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advice, broken ankle, broken bones, life, tib-fib fracture, tips, trauma
Well, if you’re reading this then you have broken either your leg, ankle or foot and have ended up in a cast. Depending on how severe your injury is will determine how long you must be in that cast and most likely you aren’t allowed to put weight on the injured side.
Long story short, I was in a car accident and shattered my right ankle! I broke my tibia, fibula and talus, which are all 3 bones that make up your ankle. I also tore muscles and tendons and damaged a lot of nerves throughout my ankle and foot. It took a 5 hour surgery, 2 metal plates and 19 screws to put my ankle back together. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since the accident and the surgery. I have learned a lot during this short amount of time and I’d love to share it, so that maybe if you break a bone similar to the ones I broke, you can use the little tips and tricks that I have already figured out! I will be in this cast for 3 months or longer and will probably figure out more tips, if I do I will add them to this list!
1. Pillows are going to become your new best friend! You may need a few of them to make yourself comfortable. Since you can’t put any weight on your injured side, you will spend most of the time in bed, in your favorite recliner or on the coach! Load it up with pillows and blankets and make it as comfortable as possible because you are already going to be uncomfortable enough!
2. Elevate your injured foot/ankle/leg. Use your pillows to prop up your injured side high enough that it is above your heart. Doing so will keep the blood from rushing to the injury, so it will help with the pain and keep the swelling down!
3. If the doctor prescribes you some pain medication, use it as directed! You want to stay ahead of the pain! If your directions say to take one every 4 hours, but you wait 6 hours and are in a ton of pain, it’s going to take the medicine time to kick in and take over! So remember, stay on top of the pain, don’t wait until your in a ton of pain. You can also take over the counter pain medicine, such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen, in between your prescribed medication times unless otherwise directed by your doctor.
4. Take any help that is offered! Your first week or two home will be the hardest. You will no longer be able to do normal everyday things that require standing or even walking from one room to another. You will need help from family and friends, even if you don’t want their help. You’re going to need help to even go to the bathroom, until you figure out how to do all of those things on your own.
5. Borrow or buy some big basketball shorts or big sweatpants. You will want and need something big enough that will slide right over your cast. Now is not the time to worry about what you look like!
6. If you can afford to do so or your insurance will pay for it, buy or rent a knee scooter or wheel chair. Make sure you measure your doorways FIRST so that you get one that will fit through the doors in your home. If you can’t afford to do that, get an office chair that has wheels on it! Crutches can be hard, painful and scary to use. Rolling around is much easier and safer and it will make you feel a little more independent.
7. Creating your comfy place. You need a place where you will be most of the time, in my case it is my bed, but it could be your couch or where ever is most comfortable to you. You should make sure that you have a place for your phone charger, tablet/iPad/laptop chargers and anything else you need or want that needs to be plugged in. You should make sure that you have as much entertainment as possible. Books, movies, Netflix, TV, music, video games, apps and/or anything you enjoy doing because time will go by very slowly and you want to try and keep your mind busy and your spirits up as much as possible. I, as an adult, even had my hubby go buy me some colored pencils and coloring books!
8. Depending on the severity of your injury is how the doctor will decide how long you should be getting up ONLY to use the bathroom. In my case, that was two weeks! Those two weeks felt like forever, but I made it! While you are stuck in the bed, do ANYTHING that will keep your mind busy. Once you are allowed off of bed rest, usually when you get your splint replaced with a real cast, you are allowed to be up and out doing anything that doesn’t require walking. If you want out of the house, go to Walmart or somewhere that has wheelchairs that you can ride around in. Do things around the house that don’t require standing, like folding laundry. If you don’t get up and do something, no matter if it’s just moving from your bed to the couch or washing dishes (if you can reach the sink while sitting), just anything, you will start to feel down!
9. If your injury is similar to mine and you damaged any nerves, tendons or muscles, you will feel many different sensations around your injury. I injured my ankle, but also damaged nerves and tendons in my foot and my foot is where I feel all of my sensations. It is normal to feel these things. Some of them will be painful while others just feel uncomfortable or odd. Mine are painful, but there really isn’t anything the doctors can do about it. Sometimes the sensations come and go and other times they are constant for hours. There isn’t a way to make them stop, but I just rock my leg/foot back and forth, left to right, and try to breath through it. Sometimes it helps, other times it doesn’t! You may also move your leg/foot/ankle a weird way, too fast or try to stretch your leg out on accident and it may give you an odd or painful feeling in the injured area. You’ll probably think that you moved something that wasn’t supposed to move or wonder if you messed something up. I went through those feelings my first two weeks home. Every new feeling/sensation scared me to death because I feared breaking it or messing it up again. Trust your doctors and trust me when I say that you would have to do something really damaging or try to walk or stand on it for you to mess anything up. They make sure that your splint and/or cast is on tight and secure and your injury isn’t going to move or mess up, even if it feels like you moved it wrong!
