Continued from previous post….
Morning after my injury I went in to see my primary care physician and he quickly diagnosed what I feared. He then referred my to the sports medicine ortho group. I hobbled over there and the ortho doc confirmed the previous diagnosis. He then listed my options non-surgical vs surgical. He presented the non-surgical option as something that would have less than stellar results. Which seems to up for debate after reading some info here. I went with the surgical option and surgery was on the calendar. I did some background searching and heard nothing but good things about my surgeon, so I stayed the course.
By 2 days after my injury, getting up in the morning was excruciatingly painful. Going from horizontal to vertical was not pleasant. It felt like my leg from my knee down was in a vise that kept getting tighter the longer I stood. The pain would slowly begin to abate after about 5 minutes of torture. At 4 days after, I was forced back to bed after my initial attempt at standing and was looking forward to getting repaired. However, I had some trepidation about surgery the morning of the operation, but everything went smoothly.
I woke up with my lower leg on some pillows with an ice bag and little to no pain. The surgeon said it was a complete tear and he was able to close the gap to about 1cm. The bottom part was in good condition, but the top was not. This forced him to stitch further up into my calf muscle. They had a splint on my lower leg, which was held on by a mile of ace bandage.
I spent the next 4 days in bed watching movies, sleeping, reading, and doing some work in the guest bedroom. Pain was not bad and I stopped taking vicodin after a few days. I had every intention to make a few conference calls, but somehow slept right through them. Sleeping was good though. Having a wonderful wife that has an office 100yrds from home was/is a god send given my lack of mobility. The only issue I had was my tendency to “run” in my sleep (restless legs). I had one zinger that shot me awake.
About a week later I went in for the first follow-up. The doctor simply checked the status of the incision, gave me the thumbs up, and I went on my way after scheduling another appointment in 4 weeks. For some reason I had it in my head that I would get out of the splint and into a boot on the follow-up appointment. A bit disheartening to hear 4 more weeks of the splint. I did acquire some wheels though, which has made getting around much easier. The basket is key.
At present this injury is more of a mental challenge than anything (4 weeks post op). It is finally summer and I am not able to do the things that I love to do this time of year. I’m supposed to be climbing mountains and trail running, not sitting inside on beautiful weekends. It is as if part of me is dead at the moment. I’m pretty sure I have gone through denial, currently dealing with acceptance….
