brutus’s AchillesBlog

Yep, that’s what my surgeon told me yesterday. Not fully on board with that way of thinking. I continue to have a major problem with my in incisional area. It is very thick and wearing normal shoes is painful. My PT thought i might have a rejection of the graft used. Surgeon told me it was a blessing and a curse. It appears my body has a very quick healing process by producing a large amount of scar tissue. The downside is that my dr says the girth of my AT will probably not go down and that i need to have custom made shoes.

Im getting a second opinion.

It’s been 4 months since my surgery and things are progressing nicely from a PT perspective. Saw the surgeon last week who says things are going great and to come back in 6 weeks. Therapy has greatly improved my range of motion and now I am strictly on strengthening exercises. Just when you think you are doing well, they throw in another exercise to humble you and make you realize how far you have to go.

My only issue thus far continues to be the incision area. The swelling as well as the thickness in the area due to the work still gives me problems with wearing a shoe. I can wear a low top sneaker on some occasions, but a dress shoe gives my ankle distortion from the swelling.

Surgeon says I can start very light running in 2 more months.

Hope you all are doing well.

Just checking in to see what the term of your physical Therapy has been like. I am currently 6 weeks in and have made great progress . The PT has been intense and painful, but has made a huge difference. Any comments on how much longer I can expect to continue PT? I am sure my Doc will tell me next week when I see him.

Happy healing all!

At 9 weeks post op there is even more progress. I am now out of the boot and walking in 2 shoes. Physical Therapy has been amazing in my recovery. Normal gait is slowly coming back and after some vigourous and painful stretching and exercises, I walk with a minimal limp. PT has me doing standing calf raises which is tough but I can hold for 2 secs at a time as well as one legged balancing for a hold of 10 secs at a time. I did not think this kind of progress was possible. I just need to remember that it is still a long healing process and not get too ahead of myself. Those of you who just ruptured your AT, hang in there and now that progress will come. Listen to the experiences of others which I have done and gained valuable advice.

Progress has finally been made. I am now 2 months post-op and am finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I was at the surgeon’s office last week and he has allowed my to start FWB exercises at PT. He only wants me to wear the boot in the snow. The only issue I am having is the boot has irritated the incision area by constant rubbing. Has anyone else had this problem? Dr wants me out of the boot as much as possible because of this. For those of you just starting recovery, the light will come soon. It is a long road, but every stride of progress is a victory. Those victories come from listening to the doctors and working hard in Physical Therapy.

Good Luck to all in your recoveries.

I am reading many comments as well as some other methods of treatment and am wondering if my doctor is being too conservative on my treatment. I am 3 weeks post surgery today. I have had my first splint / cast removed with a new fiberglass cast put on. This cast will be removed on January 13th at which time, I will have the “Boot” put on. Since it is my right ATR, the Doc won’t let me start to drive for another 5 weeks. Since I am just starting to learn as much as I can about ATR’s, does my treatment plan sound typical? I would like to hear your thoughts.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Hanukkuh with their crutches / boots.

Hello All -
I am new to group of ruptured achillies tendons….an injury I have never even thought of before. As a basketball player my whole life, I have had a ton of sprained ankles, to the point where they are now like spaghetti. So to have ruptured my AT comes as a complete and frustrating surprise to me. It happened on December 4th 2010 in Brooklyn, NY. I had organized a reunion pick-up basketball game with my high school teammates of 26 years ago. We were always close and I was looking forward to seeing the guys and reliving some of our memories of yesteryear. During the course of the first game, I made a move to my left towards the basket and heard the loudest pop I ever heard. As I am 6′4 and 250lbs, I dropped like a bag of rocks. I immediately asked everyone if they heard that and I actually looked behind to see if someone knocked me over. I knew it wasn’t my ankle as that is a distinct sound and pain. I even looked at my sneaker to see if it just fell apart (I was hoping so). I had hardly any pain…which all the guys found positive as I was able to stand and walk. The only problem was when I walked on it, it felt like I was sinking into the floor. My HS coach put some ice on it on for awile, but I knew I had to get to an ER. As I live 35 miles away, I actually drove home on this foot, even more increasing my delusion that it just might be a pulled calf muscle. It wasn’t to be. When I got to the ER, a nurse practitioner looked at it and was sure it was ruptured but she couldnt believe my lack of pain and full range of motion. Again, this increased my hope for something simple. The surgeon came in and burst that bubble rather quickly and said I needed surgery the next morning. After the surgery, the Dr told my wife that I obliterated the tendon and that he thought he would not be able to fully repair it but he did. As I waited for the feeling to come back to my legs after the spinal given to me, I started to really think about the long road ahead. You see I titled this blog “Another Bump in the Road” for the past five years has been challenging to say the least.

In March of 2005 I received a call that my mother had her aorta torn during a routine stent insertion giving her 3 hours to live. Her odds were not good as the the Dr was concerned she would bleed to death on the operating table since she was on blood thinners. After many prayers, she came through her emergency open heart surgery and the medical staff said there is no medical reason why she survived. I knew it was the Grace of God that got her through. Two days into her recovery my colon had unexpectedly ruptured and I was facing emergency colon surgery as perotinitis was setting in. I was scared to death as I had a wife and 2 small children who needed me. I came through the surgery Ok but was very sick and was hospitalized for 9 days. I was fitted with a colostomy bag for 2 months and the recovery was extremely tough. As I recovered fully, think of the feeling of having to go through this surgery and recovery all over again as they had to reattach my colon.

Two months later I developed a major incisonal hernia that had to be repaired…yep another surgery. Are we having fun yet?
In January of 2006, my wife had to have esophageal surgery for a condition called achalasia that she has.
This was a very intense surgery and again scared out of my mind. She came through Ok though still has problems to date. The next ditty of health surprises happened of December of last year. As I am an asthmatic I had trouble breathing and went to the ER. An xray was taken and I was sent home with asthma medicine. Three days later I went back and by this time I had pneumonia in both lungs. The ER doctor misdiagnosed me the first time as the orginal xray showed pneumonia in both lungs. As I was coughing up blood, I was completely unsure of my prognosis. How bad was it? Were the Doctors not telling me everything?
The next day I was told I would be OK and stayed in the hospital for 6 days….great, right around Christmas time. If you’ve ever had pneumonia, you know how hard that recovery is.
Because I let myself get out of shape the last few years, I decided it was time to get healthy. Being in the hospital was like paying your taxes….painful, but necessary.
I joined a gym and ran like Forrest Gump for the next year, to the point I was running 35-40 miles a week. I lost 40 lbs from my all-time high weight and was taken off BP meds. My doctor was thrilled with my progress. I was just in good enough shape to play basketball again!! BAD MOVE.
As we were all good players, we were all looking forward to getting together in our middle aged state. My parents and my wife were concerned about my ankle….if only.

As I go through the recovery and look back on what I have gone through over the last five years, I do get down at times. Not only have my wife and I been through a lot, my whole family has. My father has been battling lymphoma for the past 9 years and has been kicking its ass. When I do get down, my attitude quickly changes when I realize not only have we all come through it, but it happened to me and not my children. That is something I can live with.

Now…on with the recovery.

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