I'm going to preface this with the following.

I'm thankful every day for my problems. Lord knows people have it much much worse off than I do. I am financially stable, married to a woman I love deeply for almost 20 years, and I have three great kids


That said


What the actual fuck


I need a knee replacement, but because I am young, and don't want another damn surgery, I am trying to medically manage it for now. Part of that involves wear a fairly substantial brace

The brace changes my gait, and my foot will drag sometimes. Today my wife bought me a new pair of shoes for Father's Day. As I was walking down my front stairs I didn't take a big enough step to compensate for the unfamiliar shoes, and my foot caught on my front porch stairs and down I went


Ruptured a tendon in the front of my ankle (not my Achilles thank God) and at the very least broke it. Have to see orthro because there is concern there is sunstanrtial tendon and ligament damage


But here's the kicker...these next 2 weeks were supposed to be the first real vacation my family has taken in 7 years

I have $1000 in concert tickets Tuesday, $2000 in train tickets Friday, and then $8000 in cruise cabins starting Saturday, where we were supposed to cruise and snorkel on the Carribean.

My wife wants to cancel. She was in tears, beside herself, because she bought me the new shoes. Did I mention how much I love her?

The truth is we need a break. In the intervening 7 years my mom has died, we had a new baby, opened up a new business, and have been working our asses off

So I told her we are going. I'll freaking snorkel with a bag around my leg if I have to. We need this vacation. All of us


But as I said at the beginning, people all over the world don't even know what a vacation is. Thankful for my problems

But can a brother catch a Break??? And not of his leg?


Thanks for taking the time if you read this far....just needed to vent

Good venting, great attitude. Get well soon, and I hope it's not too bad of an injury.

Take it easy with the pain killers, watch for signs of overdose. Even Ibuprofen can be over-used.

A broken ankle
An awesome vacation plan
Now you'll get some rest.

They make waterproof casts, or maybe you can get by with a splint of some sort for the length of your vacation. Enjoy your vacation, everything will work out.

Broken ankle Caribbean, good reason to sit on your was and drink rum drinks.

Thank God for everyone you love, and the life you have. My guess is you will all have the best vacation ever!

Wow. I am so sorry to hear this. Let me guess - seeing her so upset is stressing you out more than the actual injury?

I get the stubbornness - I do - but... Did you at least have trip insurance in place? If you can recover most of your $$$, would it be feasible to reschedule?

Also, I'm sure you have an excellent ortho, but if you want a second opinion, etc., I know a great foot/ankle guy in D.C., which is a bit of a hike for you, but still.

-Rob

Hey guys

Thanks for the kind words


We do have trip insurance for the cruise, it not the train, so I'd eat $2 grand. That's not the big barrier, though, it's the timing. Money has not been what has stopped us from vacationing in the past. We are all pulled in so many different directions, we took this time window when it presented itself, but it's the only window we have

I will see orthro today (was in the ER) last night and see what they say

Burton, if you don't mind shooting me the name of your guy, I'd appreciate it. The guy who did all the work on my last surgery on my left ankle has since left the area

E-mail inbound.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:
Take it easy with the pain killers, watch for signs of overdose. Even Ibuprofen can be over-used.

Barring memory failure on my part, I'm pretty sure that his wife is an MD. I think she'll monitor the situation.

Believe me, I feel for you. I rolled mine under me on a hill 6 years ago. Dislocated, broke the fibula, avulsion fracture when the tendon pulled off the tibia. Two surgeries and a full 14 months later, I was as back to normal as I was going to be. I still have 3 screws and a pin.

The ortho should put you in a boot, which will be much more comfortable for everything. But you are going to be really uncomfortable until it's properly stabilized.

Make the best of it and get your handicap parking card.

Someday you'll have another story to tell.

I don't think there is a good time to break an ankle.

Mike

Oh man, that sucks.

I'm so sorry to hear it.

sorry to hear. I did exactly the same thing last night. We the exception of the damage. It hurt like heck. At first I did think I broke it. But as it turned out I did not. They are a boot with ankle support. Thank God.
You do sound like you have a wonderful family.

Just remember that life is what happens while we are busy making plans.

If you can just go with it. I am guessing you guys will have the time of your life. And when you look back on it you guys. Mostly the kids will have fond memories of that great vacation with the old man and his broke foot.

Broken bones suck. Torn & ruptured connective tissue triple sucks. Best of luck on rehab and recovery.

We went on a big family vacation a few years ago - a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean as well.

The day before, my brother broke his ankle and didn't want to go. He did, and was treated as a VIP the entire time. The people go out of their way to help those in a wheelchair - his family was allowed to bypass most lines the entire trip.

Like whats already been mentioned - use this as an even better excuse to relax. Hope yall have a great vacation and you come back refreshed!

Thanks guys! I called the cruise today and they already said they'd have a wheelchair waiting at the bottom of the ramp for me


Honestly I feel worst for my wife. She works her ass off and needs this vacation and doesn't handle the "things are supposed to go right and now they aren't" situation well sometimes


And there is already good news

Apparently what I have is several avulsion fractures, but no true, real breaks. The orhtro I saw today said the ER treats everything like a break regardless because their treatment is the same....splint, ice, pain management, stay off it, go see orhtro

So last night when they told me I had "several fractures in my ankle" it sounded a lot worse


When I asked my wife (who is an MD, great memory V-Tail...she is a pediatrician) why we didn't ask last night about that her response was....are you kidding? When kids come into my office with legs that swollen and purple I send them to X-ray then send them to ortho....silly doctors


So it's not as bleak or dire as it originally seeemed


It does really freaking hurt today, though

Avulsion fractures are still fractures, but that is good news.

It doesn't feel good, but a good way to reduce the swelling is to put your whole foot into an ice water bath - 20 mins every hour. We used a 2½ gal bucket. My surgeon wouldn't operate on me until the swelling was reduced, so that's what he told me to do. And it worked, though I said some bad words each time I plunged it in.

Hahaha. I actually like ice baths. I've had bad ankles my whole life, mostly the result from playing football until I was almost 21 (and then a result, on the left side at least, of the army dropping a section of a bridge on my foot/ankle)


I used to sit before and after games with each foot in a bucket of ice

When I got to college I'd just sit in the whole tub up to my chest


The pain comes from when you do contrast baths

Which is 5 minutes in the ice water, followed by 5 in hot water, and then back into the ice.

I'm fairly certain that treatment only appears in football locker rooms and as an enhanced interrogation technique at gitmo