Broken ankle

Wow! I read through so many of these injuries and they all sound like the one I have. The sad thing is I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy as it truly has been a life altering experience.

On April 2nd I slipped and fell and broke my right ankle, both the tib and fib, plus it was dislocated. Yeah, Ouch! I had no idea how my life was about to change. I work in outside sales for a Professional Hair Color company, as well as owning my own salon. Need I say more? My life is spent on my feet!

I was taken by ambulance to the ER. Because I was being transported from one county to another they could not give me any pain medication! Wow did that stink. Once in the ER they xrayed my ankle and determined the both bones were broken and dislocated. They set the bone, put me in a soft cast and sent me home. I could not believe I was going home! Not only did I now have this broken ankle that every time I stood up felt as though my foot was falling off, because it was, I live in a house that is up two flights of stairs. Now what? I was told do not put any weight on that foot, given some crutches and basically had to figure it out from there. Unfortunately for my husband, I am not a small person and so I was so worried about how he was going to get me in the house. We managed, but it wasn't easy!

I finally saw my doctors physcician's assistant on that following Monday. He redid the cast and sent me home again. Again I could not believe I was going home! The next day I saw my orthopedic Dr. Thank goodness. He did a complete series of xrays and sent me right to the hospital stating "You have no business being at home, this is ridiculous." I was scheduled for surgery on Friday but he moved it up to Wednesday! I spent a couple more days in the hospital and then was released to go home. No weight on my right leg for a minimum of 8 weeks. The bad news, my doctor is a perfectionist and although the surgery was extremely successful and as close to perfect as could be, it was NOT perfect! Thus, second surgery scheduled for 2 weeks.

During this surgery they went in and put in 2 pins that went from the outside of my ankle to the inside of the ankle. I come out of this surgery only to find I need to have one more surgery in 3 months to have these new pins removed.

11 days post surgery number 2 I had my first doctors visit. Great news....the bones are healing well and instead of waiting 3 months I will be able to have my 3rd surgery in 7 weeks. I now have my cast off, have a walking boot that I can remove and work on the range of motion. My flexibility exercises don't hurt as much as I thought. It really isn't painful at this point just extremely stiff. I still can not put any weight on this leg until I have the next surgery, but I am able to get around much easier than before. The stairs....well I found the easiest way to get around is to crawl like a baby. I can't seem to manage those darn crutches for anything as I fall every time I try it. The walker is okay and I do not have a wheel chair, which I wish I did, it would make life much easier.

The good thing is I am exercising and my upper body is getting much stronger having to compensate for this crazy leg.

One other thing that happened to me is that I suffered from some major, major panic attacks. For those of you who experience these panic attacks know that they can be brought on as a result of surgery, certain medications, and the inability to take care of ones self. Now that I am over the majority of these panic attacks I am feeling much better! They were awful and scared me to death, more so than the injury itself. Talk to your doctors as they can help you get through all of this!