Broken Fibula, Broken Ankle, Fixed Ankle X-Rays

Update - 2 weeks till the next doctors appointment

Ok so a week ago Wednesday I had my 1 week followup with Dr. Schneider. She took off the splint. My foot and ankle had two incisions (I think) on either side of the ankle. Perhaps another one for the camera. This one I think was just a small incision. I will confirm this when the cast comes off. So once the splint was off the next order of business was to remove the stitches. This was painless and without issue. Now it was time to say good bye to my ankle and lower left leg for the next 3 weeks. Yes thats right. I will get to that in a moment. Dr. Schneider then proceeded to cast my leg from the knee down. Once the cast started to harden it was off for some x rays. Below you will find my actual xrays from injured ankle through to post surgical ankle with two syndesmotic screws. So now back to my next appointment to see Dr. Schneider. It is scheduled for Friday Feb 5. I softly asked the Doc if that meant the cast was coming off. She tentatively said she might put me in an air cast. Man would that be awesome as the cast is sucking big time. The only blessing is the kneeling scooter I picked up from my buddy Lenny who owns All Pro Medical in Plainview.

Also, another fun fact just saw Dr. Hershman on TV at the Jet game. Dr. Hershman is my knee orthpedist since Dr. Gazaniga left NY.

More to report come Feb 5.

Broken Ankle - Syndesmosis Injury and Maison-neuve fracture

So it looks like the NYC triathlon is gonna be put on hold for the moment as NYE 2010 Brought on a broken left ankle. The exact injury involved tearing of the syndesmosis, fracturing my fibula, and a small chipping in the ankle. Its unfortunate but due to my earlier injuries, I come through these crisis situations with some ease. Its as if my experience with traumatic ligament, tendon, and bone injuries to both legs has given me the ability to see through the pain and shock of the injury and act in cool calm collected manner. I always look back to rupturing my patella tendon the morning of a flight back to the NY from HK. I managed to travel the 20+ hours it took to get home arranging for my care upon landing in the US. Hopefully I will not need to call these skills into use EVER again.

So the broken ankle needed to be realigned and secured with two syndesmotic screws. Apparently the break to my fibula which is just below the knee will heal while I am immobilized and non weight bearing. The addition of the faracture to the fibula is called a Maisonneuve fracture. Surgery was on January 6, 2010. Tomorrow, I will be casted below the knee. The cast will remain on for 6-8 weeks. Of course hoping for the 6 but we shall see.

All in all the pain was bad for the first few days after injury and surgery. Nothing some painkillers couldn't handle. I guess comparatively I have experienced worse pain after surgery.

Finally, below you can find several images of the syndesmosis (space between the tibia and fibia), the screws that used to secure my tibia and fibia to allow the syndesmosis to heal and the gap in the ankle to normalize, and the Maison-neuve fracture. (the xray is not mine but hoping to get a digital copy.)