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4 weeks ago, I broke my ankle while rock-climbing. Over the past month, I found it extraordinarily helpful to read blogs of those who have also experienced ankle fractures and ankle surgery. While those blogs were part-consoling, part-unsettling, I had a need to understand timelines to get a better idea of what I will be doing, how I should be feeling at what point after my surgery. To help others in the future, here is my current ankle recovery timeline. September 2, 2016 - Day of Injury Broke my ankle while bouldering. For those who do not know, bouldering is essentially free-climbing "short" walls with no harnesses. On my last route of the night, I made it to the top, slipped and fell 10 feet, landing on my right foot, thus breaking my ankle in 3 places. I had a spiral fracture on my fibula, transverse fracture on my tibia, and a crack on the base of my fibula. After going to urgent care, I was sent home to rest before seeing my first doctor.
September 6, 2016Saw my first orthopedic surgeon, who initially said that it looked like I would not need surgery but ended up referring me to a more experience surgeon for a second opinion. She was a great doctor, very easy to understand and explained everything thoroughly and I am glad she made the decision to refer me to another surgeon who specialized more in sports medicine. September 9, 2016I went to see my second orthopedic doctor who took a glance at my ankle, my x-rays and immediately determined that surgery was necessary, especially if I want to maintain my active lifestyle. I used my Google-fu to Google everything about this surgeon and was more than pleased about his lifetime of experience and education. It is extremely comforting when your doctor is confident and you have full confidence in him. September 15, 2016 - Day of Surgery I went into the NYU Langone Outpatient Surgery Center for my ORIF ankle surgery and left with 8 screws and 1 plate installed on my right ankle. At this point, I was extremely groggy from local anesthesia and could not feel my leg due to two nerve blocks. The apple juice and graham crackers tasted especially delicious and I could not understand why - perhaps it was the 14 hours of fasting or an effect of anesthesia? September 16, 2016 - Worst Night of my LifeAbout 18 hours after my surgery, my leg started to feel tingly, which is an indication that I was beginning to regain feeling in my ankle. 2 hours after the tingling feeling began, I experienced the worst pain of my life. The nerve blocks wore off all at once and I was in excruciating pain for the next 2 hours while my prescription medications started to kick in. While going through forums to research this insane pain, I found that many women claimed that their ankle pain post-nerve block was far worse than childbirth! I could only describe it as someone cutting my leg open and lighting my foot on fire. (At least I now the cutting open part happened but apparently the burning feeling is your nerves re-communicating with your brain.) After this night, I became extremely adamant about taking my pain medication in the shortest time intervals allowed by my doctor. September 18, 2016The splint started bothering me by digging into the back of my calf. It turned out that there was not enough cotton padding between the plaster and my skin. My doctor's post-operative assistant instructed us to stuff more cotton to pad my skin against the plaster. September 20, 2016My lovely sister bought me a knee scooter, which helped immensely in my mobility around the home. I hope to use this outside once I start going into work again but will have a hard time transporting it up and down the stairs since my building does not have any elevator. It's nice to be able to brush my teeth without either sitting down or swaying precariously on one foot in front of the sink.  September 22, 2016I returned to working from home today and feel very thankful that my job and team allow me to do a lot of my work remotely while I recover from my broken ankle. I now have spaces between my swollen toes again!  September 30, 2016 - Post-Op Followup #1 My splint and stitches were removed today! What a big day for me as the plaster digging into my skin was annoying and the pressure of the splint often kept me up at night. My doctor said I have 4 more non-weightbearing (NWB) weeks but can start flexing my foot and pointing my toes as an initial at-home exercise. My ankle feels quite stiff but I can flex it to a 90 degree angle! I was unable to do that prior to the surgery after my accident. Instead of a hard cast, I am back into my CAM boot which my doctor said was a treat in comparison to the hard cast since I can take my foot out to ice it, do my ankle exercises and best of all, WASH IT IN THE SHOWER!  October 2, 2016It's been one full month since I broke my ankle now. It's been a frustrating month to say the least. Some of the easiest tasks of a normal person's day leave me out of breath and tired. I'm thankful for my sister and Andrew who came to help take care of me this past month. I will be on my own in a day and that terrifies me. Anyway, at my post-op follow up, they said I should change my bandages every 2 days. My wounds did not look so great today when we replaced the dressing so I decided not to wash my foot yet.
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