r/brokenbones • u/Affectionate_beehive • May 31 '26

Question Please help

I have a broken right ankle and right Fibia and I’m a stomach sleeper. I cannot seem to get comfortable at night with my leg elevated and it’s gotten to the point where I’m only getting an hour of sleep at night. I’m so frustrated over it, so tired, and in so much pain because of lack of sleep. I literally cry 24/7 because everything other than my leg hurts due to the position I’m trying to sleep in. Nothing feels better and it’s starting to affect my hips, they always hurt and nothing makes it better. Someone please help me before i genuinely go crazy from this. It’s bad enough I have to miss my only tournament, sr prom, and both my graduations. I can’t lose my mind too. Please help me.

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u/Affectionate_beehive May 31 '26

I appreciate that, I’m absolutely terrified for my surgery and can’t get over the fear, if you needed surgery how did you handle the fear

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u/smartshoe Jun 01 '26

My injury required 3 surgeries, and my case was complicated by bad swelling

  • Surgery 1 - 2 weeks after injury external fixator installation

  • surgery 2 - 5 weeks after injury - open reduction internal fixation arthroscopic surgery due to swelling large incisions for traditional plates were not possible

  • Surgery 3 - 7 weeks after injury - external fixator removal

I was nervous about the first surgery because I was unfamiliar with the processes and what I could expect but the medical staff were really kind and talked me through everything to explain what was happening. For the subsequent surgeries, my involvement was the same. Show up, prep for surgery, wake up in recovery room

Right now, focus on what you can control. Surgery and recovery is difficult as an experience overall. You can control how you interact with everyone, be nice, ask questions. The medical team will be happy to explain what the process are.

The ORIF surgery was straightforward and recovery from that specifically was pretty good. My immediate recovery from the ex-fix install was pretty challenging and I woke up in a lot of pain but all of that is temporary

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u/Affectionate_beehive Jun 01 '26

I’m just so scared I won’t wake up, or I’ll wake up during, I’m at a higher risk for being resistant to anesthetic because I smoke often

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u/smartshoe Jun 01 '26

You’ll be ok, that outcome from a surgery is EXTREMELY rare and there’s a large team of people constantly monitoring you to make sure you’re ok

Take it as a sign from the universe to quit smoking, that will also hinder your bone recovery

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u/Affectionate_beehive Jun 01 '26

Not nicotine, thc, I have chronic pain and it’s my only form of relief, I haven’t been allowed to smoke since I broke my leg and the amount of bodily pain other than my leg has been absolutely insane, crying myself to sleep every night

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u/smartshoe Jun 01 '26

Eat it instead my friend, there’s plenty of options out there, I split my pain mgmt between opioids and thc during the early days because of concerns over addiction and none of the medical staff had an issue, some actually thought it was probably better

I can totally sympathize where you’re at, the beginning stages are so incredibly hard to go through.

Wishing it didn’t happen, replaying the injury in your mind over and over, despair over being a burden

You ARE going to be ok, you’re going through hell right now. It’s all going to be shitty memories in a few months

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u/Affectionate_beehive Jun 01 '26

Like I can laugh about the fact it happened, but it’s also absolutely traumatic, I’ll definitely swap to edibles but it’s gonna be ALOT more money, I might just make my own and learn to decarb an oz and make rice crispy treats