Again, so much has happened since I last wrote. September of 2008, as I was walking down a flight of stairs outside, I stepped right on the edge of the sidewalk on that last step; right where the sidewalk meets the grass. BAM! Fell to the ground because I'd twisted my ankle. My parents were in town and it was their last day visiting with me. My dad suggested I go to the ER (it was Labor Day so Buckley clinic was closed) since my left ankle was black and blue and twice the size of a softball. great.
The ER doctor said there was an Ottawa study that stated if you touched the ankle in 5 places and it doesn't hurt then nothing is broken. It didn't hurt in an of the places he touched. Just a sprain, here's some Vicodin (really?!) that never got filled.
Two weeks later I had a PT test and new I wouldn't be able to run on the injured ankle as it still hurt immensely. So, I finally went to the clinic for my ankle and did not get to see my primary physician. He agreed with the ER doc, it's a sprain. He sent me to physical therapy on base for 3 weeks and put me on a profile.
Three weeks later, with my ankle still hurting and nothing new from physical therapy, I went to the clinic again. I saw a different doctor, my primary physician still not available. Yep, it's still sprained. Sometimes, sprains just take a long time to heal. Three more weeks of physical therapy on base.
Three weeks later, the ankle still hurts and physical therapy is STILL not helping. I FINALLY get to see my doctor and she recommends a new physical therapist for me off-base. Four weeks worth.
Hey, guess what? That physical therapist had no improvements with my ankle. My primary then sent me to an Ortho specialist. She had x-rays taken (the first). I overheard the x-ray techs say, "See you can see the small break right there..." The specialist came in, however, and said the x-ray showed no breaks and nothing wrong with my ankle. Hmm, ok maybe the x-ray techs were talking about someone else's x-rays even though they'd JUST gotten the image of mine. Anyway. The specialist recommended another physical therapist and a specially made brace that was new in the industry that they wanted to test on me. I was with this specialist, and her physical therapist, for about 3-4 months. My ankle still continually hurt, just not as much at this point. I was running and jumping and doing all the exercises the physical therapist recommended but no major improvement showed. The specialist also had an ultra sound done on the ankle towards the end of my time with her and it showed several small tears in the ligament but nothing major to worry about.
I'd talked to a Sgt that ran our unit fitness program towards the end of seeing this specialist. He said, "It's all in your head. You just have to ignore the pain and run through it." Really. Shortly thereafter, my specialist told me that with the x-ray showing nothing and the ultrasound showing nothing, she really didn't know what to do for me and that my time with her was done. I was still in pain. I thought, well maybe it is all in my head. I took a PT test and failed the run miserably. My ankle hurt so much that day.
Finally, I'd had enough. I made an appointment with my primary physician and told her I wanted to see a new specialist and told her everything the old specialist had said. Saw, a new specialist a few weeks later and he scheduled me for an MRI. At the follow-up appointment from the MRI, the new specialist came in and said he wanted to feel around on my ankle to confirm the results of the MRI. He touched a specific point in my ankle and I immediately gasped in pain. He said the MRI showed an avulsion fracture. It's where the ligament pulls a fragment of bone off. Ouch. Yes, it hurt and makes sense as to why the fall that 1 September took my breath away.
He sent me to a surgeon to have his opinion. The surgeon took his own x-ray and said it was very obvious what the problem was in the x-ray and should have been caught with the first one I'd had taken with the other specialist. He actually apologized to me on behalf of the health community. He said that avulsion fractures usually heal on their own, but since mine did not he recommend surgery to have that fragment of bone removed. In May 2009, I had surgery to finally begin my healing process. Physical therapy afterwards with the best physical therapist I'd ever had and I'd seen a lot at this point.
Rocky Mountain Spine and Sport were awesome and Tara Fisher, my therapist, kicked my butt! Because of her, I lost all of my surgery weight, + some, and was able to take and pass my PT test.
What have I learned from this? Trust your instincts. If you feel something is majorly wrong, you're probably right. Three years later and I'm still working on my run time, trying to get it lower. I can finally run with no ankle pain. My last PT test I got 16:19 on my run. My goal is to get it to the 15:36 I was complaining about in my previous post. That's my short-term goal. The goal after that is to get a 14 minute run. And to lose the next 10 pounds I'd gained overall during the last 3 years of my injury. :)
Surgery day! Thankfully, my mom came in from Louisiana to take care of me and Gandalf that weekend. I know I was horrible to her the morning of surgery. I couldn't eat or drink anything since midnight the night before and surgery wasn't until after lunch! I was so hungry! haha My Gandalf hardly left my side, even though my mom was there to play with him and take him out.
Yay! I could finally change the dressing myself. That was a process!
And after the stitches were removed.
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