Talus Fracture Recovery

[Dakota102010]

Hi, i am a 26 yr old, consider myself quite healthy, haha. I was in a go-kart accident where i dislocated and broke the Talus bone in my left foot. I broke it on a saturday night and by sunday morning at 10:30, after being in the hospital all night, i had surgery on it to re-align the bones and such. My surgeon classified it as a Hawkins type three talar fracture, the blood vessels were damaged, so he says there is only a 10% chance that they will repair, and that if they dont, the bone will collapse or die because of no blood flow. I am very concered about this, more scared really. Like everything you hope for the best that you'll make a good recovery. They has to operate from both sides of my foot to have everything go back into its right place, and they had to put wires and screws in, i assume, the talus bone to hold it in place, as it was broke. its been two weeks since i broke it, ive been taking calcium suppliments as well as magnesium and vitamin D to help my body out some more, to give it the best chance of a good healing. im looking for some advice to calm my nerves on others things that i can do, i went right to the hospital after i broke it, and put no weight on it, because i could tell by the look and feel that it was broke and/or out of place, they sedated me and put my ankle back into place the best they could before they operated the next morning, and the surgeon said the operation went well. Im very worried about AVN, or worst case fushion of the bone. Any advice, tips, would be great.

[Dakota102010]

Its now been 94 days since i fractured my foot. Ive been through four casts and now have a cam walker air cast. I was told that i can now begin to try and make simple movements with my foot, which seems to progress each week. I am now able to put 30 lbs of weight on it, and increment 5 lbs/week until my next appointment, where i am hoping i will be able to switch to a cane instead of crutches. Today while i was getting out of the tub, i was standing at the sink for about 15 minutes before i put my cast back on, i noticed that my foot was a purple color. When i sat down and elevated it, it took no time for it to return to a normal color, so i stood up again and timed it, within 30 seconds it was red, and over the minute mark, it was starting to turn the purplish color, when i press on the skin, its white for about 2-3 seconds and returns quickly back to the redish/purple. If there was poor circulation, how would i know? When the talus bone was broke, there was damage to the blood supply, would this be causing this? Should i contact my surgeon? or is this something normally seen after this type of a ORIF of the talus bone surgery. Ive never had a break or surgery like this, so i wanna shed some light on it. Ive kept it elevated for a majority of the 13 weeks i have been home. Should i not be keeping it elevated all the time now that i am starting to re-habilitate the joint? Any recommendations/suggestions? At my last two appointments 5 weeks ago and last week, the surgeon noted both times that there was a hawkins sign on the dome of the talus.

Roach

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

If you have a complete fracture and the broken end does not get proper blood supply for healing then it is very difficult for recovering that part and avascular necrosis or destruction of that part becomes imminent.

Follow all instructions of your surgeon, take all supplements properly, do not do weight bearing and maintain complete asepsis to avoid infections and hope that there will be development of some anastomosis and the blood supply is restored to complete the repair successfully.

Follow up with your surgeon.

Take care!