Thread: Fractured ankle

Hi, I am from Spain, I am 52, I broke my ankle in 3 places 17 days ago on 9th Dec 2011 in Sierra Nevada, I am now 4 days post opp, The opp was delayed because of fracture blissters, they put a plate on outer ankle and 2 screws inner ankle, I have a plaster cast and elbow crutches, I ve been taking Tramadol/paracetamol for the pain, at home now and 4 days into my recovery. My imediate goal is to eventually stop taking the pain killers, hopefully. My next visit to hospital is in about 20 days time, when I think they will take the cast of to look at the healing of the opp scars, I feel the opp went ok but time will tell. Having great difficulty getting used to my new way of living, reduced mobility and all that entails, frustration, impatience, anger and saddness about what happend are the order of the day at the moment. Thanks for all your posts, very helpfull!

Keep your head up. Still getting used to walking after a long painful journey through shattering my talus into several pieces 5 months ago. I was prescribed, and took, over 200 percocet. Use the drugs, they work, and make life a lot better, you won't get addicted if you are still in pain.

As far as being bored as fuck, I don't know if you have netflix in euroland but you should get it or its euro-counterpart. Otherwise, books, videos games, and lots of boobs. I hadn't owned a tv for a several years till i broke my ankle, i bought one and a ps3, it made life a lot better.

I have 55% ROM back, still doing PT and such to help with that, doc says 90% possible. It's a long road, but there will be a day I think that life will be basically normal again.

Thanks brice618, for your words of encouragement. I looked but netflix is not in Europe yet, I am sure there is an equivilant. I have an office job that requires me to work alot sitting at computer, so I have been getting on with that at home and going to the office. But my job also requires that I am out on the road visiting clients, thats the bit I wont be able to do at the moment until I can drive again. Also there is just so much work you can do at home before you get sick and tired of it and you have to put it down, then when you have to put it down the problem is "what do you do then?", My kid has Wii maybe I should get into things like that as you say. Thanks again!

Thanks for your words of encouragement DeathVan. What opperation have you still to have done? I would prefer to pass through this accident recovery without too much dependance on the drugs, first of all I am a recovering addict and the consequences for me to return to substance dependance could be more lethal than the phisical fracture of my ankle. On the other hand the drugs do have a role to play in my fracture recovery, to deal with pain. I will be hoping to stop taking them as soon as posible.
I liked your comment about the mental side of the recovery. Much of the battle with the pain is mental, and getting outside often helps with the mental battle in general as well. Today I will make the effort to go to office which is a 5 min walk from my house, a friend will take me in thier car. I could sit at home and work but it helps me mentally to make the short journey to the office I think. Thanks again, and yes totally agree - " CRUTCHES DO SUCK!" good luck with your recovery.