10. The doctor will tell you to just keep it elevated. Well, that helps during the first week or two while you still have swelling, but after that it can become a little uncomfortable. All the weight is being put on the heel of your foot which can become painful after a while. Once you have your HARD CAST put on, you can try laying on your right or left side to give your back and heel a break.
11. If your injury is similar to mine, you will have a splint put on for about two weeks before you get your hard cast because they have to make sure the injury is done swelling before they put it in a cast. You will be pretty miserable in the splint. The cast is much more comfortable compared to the splint, but you will still have a level of being uncomfortable and you will find your own ways to deal with it all.
12. Make sure that you follow the doctor’s orders! You want your injury to heal as quickly as possible. The faster your injury heals, the faster you start physical therapy and the faster you get back to a new normal life.
13. You can do other things to help your broken bones heal. Vitamin D, Vitamin C, High Protein foods, High calcium foods, and Vitamin K all help in healing broken bones. Lysine also helps by helping your body absorb more calcium from high calcium foods.
Good Foods To Eat To Help Heal Bones:
Non Fat Yogurt Almonds Skim Milk
Peanut Butter Fish Yeast Products
Soy Products Apples Beef Jerky
Green Leafy Foods Collard Greens
Bad For Healing Bones:
Sugar Salt Alcohol
Caffeine Red Meats Tobacco
14. Be your own advocate! If you are scared, worried or just have questions, call your doctor’s office and ask to speak with your doctor’s nurse. Call as many times as you need to. They may get frustrated, but REMEMBER they deal with broken bones everyday, you do not. So it’s normal to have questions and concerns! My first 2 weeks home, I called my nurse 5 different times for 5 different reasons. Everything I was feeling turned out to be normal, but I wouldn’t have known unless I called! You know your body better than any doctor, so if you are in pain, feeling depressed or just worrying yourself to death, talk with your doctors. Not just your orthopedic doctor, but your regular family doctor too. If you feel like your doctor isn’t taking your concerns serious or you just want to, you can get a second opinion from another doctor and/or switch doctors completely!
15. Showering with a cast is difficult. Your splint or cast can NOT get wet. There are many different ideas out there on the internet, but I’m just going to tell you what I do and a few other ideas. My cast is on my right side which makes it a little more difficult because the right side of my bathtub is the wall. Thankfully I have an amazing man who helps me. FIRST I cover my cast with a trash bag and then I use duct tape to seal the trash bag right above my cast and onto my actual leg. You do not want water to get in there! My hubby then helps me lower myself into the bathtub backwards, so that my right leg can hang out of the tub. He holds my injured leg up for me while I wash as fast as possible. Then he helps me raise myself out of the tub and back to my bed. Another idea is to put a shower chair or a regular plastic patio chair in the shower for you to sit down on, just try to keep your covered cast out of the water’s way as much as possible. There are many ideas out there, but most are better if you have one of the shower heads that can be handheld. I do not have one of those, so I had to find another way!
16. WOMEN.. Your injured leg is going to get hairy. There’s nothing that you can do about it. It is better to just have a hairy leg and cover it with pants/shorts when you go out than to try and shave the area not covered by the cast and end up getting water inside or on the cast. Yes, it sucks, but once the cast comes off, you’ll be able to shave it all away. Just remember, it’s only temporary and a small issue compared to the bigger picture, so just deal with it. When it comes to shaving everything else, do it yourself if you can do so SAFELY, if not ask your husband, friend, mother or whoever you feel comfortable with to help you!
17. Once your injury begins to heal, it will start itching. Doctors warn us not to stick anything down in our cast to try and scratch the itch. One reason is because you may scratch your actual injury, sores, stitches or pull a wound back open. Another reason they warn against it is because whatever you stick in there could break off and get stuck. Now, I got to see where all of my stitches and wounds were when they took my splint off. So, when something starts itching and I know it’s not near my stitches or wounds, I stick the handle part of a fly swatter in my cast and try to just rub the itch away. I am NOT recommending this, I am only telling you what I do. Most itches I just wait out, even though it drives you crazy, it’ll go away in a few seconds and it’s safer to just wait it out!
18. Your whole body is most likely going to become restless from not doing anything all day everyday. It is an irritating and frustrating feeling because you just want to get up and walk around to make it stop, but you can’t. Buy a heating pad! Laying your back on a heating pad will help your body to relax some and since you will be laying on your back most of the time, the heating pad will also help with your back pain. You can put the heating pad on your legs too, to try and relax those muscles. You can put it on the parts not covered by the cast on your injured leg. DO NOT PUT THE HEATING PAD ON THE CAST! You can also buy one of the big back massagers so that you could massage your back yourself. I make my hubby rub mine when it starts to hurt!
19. Depending on your injury, this could be a very long and hard time. My injury could result in it being a year or maybe more before I am walking again. During this time you will feel many different emotions and depending on how you got your injury, it may be a traumatic experience similar to mine. It is okay to feel sad, angry, frustrated and like you just want to give up at times. I’ve felt all of that and still do. But, if you start feeling constantly depressed, full of anxiety, full of fear or anything extreme that just won’t go away, talk with your doctor! Don’t be ashamed about it!! There are medicines out there to help with those feelings and help get your spirits back up! I personally was already taking medicine for anxiety and depression after a separate traumatic event that happened only 5 months prior to this injury. I was having a hard time and my doctor increased the dose on my medications and it helps more than you can imagine. Now I can focus on getting better instead of being too sad and angry to do anything!
