It’s been a whole week and I’ve walked on two feet without crutches. Yes, my X-ray does still show, clear as day, that my fifth metatarsal is very, very broken. But my doctor told me to start walking on it in my boot, so I have.
It’s been both bad and good. All in all, it feels like the more I walk, the better my foot feels but the first few days were pretty rocky.
On day one, whether subconsciously or just out of physical necessity, I was putting more weight on my heel and my heel was starting to ache, even during a short trip around the corner to pick up lunch. I also felt nervous, so I walked with one crutch in case I hit any unexpected pain while walking.
On day two, I went non-crutches to Whole Foods and I had been inside for about 5 seconds when some old lady coming off the elevator almost walked into me and said, “Oh I’m sorry, you have a bum leg.” Who says that to someone? What if I were permanently disabled or something? I don’t think you can go around telling people they have a bum leg. While shopping, some woman walking past me randomly whispered, “I hope you feel better.” We hadn’t even made any eye contact or anything, so it was kind of weird.
The next few days, I pretty much stayed in my apartment and I was still finding myself using the wheel chair. I eventually after a couple days had to say, “Hey, I can walk now. Why am I using this?” Now I just have the wheel chair parked by the stairs so when I need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without wearing my boot, I can just wheel in. I made a conscious effort to try to walk normally and distribute my weight evenly and the heel pain started to subside.
On day six, I went to run some errands, my first errands since breaking my foot. I returned my rented knee scooter to the medical supply place. Then I went to the bank and cashed a check that was six weeks old. (Is that rude?) Then I picked up dinner.
A couple things about this day of errands. First of all, I had to take my boot off to drive and then put it back on to walk at every stop. With the steering wheel in my way, even when I pushed my seat all the way back, that was a huge pain in the tush. Second, while I was driving with my foot in a slip-on sandal but otherwise exposed, I was very nervous about needing to slam on the breaks or something. My foot still feels a little resistant to normal footwear and thus still vulnerable.
All in all though, my foot is looking and feeling more and more normal. Any tinges of pain I felt last week are nearly gone. My toes are starting to involuntarily curl up even when I’m not purposely doing it, which my non-injured foot does. I can see veins in my foot again.
My X-ray may show a broken bone, but I now understand what my doctor meant when he said it appears to be clinically healed. I did read a lot of anecdotal stuff online about X-rays often lagging behind the rest of the healing process. A common occurrence seems to be that instead of gradual progression on the X-ray, it just shows up completely healed at the end. That’s what I am hoping happens in two weeks when I see the doctor again.
Broken Fifth Metatarsal 
Hello brokenjules, having read your latest blog, I thought I would update you on my hospital appointment today. I think it interesting to compare how we are both getting along and also how different consultants treat this kind of injury. I see you are using your foot more now so I am interested to see how your progress goes! 🙂
First they x-rayed my foot whilst still in the cast. Afterwards I saw the consultant who was probably the best one I’ve seen so far. He asked me how I was and then said he wanted to remove the cast as 8 weeks is a long time and the cast had probably done it’s job. He seemed concerned that the cast had been on longer than was necessary. He said he wanted me to progress with an air cast boot for a while. After the cast was removed I went back to his office via a wheelchair. He then examined my foot thoroughly pressing all the bones etc. I had virtually no discomfort and he said this was a positive sign. I asked him why my foot was so stiff and felt sore still and he said it was probably the cast as it had been fixed for 8 weeks which is a long time for this kind of injury. He said if I started to use the foot it would help aid recovery. He then asked me stand up on it. Oh boy! Was I scared! I thought: `it’s going to kill me’! I very carefully placed my foot down and gradually allowed pressure onto it. Then… pow! The pain hit; but not like when it was broken. The pain was in my heal and then spread to underneath my foot. There was no way I was going to attempt to walk on it. I just couldn’t do it even though a big part of me wanted to. He said that this was ok and to be expected; the cast had in some way contributed to this and the fact that I had been weight bearing for all that time. He told me that when I went home, he wanted me to try and walk bare footed (yep, with no boot – argghhh!), but whenever I go outside he said I was to use the boot to give me confidence. He said I could still use my crutches for some support. I was then fitted with the boot and given instructions and then walked from the hospital to the car park (was given a lift) still using my crutches for support and trying to lean on the boot. It hurt.
There are some interesting points to note: after he examined my foot and asked me to stand up he then looked at my x-ray (not before like the other consultants). He said the break was still there but that there was some `shadowing` around the injury which was probably healing taking place. He said pain was an indicator and the fact that it didn’t hurt when he pressed meant that `clinically` I was healing. He said he thought I was about 65-70% there and wanted to see me back again in 6 weeks where he envisaged I should be 95% healed (fingers crossed).
