Not happy with the Orthopedist I saw today. He watched X-rays that were made from ER 12 days ago and said to me: “ You need a surgery”. I said why? He replied that the gap in the joint socket was too big. A metal plate and screws could correct that. I said what the consequence would be if I did not do the surgery? He said: “ You WILL LOSE your foot.” Scary enough! I said why? He came back and said: ”You either let me treat you or you find other doctors. There is no negotiation.” It was a pretty strong statement. I know what a surgeon thinks about. I said I would think about it.

The next thing was that the technician took the old plaster cast off and I had 5 X-rays done. The Orthopedist came back to me putting the fiberglass cast on and pushed twisted my ankle a bit trying to close the gap. The gap was not closed up a lot from the final X-ray. He wanted me to have the surgery done. I keep saying why I would lose my foot because of that gap; I would have a complete fracture of ankle? “No,” He said, “You will have arthritis.” Interesting, his tone was changed.

I checked from the internet, arthritis is rare after the injury of ankle. If there is, it is likely due to fractures. Torn ligaments caused the gap in my ankle but the previous fractures shown from ER X-rays were not seen by my eyes or mentioned on this exam.

I decided to see another Foot Ortho to have a second opinion.