By DeeZeeMb - 20/12/2015 12:40 - Slovenia - Maribor

Today, it's been three months since i went to my GP for a swollen foot. She sent me to a rheumatologist, a pulmonologist, vein ultrasound, DNA testing and finally an X-ray, which revealed I've been walking around on a broken foot. By now, the two bones are grown together at weird angles, forever. FML
I agree, your life sucks 23 184
You deserved it 2 079

DeeZeeMb tells us more.

DeeZeeMb 21

I wanted to comment on this early, because the FML 300 character limit doesn't really allow for a proper explanation... One day i suddenly started limping, and there was sometimes a strange clicking sensation in my foot as i was walking, but there was absolutelly no pain. A little later my foot was swollen, but still no pain, and i went to my doctor. She gave me Ibuprofen and sent me home. Obviously it didn't help with the swelling, so i went back. She gave me a stronger anti swelling medication, and sent me to the rheumatologist, since we couldn't figure out what was wrong. The rheumatologist gave me the strongest anti swelling medication they had, and sent me to the pulmonologist, vein ultrasound, urine tests, genetic blood testing and finally the x-ray which revealed two broken bones. The clicking sensation i felt during the first days was the two bones snapping back and forth while walking. I was in complete shock when i found out i had two broken bones in my foot, and even more so, when i realized they were grown back together allready, but far from perfectly. I immediatelly went to a traumatologist, but they said there was nothing they could do, that i would have had to come to them in the first two weeks. This actually all happened a year ago, and my foot is now slightly better, but still far from perfect. It is slightly deformed due to the bone callus that forms around the broken bones - it's pushing the healthy bones appart, making my foot wider than it should be. But this will go away, and i have high hopes that at least externally my foot will appear normal. As for walking, i barelly limp anymore, so i have high hopes for that as well. But fact is, my foot will never be the same again...

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Top comments

RageWolf16 31

You may also want to consider a lawsuit.

417 12
Croooow 11

Could it be rebroken and set? I don't know much about medicine, but I know that's a thing they can do in some situations.

277 3

Comments

ianarnold 11

You may want to consider another doctor.

172 3
RabbitOfAurora 28

Bless you #1. My first reaction to this was literally "if you have injured your foot (or anything) and the first thing isn't an x ray or scan you NEED to change doctors" And also OP, just as a side note, they can put you under general anesthesia and re-break your foot to set it correctly. If it's not causing problems I'd leave it, but if it's getting in the way might be worth a look; and depending on the medical malpractice laws in your state the doctor may be liable for the cost.

24 0
RageWolf16 31

You may also want to consider a lawsuit.

417 12
Mathalamus 24

Why? Bringing a lawsuit may just make it worse for the op, as other doctors will be wary of him in fear of a lawsuit waiting for them. I just consider it a very unfortunate accident.

3 88
UhHuhHoney 20

Exactly what I was thinking!

13 14
UhHuhHoney 20

#8 what do you mean "why"? Because he has to live with this for the rest of his life all due to the doctors failing to perform their duties! This has malpractice written all over. $$$$

82 4
zeffra13 31

An X-Ray for a swollen foot should be step #1 as it gives you a physical look into what's going on in there. It definitely shouldn't be done after a DNA test, which could only test for what, chance of autoimmune disease that could be responsible for inflammation? Should be X-Ray then MRI or CT or some other scan to find what's inflamed. This is why there are so many malpractice lawsuits. A broken foot shouldn't take a handful of doctors to figure out.

79 1
Levi2411 41

#8, There is not a single reason that OP shouldn't bring the law into this situation. The doctor very clearly failed to do their job, and as a result, may have permanently altered OP'S life. On another note, other doctors won't "fear a lawsuit" if they know how to do their job and have confidence in their abilities, which OP'S original choice obviously did not.

