Three weeks ago, while walking down the stairs in my building I lost my footing and missed the last stair. My foot landed on a wooden doorstopper lying on the floor and I went sliding and twisted my right foot. The pain was excruciating but I thought it was just a bad bruise that would heal itself in a few days.
When that didn’t happen, I went for an x-ray five days after the accident and the diagnosis was “a minimally displaced fracture through the base of the 5th metatarsal”.
My doc said that it takes 6 weeks to heal and that in the meantime I should rest and take it easy. He said there was nothing else that could be done and also told me to take Voltaren 25mg twice a day for the pain.
But the day after seeing the doc and getting the x-rays, the pain was so bad that I went to hospital emergency. I was seen by a physio, who fitted me with a special boot, which I now wear around the house.
However, I don’t seem to be making any progress and the pain is still intense. I can’t walk without the boot and I’ve been mostly housebound since the accident. The pain is particularly bad in the mornings after waking. I can’t put on a normal shoe and the foot is still blue and bruised at the impact site.
The Voltaren didn’t help and caused me to have nausea. I tried Panadol and Nurofen but they don’t help much either. Now I just take 4 Panamax tabs a day but they also don’t seem to make much diff.
I’m supposed to be going on an overseas trip in three weeks time and I’m really worried. Fortunately, the trip is mainly to visit family so it won’t involve a lot of sightseeing or other activity.
What should I do? How long will this take to heal? Based on the lack of any progress so far I feel that the doc's assessment of a six-week healing time is way too optimistic.
I guess I should also mention that this same (right) foot was injured about 15 years ago. A “Morton’s neuroma” was diagnosed (that’s some kind of bunching of the nerves) and it was operated on. It took at least a year or two to fully recover from that.
Thanks in anticipation for any suggestions/advice..
@imastawka wrote:I'm thinking the OP is all better by now - 3 years later
But as I'm reading the thread, considering what my replies would have been and whether or not my advice would have worked....I'm wondering how the trip worked out.
For instance...staying off the foot completely for the first 3 weeks would have been a good idea, plus the "big shoe".
Did they go on the trip?
How did they manage with the injured foot?
Yeah, 3 years later....does it still hurt?
I've broken both ankles and sprained them and can feel their pain, lol. Actually that kind of pain doesn't bother me much, but I get why it would others.
It's so easy to sprain an ankle and the pain can last years. The last time I was only climbing over a fence waist high and came down on it wrong, but I learned. Recently I slipped on some ice...instead of fighting it and trying to remain standing, I went with it...no problems. I fell, but no sprains or torn ligaments.
(edit: yes I do realize Arts was a damaged foot, not a ankle, but it's close enough making it hard to walk.)
I still feel the pain of getting a needle in my bum 50 years ago
