Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hi I hope Im posting in the right area...
My name is Nicole and im a 20 year old college student. About 5 weeks ago I fell down a flight of stairs and broke my tibia and fibula- its absolutly the worst thing ive had to go through. I havnt had much pain and have been in a boot type cast that I can pump up..I had surgery and they put in a plate and pins..
My question is...does a heavier person have a harder time recovering or does that have nothing to do with it?
Im a large woman..Im about six foot and 280 pounds..I was hoping somebody knew the answer....
Ill be going back to the Dr. 11 days and if all looks well I can start putting some weight on it while in the boot..
Thanks for reading. Any info/tips can help...
broke my tibia only, having IM rod soon, doctors say cast will come off and i will be able to walk, orthopedics says completely different, cast will stay on and probly won't walk, so who the **** is telling me the truth, so frustrating
Of course this is involuntary and unwanted. This forum is very valuable and informative. My case may be a simple one, This is closed fractures, one place of broken for each of tibia and fibula, then fixation surgery for a plate and screws for each bone. Still in NWB. One thing is bit odds with many posters here, there is almost no pain from pre and post surgery except when the fractures happened. Is this still normal? Surely, just 2 hours after the surgery when anesthesia started to dissipate, 5 inch incision site caused huge pain, but it only last about 6 hours or so and I took just one painkiller pill.
Please share your no pain history if any, thanks.
Last edited by MyPoorLeg; 04-21-2012 at 10:02 AM..
Just use crutches. Fortunately the plane wasn't full and I sat first row from flight info big screen so I can elevate my poor leg against the wall most time. It's almost next to rest room. In the airports I have received wheelchair service, so all transits were smooth.
Of course this is involuntary and unwanted. This forum is very valuable and informative. My case may be a simple one, This is closed fractures, one place of broken for each of tibia and fibula, then fixation surgery for a plate and screws for each bone. Still in NWB. One thing is bit odds with many posters here, there is almost no pain from pre and post surgery except when the fractures happened. Is this still normal? Surely, just 2 hours after the surgery when anesthesia started to dissipate, 5 inch incision site caused huge pain, but it only last about 6 hours or so and I took just one painkiller pill.
Please share your no pain history if any, thanks.
I had a spiral fracture of the tibia only. Tried to walk on it, tore all the tendons and ended up with my foot facing the wrong way. I have a plate and 9 screws. It's been three years now.
About the pain, I had no pain at all for about two hours after the injury. I knew it was broken, I just couldn't feel it. My blood pressure was way, way higher than usual...shock, maybe?
It didn't start to hurt until I was in the ER. There was a woman next to me who had been hit by a car and was screaming and cussing. Compared to that, my pain felt pretty mild. I had xrays and that was not pleasant but not agonizing either. After that I was waiting around for the doctor to read the xrays, and it started to hurt. It felt like someone was holding a flame to my leg. They gave me a pain pill, it did nothing. Put a splint on my leg, but the splint fell off by the time I got to the car.
By the time I got home that night, I was in so much pain I could barely handle it. I woke up beating on the bed (and poor hubby) because I was dreaming it was in flames. It was just my leg hurting. The next day, I had huge white streaks in my hair where I didn't have any before.
Two days later I got to see the doc for the pain. They gave me a shot and a prescription that was twice as strong as what the ER had prescribed. With that, the pain was pretty much under control. When I would sleep and the pain pill would wear off, I would end up waking because I was moaning or crying in my sleep.
That weekend I went to a different ER (I was still trying to arrange the financing for the surgery) and they put a plaster cast on. They had to twist my leg into position while the cast hardened. That didn't feel great either. I wasn't cussing them out or screaming at the top of my lungs like some of the other people who were in there getting their casts, but I sweated through my clothes and was shaking all over from the pain.
I had the surgery the next week. It took the entire day for the anesthesia to wear off and the pain to fully develop. It was pretty intense. The pain meds I had didn't do much for it at all. I called the hospital that night but the nurse said just deal with it, there was nothing stronger they could give me.