He appeared mildly agitated about the previous consultations I had with the other orthopaedic surgeons. I sat there and listened as he expressed concern about a consultation letter that was written about me stating that there could be non-union and that surgery should be a probable option. He said in all his years of experience this was a nonsense and that there was absolutely no need for surgery for this kind of injury. He said there was no clear indication that it would not heal either; it should and would heal in it’s own time. I was quite surprised by his remarks as it is very unusual for a professional to criticise another colleagues advice. I asked him again if it was a Jones fracture and he said `no’ and explained to me using my x-ray to show about the Jones fracture. My fracture is slightly higher up so is not classified as such.
So here I am at home this evening and I’ve been using the boot with crutches but it hurts when I weight bear so taking it easy. About an hour ago I took the boot off to move around bare footed as instructed and I’m yet to get up as I’m so scared; I know it’s going to hurt like hell so not looking forward to it! Having said all that, I’m SO relieved to have the cast off at last and it will be so much more comfortable in bed at night. Also I will be able to bathe my foot which will be great.
I am not allowed to drive until I can perform an emergency stop safely so unlike you won’t be driving yet! (It is illegal in the UK and I can be prosecuted if involved in an accident and my insurance would also be invalid).
I look forward to reading about your progress – it would seem you are one step ahead of me (so to speak) so I have some idea of what’s to come! My next appointment is in 6 weeks but if I have any positive (or negative) news I will keep you posted (unless you don’t want to be kept updated & I will politely stop)….
Wishing you a healthy recovery. Best wishes. TJ 🙂
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Tracey, just seeing your post now – sorry for the delay. Overall, that sounds like great news! I’m glad you got to see a doctor that sounded like he knows what he is doing. It’s frustrating to get medical advice that seems off, but they are the one who’s a doctor so you need to follow it. Your last visit actually sounds a lot like my last visit — he felt my foot and examined it before looking at the X-ray, and he told me it was clinically healed even though the X-ray still showed the break. Of course, I think the difference is my X-ray really did look exactly like my earliest X-rays, unless I there is something there I am not noticing. Anyway, this latest doctor sounds better so I hope you can try to see him again. (The health care system in the UK sounds confusing to me!)
I’ve been walking around just fine in my Aircast and I actually have been walking without the cast in my apartment when I get up to go to the bathroom. I’m very careful when I walk around barefoot and I don’t do it often — I try not to put weight on the outside of my foot or bend it too much, but it actually has felt fine so I guess I’ve been a bit more brazen. (I think my doctor in my last appointment alluded to the idea that I could walk without the boot, but I pretty much scoffed at the idea so he dropped it, haha. I was still scared about the idea of walking without crutches.) I haven’t used my wheel chair at all lately, so I should probably return it soon. Sometimes I still randomly feel tinges of pain here and there when I’m sitting, walking, standing whatever — I wonder if it’s my bone or just maybe the Aircast, but it’s never that painful and never lasts long. One thing I will say about the cast is that mine was removable and it would still make my ankle feel very sore and stiff after a while — I was able to remove it and do toe flexes to ease the pain, but I bet eight weeks in a hard cast was painful for you. Hopefully you’re getting to move your ankle a bit more now. Sleeping I’m sure has been much better!
I was supposed to see my doctor this Friday, but my doctor’s office tried to push it back a week. I’m getting annoyed because this office has repeatedly moved my appointments and I’m anxious to see if any union is occurring. So I complained to the scheduling office so hopefully they can fit me in. Soon as I have my next appointment, I will post an update and my X-rays! I love hearing about your progress — it’s kind of like we’re in this together, haha — so please feel free to update me or check in if you want to chat! I got wrapped up in the holidays (you Brits are missing out by not celebrating Thanksgiving) but I’m still here with my broken foot. 🙂
Take care!!
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Hi brokenjules, firstly I would like to wish you a belated happy Thanksgiving. Yes, you are right, we Brits don’t celebrate it and I will have to wait until Christmas to have any Turkey and all the trimmings. However, those who are Christians and are regular church goers in the UK usually celebrate a Harvest Festival service in October, but don’t have a big party or anything like that. Anyway I hope you had an enjoyable day, especially given your foot!
Talking of feet and of course relating to the 5th metatarsal I thought I would give you a little update of what’s happening to me here across the pond.
