My pain has now been worse this afternoon. I'm at a 6 at times. I'm still icing, elevating, and taking ibuprofen every 6 hours and Vicodin every 4. I was given Vicodin 5-500mg. should I call for something stronger? Anyone have any other recommendations?
I called my surgeons office and he gave me a Rx for Tordal. I had some 7.5-500mg Lorrab left over from another surgery. Last time I took one of those and one Vicodin. I think that is partially to blame for my nausea.
So glad your pain is under control still! That's fantastic!! I'm particularly impressed that you iced in the middle of the night AND got your own ice with the knee walker! I couldn't even have my leg down that long at your stage!!
Oh sorry. Somehow I missed the last two posts before I posted. Pain hasn't always been controlled. Ok first, Lortab and Vicodin are the same thing (hydrocodone) so be careful with that. If you only took one of each, you're ok. If you are requiring more than 2 Vicodin at at time (and I don't doubt you do-I was taking 2 Percocet every 4 hours!), see if your doctor will increase you to Vicodin 7.5/500. This way if you are taking 2 then you are getting 15mg of and 1000mg of Tylenol. If you take 3 Vicodin 5/500, you are still getting 15mg of hydrocodone, but now 1500mg of Tylenol and you are needing the drugs every 4 hours. Have to be careful not to get too much Tylenol per day. If your doctor gave you Toradol (Toradol or Tramadol?), try that with the Vicodin and see if it works. Toradol is an anti-inflammatory and works pretty well. It works best as an intra-muscular injection, but obviously that isn't feasible nor would you want that all the time!! If it doesnt work, call your doctor back for stronger meds. Either stronger Vicodin Percocet (which I had after both ankle surgeries and it worked well both times)!
I go in for my first post-op on Wednesday. In looking forward to getting more details in what he did and what was fixed. I'll then be put in my first cast. I'll continue to be nonweigtbearing for 3 additional weeks. Then he'll do a walking cast for 3 more weeks. He doesn't do the boot because he wants me to leave the foot alone. So 7 weeks total before I get to really see my foot again. I slept through the night last night with no pain meds and no ice. My foot hurts a little more this morning but not too bad. I do get tired out easily and am definitely sleep more. I feel a little more like myself today.
I went 6 weeks with a cast. I opted not to get the boot at the 3 mark, but you will at least get to see your foot during the cast changes! Take pics! It's neat to see how much it recovers at each appt. a friend took me to every one of my Appts and took pics of the whole process for me! Glad the pain wasn't bad last night! Don't let it slip up and sneak up on you!
I saw my ortho today and he removed my surgical splint. He said my foot looked good. The swelling and bruising wasn't too bad. It's a little sore, but not horrible. He said he did the Brostrom as discussed and removed some loose cartiledge and "roughed up the bone". He did this to encourage some bleeding to form some new cartiledge. I was placed in a cast, which I will wear for 3 weeks, non-weightbearing. Then I will wear another cast for 3 weeks, but it will be a walking cast. I feel like my cast might be a little loose though. How should this be fitting?
Yay for getting your splint off and there not being much swelling! That just means you are doing a fabulous job of elevating! As far as the fit...how lose is it! Can you move your foot or down, or side to side all? How many fingers can you get down your cast at the top or at your toes? I ask because I felt my first cast was too loose too. I could VERY slightly tilt my foot forward and back and I could get my hand down the top a good bit and I could pull on the cast at the top like I'm pulling up my sock and the cast came up exposing more of my toes and I thought wow!! Then.....the swelling happened at night and it wasn't loose! Since it isn't split, they have to give room for swelling because it's still going to do that often. But if you think it's ridiculously loose, definitely contact your doctor! (Oh and the cast I just described was also the one I fell on with all my weight and it did a fantastic job of protecting my foot!)
I again fell, only more hard, on my left foot. I'm having more pain, but not terrible. I "jammed" my big toe against the floor and ripped part of my toe nail. It makes me worry so much that I damaged something. I'm sure if I did anything more serious my pain would be much more marked. I am still concerned though.
I'm sorry you fell! You will have some more pain because you again jarred it, but the cast is so protective! You'd have to twist it a good bit for that and that's impossible in a cast! Biggest thing you have to be careful with is your toes because they are exposed and more vulnerable to injury as you now know all too well unfortunately! To be on the safe side, you could always put a call into your doctor's office on Tues to let them know and see what they say!
Re: Chronic Ankle Instability x 2 