I've had two c-sections and that was a bigger incision, but nowhere near the pain of the leg surgery. With the c-sections, I was walking around the next day, a little sore, but feeling so good the doc would have to remind me that I'd just had surgery and to take it easy. I was off the pain meds in 2 weeks and felt totally recovered in 3 weeks. The leg surgery was a different thing altogether, it took three months before I was off the pain pills.
Hedge--,
Glad that you went through all of these hardship finally. Have you totally recovered yet? Maybe mine is relatively minor fracture so fortunately my pain isn't much. Today I start to use walker for short walk, just like duck, hopefully in a month or two I can walk all by myself.
Hedge--,
Glad that you went through all of these hardship finally. Have you totally recovered yet? Maybe mine is relatively minor fracture so fortunately my pain isn't much. Today I start to use walker for short walk, just like duck, hopefully in a month or two I can walk all by myself.
I think it took me about six months to be able to walk without pain, and a little longer than that to be able to walk without a limp. My leg still aches when the weather changes. The scar from the surgery is so faint now (three years after the surgery) that you can barely see it...I had xrays recently because I had a stress fracture in that foot, and the xray tech was amazed that I could have that much metal in there without a more noticeable scar.
After finding this thread I guess what I am going through is not that abnormal. I didn't break my tibia but I had a bone marrow tumor in the tibia that required a 10" incision to cut a long slot in the bone to remove the cancerous bone marrow tumor. They filled in the area with bone cement and used a metal plate with several screws. I had this all done in late June 2011 at Sloan Kettering.
I was told no weight bearing for 8 weeks, 50lbs for 2 weeks and full weight bearing at 14 weeks. I had PT three days per week for 6 weeks. My ankle was frozen for the first month and PT worked hard with me to get it moving to an acceptable range.
Skipping forward 10 months later I am still in lots of pain and keep taking steps backward if I get too active doing simple yard work. When I over do it, I am back on crutches for about 3-4 days until the pain settles down. The ankle area swells a lot. Then a couple of days on a cane and then careful walking for another 5 days. I found I can't walk on uneven surfaces like grass. It really upsets the leg. I have other complications that are probably adding to this problem because I have a birth defect with my joints. I had both my hips replaced about 6 years ago and my knees have seen four surgeries each for both legs.
Hi there fellow gimps. I have read almost all of the posts related to our injuries and are both comforted and disturbed at the same time. Some posts make me feel like i won't walk for a year, some very soon. All I can say is that we are all different, our injuries are similar but still different. So our recoveries will all be different. Don't be alarmed, do as your doctor says and just give your body time to heal. Be patient!
I suffered a compound fracture of both the tibia and fibula 8 weeks ago falling from my horse I shattered my tibia in 5 pieces at the ankle to about 7 inches up. My fibula was broken in 3 about 6 inches up. All repaired with 3 plates and about 20 screws. I was in bed with my leg elevated 99% of the time through week 5 when I started PT. When not at PT, was in bed at all times. Week 7 I started to drive, pick up daughter from school, have lunch with friends.
I will give a simple timeline from the first hours, days, weeks.
Time 0 - hurt a little but nothing I couldn't handle. I'm sure it was shock.
30 min - in the ambulance and in a lot of pain. Given morphine to take the edge off
1-3 hours - in emergency room waiting for the orthopedic surgeon to come. Pain relieved with IV medication. Hurts but tolerable.
3-5 hours - in surgery.
5 hours to 24 hours - in the hospital with pain under control with pain pump. Given antibiotics because compound fracture. Very strong pain meds! I woke up with a soft cast.
Day 2 - really painful when pain meds from surgery wore off. Had to have morphine on top of IV pain meds.
Day 4 - released from hospital on oral pain meds.