20. Exercise. You need to exercise your other uninjured muscles because you are going to need them through this journey! There are plenty of exercises that you can do while sitting or lying in the bed. Use Google or your preferred search engine to search for:
Non Weight Bearing Exercises
Exercises To Do While In Bed
Exercises To Do With A Broken (insert injury here)
Find the ones that work best for you. Just remember not to do too much with the injured leg. The time will come for that once you start physical therapy!
21. If, like myself, you have stairs in your home or stairs that you have to go up to get into your home, your probably worried. Well, don’t be! Sit down on the steps and if your cast/splint is light enough for you to hold your leg up in the air, then do that. If it’s too heavy, have someone else hold your injured leg up while you scoot up or down the stairs! I can promise that this will save you a lot of energy, worry and pain! Using crutches to go up or down stairs just seems too dangerous and scary to me!
22. Get outside! You are going to be stuck in the house most of the time as long as you have this cast on because it’s easier to just do nothing. But, if you don’t push yourself to get up and get some fresh air, you’re going to start feeling sad, isolated and bored out of your mind! Even if your only out there for 2 or 3 minutes, I promise it will make a difference! It is below freezing where I live and is supposed to snow today. That didn’t stop me from scooting down my steps and having my hubby help me crutch to a chair. I was only out there for 5 minutes because I was freezing, but it made me feel a little better having a change of scenery!
22. It is going to difficult to wash or do really anything with your hair by yourself. The first few weeks will be the worst and your hair will be the last thing on your mind! But, you’ve got to do something. I have long, thick, curly hair and it gets tangled and ratted up very easy. While I laid down on the couch, with my head on the arm rest, I had my mother brush my hair out. I then had her put some non-frizz oil in it and a bunch of leave-in conditioner! It will feel gross at first, but it’ll be worth it. I then had her braid all of my hair into medium sized braids and then rapped them nice and tight into a bun. I didn’t touch my hair for two weeks and when I finally felt up to washing it, it was so much easier than if I wouldn’t have done something with it. So, ask a friend or family member to help get yours put up because I can promise that you will be in too much pain and discomfort during those first few weeks to try and figure out how to wash your hair!
I will continue to update this list as I learn more along my journey! If you have any questions, feel free to comment below and I will answer the best I can!
Thanks For Reading!
*LIVE*LAUGH*LOVE*
-Wife & Mother & Friend
Welcome To *All Things Life* 
And I thought I did a good job on my ankle! Compared to yours, I’ve done something rather minor. Day six into a broken ankle, day 5 in a splint, not sure what soft tissue damage has been done, but broke the malleolus. Thanks for the tips. My story so far with a broken ankle: https://bermaguitreechange.wordpress.com/ if you’d like to compare notes.
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Well, yours may not be as bad of a break, but I’m sure you are in the same amount of pain! The first 2 weeks are the worst! I am now in week 3 and it’s getting a little better. I’m glad you found my post and hopefully some of my tips help! I’m heading over to read your story now!
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I had ankle surgery 2 week’s ago for a ruptured tendon, they also had to rebuild my arch due to the tendon. I am non weight bearing for 8 weeks. These first 2 week’s have been a struggle for jus getting around and having to ask for help. I am a very independent person but have had to humble myself through this. My husband has been amazing and as you have said keeping occupied is the key. I have also found that this is a time for me to reflect on myself and my future endeavors in life. I have also learned this is temporary and has given me a better appreciation of those who live a life using the devices I have all their life.
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I am so happy to hear that my posts have helped you in some way. I know from my situation that it is nice to read other stories and know that you are not alone! I am sorry to hear about your injury. It is not a very fun thing to go through, but like you pointed out, it gives you time to reflect and gives you a new perspective on life! I agree that I also have a new appreciation for people who must use those things their entire life! I hope you get better soon! 🙂
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Walked off a step in my yard and broke my fibula on Oct. 1st. Your story is helping me a lot. I don’t have family and friends to help me, so the burden is all on my 76 year old husband, who is used to being lazy. I am 59 and the one who usually does everything. Now he is taking care of me, two dogs, two cats and 4 chickens.
I got my cast two days ago and it is loose now. Waiting in the doctor’s office was enough to make my leg swell, I guess.
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I’m so sorry to hear that! I’m glad I could help a little. I hope that by now you have made a good recovery!
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Wow- I broke 3 ankle bones just slipping on tiles here at home! I am at week one they are only operating next week :(. Thank u for your post, I am feeling very low and having an incredible pity party for 1! I will follow use blog and look forward to more tips on how to get through this! Hope u feel better soon!
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Oh no! I’m so sorry that you are in this spot. I would not wish it on my worst enemy! I’m almost a year past my injury and am doing great! You! will get there, I promise! 🙂 Hopefully you are feeling a little better by now. I have other posts that you can read about my journey! I hope you feel better soon!
