One Year Ankle Report

A year ago yesterday I fell down the stairs and broke my ankle - a trimalleolar fracture.

This morning I did the P90X Plyometrics workout, which is an hour of jump squats, jump lunges, and other generally high-impact stuff.

I had the thought back in March, after I started walking and at the beginning of physical therapy that I might never walk normally again.  This was a silly, overly dramatic thought to have, and compared to the physical issues that some others have to deal with, this was a super easy recovery.  Still the thought, the fear, was there, and I had no idea how I was going to get better.

But... I did get better.

And I strengthened and stretched.

And I lost over 30 pounds.

And now, I can only tell the difference between my ankles in a couple ways - balance postures in yoga and when hopping on one foot.

I'm so thankful for my health and recovery.  I don't take my ability to walk or run or jump or stand in Tree Pose for granted.

MMI

I have been given the status of MMI - Maximum Medical Improvement by my worker's comp doctor.  So the ankle saga is officially over, a little more than 5 months after it began. 

Of course, it will never *really* be over.  I continue to stretch it and strengthen it so that I can gain back not just basic functionality, but some athleticism.  I'm starting some hiking training.  Mt. Elbert, I'm looking at you!

6 Week Ankle Update

Well, it's been 6 weeks since my trimalleolar fracture, and today I had a check up with the doc.

The x-ray showed that the alignment of everything is still perfect.  The medial fracture (the one on the right side of my ankle) is still visible, which means it's not totally healed yet.  He said that's normal - sometimes the joint fluid gets in there and inhibits the healing a bit.  And then the fracture line is still faintly visible on the fibula side, but it's mostly healed.  Anyway, he said that because the alignment is so good, he's okay with me starting to bear weight on it, even though the healing isn't quite done.  I'm to keep it in the fracture boot for the first couple of weeks while I do this, to make sure that the healing continues properly.

So at the moment, I'm able to put maybe 50-60% of my weight on it, which means crutches, still, for the time being.  And after having spent some time "practicing" today, my ankle is definitely tired.

I have quite a ways to go yet, but it feels really good to be able to actually do something to get better.  I'm hoping for rapid improvement.

Broken Ankle - Two Week Update

I saw my orthopedic surgeon yesterday for my first check up on my trimalleolar fracture since ORIF surgery.

The one piece of less than awesome news is that I will continue to be non-weight-bearing for another four weeks.  He said that if the fibula portion of the break (the part under the plate) was a simple, clean line across, he'd be okay with me starting to put some weight on it now.  But my fibula was shattered, and so he really wants it to be super strong and rebuilt before I try to stand on it.

Other than that, all the news is awesome as I'd hoped.  My x-rays show that my bones are perfectly aligned and are healing quickly.  They took off my splint and removed the staples from my surgical incisions, which are healing beautifully with no infection.  I am able to flex and point my foot with no pain, just a lot of stiffness.  He doesn't want me to do any side-to-side or rotational motion just yet, but he okay-ed practicing my flexion.  My range of motion is small, but it has already perceptibly improved since yesterday.

I now have a fracture boot, which is fairly comfortable and makes my leg feel very protected.  Most importantly, I can remove it which means I can bathe (!), exercise my ankle, and sleep much more comfortably.  My ankle does feel very vulnerable when not in the boot, so I wear it if I'm going to move anywhere, even just to the bathroom.

I'm still in good spirits, and feeling really positive about all of this.  But it is still exhausting to get around, and I have pain and swelling if my leg isn't elevated for any period of time.  I'm hopeful that I'll continue to see improvements - little by little, day by day.

Broken Ankle

Warning: My X-ray pictures are in here.  If you don't like looking at stuff like that, maybe you should skip this one.

So here's how it all went down.

On the afternoon of December 4, I was in the mother's room at work on the fourth floor, doing the pumping thing that I do three times a day.  Of course I was totally multitasking - getting some work done, going over my to-do lists, making a couple phone calls - distracted, I guess.  I grabbed my milk and my laptop and headed back to my desk on the third floor, like I always do, taking the back stairs, like I always do.  

About eight steps before I reached the third floor, my foot slipped off the front of the stair.  I was wearing these cute ballet flats I had just picked up, and my left foot just slipped.  I came down on my left toe on the next step and sort of wobbled there, trying to catch myself, deciding whether to sacrifice the laptop.  I rocked what turned out to be the wrong way and my leg bone kind of came down independently of my ankle.  

I looked at it and instantly knew it was dislocated.  I mean, you could tell - it was just not right.  I screamed, mostly at the guy who had just passed me in the stairs, "My ankle is OUT!  It's OUT!  Call a doctor!"  A couple people came to be with me in the stairs, and a few more came in because they heard me yelling (and of course the stairwell has perfect acoustics).  The security guards, who have basic medical training, came to sit with me while we waited for the paramedics to arrive.  A couple friends called Travis, gathered my things, and notified my boss.  

The paramedics came and gave me and IV with Fentanyl for the pain (sweet relief!), and then I got my first ambulance ride.  There were a lot of firsts that day: first broken bone, first surgery, first general anesthesia, first, hospital stay...

They rolled me into the ER.  The PA there took one look at my mangled ankle and said "Have you ever had surgery?  You're going to have surgery today."  They took some x-rays.  In order for the ankle to dislocate, the leg bones have to break in about three places.  It's called a trimalleolar fracture.  Even to the untrained eye, it was clearly not right at all.

The orthopedic surgeon came down to reset my ankle.  They knocked me out to do this.  Apparently they put me under and I looked over at the nurse and said, "Heeeeeeey, buddy!"  like I was talking to Andrew.  And then while they were setting my bones, I kept telling them to stop Andrew from jumping on my leg.  I introduced myself to the ortho doc three times.  Fun stuff.

After they reset my ankle, I felt much better.  As in, pretty much no pain at all!  In fact, I said they could just leave it like that and I'd be fine!  Unfortunately, it had to be reinforced for daily life and weight-bearing, so I would still need surgery.  But it looked pretty nice right then.

I went up to pre-op around 8:30p - less than six hours after I even broke the thing.  When I woke up, I had a plate and ten screws in my leg.  Technically the surgical procedure was an open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), which I guess is pretty standard for this (fairly common) injury.

I stayed overnight in the hospital, and enjoyed the help of the nurses.  I was discharged around 2pm the next day, about 24 hours post-injury.  

The first few days at home were tough, painful, and awkward.  After that, it started to get better, first slowly, then more quickly.  Travis has been an absolute champ, almost completely taking over care of the kiddos, preparation of meals, and management of the house.  Our sitter, Maggie, has helped a ton, including staying overnight with the kids on the night I had surgery.  Some dear friends made us some meals.  My mom came into town for a long weekend.  

I've been in really good spirits for the most part, which has surprised me.  I've only had one really bad mood day (and one day with a migraine, which, whoa).  I think that I credit my kids with keeping my chin up.  It's hard to get down when you've got a baby who smiles at you like you are her entire world while she's nursing, and a rambunctious toddler who loves you so much that he's perfectly happy to sit and read books all day just so he can sit next to you.  

It's hard.  Maybe the hardest thing we've done so far.  But we're making it, day by day.

The prognosis is still a little fuzzy.  I'm going in for my two week check up on Thursday.  They will take x-rays, and I think they will have a much better idea of when I'll be able to start weight bearing and then the long road of rehab.  

My postpartum goal of climbing at least one 14er next summer still stands!

And now some pure cuteness: