My situation is a little different than most that I've read on here. Not only am I in the US but I am also in the military and thought I'd share my experience so far. On July 1, I was sliding into third base during a softball game and felt my foot twist backwards. I got up thinking I had just sprained it, even though it was pointing in an odd direction, and limped back to the dugout and to my car. When I took my cleat off (maybe 20 min later) my ankle was already bruised and swelling pretty fast. I went to the ER at my local military hospital where they X-rayed it right away, told me it was broken, and that I might need surgery. After about 4 hrs of waiting with no meds they said that they didn't think i'd need surgery and put a splint on. I was hurting pretty bad and they wanted me to come in a week later for them to check on me. After a week I went in and saw the Xray for the first time. It was a very noticeable break. The end of my fibula was in two and the gap between the pieces measured 2.6mm with a sharp edge on one end. It looked pretty bad to my untrained eye but the doc still thought that it should heal without surgery. He put a hard plaster cast on me and told me to come back in a week. That week was still very painful with any movements and getting familiar with my two new best friends, the crutches. When I went back a week later they took more Xrays and the doc said that the bones had moved slightly and conferred with his superior. The bones now measured 3mm apart. I told him my foot was really starting to hurt under the cast. When he checked it he said it was way too tight and immediately had it cut off. My foot had swelled even more and was pushing against the cast causing me even more pain so they put me in a walking boot. I was instructed not to put ANY weight on it even though I was in the boot. I guess they gave me the boot for the swelling but it definitly was a lot less sturdy than a cast and I've been pretty worried about it. I don't really know the true motivation of these military doctors whether it was to save money or save time but I don't know if anyone has ever been put in a walking boot after only 2 wks of being in a cast with a broken distal fibula. I am almost to 5 wks of being off of it and I go back to the doc in a couple days for them to evaluate it again. It still gets very swollen when I'm at work and don't have it elevated. The pain is minimal except for sometimes at night or if it gets bumped or something of course. My family and I are very skeptical of the care that I have gotten so far and will decide after the next doctor visit if I will be seeking a second opinion. My worst nightmare is having them tell me I need surgery after already being off of my leg for 5 weeks and basically starting the process over again. Of course, another worse case scenario is bad medical care leading to problems with my ankle when I get older that could have been prevented. I will post an update after I see the doctor this week. Wish me luck!

You poor thing, they should have just sent you straight away for surgery to have a plate with screws put in, you would been half way recovered by now! I've written a huge paragraph in the broken ankle injury forum of my experience as i broke my two main bones in my ankle just over two weeks ago...there are other interesting stories there too, why not have a read,

Take care

Hayley x

Hi bfram: I would push very hard for another opinion, as it also seems to me that you should've had surgery right away. In my case, I broke my right tibia and fibula completely, plus the right ankle and left foot. I had one surgery and the doc missed the broken ankle. A full three weeks later, the mistake was found and I had to have a second surgery, which flattened me and started the healing process all over again. I'm now at 12 weeks and still healing. Let us know what happens after your appointment!