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Thankyou, Thank you, Thankyou for this, I am a 65 year old lady who slipped on new years day and have had to have two operations on consecutive days as a result of a mistake in first op. Trying to keep positive but its hard. I was in a cast for two weeks laid up in bed before first op and now another two weeks with cast. Going to try to get out tomorrow as I have hired a wheelchair. Reading your post has helped me so much I can’t tell you. Hope you have healed well and are back to fighting fit. X
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I am so sorry to hear that! I’m so glad I have helped in some small way, but I hate that you have to experience this pain. In about a week, it will be one year since my accident and I am happy to say that I am walking again and have found my new normal. I know it is SO hard to stay positive, but I can promise that it will get better! Hang in there! 🙂 I hope you’ll check out my other posts and maybe they will help a little too!!
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are you in a cast yet, or just a splint? I had my ankle surgically broken on jan 21…splint for 2 weeks..got my cast last monday (1week ago) and it seems very tight…color is good when I’m resting, but by the time i crutch down the hall to the bathroom, it is purplish…then i go sit down and color returns to normal…but my toes still seem really swelled…does this compare to what you are experiencing ?
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Actually January 30th marked one year since my accident! But, I can still remember it like it was yesterday. I was in a splint for the first 2 weeks following accident and surgery, then had a cast put on and actually had 1 cast for 6 weeks and then that one was removed and a new one put on for another 6 weeks! They do start out feeling pretty tight and when you are up clutching around, all of the blood rushes to the injury and makes it swell, which will make your toes a little purple and make the cast feel even tighter! 😦 As long as color returns and swelling goes down when you lay back down and rest, you should be fine. I’m not a doctor though, so if you feel like something is wrong you should check with your doctor to be sure. 😉 But, from my experience, the cast will start to loosen over time, that’s why mine had to be replaced with a new one after 6 weeks. I know it is so miserable being stuck in that thing, but hang in there, it does get better, promise! I’m so sorry you are having to go through this too. Why was yours broken, if you don’t mind me asking?!
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Crutching lol. I have a few other posts on what I experienced if you want to check em out. I know it would have made me feel so much better to read about someone else feeling what I was feeling, so I knew if it was normal or not! Hope I could help some!
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Thank you so much for sharing. I dislocated my ankle, broke the tibia and fibula in my right leg a week ago. Found your post while surfing due to getti my days/nights mixed up…lol. Hope your fully healed now and again thanks for your words of advice. It’s so hard being down at the beginning of spring and camping season but hopefully my 6-8 weeks will pass soon.
The knee roller is the best thing ever invented. Getting about with my walker, crutches also.
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Oh no!! I hate that you know my pain, but I’m so very glad to hear that I could help in some small way. I too, mixed up my nights and days in those first few weeks, It was miserable! It felt like time was going by so slow, but I promise you will get past this before you know it! 🙂 I have made a great recovery, I still have pain and small issues and I will have to deal with it forever, but with the amount of damage I did, I’m just so thankful to be walking and driving again! I’m here if you ever just need to talk! I’ll be praying for your fast recovery!
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When I had both of my arms casted I obviously couldn’t wash my hair so I simply went to the nearest hair salon and paid them to wash it for me. You don’t have to go to a hair salon though, I’ve had family and friends help me too.
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Oh wow, I can’t imagine that! That’s a great idea tho, thank you! 🙂 After being in a car accident, the last thing I wanted to do was get in the car to go anywhere, I was terrified and it was way too painful trying to get in and out of the house and car, but my husband and mother washed it for me plenty of times! 🙂
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Thanks for this, I felt a pop and some pain turning over in bed last night, in my lateral malleous fracture that was put in a cast earlier this week. I’ve been panicking ever since and the on call doc doesnt know my situation so he couldn’t fully put my mind at ease. I feel better now knowing its probably fine, even though the cast has gotten much looser in the past day! I broke my wrist a couple years ago and had more pain as the cast got looser but no weird sensations, hearing its not just me and its probably fine is the consolation I needed. Thank you for this blog!!!
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Oh no! I’m so sorry. Of course I’m not a doctor, so if you are truly worried I say go ahead and have it checked out, but I was the same way! I was constantly having panic attacks because I thought that there was no way what I was feeling could possibly be normal, but it was always fine and my doctor finally told me at one of my checkups that I had to keep in mind how much trauma my bones and nerves went thru. He said I would have a bunch of different sensations, some painful, some just weird, but it was normal. That was one of the worst parts for me, every pop, sound, feeling, pain sent me back into a panic, but I’m a year into recovery now and doing great! I hope you recover quickly. Hang in there, So glad I could help in some way. I know it would have brought me comfort to find someone else’s story out there and to know I wasn’t alone! 🙂 You can always comment and I’ll be happy to help with anything I can.
