bradfordlassincanada’s AchillesBlog

Happy New Year.

Had the all clear yesterday to start strengthening the leg! Off to the physio and he had me doing simple calf raises - what a feeling! Very odd in my leg but I guess that is to be expected

I’m not on any fancy calf raises yet and am seeing him again next week, so just balancing, stretching and now up on my toes!

Looking forward to getting back to some sort of normal.  It’s been an interesting last 13 weeks, one I won’t be repeating hopefully!

Well, I stuck 2 shoes on and wandered around the house gently for 30 minutes!! Crutches first in hand and then nearby. Wore running shoes and took it quietly. VERY SCARY!! But felt great ;-))))) No boot in bed tonight either. YAY ;-). Thank you for all the words of encouragement.

So, I have the all clear to start 2 shoes. I asked about how to do this and was advised just to increase the hours in 2 shoes each day. SO tonight, I will be able to sleep without the boot - well that’s an 8 hour reduction to start!! I’ve read Norm’s comments on how to start but still fairly apprehensive…………

Please excuse all the posts. Dennis misplaced my email and just created my blog. Hence all the posts!

So, I am following the Western protocol with a plus one week added for the clot delay. Am now in physio and full weight bearing. Have a scar that is too well stuck but with lots of friction and ultrasound, we are working on it. Had a lovely calf massage last week.

It’s great to ditch the crutches too.  I have bought the evenup shoe thing that you attach to your non booted  leg to even up (no pun) the leg length and stop the penguin waddle.  Would highly recommend one.

Getting around takes time but is doable.  Looking forward to getting back to full health. Not looking forward to the snow in Canada. Airboots have no grip/tread which is very worrying. Fortunately I can park 20 yards from work so its not far…….

I am not obsessed with leg width. Honestly.

Just post clot, my leg was 1 inch bigger at least than my other leg. I could barely do up the boot properly.Over the next week, it reduced, presumably as the body started to deal with the clot. I sucked this up and tightened up the boot and went partial weightbearing.

Seemed to help lots.

A couple of weeks later my leg is now getting skinny - oh no- muscles are going…….

So, I am on rivaroxaban, xeralto.  The other option is coumadin which has an antidote but requires regular blood work and visits to the lab which isn’t easy! Xeralto requires no monitoring.

I was concerned about this greatly. There is currently no antidote to this drug and lots of pending lawsuits in the US. MMMMMmmm. It is a new drug so this is to be expected I guess.

I had a long chat with a resident and also my surgeon about this drug choice.  I know there are risks with everything. Eventually I have squared the risk with myself but I do have a daily google alert on xeralto.  Seemingly lots of people have used it successfully. And I won’t be on it long term.

So, out of the cast 10 days later and into an airboot.

Straight away it felt a bit painful being in the airboot but I thought it was just the afters of surgery.  Out of the cast on a Tuesday.  The next few days my leg became more and more painful to the extent I went back on the morphine and I struggled to do the boot up. At night I would leave the front plate off to get some relief.  After 2.5 days of this nonsense I rang the surgeon and then hospital. Being less mobile, I didn’t really fancy a trip to the hospital if I should just suck it up.  Apparently once you say “I have pain in my calf”, it is a trip to emerg……

So, long story short, they imaged my leg, found a small clot below the knee and started me on anticoagulants.

Whilst the clot was near the knee, my whole calf was on fire with a pain level of 10. I have had 2 kids with no drugs at all and this pain was off the planet. Never felt anything like it ever.

I was really lucky and managed t have surgery 4 days post tear. I’d read lots on the internet and decided that I’d prefer the surgery.

Surgeon was great and I had a nerve block and general. It was my first surgery ever. I’m mid forties, and a mum of 2 teenagers with no health issues (other than needing to loose a stone!).  So I was very low risk for all the surgery questions.

Operation went well and I went home with the back slab cast and pointy toes and the nerve block, dutifully taking the morphine as instructed for when the nerve block was to wear off.  Some 24 hours later my leg was still dead………so I went back to emerg and they got my leg out of the cast and it started coming back to life.  It had just taken a bit longer to wear off! Back in another slab and home again……..

Four or five days later, off the morphine, leg doing OK.  Very tedious getting around on crutches - had to google and you tube lots as I had no clue. And that’s when I found this site. What a help!!!!!!

OK,  first of all, I’m not a writer. This blog however was a lifesaver in the first weeks post injury and so if it helps someone else, happy to contribute.

Well, I’m a Brit n Canada and play a reasonable standard of badminton. It was matchpoint, my ankle had tinged but one more point and I was done.  I was very done!

Classic tear, though I didn’t know it. Ended up on the floor seeing stars. Not terribly painful but felt very dizzy and lightheaded. Went home, did the RICE,rest elevation compression and elevation and wine. Still the same the next morning so went to the emergency Dept.

Ultrasound confirmed the tear and after a long day I opted for the conservative approach to treatment.  Sent home and promptly fell up the steps as I had no clue how to do crutches!

Spent the next day on the Internet and decided I’d rather have the surgery option for all sorts of reasons.

Hello All.

I’m going to start writing my blog soon. Hope not to bore you all too much.

I’ve had a bit of surgery, a clot, a nerve block that didn’t wear off, anti-coagulant concerns and now snow in an airboot…….

Hope to write some more when I get the chance!