I'm in the same boat here... I was working in the flight deck in a 747 and called off to do another higher priority job so I was coming down the ladder / stariway to the main deck and had to kinda squeeze passed another guy working interior panels, took a step to go down the steps and that step wasn't there... my tools and me shot down the 8 foot drop and I landed flat on my back on the cargo floor.
I got myself up and people came rushing over to see if I was ok, I told them I felt ok, but when I started moving around I noticed my foot was hurting and starting to get hot... not good.. I got my boot off and my ankle was already swollen like a balloon.
They sent me to the emergency room and I got X-rayed, told there was no fracture and sent home. 4 days later I go back to work but notice right away it's hard for me to walk more than about 50 feet at a time.
Medical at my work checked me out and sent me out for more X-rays, more X-rays and no fractures so they told me to keep weight off my foot for a while and put me on light duty for 2 weeks. After that I was able to walk a little better but still felt very grindy and painful to pivot my ankle... I got tired of medical over there just jerking my chain so I went out and saw an ankle and foot specialist who took tons of x-rays from every angle possible.. still, no fractures, but it was swelling up and acting like it.
long story short, they sent me to therapy for 6 weeks and that made it worse so the doctor decided surgery was needed to go in anr remove some scar tissue that might be causing the pain, swelling, and irritation. In the meantime they put me on light duty again at work, basically letting me work jobs on the floor but not on the plane, I would get the parts, do the repairs, then someone else would reinstall the parts. This lasted 6 months, then I had to go to surgery.
The doctor told me the operation would take about 30 minutes and that I'd be beck in therapy after about 3 or 4 days.... Nope...
I wake up and the recovery nurse is telling me I can't put any kind of weight at all on my foot for 6 weeks. They gave me crutches to get around on but with my bad back the crutches and I weren't getting along so I ended up in a wheelchair during this time and for a few weeks after the cast was removed. After I sa the docotr again he told me I need to start walking on it but to take it real easy, he put me back in therapy for another 10 weeks, recommended more therapy but workman's comp wouldn't cover any further therapy.
What happened when I fell was it tore the cartilage in my left ankle joint, when the doctor went in to fix it I was under for 3 hours and what he did when he saw the torn cartilage and the growth going everywhere but back together he shaved all the cartilage off the bone. The cartilage don't grow back but scar tissue fills this void, that's why no weight was allowed on my foot for 6 weeks.
It took about a year after the surgery before I could get around half way decently and I had to use a cain to walk anything more than about 50 feet or so. I used the cain for about 18 months but when I started my own business I started to notice my foot wasn't quite so sensative about 3 or so weeks after leaving Boeing. I'm thinking it was just that I needed to get away from going up ladders, stairs, and stands etc to give my ankle a chance to heal some more. I don't need the cain anymore and hadn't needed it for about 4 months,but my foot still gets sore and weather changes really bothers it a lot, but for the most part I get around pretty good now, just not as good as before and I doubt it'll ever be as good as it was before.