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Just to let you know, all was fine. I had a much more minor accident then yours, I literally fell getting out of the car like a dumb dumb. I am blessed to be out of the cast and in a boot two weeks later without surgery (still nwb, but cleaning my leg fully is such a treat). Anyway you were right, I believe my pain and popping was related to ligaments healing and now that they have healed the actual pain of the fracture is much less and no weird popping sounds! Doctor on call scared the crap out of me telling me to make an appointment on Mon, nurse I talked to on Mon confirmed it was likely a micro movement in cast and unless cast was really loose and it happened repeatedly no reason to come in. I broke my wrist a couple years ago and was in so much more constant pain I guess I never had singular, pain causing incidents that scared me and certainly no creepy sounds coming from my arm!
Anyone reading this blog now who is nwb, you must look into getting yourself an iWalk. My doctor never heard of it, found it myself. It’s not for everyone, but if you have decent balance when both legs were healthy, are in ok shape (its heavy, I’m no athlete but I did spin once or twice a week prior to my fracture), and particularly if you have a need to get up and down stairs regularly its a life saver. I would’ve needed at least two knee scooters and still not had access to my basement or attic even with two scooters. It took me a day or two to feel fully confident with it but it was worth freedom from traditional crutches and half the price of renting two knee scooters. If your insurance will cover a knee scooter it will likely cover an iwalk for you. Just try for a boot with air valves on the side, mine are on the shin and its been tough to find ways to protect them from the boot accidentally inflating them. I was the envy of the ortho office today and my presence led to the doc writing at least one script for it as they came in to get all the info from me for their patient.
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Hi there! I so enjoyed reading your journey so far. I had hindfoot double arthrodesis (fusion) surgery on May 11 so am on my third cast and N.W.B. for a minimum of 2 more weeks, and likely another 4 after that. I’ve been getting almost claustrophobic from being so confined. Reading about your experience has helped so much. Wishing you continued good healing and looking forward to checking back to see how you’re doing. 🙂
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Oh no! I am so sorry to hear that, I know it is no fun at all. I’m praying the time goes by a little faster for you. I know exactly what you mean. I am a very claustrophobic person and being in that cast for so long pushed me over the edge a few times. 😦 After the first two weeks, I made an appointment with my family doctor and told him how bad it was being trapped in that thing and he put me on a low dose of anxiety medication until I was cast free. That helped so much! I was a little worried because I always hear bad stories about anxiety meds, but they were life savers when I got panicked and they also helped me be more relaxed and actually get some rest because after two weeks I was already so restless!! If you are feeling as bad as I was, you should think about talking to your doctor. Jan. 30th marked one year since my accident and I am doing pretty good! 🙂 I am so very glad that my journey could help you in some way. I hope you heal quickly!! 🙂
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You fractured yourself with the same trimalleolar achievement I did! Mine was also dislocated as well as displaced.
I waited from August 15th to September 2nd until I had my surgery. I woke up and continued in a state of painful hazy awareness until the 6th. I couldn’t stand the pain and requested to be discharged.
Against hospital advice I went home and followed almost no discharge instructions. It’s now 9 days out from surgery and I have wheelchaired two or three blocks on a few occasions, with falling out once. I’ve set up a tent for fun, done some minor lifting and moving, crawled around connecting TV equipment amoung other electrical stuff, and spent a lot of time in awkward uncomfortable positions riding in cars, leg elevated incorrectly. It’s the only way to get shopping done correctly and I found most people take advantage with your money. If I want to eat, freeze ice, get a chore done, I do it because it her wise I wait on people in vain til I starved to death. I’ve probably bump and caught my splint on a dozen things causing much pain and admittedly worry often about my next followup appointment.
My apologies for the long winded account of my own experiences; I felt a bit of information on certain points made in your post could benefit another. Fact is – you CAN be moving and working immediately after surgery. It just may be so painful and dangerous during the duration you’re going to need to do it with caution.
Back to focus – your paragraph at 4 and 9 helped me out, thanks!
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Well, I’m so sorry you had to experience it too. Definitely isn’t much fun. I’m glad a few of my tips helped you in some way. I’m not positive, but I believe your point was that you disagree with most of what I said, correct? I welcome everyone’s opinions with open ears and an open mind, but let me just clarify what I was trying to get across to my readers. First, I make sure they know that I have no medical background and I am NOT giving medical advice. This is not a medical blog. It is a personal blog and it is my place to share my daily life, my thoughts, feelings, memories, fears, experiences and my personal opinion on many different topics. This post was one of many that I wrote on the topic of “Life In A Leg Cast”. And it was mainly written because when I was laying in bed feeling scared, worried, in pain and wishing I had someone to talk to who had gone through this before, it wasn’t very fun. I turned to google and Pinterest, but couldn’t find the answers I was needing and I couldn’t find anyone who had continued to update their story as they healed from the injury. It would have been such a relief to me and a small comfort being able to read someone else’s story about everything that they went through during the recovery phase. I couldn’t find that, so I decided to be that person for someone else out there who is turning to the Internet, hoping they find someone who understands. And yes, it is physically possible to be up doing things immediately after surgery, but as you said, you did all of those things against all medical advice. I wanted to recover as quickly as possible and so I followed pretty much all of my doctors instructions. I definitely will not be advising/encouraging people who come to my blog looking for helpful information to go against their doctors’ orders, but that is always an option! 🙂 I hope you are recovering well!!
