High ankle fracture post op drama!! Help!!

Broke My Fibula and dislocated my ankle on May 1st of this year playing soccer and have already had surgurey. Plates and screws put in place. I have been walking fine for a month or so now without a boot, or anything other help. I just went to the doctor today and they told me that the gap between my tibula and talus has expanded to 5.6mm which is apparently large enough to insure 100% that I will have arthritis when I am in my 50's(i am 25 now) and now they want me to do another operation to close the gap and remove the old hardware, but now they want me to be non weight baring for three months instead of two. This is kind of crazy for me since I have just been out of work for two months and now they want me to go another three.

This just not seem like a reasonable option for me financially, and I do not know if My job would be happy with me being out of work 5 months out of the year. I am talking to a specialist on thursday and I am just wondering how important it is going to be for me to have ANOTHER THREE MONTHS OF HELL! vs. just living with the fact that I will have terrible arthritis in my 50's and on In other news that Fibula is healing great!! I was 6"2 250 lbs before the injury and have gained about 25 since, so they think it was my wieght that has caused the gap to widen. I feel no pain and only minor discomfort now. Any thoughts from anyonw would be wonderful!!!!!

p.s. I am new to the whole forum thing so I hope I am following the correct etiquette! :-)

I suppose if the distance between the tibia and the fibular (not so much talus and this is secondary) has widened this is due to tearing of the syndesmosis connective tissue between those two bones. OR the alignment of the fibula is not great. I would want to ascertain why the gap is there and what structure they are suggesting that they wish to operate on. Any fhance you could post pre and post x-ray images?

This is from the E.R. an hour after the injury. I do not have the x-rays at the moment, but I will get them tomorrow.You can see my tibula kind of pushing out a lot in the pic. My fibula was busted on the other side into a few chunks maybe three inches above the ankle, and also piking out the opposite way(did not break skin though, thank god!) I am pretty sure that he is talking about the gap between my tibula and talus. When they put everything back they said it was about a 2mm gap, and it has since expanded to about 5.4mm which is apparently (according to him at least, going to promise me arthritis in 25-35 years) I am 100% lost hear so I really really appreciate your input! I know every injury is unique, but this guys xrays look a whole lot like mine to give you an idea for now. http://www.physiobob.com/forum/patie...ted-ankle.html
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The gap between the tibia and the talus is dependent on the separation between tibia and fibula. Those tow bones grab the talus like a vice, one on either side. I am not aware of the research on the relationship between the mm of gap and early onset arthritis.

Along with the x-rays I will make sure I get a clear explanation of what needs to be done and why, Any other questions I should ask? Besides how many 10's of thousands of dollars it will cost? lol Thank you again!!