start PT and I am allowed to (while using my walker) start putting a little bit of weight on it. PT cant get me in till Jan 8, so I am waiting to hear from the doc to see if that will be ok. Still not allowed really to do anything so I am still stuck in this stupid chair...
I got a disc from the hosp of ALL the xrays taken since the day of the acc. and boy I wish I could upload some of them to my album. The spot across the top of my foot closest to my ankle has 15 count em folks!! 15 screws in a 2 in spot put in at ever conceivable direction and angle. And they left 2 of them sticking up so far you can see the heads thru my skin.
You can see on the film, they left the 2 heads above the surface of the bone.. cant figure that one out. seems like they will rub on any kind of footwear i'll wear.
But thankfully all in all a ray of sunshine in this so far stormy ordeal... OK, that was pretty bad, sorry...
Monica
Monica what great news! I got to the doctor again on January 7th. I have my scrip in hand for my cam boot and will get the cast taken off then. I can't wait!
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checkup time!!!