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Thanks! Most helpful encourage one I’ve read so far.
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Thank you!! I tried my best to write about anything I wish I could have read about when I was hurt and looking for others online. There were plenty of blog posts on this topic, but I just never found one that answered all my questions in one place and put my mind at ease a little. I’m so very happy that I have helped you in some small way!! 🙂
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thanks for puting this up i have had no advice at all how to look after my son he has just turned 18 and then his brother tripped him up which resulted in a tib fib been broken he has just came home in full leg cast he cant fit in the bottom bathroom as its too small we have a comode comming as he is ashmatic as well and would not be able to make top toilette just want to know any tips on caring for him thanks
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Oh no!! I’m so very sorry to hear this! I know it can be very stressful and overwhelming at times and I’m glad that my posts can help in some small way. I also have asthma and it made things a little more difficult. My best advice is to get a rolling computer chair or small knee scooter. The knee scooter that I found was about $40 at Walmart, but it was worth every penny. Of course it’s meant to be used while standing/walking, but it was big enough so that I could sit and roll instead and my favorite part was that the seat opened up to a little compartment underneath and that’s where I kept my inhalers, my medicines, my phone and anything else that I might need. I know with asthma, you never know when it’s going to hit and it brought me a little comfort knowing I would always have what I needed right there in my scooter, just in case!!!! And it helped so much because I could just roll around everywhere instead of using all of my breath and energy trying to crutch all over the place. I will be praying for you and your family!!
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thanks for puting this up i have had no advice at all how to look after my son he has just turned 18 and then his brother tripped him up which resulted in a tib fib been broken he has just came home in full leg cast he cant fit in the bottom bathroom as its too small we have a comode comming as he is ashmatic as well and would not be able to make top toilette just want to know any tips on caring for him thanks
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I know this post is from a long time ago but thought I’d let you know I loved it.
Totally made me lol.
Only because I’ve experienced many of the situations you’ve explained here. 19 screws?! I’d love to see your x-ray. I was in a car accident too & broke my navicular and crushed a couple others now I have 3 screws. Accident 10/12/16
Compression cast = worst
Surgery 10/21
Hardcast 11/4
How have you recovered? How is driving? Are you up and at it again?
Thank you so much for sharing your story
Hope you’ve healed well
♡ KAT
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Hi!! I realize you left this comment a bit ago but it has taken me a while to get back to this blog!
I’m so sorry you went through the same struggle. I have recovered pretty well!! Driving was difficult in the beginning and I still have slight pain and swelling after driving for long periods of time, but that I assume is due to the 19 screws. My ankle is not a very pretty site. I actually have photos of my X-rays! 😁😂 I needed proof I survived. My youngest sister likes to call me Frankenstein. She’s 16. Lol! I’m trying to figure out how to post my photo in a reply to you, as soon as I figure it out I will share!
I hope you have recovered by now! 😊
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It will not let me post the photos in a reply to you so I created a new post with the photos in it! You should be able to click on my profile and see it!
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I really needed to see this today! Last Wednesday I was crossing the road and I slipped. Sounds pretty simple but I dislocated my fibia and it broke through the skin. I broke my tibia, 3 fractures in the ankle and I severed the EH ligament. It has been a challenging few days with the surgery and finding the right pain relief which I think is under control. Sometimes I don’t know am I in pain or is it just the unusual sensations (just like you mentioned!). Thank you so much for writing this! It has really calmed my head down today!
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Oh no!!! I am so sorry. But, it’s always nice to hear that writing about my pain and struggles has helped someone else in some small way. I know it would have made me feel so much better to know someone else had felt what I was feeling and had survived. Lol!! I hope you have recovered well!
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Thank you so very much for all of the time you put into writing down your experience and things that worked and those that did not. You gave me some great ideas to try as I too struggle with having a hard splint on after surgery on broken, dislocated ankle. I hope your recovered or on the road to being so. Again, thank you for giving others hope. It is comforting in a way knowing ithers are going through the exact same struggles. God Bless
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You are so welcome!! It’s nice to know that I have helped someone else I’m some small way! I hope you too have recovered well. 💜
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Thank you so much for this article. I shattered my tibia, fibula and ankle as well. I am an avid runner and soccer player so needless to say this sucks!!! I feel everything you stated, everything! My hip, back and back of knee strain and hurt from weight of my cast! I can’t get comfortable!
My toes also feel weird. It’s been 2.weeks now so some things are definitely getting better I’m just so uncomfortable laying down sitting etc. Anyways thanks for all your advice!!!
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You are so welcome!! It’s nice to know that I have helped someone else in some small way! I hope you have recovered well. 💜
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Ty so much for posting this it going to help me out because I did the same thing to my right ankle I’m stuck in bed getting a sore back ty for the tips
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Oh no!!! I’m so sorry. You are so welcome!
