Wow. At least you had the OPTION....

When I broke mine, it was in 6 pieces, and looked from the outside like a miniature Matterhorn; still, the VA quack I first dealt with wanted to use the figure-8 strap! I was morphined-up, so I didn't have much clue at the time, but my sister (a nurse) MADE me go back and get the ball rolling for surgery -- which, unbeknownst to ANYONE, was already in the works; the VA was scheduling it without telling me. (Funny part -- got the notification paperwork from the VA in the mail that I was SCHEDULED for surgery TWO DAYS after the fact! I'd already been plated up and sent home!)

That, and an experience a year later with a cracked ankle, woke me out of medical passivity; I'll argue with a doc/nurse practitioner in a SECOND if I think they're wrong NOW. (My Dad used to say that they called medicine a "practice" because they didn't have it right yet....)

I still have the stainless plate and 8 screws in my right c-bone; you can see the screw-heads against my skin, most days. (The accident was 10-22-08, and although I "campaigned" for a ti plate, I got stainless -- dammit, lol)