Broken Ankle??

[leezard]

So tomorrow is the two-week anniversary of my lovely TPF.... when I first got admitted to the hospital, I told them that I had pain in a very general area around the knee, and on the left side of the ankle. THe doctor asked for xray from the ankle to the knee, but my husband now cannot remember if he saw the ankle on the xrays or not. The concentration has always been on the knee.....

It has felt "puffy" since I got home, but the entire leg and foot was so swollen that we simply figured it came from the knee trauma. The ankle was never brought up again.

It is just now showing bruising that was not there before, and is still quite swollen on the left side. On palpitation, it is painful with pressure right around the ankle bone on the left side. Since I'm still NWB, we haven't really noticed anything before, but the swelling just seemed out of place now that the leg is barely swollen anymore.

Has anyone had experience with this? I"m currently on hold with Capital Health Link. We are thinking of returning to emerg tomorrow to see if we can get some more xrays done.

[maryc]

It's not uncommon for bruises to appear 2 or even 3 weeks post injury.  Mine took about 2 weeks to surface.  Swelling too would apprear and disappear depending on how much I elevated my leg above my heart.
By all means get it checked out if it bothers you.  With this kind of injury its better to be safe than sorry.

[leezard]

Thanks  Mary!

My knee actually bruised immediately, and since I hadn't actually hit it on anything, we knew something was wrong. I bruise easily, but that was a little ridiculous!

Did your swelling sometimes occur in an isolated place like this, down from the surgery site? And I was thinking that if my ankle bruised without me hitting it, and it's just showing up now, I broke that too. What are the chances of that happening, do you think?

[maryc]

I would bet you have some soft tissue damage near your ankle and that's what's causing the swelling.  Inner bruises take time to work to the surface.  What did the health link say?

[leezard]

Well, I told them the bruising had just appeared and the swelling has never gone down like the rest of the leg has, and answered all the questions. Explained the scenario in full. She did not sound confident in the slightest, asked several questions repeatedly, and ended the conversation by saying: Well, if there's no new bruising and no swelling, and no pain when you walk, I think it's just fine."

Sure didn't leave me confident.

My hubby's going to help with a bath this morning after he wakes up, and we're going to go into emerg to get it checked out.

[Valinla]

Hi Leezard,

I haven't posted in quite some time, but I've got some experience in this area.  I suffered a medial TPF on 1/12/08.  My broken ankle was not diagnosed until about six weeks afterward.  I didn't really even notice the ankle pain until about two weeks in.  Compared to the knee, it was rather insignificant.  It was just as you describe:  Lots of swelling and painful to the touch.  I'd mention it my OS every time I'd visit, but because I had other issues, too (blood clots in my calf), the ankle never really got much attention.  About six or so weeks in, when he got tired of hearing my ankle complaint, he suggested an x-ray be taken.  Upon viewing the x-ray, he said, "Well, what do you know . . . there's a crack."   Turns out in addition to the knee, I'd also cracked the fibula right above the ankle. 

My ankle break was non-displaced and needed no additional treatment, as it had been essentially immobilized all that time.  At the time it was diagnosed, the doc said it appeared to be healing quite well.   I wouldn't consider your situation emergent, but you should definitely have an x-ray taken.

Best wishes to you.

Valerie

[leezard]

Thanks, Valerie. Your post made me glad that we've decided to go in and get it checked out. I'm heading out right away, and we'll see what it comes up with....

[leezard]

WOOT! No break! Just a sprain that we didn't notice before (I love percocet).

I got to see the xrays before, during and after the surgery. COOL beans!!! BUt holy toledo, did I ever break it. The front part of the tibia was completely broken off, soft and hard bone alike. There were 7 or 8 more fractures beyond that, straight through the bone surrounding where the femur was punched directly into the tibia, and the miniscus just disappeared completely. The plate they used is as long as the incision, so about 8 or 9 inches long, and a couple of screws they used are HUGE.

[maryc]

Glad its JUST a sprain.  I know what you mean about the first time you see your xrays - really shocking.
Take care