My surgery was November 3, 2017. 15 weeks ago. This week I had a major breakthrough with the nerve endings in my toes emerging, gaining full motion of my toes and a remarkable reduction in all of the swelling in my ankle. I was worried this day may never come, but it has. It takes a long time. I think constant PT and lost of massages and ice had a huge effect. I am back to walking 90% normal. Hang in there!
Started PT today. It was not as hard as I thought because I have been doing at-home PT for a month. I started using another compression sock, which is working wonders to reduce swelling, provide support, and helps with some pain. It helps with 2 shoes. The massage at PT on the tendon is good. They re working out the knot on my plantar fasciitis. OUCH! I have rubber band therapy and also plan to go to a private massage therapist and hot tub when possible.
Went to the Dr. this afternoon. I have been using Metaderm scar cream ind he thinks it healed up very nice. I still have a lot of numbness. He said my achilles is basically one big fused mass of collagen that has to further fuse. It has a few spots where they sewed the flexor tendon that are a little lumpy. He said these will smooth out as my achilles heals. It may take 9 months to 2 years for all of the numbness to go away. I start PT next week. 3 sessions per week for 2 months. No running and careful going up stairs. I need massages and to have the scar tissue broken down It will be painful. The incision site on the bottom of my foot where they fixed my plantar fasciitis has a huge knot of scar tissue. He said use a roller. Other than that I am in 2 shoes, which means learning to walk all over again. The boot was nice. It feels soooo much more comfortable in tennis shoes than the boot. I have 1 week to transition fully to shoes. I start wearing tennis shoes about 2-3 hours per day then increasing. Fingers crossed. I am back at the gym doing full weights again (upper body)> I think I will still need to use the boot for a while when working out.
So my parents were having the family over Dec 23 for dinner. Everyone came from out of town…except for me because I can’t drive. So I said, “what the heck” and got in the SUV and drove 1 hour to their house. I took off my boot and put on one of my Crock shoes. I had no issues. I have been doing plenty of PT and I had no issues whatsoever. It was a little weird going over rough road at high speed…my heel experienced a little vibration. But no problem! On the way home I wore the boot…and it was even easier!
My wife, who is in the medical field, had a field day telling me about what would happen if I wrecked without being medically released. So this is a personal risk decision.
I was able to ween myself off of crutches completely today. I am moving carefully and slowly. My heel is a little sore, but it is nice to be able to carry items with two hands. My toes that were sprained in my fall are starting to heal. They are not as tender. I am about to enter week 7!
I have been doing rehab exercises for a week now using rubber-bands. I am noting a considerable difference in my healing progress due to the rehab exercises.
Day 3 of PWB with crutches. I was able already to move to just 1 crutch. It is actually much easier to move around, but it is much more tiring. My ankle swells but I have been using a lot a special gelpack wrap around my ankle several times each day. Dr. gave me about 13 different range of motion and strengthening exercises to do to prepare my leg for PT when the time comes. My achilles was a little sore after the first session. The range of motion exercises took an immediate effect the next day. I could tell a huge improvement. Thing really get better once you get out of a hard cast and can start to stretch and exercise.
I got my boot today. My cast was removed. Foot horribly dry and stinky leg. My calf muscle is pretty much non existent. I am PWB on two crutches for several weeks…. My Dr. wants me to be FWB in 2 weeks. I should say PWB in a boot without crutches in 2 weeks. gave my leg and foot a good scrubbing and then a rub with vitamin E. It’s sore, but not too bad My swelling was really non-existent.
My dr. was still not thrilled with the vaco boot. They wanted me to use something they were more familiar with. It seems comfortable, but we will see how well it works out.
So after the Dr. confirmed that I sprained my two middle toes, I have had a very dry foot. I used a lot of lotion on my toes (not in the cast) to get the skin from cracking. It was really bad in the creases of my toes , which had cracked and were really painful.
Then there is the fact that my toes and areas of my foot are partially numb. I am just wondering when, if ever, this will start to dissipate. It is really scary to think that it may be permanently like this. I am wondering how I will ever be able to walk or run like I use to. Will I ever be able to hike 10-15 miles carrying 70 lbs again?
Follow-up 12/4/2017. I telephoned my Dr. today and explained that I knocked my foot. The two middle toes had pretty much gone numb and I could not move them. I also had a bad pain in my calf on the opposite side of here I had surgery. They removed my cast…whew….about an hour of relief, but also one of pain. I can’t really stand the cast but it without a doubt protects my surgical area. It was swollen, stunk pretty bad. They removed the tape over where the stitches once were. The gave me an ultrasound on my leg and calf to make sure there were no blood clots. Then I FINALLY got to clean my leg…and a new cast (that was much thinner, more padding, and placed around the areas that were bugging me carefully) was put on. It is altogether much more comfortable. I think my leg shrinking in the other one left a lot of room for movement and created a lot of pain The new cast is great! It comes off on 12/13/17 - 9 days, then I am in my vaco. The Dr. looked at the vaco and was not too impressed…he thinks it is too complex.
Its sad to think that 6 weeks ago I was going to the gym 4 times a week to powerlift. I was benching, at a maximum 265 lbs, curling 90, 175 lbs butterflys, and 200 lbs on the lower back row. It took me at least 16 months to work up to that weight. For my legs, I would squat 200 lbs freestanding, calf extensions 175. Military press was up to 130. Now after this operation I am worried I will be starting at half that weight and even then only about to 1/3 of the exercises I would perform. I guess we will see…as soon as I get the boot I am going right back to working out.
