The Diagnosis
I woke up on the morning of July 23rd, 2012 feeling like I had sprained my Achilles. I knew it wasn’t my ankle because I could move my foot from side to side easily. But flexing it up and down? Not so much; I could lift my foot up and down but it didn’t feel very strong. My foot was stiff and I wasn’t about to go for any jogs that morning, but I still had no clue what my diagnosis would turn out to be. I watered my garden, grabbed some breakfast, and headed out to the school for my summer job doing maintenance. By this point I knew I had to go see my doctor to make sure nothing serious was going on.
I worked until about 11 that morning before heading to see my general practitioner, Dr. Beede. After a brief examination he wrote me a referral to see an orthopedist. Beede said Trenton Orthopedic Group was the best in the area, so I made my appointment and waited for 3:00 to roll around.
Waiting would be one of the overarching themes of my day. I was sitting with what I thought was a sprained Achilles for about fiifteen minutes before I met the first receptionist. Another hour or so passed before I met the second form-filling secretary. When she was done with me I sat for another forty minutes or so before I saw Dr. Fletcher. As I was slowly walking back to the exam room I couldn’t help but think I should be billing them, at my freelance rate, for the nearly two hours that I waited. I didn’t even get any credit for arriving twenty minutes early in order to fill out the obligatory medical history forms.
I was only laying in the waiting room for fifteen before Dr. Fletcher came in. I retold him of my experience on the court the previous day, he gave my now swollen, but not painful left leg a quick tactile examination and pronounced I had a high ATR that required surgery.
Filed under: My Achilles Heal, My Left Heel and
It is a long road. Tap into your support network (friends and family). I was surprised how much better I felt after talking to those I loved.
Another thing that helped me during the dark time when I re-ruptured my Achilles after conservative treatment was this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czXTkNyzF98
It is a video of Kyle Maynard, ESPN did a special on him climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. If this does not make you think you can overcome anything, I do not know what will.
I’m going to check that out, thanks MtnMarco!
Talking to friends and family definitely helps,
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