An Ankle Update

Hello Lovely Blogosphere!

I hope you are enjoying this lovely Sunday and getting to do at least one thing that you love or feeds your soul in preparation for the week ahead.  Did you know it's only 17 days until spring? I can feel it. Can you? I'm looking forward to the smell of fresh cut grass and my the fragrant smell of my trusty Lilacs letting me know that Spring has arrived. I can't wait!

So a quick update on the broken Fibula.  I went to another surgeon last week for a second opinion.  To be honest I really did not like the first surgeons more than brisk bedside manor and (my perceived) lack of care for my well being.   The second surgeon was MUCH better.  So, even though the conclusion and diagnosis were just about the same.  I feel better. I am happy to report that the second surgeon did a stress test on my ankle (gravity did all of the work and it was not painful) basically he let my ankle rest at the end of a block allow it to drop off the end.  He then took and x-ray and reviewed the x-ray for distance between each bone in my ankle.  There was a slight distance (indicating a severe sprain) but not a huge distance (which would indicate a torn ligament).  He said he was actually surprised about the results because typically with my type of break, it is usually cause by the Tibia ligament (I can't remember the exact name) tearing and causing the fibula to break as a result.

But, I am lucky.  He said there is no evidence of any further damage than a broken bone and the break is extremely stable.  He expects me to be off of crutches in 4 weeks and be completely healed in 6.  He actually said if I wanted I could put weight on it now if I could stand the pain and wouldn't risk doing any further damage. Wow! So of course my next question was, so when I can ride.

He said, well you could strap a clip on your boot now and ride if you wanted.  (think he started to regret saying that...seeing that I lit up and completely took him seriously and started to strategize with him).  He then said, wait, wait.  Slow down. Why don't we work on getting you walking first before you dust off your trainer or worse yet, head outside with on a bike with a broken ankle.  I said, but! I could just be really careful.  I'll only ride inside.  He said again, let's work on getting you walking first and go from there. Okay, so I must walk before I can ride.

But, really in all seriousness I am so happy that 1. I will not need surgery and 2. I will be able to salvage some of this riding season, even if it is for smaller rides and not the century's I wanted.

There's always next year....right?

Last but not least, I had debated on putting these on here...but I think it's an interesting history of what my ankle has done in the last couple of weeks. If you are at all sqeamish (don't want to look at a bruised leg...I suggest you not scroll down).  Me personally  I think things like this are cool...but I will be the first to admit I am weird. :o)  The main reason I thought there was ligament damage is because of all of the bruising on the opposite or good side of my ankle.  Plus, the swelling has been almost as bad as the broken side.  But, the doctors have assured me that even with a bad sprain, an ankle can look like this:

Below is a photo journey of my broken foot (intro courtesy of Dr. Seuss):

Here is a picture of my fancy footwear for the next couple of weeks:

This was my ankle hours after I broke it in the emergency room, mostly swollen the bruising hadn't shown up yet:

These next pictures were taken about a week after I broke it.  The bruising had definitely shown up and my poor foot was starting to show what it's been through this past week: 

This is the broken side: 

And the opposite side (good side): 

These last pictures were taken a week after the last pictures or two and a half weeks after the injury (yesterday). There seems to be even more bruising. But, some of the bruises are starting to yellow and heal, thank goodness. The swelling is still pretty  bad, but is getting better. 

This is the broken side:

And the opposite side (good side):