40 0
Feklfekl2222 32

We don't know how the broken foot presented itself though, it's quite possibly OP didn't mention the situation (or didn't know how) it had broken, and the swelling presented itself as more likely to be vascular. It's completely possible the GP was following the right care pathway for the presentation

12 9
chinaski7628 32

Sorry, 50, the first thing the doctor should have done was rule out the obvious. Even if OP presented as a vascular problem, I'd imagine the doctor would have at least *felt* the foot and then ordered X-rays just to rule out broken bones. Somewhere along the line, somebody should have done an X-Ray.

27 0
knight2109 12

To all the malpractice lawsuits, this was not in the states it very much depends on the laws in OP's country. Which I am not versed in.

2 1
b5b0n36 27

Christ! Didn't it hurt while you were walking? You might want to sue.

46 6
countryb_cth 38

Depends on where they broke it. If it was the ankle or something close, it has tons of small bones that easily can break without the person noticing

1 12
mawdeuce 16

The ankle has two bones which can break.

16 0
39abc93 12

you definitely would notice if your ankle was broken.

3 1
individual00 14

#42 may have been referring to the tarsals, of which there are 7. Proximally these form the ankle joint along with tibia and fibula.

2 1
kendalbear 16

You'd still know. I broke two and they hurt like a bitch to walk on. You can still walk on them but you'd definitely know.

0 1
Croooow 11

Could it be rebroken and set? I don't know much about medicine, but I know that's a thing they can do in some situations.

277 3
oakleyoaks 20

Yeah when i broke my foot s few years back they Refracture it's they could reset it before they placed my cast on.

16 2
zeffra13 31

I think depending on which bones are broken they might not be able to re-break them without surgery as there are many small close-together bones in feet.

25 0
deminchic 22

That's what they did when I broke my radius and cracked my ulna. They had to break the latter to be able to set it right - they can definitely do it.

2 1
bentyr 7

Normally they can, but breaks in small bones need to be cut. I had this in a bone in my hand. Not fun.

2 1
MDoremis 38

I don't understand why your GP wouldn't have just ordered an X-ray in the first place. Isn't that common procedure?

83 2
Medicat 9

Exactly Not doing it is just plain dumb

0 0
hawkette_54 14

Hmm I would think about hiring a lawyer...

22 2
39abc93 12

even though this might not cheer you up, there probably is a possibility to break the bone again and put it back together properly. just in case your still in pain or your movement is restricted. this doctor sounds not competent at all. fyl :/

25 1
roccoman79 8

Um if you broke your foot you obviously did something traumatic to it. Did you ever think to mention that to the MD??

13 5
DeeZeeMb 21

That's the problem and part of the reason we didn't figure out it was broken sooner... There was no traumatic injury that i could remember. I have absolutelly no idea how it happened. And to complicate matters further, there was no pain. If there had been an accident and pain, i would have gone to the ER immediatelly and all this would never have happened.

19 2
juturnaamo 29

There are medications that can make bones break very easily. A lack of a trauma might be why neither thought it was broken.

6 1
emilymay2015 12

Broken bones aren't always the result of trauma. You can develop hairline fractures without even noticing them and then step on your foot at a weird angle and break it.

13 1
Sathane 21

Nope. You can easily break a bone and not realize it until later.

1 1
alainopotato 20

I totally get how you feel. I broke my wrist a couple years back and was bounced around from Doctor to doctor for weeks before they realized what part was even broken. I was in a cast for months and now it's permanently damaged. Sometimes doctors suck. Hope you find a way to get it fixed be it surgery, physical therapy, or something else!

19 2
cupcakebruh 21

I had something like this happen to me before, except I was much younger and there wasn't much I could do about it.. I was in elementary school and I seriously twisted my ankle on the playground. It hurt like hell, and I was limping for weeks. My parents let me wear a wrap on my foot, but refused to take me to the doctor cause they thought I was making it up, and even if I wasn't, it couldn't possibly be broken. Now I'm nearly 20 years old and I'm still having problems with that foot...

7 1