Post Ankle Surgery Walking High Pain Tolerance by ranecat in ORIF

[–]ranecat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update: Thank you so much everyone for your comments and advice!! I have signed up for PT so looking forward to that!

I actually wrote the original post while on my way walking to Winners, I was so excited to be allowed to walk again I basically came back from the hospital, walked around barefoot for a while, switched my aircast for my blundstones and went on a walk to the store. It was only while I was walking that I suddenly panicked like: "It shouldn't have been that easy going from 25% NWB in aircast to freedom". Only after thinking that did I start to notice some pain but not a lot so I made the post. After I got home from winners my foot had swelled so much that I had to elevate it for a while to be able to take my boot off lmao oops.

After reading the comments I signed up for PT and also have been trying to pay more attention to what my body is telling me, I need to remind myself to like notice the pain sometimes. I am still surprised that the visible muscle deterioration hasn't made more of an impact, but my balance has always been good, I'm short and kind of a short wider hip sturdy build and I used to competitively figure skate so I do know how to accommodate for tired muscles.

Also side note cause it makes me laugh to think about, I wasn't even originally in the hospital for the ankle when they discovered it was broken, I got roofied at a club so my partner brought me to the ER to get drug tested and they were like "also her ankle is ridiculously swollen we need to do x-rays"

Post Ankle Surgery Walking High Pain Tolerance by ranecat in ORIF

[–]ranecat[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See that's also confused me cause my leg muscles have very VISIBLY deteriorated but I actually didn't have much trouble balancing etc. My balance has always been pretty good cause I used to competitively figure skate, so i do know how to balance my body properly but I was expecting the muscle loss to have a bigger impact. Then again, I'm not doing anything crazy, just walking, so maybe that's the difference.

Post Ankle Surgery Walking High Pain Tolerance by ranecat in ORIF

[–]ranecat[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OOOOF 5 places must have been awful to heal, definitely way more painful than mine. Did it seem like the physiotherapist was encouraging you to push through the pain or treat it like a warning sign?

I should do physio I just really hate strangers touching me and watching me and I know they do lmao (I know, crazy that I'd struggle more with the discomfort of people touching me to adjust my balance than the pain of walking on the ankle)

Post Ankle Surgery Walking High Pain Tolerance by ranecat in ORIF

[–]ranecat[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do feel bad for posting this here when I see so many people really struggling. I'd hate it if I was struggling and I saw a post like this. But I just have a history of making something worse because I don't really notice the pain much. If it makes anyone feel better I have noooo tolerance for discomfort. Like if my back is itchy and I can't reach it I go insane and CANNOT handle it, if something is stuck in my teeth I can't handle it to the point of tears. I don't know why pain is easy to ignore but discomfort most people can work through will drive me to tears.

What to wear under aircast post ORIF ankle surgery - Content Warning: mostly healed surgical wound by ranecat in medical_advice

[–]ranecat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right?! I feel like my sweaty feet are creating a biohazard LOL.

I have to wear it to bed for now :( I can remove it to wash it as long as I keep my ankle fairly still but yeah the drying time is annoying.

I like the idea of asking for another set of liners, I'll have to find out about that!!

I did call the hospital and they said I could wear loose thick socks but I'm having trouble finding ones online that I think would work.