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Thanks for taking the time to write this! I am 4 days post surgery for a ruptured tendon and its great to be able to understand other peoples’ experiences. Hope you are back up and walking!
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I’m so sorry to hear that! I hope you have recovered and are doing well. You’re so welcome!
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Thanks so much for being honest. I broke my leg Christmas Eve on vacation and had to drive 7 hrs home and had surgery to put plates and screws in Fibula. I have been so down. Again, thanks for honesty.
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I’m so sorry to hear that!! I hope you have recovered well. You are very welcome!
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THANK You !
You are a God send 😆👍
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You are so welcome!!!
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Thank you!
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You’re welcome! 😊
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Thanks for the tips I recently tore my Achilles’ tendon and had surgery and it is a week after surgery got my first cast ever this advice helps thanks again
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You’re so welcome!
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Thank you so much for all the tips happened to break my kneecap this past Saturday fell over a board in the backyard so I’m in a full leg from ankle to hip I’m getting around okay I do suggest the doctor put a like a leash on my ankle it’s a long piece of God help me lift my leg when I get up on my bed and it works really good so you just wrap it around your ankle and you make it real long enough so that you could tuck it into your your pocket or your pant band okay I’ll be watching out for more tips thank you
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Thanks so much for the advice. This week I got a cast from the splint which is kicking mu butt.
When I take a bath and to wash my hair,my husband layed one of my crutches across the bathtub.
It’s a lil uncomfortable but it keeps the cast out of the water.
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That’s an awesome idea! Thanks so much for sharing!
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Very helpful. I just had a lot of work done on my left foot, ankle and heel. They used screws in my ankle and heel. Worked on shredded tendons and a fracture to my Talor dome. I go tomorrow to get splint off. Have staples taken out and stitches I believe. Been very down. I am the person that does for everyone and don’t like help. My father taught us bathroom time is private. I do not like help. I’ve been embarassed and lost some pride in the last week in a half. I hope the cast is more comfortable. This splint is bad news. Thanks for your help.
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I definitely understand. I am the same way. 😞 But everyone needs help sometimes and once you get past that part everything is much easier! I hope you’re recovering well!!
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Thank you kindly for sharing. I fell at work and broke my tibia and fibula. I have about 6 screws and a plate. I am grateful for your tips. Wishing you an easy recovery
Mpho
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I’m so sorry to hear that! Hoping you are recovering well!
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Thank you for all of these advice’s, I hurt my knee in high school and had to go down six stairs and then limp home to get my papers, by the time I went to my doctor in intensive care I had a swollen knee the size of a coconut, luckily they got rid of the swelling and put my knee to my ankle in a semi hard cast, it was hell my first few days, then I stumbled onto this post and it helped me immensely, thank you again for all your tips and I hope you get better as soon as possible!
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I’m so sorry to hear that! I hope you have recovered. Im so glad I could help in some way!
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Thank you! It has been a blessing I came across this blog. It has helped so much
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You are so welcome!
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This was so helpful Thanks a lot I just broke my ankle in 3 places on Sunday morning a slip and fall injury I am so miserable but just last year in May I broke my right ankle but only one bone now left ankle 3 bones I’m about to scream and it’s only been a couple of days but I’m going through it all over again.😤😞😔🤕😩
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Oh no!! I can’t imagine going through it twice. I’d be screaming too!!!! I hope you are recovering well!
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Thanks a lot for this write up.been very helpful for me.thanks again
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You are so welcome!
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Thanks for the tips! I had a similar injury, my surgery was 2 1\2 hours and I have one plate and over 30 screws. The crappy part is my retina detached in June and I’ve had complications, hence why I fell, I couldn’t see, so a lot of my activities are limited. I have had 2 surgeries since the fall and currently have the splint and 2 hospitalizations. Tomorrow I will hopefully get the hard cast. I’m glad to hear the hard cast is lighter. It’s ridiculous how heavy this thing is.
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I’m so sorry! The cast is much lighter, but still not very fun. 😞 But you will get through it, I promise. Just hang in there!!! You are so welcome, I’m glad I could help in some way!
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Enjoyed reading your article. I broke my tibia fibia and tallus. My surgery was over 25 days ago but still have discomfort with swelling at night. Hard to sleep.
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Thank You for writing this! I have the same injury as you had. I’ve never broken anything before and didn’t realize how a broken ankle could effect your life! I woke up to pain and reached out to the internet for help. Thank You
for being here! I hope you are doing well now. I’m still in the first week. Not sure if I should look ahead to your next posts but happy they are there. You have helped me a lot!
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Thank you this was so helpful!!!
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Like everyone else (almost), I want to thank you for taking the time to write this. I got a leg cast last week, and it’s quite an adjustment. I’m sure it will get easier with time, as you say, but sleeping, grooming, etc are challenging right now. It’s very encouraging to hear that you made it through!
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I’m currently one week into having a cast after ORIF surgery on a tib-fib fracture, pretty similar to yours! This is such a great list of tips, wish I had found it sooner. I’ve pretty much done all of the things you have done as well, but will definitely bookmark this though in case I need to share advice with others! I’m curious as to how you’re doing with all of the hardware in your ankle with some time having gone by now. Hopefully you’re still checking this thread, lol. I have 2 plates and 9 screws and I’m terrified of walking with it and starting PT!
