Quote:
Originally Posted by Tobra
I usually fixate those surgically, put on a bone growht stimulator or both. If you smoke, stop right now. I seem to recall you are diabetic, another complicating factor. Location and orientation of fracture predisposes it to not healing, tendon attached to little piece pulls it apart. Stay off it, no weight at all, if you itch under the cast, tap it with a wooden kitchen spoon or somthing.
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Yep - diabetic - hence the desire to get the circulation up via swimming. Fortunately, I never smoked in all my life. From what I understand, that area of the foot is considered a 'watershed' of sorts -- while there are two arteries supplying blood there, that particular location doesn't get a good amount of circulation, hence the lengthy healing time - plus the tendon pulling on it.
The doc said that if I were an aspiring athlete, the surgical fix would have happened - but I think I missed that calling.... if it doesn't heal on it's own, or if it breaks again, then I go under the knife and do the procedure you described. (As a diabetic, I'd rather not open up my foot an introduce more potential complications...)
Fortunately, I have a removable cast so itching is not a big issue - and when I have the cast off I am extra diligent to not put any weight on it. I was also ok'd to sleep without the cast on.
Question - how tight should the cast be on my leg? I have three velco straps and an airpump (like the Reebock sneakers) to really get that thing snug. Since I am not putting any weight on it for now, I suspect it doesn't need to be too tight. (Too tight = unnecessary circulation issues). Once I start walking on it, I suspect I will need to tighten up the cast in order to utilize the support built into it effectively. Any guidelines anyone know of for this?
-Z-man.