Exactly one month

Posted on March 11th, 2010 by caseyjohn

Hey Everyone:

It’ been about a month since my last post.  I’ve been back at school crutching from class to class and have been quite busy.  For those of  you that are new to this injury, the pain disappers pretty quickly.  The first three or four days weren’t too cool, but after that my pain has decreased significantly.  Right now I’d say it is a 0/10.  Tomorrow I meet with my doctor and my wedges will be taken out of the boot, so that my foot basically forms a right angle with my leg.  I just hope that my achilles tendon has healed correctly and that it won’t be painful.  I have another two weeks of NWB at neatral, and then I have two weeks of partial weight bearing.  The cast will come off somewhere between weeks eight and ten, and I’m definitely hoping for week eight.  This injury is very interesting really.  It doesn’t hurt that much, but it sure does change a lot of things.  I was extremely sad in the very beginning because this is my senior year of college and I graduate in May.  This wasn’t exactly what I had planned, but I guess there isn’t much that I can do about it.  After a week, I felt a lot better about it because I have a lot of great friends that are helping me out.  But now I’m back to the stage where I am just getting sick of this and want to drive my truck, ride my dirt bike, walk up stairs normally, drink more than two beers at a bar, shower in less than an hour, and just walk normally.  I have spring break starting tomorrow and I was planning on going to Cancun or Florida.  Now I’m going home and I don’t know what I’m going to do.  I think the highlight of my break might be seeing a movie.  My buddy and I were going to drive to SC to visit some family, but he decided to stay home and search for jobs.  I was hoping that it would work out, but oh well.  I’m from WI and we were going to stop in Indianapolis to see the badger basketball team play in the big ten which would have been really neat.  I’ve really tried to keep a positive attitude throughout this, but I’m really having trouble now.  It’s been winter here in WI for awhile and its finally starting to get nice.  It’s been in the upper forties this week and kids are starting to wear tshirts.  I want to be outside.  I am frustrated that I can’t do the things that I normally do.  I know this is only temporary, but it sure doesn’t seem like it.  Hope you’re all healing well and are dealing with this better than me.  Hopefully I can find something to do for a week that might brighten up my attitude.

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Big Boot and my laptop

Posted on February 17th, 2010 by caseyjohn

Hey everyone! This is my first blog and I’m sort of curious about this whole process. I have found this page to be extremely helpful in answering my numberous questions. I completely ruptured my right achilles tendon on 1/31/10 and crutched around at school for two weeks. I finally had surgery on 2/12/10 and got my boot on 2/16/10. The first full day after surgery I was in a lot of pain, but it has decreased significantly. I was quite upset in the very beginning because I graduate in May and I had lots of “plans”. I was supposed to go to a concert last Friday in Madison and attend an industrial engineering regional conference this coming weekened. I wanted to play football in the spring, do some turkey hunting, ride my dirt bike, and go backpacking in Europe for a month this summer. It is easy to get upset when something like this happens. It really puts life in perspective because it makes you realize how truely lucky you are. I never really thought about how lucky I am to be able to walk everywhere I go, to be able to roll around when I sleep, to stand in the kitchen and cook dinner without getting tired, and drive my truck. This condition of not walking isn’t fun, but it is tempoary and I have understood this. I think that the most important thing to do is to maintain a positive attitude and let your body heal. I’m sure there will be moments when I get frustrated and I don’t have that positive attitude, but I guess I’ll just have to try and get rid of if and enjoy life.

6 Comments »

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  • "Frouchie" or "Grouchie", or just "Chris" | March 15th, 2010 | 8:19 am

    “Slow and Steady Wins THIS Race”

    Your going to have days where you feel like you can do more, then there will be days where you seem to take a few steps backwards. Just do what you can no matter which day it is.

    Remember this is a small set back in your long life. You’l miss out on a few things now, but you have a lot ahead of you. Take the time to heal now, so you can enjoy life later.

  • coolkiwi | March 11th, 2010 | 11:45 pm

    Best advice I can offer is chill, and take one day at a time. Yes, it is frustrating, and there is so much you just can’t do…but the good news is that each day you are getting better; each day is one day closer to being back to doing all those things you normally take for granted.

    I did first trimester (13 weeks) bed rest for each of my (two) pregnancies and lots of friends said ‘I couldn’t do that’ but my answer was always ‘what is the alternative?’ (in my case it had been not carrying babies to full term) You don’t even have thae choice of an alternative, so don’t fight it…you have the rest of your life to drink far too many beers (been there, done that!) watch loadsa games, visit who you want and hopefully live for a long time. Just relax, get through the next few weeks and you will be fine (honest) :-)

  • normofthenorth | March 11th, 2010 | 11:41 pm

    You may be able to use the protocol I posted on my blog to get your Doc to let you get closer to FWB sooner. That protocol was used on both post-op patients like you AND non-surgical patients like me, and the results were quite good.

    The transition from heel lifts to neutral position is nice, but the transition from NWB to FWB actually gets your life back to normal, because you can walk (in the boot) without crutches, and carry stuff, etc., etc. And it also gets your foot and knee and quads. &c., &c., all remembering how to move, and get stronger again instead of weaker.

    He may not be impressed, ’cause he’s a doctor and you’re an undergrad, but it probably won’t do any harm.

  • Keith | February 20th, 2010 | 1:56 pm

    I am three months post op on my second rupture (other leg first) you WILL walk, run and stand on your tip toes etc. It just takes time.

    I credit my rapid recovery to the vacoped that the doc let me put on after only 3 weeks of a cast. I wanted to forgo the cast but he wisely kept me immobile for those miserable 3 weeks.

    Challenge your physician to allow early movement. Don’t push the weight bearing though as I did on my first rupture which resulted in a re-rupture and subsequent long term casting.

    Look around, sometimes you can find the Vacopeds Achill online like ebay for a reduced amount if cost is a concern.

  • normofthenorth | February 18th, 2010 | 10:04 pm

    I love that story, Kath! Thanks for sharing it.

  • Kath63 | February 18th, 2010 | 9:52 am

    You’ll get to do all of that stuff and more and you’ll really appreciate it. I know how frustrating it all is. I am 4 1/2 months post-op and today after PT I took my dog for a walk and made it ALL of the way around the park in my neighborhood. I haven’t done that since September. It is beautiful and sunny out, I had my ipod cranked, and it’s a good thing I had sunglasses on because I sobbed. You would have thought I’d won Olympic gold for the feat. Such joy for something so simple. Take it easy, be patient and know you’ll be back and have fun dreaming about all of the great stuff you’re going to do!

  • "Frouchie" or "Grouchie", or just "Chris" | February 18th, 2010 | 8:20 am

    Take this time and count your “Blessings”. This is a long and slow road back to recovery, BUT it isn’t forever.

    You, like the rest of us will have good and bad days. You too will learn to be thankful for the more simple things in life and how good it will feel to be able to do them again.

    I tell myself and post it out here to others everyday…

    “Slow and Steady Wins THIS Race”

    REST…LISTEN TO YOUR PT AND DOCTOR…DO YOUR R.O.M EXERCISES…AND REST SOME MORE.

    Lean on friends and us here on line. You’ll do fine

  • mari | February 17th, 2010 | 3:14 pm

    Rest rest rest, this too shall pass.

    I’m at almost 5 months and have a bit to go too.

    Hang in there!

  • marina | February 17th, 2010 | 1:14 pm

    It’s just that life reminds us sometimes that you cannot program it. I remember myself complaining or get boring of going out to the grocery store and am now grateful I can walk the way there. Have for sure revised some things in life.
    Hope will all go fine on your healing trip.