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Hi!! I am so sorry you’re going through a similar situation. It’s not much fun at all. 😞 The best advice I can give is to not over-think it! I am a natural worrier and over-thinker. Lol! I drove myself and my doctors crazy through those few months. I was also terrified of starting PT and trying to walk on it again. I remember when I finally went in to ortho doctor to have my cast removed for the last time, I was a nervous wreck. 3 months doesn’t sound like very long, but when you’re living it, it feels like an eternity. I had gotten used to having the cast there. I had finally started to trust and find comfort in the fact that the cast was hard as a rock and that it would take something major to break through it and re-damage my ankle. So when the doctor removed it that final time, looked over everything, gave me a big smile and said, “You’re good to go!” my anxiety shot through the roof!!! 😥 He asked me to wiggle my toes and try to move my ankle. At that point I still had no feeling in my toes and couldn’t move them at all which scared me, I was convinced I’d never move them again. I would not even try to move my ankle. He chuckled at me and told me I was fine, I could do it, the pain is just in my head now, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t ready to try. My husband slipped my shoe on for me, which felt so very weird and out of place. We got up to leave and the doctor told me that I was free to put all of my weight on it, but I continued holding it up off of the ground and hopping out on crutches. The fear of putting my weight on it and it not holding me up and/or feeling the awful pain of it breaking again kept me from trying at all. Two weeks later I finally started PT. I was still a nervous wreck, but in those two weeks we found out we were expecting a baby, so I didn’t have a choice but to push the fear away and get on both feet as quickly as possible. My PT team was absolutely amazing! The first few visits were solely about showing me that it was healed and it was ready to do what it was supposed to do. She would move it back and forth, roll it in circles, wiggle my toes, have me do small exercises while sitting down. I would place both feet up against a wall while laying on a small rolling thing and I would push myself up and down. That really helped me mentally prepare for standing up because I was seeing that it didn’t hurt and it was technically holding my weight. Finally came the time for standing up. It was much easier than I expected it to be!!! Then we worked on switching weight from one side to the other and back and forth. I actually ended up taking my first steps without any form of support on my own at home. 😁 I was so excited, it was like being a kid on Christmas morning!! It wasn’t a very pretty walk, but I didn’t care at all. I had a VERY bad limp for about a year because it took a while for me to really gain back my range of motion, but then it was less & less noticeable. It has now been 3 years and 2 months since my accident and I don’t have a limp at all. I still have all 19 screws and both metal plates, but rarely have any pain or discomfort. I do have rough days, but I’m okay with that. I have a beautiful two year old daughter that loves to go nonstop and I have no problem keeping up with her and for me that’s all that really matters! I also have a job that keeps me mainly on my feet and I’m okay 90% of the time with that too. The only way you’d know I have the injury at all without seeing my ankle would be to look at the insoles of my shoes. Haha! You can definitely see that I still favor my good side, but other than that you’d never know by looking at me. I hope the same is true for you when it’s all said and done. Just hang in there!!!
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Thanks so much for your blog! It is so helpful!
I broke my left fibula on March 13 while walking my dog. Neighborhood dog was on a leash that was tied up to a steak in front of the house. When the dog saw us he charged at us pulling the steak out of the ground. He bumped with full force at my leg. I had ORIF with 1 plate, 5 screws and 2 rods on March 19 and had a cast for 1 week prior to surgery and 2 weeks after. Now it was switched to a hard cast for another 4 weeks. I am in constant pain/ just being uncomfortable, all kinds of different “feelings” inside the cast. Can’t find comfortable position at all. I know it is all normal process but it is very hard to adjust. I distract myself during the day. But it is different story at night. Unable to sleep as impossible to find a comf position for my leg so it will not bother me.
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I am so sorry! I definitely remember how miserable and long the nights were. I was so uncomfortable that my amazing husband actually went out at about 6 weeks in and bought a brand new mattress for me. It didn’t help as much as he’d hoped, but it’s the thought that counts right? 🙃 I wish I could say that I found a magical position that was even halfway comfortable, but I never did. I will say that by cast #2, I finally figured out how to lay on my side. It wasn’t easy, took a lot of help from my husband, but I would use a few pillows between my legs so that it was still propped up as much as possible and just the ability to lay a different way other than on my back, made a big difference!!! I would get a cramp every now and then if I propped it too high like that for too long and it would take patience and help to get flipped over and settled again but it was worth it. I really hope you recover quickly! Just hang in there, take it hour by hour, day by day. The only thing that saved my sanity was knowing that no matter how uncomfortable I was or how much pain I was in, each hour that I survived got me closer to the end of the day and that each day would end and each night would end, even though sometimes it felt like that wasn’t true. And with each day, I was closer to getting back on both feet and putting it all behind me. And here I am 3 years later doing great! You will get through it!!!!! I’m always here to talk or to listen. 🙂
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