Day 4 to week 3 - first three weeks were miserable. Did not feel like I was getting better. Got soft cast replaced with hard cast at week 2. really noticed the swelling in hard cast. Was very uncomfortable.
Week 4 - got hard cast off and stitches and staples out! What a relief. Was supposed to be in walker boot at all times but it was so heavy and painful i didn't wear it. Still very painful. Started PT for ROM in ankle. It was frozen and super swollen. Still had a wound and stitches from where the bone came out.
Week 4 to 6 - pain getting better but still painful. Swelling is really bad. Able to take pain meds every 6 hours instead of 4. Started to ride stationary bike at PT at week 5.
Week 6 - Doc said I was good to be 50% weight bearing. It was weird feeling to touch town, especially in the heel. Ankle still frozen, swollen and painful.
Week 7 - Started to take Tylenol during the day, pain meds morning and night. Started to drive very short distances. Still swells and painful if out of bed too long. In bed about 90% of time, icing and elevated. ROM is better, but still have a long way to go.
Today (week 8) - I'm having a really good day. Swelling is better, pain is ok.
I would say the first month was very terrible with pain. I was scared and not sure when things would get better. It's been two months and I finally feel better. I see the doctor in 2.5 weeks, which makes it 10.5 weeks into recovery. He expects me to be full weight bearing.
I took special bone supplements with calcium, magnesium, vit D and other minerals. I took 500 mg vit C 8 times a day for swelling. I drink milk every day, eat healthy, no caffeine or alcohol. I am trying to do everything I can to heal quickly. I limited my intake of Aleve/Motrin since it may interfere with bone healing. I didn't have complications with the hardware or wound healing. I am healing as best as it can get. It is just very, very slow since it was so traumatic. I can start to see and feel the plates and screws under my skin now that the swelling is coming down. Freaks me out a bit. I'm sure I will want these out when I can.
I expect to walk normal again. I am very active and have a full time job with a family. My dear husband has been such a saint to help me as much as he does. He packs me breakfast and lunch everyday and puts it by the bed. He brings me everything. I am so grateful! I hope you all recover well. I will try to leave a weekly update until I'm walking. As I said, we are all different and our recoveries will all be different. Stay positive.
Did you see PT for healing process? My incision is 11" , it was very pain for a few of hours after surgery, I almost felt my nerve system was broken down.
Since you have some other complication, you may take some longer to fully recover, but from your post you are very strong, I am sure you can manage it.
Good luck!
Quote:
Originally Posted by gquiring
After finding this thread I guess what I am going through is not that abnormal. I didn't break my tibia but I had a bone marrow tumor in the tibia that required a 10" incision to cut a long slot in the bone to remove the cancerous bone marrow tumor. They filled in the area with bone cement and used a metal plate with several screws. I had this all done in late June 2011 at Sloan Kettering.
I was told no weight bearing for 8 weeks, 50lbs for 2 weeks and full weight bearing at 14 weeks. I had PT three days per week for 6 weeks. My ankle was frozen for the first month and PT worked hard with me to get it moving to an acceptable range.
Skipping forward 10 months later I am still in lots of pain and keep taking steps backward if I get too active doing simple yard work. When I over do it, I am back on crutches for about 3-4 days until the pain settles down. The ankle area swells a lot. Then a couple of days on a cane and then careful walking for another 5 days. I found I can't walk on uneven surfaces like grass. It really upsets the leg. I have other complications that are probably adding to this problem because I have a birth defect with my joints. I had both my hips replaced about 6 years ago and my knees have seen four surgeries each for both legs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Join the club last month and brief report
I shattered my tibia in 5 pieces at the ankle to about 7 inches up. My fibula was broken in 3 about 6 inches up. All repaired with 3 plates and about 20 screws. I was in bed with my leg elevated 99% of the time through week 5 when I started PT. When not at PT, was in bed at all times. Week 7 I started to drive, pick up daughter from school, have lunch with friends. 
