Hello all from Canada!

I found this thread while googing 'lateral malleous' as I am trying to find some information prior to a ortho visit this afternoon. I was hoping to have a better understanding of my 'condition' prior to the visit and first wanted to say - thank you to all -for providing a starting point to my research.

Here is my situation. 6 six years ago I fractured my ankle -what I was told was the lateral malleous - after a horrific fall down some stairs. I was holding my three month old son at the time and had just picked him up from his caregiver. Her steps were under repair and they were covered in slick ice. I wasn't paying close enough attention and ended up stepping too close to the repair site. Given the icy conditions, I wasn't able to gain a proper gripping and suddenly found myself falling from the fourth step up. Since I had my little guy in my arms, my only thought was to protect him from damage, so I turned somewhat and took the full brunt of the impact on my side. My ankle, in particular, bore the full force of the trauma.

I was instantly wracked with severe shooting pain up my leg and down my foot but assumed I had merely twisted it and carried on. By the next morning, however, the pain was so severe, my husband insisted taking me up to the emergency room. It was there they diagnosed a fracture of the lateral malleous and I was fitted with a plaster cast.

We were in Northern Alberta at the time - six hours north of Edmonton (if you can even envision life that far north!) and it was mid February. My husband was deployed only days after the cast was fitted, and with four small children, no hubby and trying to get around to work, home, etc with a plaster cast on, I committed one of the stupidest mistakes of my life. I removed the cast after only 10 days!

Things appeared to be ok but about a month after that removal, I began to have shooting pains up my leg and foot again. It became so bad, I was unable to sleep at night. I returned to the emergency, sat through a lengthy lecture, and was given yet another cast. This time, I lasted the four weeks and upon its removal, hoped to have my old ankle back.

Less than a year later, I tripped over some lego on the stairs and took a tumble. Once again, severe pain and once again, a trip to the emergency. This time I was told it was only a strain/sprain and sent home in a tensor bandage. A few days later, I recieved a phone call from the hospital who informed me that a review by the radiologist showed that there was a small fracture again - same place. I was put into a half-cast at this point and told to be careful. This incident would soon be the template for 6 years worth of trouble and leads me to the visit this afternoon.

Since that initial accident, I have 're-fractured' my ankle exactly twelve times; the latest incident being last week. I have taken a few falls after my ankle has just completely given out on me - the strangest thing to just have just ankle collapse on you; I have re-fractured an embarrassing THREE times on the golf course (it has become the club joke to see me during a tournament without a cast, and then see me at the dinner that night with a cast on after a quick trip to the emergency room). I have fractured it while in Egypt after climbing down a tomb and losing my foothold, I have fractured it while on a hike in the mountains and I have fractured it while at the beach (having it caught in some rocks in the water and then falling over on it) This latest break was the result of a tumble after tripping over our lazy Black Lab.

One of the biggest probems I have had to date was trying to have a proper diagnosis of the break at the time of the accident. On several occassions I was told that it was merely sprained and the emergency room dr(very busy chaps/chapettes, all of them ) have missed the -what I have been lead to understand are - very difficult to see crack. Often I will find that I will 'tweak' my ankle and after a few days 'rest', feel all better, only to 'tweak' it again in a few months time. Besides the twelve 'official' incidents, I am quite sure I have damaged it on numerous other occassions, only to have it 'fixed' after a good night's rest.

A year ago, I was given the recommendation to have surgery. I did not follow up the advice out of my fear of being off-my-feet for up to six weeks. A hysterctomy a few years ago was nothing short of a disaster, having my husband trying to fend for the kids alongside his crazy work schedule. He insists that I just go and do it, but I am very worried about how the family would survive. Adding to my distress is the simple fact that as a military spouse, I have had a dozen different docs look at my ankle and provide a medical plan, only to find myself relocating to a new home shortly afterwards. I have also had doc's who felt that there was nothing really wrong with me at all and I have some trouble convincing them that I have had so many problems.

I guess after all that, my question is - what should I be doing? Will surgery get me 'back on my feet' (no pun intended, of course) Will it really be 6 weeks of recovery? What should I be telling the ER docs who refuse to believe it is actually a fracture they are seeing, and not a bad strain? What if this ortho this afternoon fails to believe the seriousness of the limitations this issue is causing in my life? What is the better route - deal with each incident or just go in for surgery?

Will this ever heal on its own? Do I have any hope or is arthritis just the next thing I have to look forward to? Any one willing to help answer any of these questions?

Desperate in Trenton - Sheila J