Well as always the circus of my local hospital continues….

I got to the hospital 45min before my ultrasound appointment, knowing that they would need to send me down to the cast room to have the cast removed…..even though this was not considered when the appointments were arranged.

It’s all done now, the scan specialist tells me everything is working ‘as one’ and from a scan perspective everything is as good as it could be.

People further into recovery than I am will already know this…. but just to be out of the fiber cast for those few minutes… it just felt so good for the leg to breath, and to be able do it feeling that your achilles is doing some work too it a brief respite.

Then a trip to the cast dept again, where (I assume to save money) a new cast is not applied, they simply bandage the old one back up.

All good so far, I am just glad that ultrasound scans are not required often and that the episodes where I have to manage a cast, an ultrasound and the two depts that don’t talk to each other are (I hope) over.

The patient care and the depts work excellently to help and do a great job, the administration, however, leaves much to be desired……the staff put up with a lot.

Still the time on crutches really does give you a deeper appreciation for those whom have to cope with this as part of their daily life for all their life.

I see the specialist Tuesday next week (5th week of foot in cast) and I am praying for a boot with a heel insert…….

Happy healing all

What a fantastic resource this site has been for me so far, thank you all for presenting a wealth of information.

28th May 8:45pm UK time, I snapped my achilles (full tear) in the same way this guy did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7NiwYqNqlA except I was on a badminton court and the opposite leg….. David Beckham is a very high profile celeb here in the UK so when he did his it was big news….and from the massive media coverage I was already aware of the symptoms. So when the almighty pop hit me (it actually felt like streching the eleastic of a catapult then shooting), I went straight to ground, my foot dropped into equinus naturally and the sports hall personnel quickly got me onto a wheelchair.

Within 40mins my badminton buddies had got me to hospital, within 3hrs I was in a temporary cast foot still in equinus (toes pointing down), within 72 hours I had my first ultrasound and within 7 days I had seen the ankle specialist at the hospital…..at this point the temporary cast became a blue fibre cast, still with toes pointing down….. the height of the injury too close to the calf for surgery and the ultrasound had demonstrated a near perfect healing position of the broken tendon with the foot in equinus (toes pointed down)…. ergo I am following a non surgical approach.

I am now 22 days in since the injury and the ankle pain has completely gone, I keep wanting to move my foot around (I assume this is a good thing) and being housebound during this initial period is starting to take it’s toll on my patience… I find moving around on crutches with only one leg less than easy, but I guess like all of you guys, it’s the fact that you don;t really have the use of your arms because of the crutches that magnifies the frustrations.

Personal hygiene is not a dignified process, no shower (mine is built into a high walled bath and at this stage I am not confident attempting to get in or out of said bath), hanging my head over the kitchen sink to wash my hair - all of this just makes things feel worse than they really are…. I looked into a knee walker or the iwalker but my house is not really big enough to accomodate a trailing leg swinging around.

I am adept at getting downstairs now, safely and speedily but I still go upstairs backwards sat on my backside.

My employers have been very accomodating (considering I only joined them in January this year) and even though I am ’signed off sick’ I am trying to take calls and respond to emails… in fact I found out 2 days after the injury, that one of my customers whom received a mail from me explaining my situation was just coming to week15 of their achilles recovery and directed me here, thanks jimminyc, I think this will certainly help keep me sane… but what were the odds that happening?? 

With this injury being on my right leg and my car being a manual transmission, I think it will be 12weeks before I can drive again, roll on August 20th surprising how much I miss the freedom of being able to drive anywhere at anytime. My Missus can’t drive and we are living off of internet shopping right now, in fact my better half has been fantastic, working, keeping the house running and tending to my needs…. knowing how grouchy I can be when ‘not well’ she already deserves a medal for the way she handles me and my frustrations… I’d of probably punched me on the nose by now

I look forward to keeping this blog updated as much as I can, for my own sanity and to share the experiences as the healing continues.