Glad the nerves healed up! Keep at it!
Wish I’d had the tendon massage as part of my PT! I started doing that on my own, probably later than I should have, and it really helped. Best of luck as you progress through the exercises and overall rehab…
I was initially around 20 degrees off each direction when I started PT, so I agree you are off to a good start! Hopefully they gave you a rubber band so you can do “homework” - doing those exercises at home helps alot.
My dorsal is 10 degrees off each direction from my good foot. PT guru says that is a good start. I can do no wobbly stuff yet. I have been doing the bands and have good strength, but still have a lot of swelling and MAJOR internal scar tissue (size of a medium marble). I pretty much have hardly any balance and can hardly do a calf raise. I can’t wait to be 2 months into PT!
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How is your balance and dorsiflexion (upward movement)? At first I was doing rubber band therapy and standing on various wobbly things during PT and at home. It’ was only after two months or so of PT that I started working on the hard stuff (various forms of calf raises).
Thanks for the comment! I feel the same way about stairs. I have been hopping up them but not down. I have to mae sure there is a hand rail and move real slow.
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Two shoes was a little scary for me at first because the boot was a cumbersome security blanket for me, but it didn’t take long before two shoes started feeling more natural. PT will help with the scar tissue / adhesions / mass of collagen. Going down stairs was actually more of a problem for me than going up - my limited range of motion meant turning diagonally or having both feet on one step before the next step down. Good luck, and enjoy getting back to more normal activities!
Congrats!
I should probably note that I did at home PT exercises for several weeks before I started driving. I had no strength or pain issues braking. My boot was small enough to allow me to hit the gas without interfering with the brake. I have an automatic. I could not drive if I had a manual.
That’s great that you’re PWB! I’m surprised he wants you FWB in just two weeks. I think my doc gave me a 4 week transition time since you need to give all your bones/muscles time to get strong enough in the boot to support you once you’re out of the boot. But all docs seem to do it differently. You’ll be getting skin off your foot leg for quite a while … 
I had to go back through my posts here to recall what numbness I had. I got numbness in my big toe because the cast was pressing on a nerve on the top of my foot. Your numbness may be due to a nerve that got tweaked when you fell. I think I had some numbness on the side of my foot (outside) and the doc said that was probably due to the nerves that get annoyed during surgery. Eventually all that numbness went away. The back of my heel still doesn’t feel quite the same as my non-surgery foot. Some sensation, but not as much so there may be nerves that were affected by the surgery and the heel may never feel quite the same. Admittedly I’ve gotten more sensation as time has passed but it still doesn’t feel quite the same as the non-surgery foot. I’ve been using castor oil for my dry face skin - you might try that instead of lotion. To me the moisture lasts longer with the castor oil compared to lotions.
And I was also exercising 6 days a week before my surgery (soccer 3 days a week, high intensity interval training 1 day, orange theory 1 day, weight lifting one day. I actually exercises harder right before surgery since mine was planned and not due to a rupture. I finally got back to doing my pre-surgery exercises at about 8 months I think and even then some exercises reminded me my surgery foot still wasn’t as strong as it used to be. It takes a while to get back to pre-surgery fitness levels but I knew that going in. I’m just happy now that my right achilles doesn’t hurt all the time anymore!
Before you do any exercises that stress your achilles you really should review them with your doctor and/or PT person. When I initially got to FWB I could only do the recumbent bike and the and the elliptical (with NO incline). When I tried using the rower I couldn’t use my surgery foot initially since it didn’t have the flexibility to bend as much as you do on a rower - so I did it 1 footed. Eventually as my PT exercises increased the flexibility of my achilles I would do the rower - but that took a while. You won’t help yourself if you cause things to stretch or break or tear. You can certainly do many arm related exercises - but not if it involves standing on 2 feet. You will lose a LOT of your muscle mass in your surgery leg. That’s just the way it is. You’ll have to work REALLY hard to get it back and that is just the way it is. Your PT person will give you the exercises you need to do and initially it won’t be much!
Follow-up 12/4/2017. I telephoned my Dr. today and explained that I knocked my foot. The two middle toes had pretty much gone numb and I could not move them. I also had a bad pain in my calf on the opposite side of here I had surgery. They removed my cast…whew….about an hour of relief, but also one of pain. I can’t really stand the cast but it without a doubt protects my surgical area. It was swollen, stunk pretty bad. They removed the tape over where the stitches once were. The gave me an ultrasound on my leg and calf to make sure there were no blood clots. Then I FINALLY got to clean my leg…and a new cast (that was much thinner, more padding, and placed around the areas that were bugging me carefully) was put on. It is altogether much more comfortable. I think my leg shrinking in the other one left a lot of room for movement and created a lot of pain The new cast is great! It comes off on 12/13/17 - 9 days, then I am in my vaco. The Dr. looked at the vaco and was not too impressed…he thinks it is too complex.
It sounds like something I did once and since my achilles didn’t hurt I didn’t worry about it. Since you’re still in the cast it is unlikely you’ll hurt the achilles - the cast just won’t let your foot move that much I also stepped on my casted foot while falling while trying to use crutches. Needless to say I gave up on crutches at that point - LOL! After I did something similar to what you did I was MUCH more careful about making sure my leg was properly positioned for the knee scooter before I lowered it.
