broken ankle/gas leak/age of diagnosis/ etc....

[Guest guest]

Well, it's good to be back home after our vacation to the Southwest for a few

weeks

but unfortunately for me, halfway into the vacation I fell climbing out of the

back of

the truck and broke a bone in my right foot above my ankle. Even though it hurt

like

crazy I thought it was sprained, (I had my AFOs on at the time and didn't think

it was

possible to break my foot inside my braces) so I didn't do anything about it

other

than rely on hiking sticks and my husband to piggyback me around here and there

along with rest, elevation and ice. We did a lot of driving so a lot of the

time I was

sitting in the passenger seat with a bag of ice on my foot.

After more than a week of still not being able to walk on it we came home and I

had

my orthopedic surgeon take some x-rays and he confirmed the break. 3-4 weeks to

heal and I'm supposed to stay off it as much as possible. He said that the

fracture

shouldn't move around and told me to wear my brace instead of casting it unless

it

appears to get worse. Since I have such weak hands crutches won't work so we're

looking into a used wheelchair so I can actually get out of the house and do a

few

things without having to hobble and limp and create any further problems with

the

foot.

So, here I am, homebound, catching up on all the posts since the beginning of

the

month.

Jeannie...you asked about the gas leak making symptoms worse. I would

definitely

get some tests done as soon as you can if you haven't already and are still

having

problems. I had some inhilation exposure to some toxic chemicals during a

remodeling process 2 1/2 years ago or so and I haven't been the same since. The

weakness, numbness and pain has been so much worse since then that it's

unbelievable how it affected me. The poison control center and my doctor had

said

that most people with limited exposure tend to get better the longer they are

away

from fumes/chemicals etc... but with damaged nerves it could take a lot longer

and

may cause permanent damage. Let me know what happens; I'm wishing you the best

with this!

Tony...I was diagnosed at age 5 in 1975.

I was reading the other years of diagnoses and wondered if everyone back in the

70s

and prior felt like a ginea pig because I sure did. U of M hospital wasn't too

familiar

with CMT back then and they put me through multiple " corrective " surgeries such

as

ankle fusions, tendon transfers, bone grafts etc...to try to " make me better " .

I can't

really say that any of these surgeries other than the ankle fusion helped me and

I'm

wondering if others were put through these types of surgeries and if they feel

that

they were benefitted by them.

~