email: Mihal.Freinquel@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

the day i broke my ankle

Not a lot is going into this blog. It's a way to keep anybody who cares updated, and also I can hopefully offer some insight into What to Expect When You Break Your Ankle. I broke my ankle on a shitty day in April, 2013 - I tripped getting out of a car, after having just moved to a new city. In retrospect should have started writing this on day 1, but I've had a pretty foggy brain up until this point, so I'll do my best to just play catch up.

 

After the fall (that happened somewhere between the curb and my aunt's car) I ripped my boot off immediately, trembling with the shock of the worst pain I've ever felt in my 29 years on this planet. I got right back into the back seat and tried to elevate, feeling as if every bone in my foot had popped out of place and was now swimming loosely inside my skin. In the ER they gave me ice, an x-ray, and a big shitty cast replete with paper pants (yes they cut my jeans off of me)...oh, and fucking crutches.


I was (am) in the very lucky position to have my boyfriend (with whom I live) and my family nearby, so I wasn't stressing too much about HOW I would actually be taken care of. A far cry from how I imagine I'd have felt given where I'd just moved from - NYC. I was sent home and told to take Tylenol, and they made an appointment with some bone doctor for the following week so my swelling could go down.


My boyfriend, let's call him J, eventually had to cut me out of these wretched paper pants - luckily I had these Old Navy lounge pants that are super wide legged and loose and comfy. I recommend them - they're also cheap.

I basically remember nothing more from this day - except that I really wanted strawberries.



9 comments:

  1. Two days ago I broke my right ankle (trimalleolar fracture with dislocation), was also sent home from the ER to let the swelling go down, and tomorrow I see an orthopedic surgeon. I'm so glad that I stumbled (no pun intended!) upon your blog.

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  2. I was hit by a forklift and broke my right ankle in 3 different places, I'm getting my hardware removed next Monday but I wish I would have found this site earlier! It was such bullshit going through everything. I'm glad you are recovering well!

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    1. A FORKLIFT??!! How terrible! Best of luck healing - hope the removal went well!!

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  3. Hi Mihal, I came across your blog searching up ankle exercises on YouTube .. so glad to found you! I'm on week 5 post op of a tib/fib fracture and I have a similar picture of myself in the ER with a shitty temporary cast on my leg lol. I'm currently nonweight bearing, probably for another few weeks according to my surgeon. I have lots of questions and hope it's okay to still email you? I feel relieved to have come across this and happy to hear how well you're doing :)
    -Heather

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  4. This blog is like reading my biography of late (minus accident details, of course). My boyfriend and I were in Vietnam and were in a motorcycle accident just shy of halfway through our trip. I broke my medial malleolus and my proximal fibula, the former requiring surgery in Vietnam. Came back to the US and learned that they didn't diagnose the fracture properly—I have a specific fracture called a Maisonneuve fracture—and one of the screws was in my joint. If I didn't correct the surgery I was to be doomed to traumatic arthritis, which I'd rather not have. So, a second surgery was required two weeks after the first, ultimately restarting the recovery process. They replaced the screws in my medial malleolus, which apparently will be permanent, and I have two screws and a plate to bring my fibula closer to my tibia on the other side of my ankle, I believe to help heal the torn ligaments between those two bones and to further correct the ankle joint. The latter hardware will be removed in ~8 weeks, so surgery three is on the horizon.

    I'm about 4 weeks out from that second surgery, yet on week 6 of no weight bearing on that leg, hobbling around on crutches, swelling, weird sensations, peeling skin, emaciated and limp calf muscle, bathing on seat, anxiety over everything, and being uncomfortable in some way 100% of the time (sleeping is the WORST for this stomach sleeper!). Thankfully I'm no longer on the narcotics and can poop again—progress!

    Reading your blog eases my anxiety, knowing that my progress is coming along normally. Glad to know that over space and time we're not alone in this.

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    1. Omg Merith, that sounds fucking AWFUL. I'm so sorry you're going through that. But...you will get through it. Have patience with yourself...try not to google things too much :) And also read through all of the comments on this blog and on my videos - so many folks who can assure you that you're not alone.

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  5. I love reading your blog. A lot of the stuff pertains to what I'm going through now. I had rescued these baby kittens across the street in a Bush with their mother in August 2019 And we raised them until they were 3 months old and brought them to a he main society to get them homes November 3rd period we went back to go visit the kittens and when I walked out there was ice on the sidewalk and my foot just must have turned I didn't feel And it broke my ankle and dislocated it. I went to the hospital and it ended up being a trimalleolar fracture. I Broke the 2 bones on the bottom and the fibula. Basically the injury I had your foot is no longer connected to your leg. When I was sitting on the ground after it broke bring my foot was bent over to the right I pushed it back in place only out of shock and not really knowing what I was doing. I think that's what the also mean by displacement. I went to the hospital and had surgery the next night and so I've been gone through a lot of what you've been talking about. I would like to know more about when you went to physical therapy when did the heavy start walking on your actual foot. They gave me a brace and I start Tuesday of this week coming up. I'm really nervous about their move my foot around and all that like you were saying. If you can give me any other pointers about physical therapy about walking on your foot with the brace and Howe all that went would be great. Thank you so much for your blog

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    1. Oh man I'm so sorry! Regarding your questions: I started physical therapy a few months after surgery. I don't necessarily have pointers, just my own experience. My main advice through the whole experience is to just be patient with yourself. Have you read through my blog? and my book? watched my videos on youtube? I share everything there!

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