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..