It will be one week exactly tomorrow (Friday) that I saw the doctor at the hospital. I was so elated to be rid of the cast and receive the boot, I returned my loaned wheelchair to the British Red Cross. They are a charitable organisation and have now become one of my favourites because they have been priceless in the help they have provided me. They rely purely on charitable donations and if I’d hired the chair privately, it would have been quite expensive.
The past week has been difficult and emotionally it’s been a rollercoaster. I really don’t know what I was expecting but being an impatient soul, the fact that my foot is still hurting a lot a week after the cast has been removed is proving difficult. I would like to ask you about pain – do you still have any? It has only been since today that I have been able to put my foot down without it being excruciating. I have been waking up at night with it as it can hurt so much. If you do have any pain (or when you did have it) where was it? My pain is just below the toes on the top side of my foot, the arch of my foot and general stiffness around the ankle. I can’t believe that a cast could do this. I’m curious because you never had a cast and only had the boot and I’m wondering if this has made a difference as far as recovery time and pain is concerned. Also there have been times over the past week where my foot turns almost blue and I still have swelling. When did your swelling go down and do you still get it from time to time? I hope you don’t mind me asking but I just want to gage roughly how much longer I have to put up with this. Having said that my foot is feeling slightly better this evening: I haven’t gone bare foot too much today due the discomfort and my inability to put my foot on the floor because of the pressure pain in the bottom of my foot, but I have worn the boot more instead. It seems to have made a little bit of difference.
On another note, my eldest daughter broke her elbow a couple of weeks ago but thankfully on Tuesday she had an x-ray and the cast was removed as they said she was doing ok. There is still fluid on her elbow and she might need some physio but thankfully she is doing well. No-one in my family has ever broken a bone so I’m not quite sure what’s happening!
On a positive note, my boss paid me in full again as I’ve been working from home and she has told me not to rush and ensure that I feel ready. I would like to try and go in a couple of weeks if at all possible but I have to make sure I can do an emergency stop in the car beforehand. I told her I would have to wear the boot at work and she is ok with that.
It’s been great being able to wash my foot but my skin is still so dry and tight from the cast so I’m having to smoother it, albeit carefully, with moisturiser.
Hope your recovery is still going well – your good news helps keep me positive!
Until next time, take care 🙂
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I can’t speak to what it would be like with a hard cast, but I can say that even wearing my Aircast for a day sometimes made my ankles very sore and tight. When that happened, I would leave my cast off for several hours, flexing my ankle and toes around often, which eventually would make the pain stop. I also had significant pain that, as far as I could tell, was my “peroneal tendon.” It hurt pretty bad and the way to stop it was again by removing my boot and stretching for a while. I didn’t have any pain in the toes and I think your swelling and discoloration does sound worrying. I would make sure you are flexing your ankle and your toes — spell the alphabet with your toes, flex your heel and toes, etc — and see if it helps. Your foot, toes, etc. are used to moving and being used, so when they don’t for a long time, I think it causes discomfort. I am NOT a doctor, but I know that when you are immobilized, blood clots are always a risk too, which was something I worried about so I made sure to move my toes around (especially since I take birth control and that increases your risk). I think, from what I’ve read online at least, usually the swelling would occur in your calf if you had a typical blood clot, but maybe you can do some research and see if you think the symptoms match. Any swelling I have at this point is pretty minimal — my foot almost looks normal, but it’s not quite there.
If the overall foot and fracture site hurts, I would say definitely do not walk around barefoot. The boot will keep your foot in place and prevent any bending that might hurt. You’ll also just feel more secure, so I think it lets you use a better gait. However, if it’s your heel that hurts, I’ve experienced that quite a bit and I think it comes from having not used my heel in so long. The heel on my broken foot was rather soft to the touch, whereas my non-injured heel remained firm and naturally callused. I also suspect I’m putting more weight on my heel because I am scared of putting weight on my fifth metatarsal. But I think it just needs to get used to the weight again.
I hear you on the skin — the skin of my injured foot is still gross, and it’s weird because now I’m able to pretty much shower just fine, but for some reason it has developed a film of dead skin that my other foot has not and I can’t seem to eliminate. Maybe the skin just got softer and less tough or something from not being used. You don’t think of a foot as having muscles, but I can tell muscle atrophy occurred in my foot, which may factor too.
I had a family member break a bone too! See my latest blog post. Haha. It’s crazy. I sure can’t wait to be done with this. Hope things start to get better for you! Take care!
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Hi brokenjules,
Something the same happened to me too! I’m in crutches, which has been working out horribly. But I’m afraid to go wheelchair. What if I can’t go to places I did before?
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