Seeking advice from those who've suffered serious leg injuries...

Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way; first time starting a thread on BTS, so my apologies if it's not in the right place or formatted correctly (mods, feel free to edit this how you see fit).

I'm not trying to seek medical advice, moreso I'm trying to learn from others' experience if anyone has had this... this... whole mess of problems.

Was diagnosed with a malleous fracture in my lower left fibula over three and a half months ago, with some tendon damage; a few weeks later I developed a DVT in my left calf and was subsequently put on Warfarin to help dissolve the clot. Things progressed after that, the fracture is all but healed, tendon's doing fine, no more swelling around my calf where the clot was, etc. The only problem was there was a bit of recurring swelling around my foot joint, soooo... a C-T scan is done whereby they find what they think is avascular necrosis of the talus (the round footbone that connects to the shin) - in essence, a lack of blood flow through the bone itself has caused the tissue to start dying.

The prognosis is for me to remain on these crutches, which I've been on since January, for the next four months, despite the fact that I'm not entirely sure the orthopod I've been seeing isn't just guessing at this point; he contradicts himself all the time when I see him. Drinking beer caused it, then it didn't, now he doesn't know how it happened. It's hard to tell from the subsequent xrays whether it's getting better or not (even though the bone density is obviously better), but he's sure I still have necrosis, etc.

The bottom line is, I've been off the Warfarin for a week... the swelling around the joint has gotten worse, as has the pain, and I don't know if it's caused by the necrosis or the DVT if it's still hanging out... has anyone else ever dealt with such a situation? Like I said, I'm not seeking medical advice, I'm just asking if anyone else has gone through something like this and what the end result was, things they experience such as the above, little things they did to help their situation, etc.

Also it's important to note that I'm waiting to hear back from my PCP on the prospect of a second opinion...

[edit on 26-4-2010 by Legion2112]

[edit on 26-4-2010 by Legion2112]