Cath’s Achilles Blog

It has been 3 months since my surgery and I was walking around a store and something in my foot went pop. And it hurt. I could still walk back to the car, but I was limping. When I got home and took off my shoes, standing on one foot to take off the other sock was excruciating. And the back of my leg by the stitches looks different, relaxed.
Right before this, I almost slipped on a greasy floor at a restaurant, but I caught myself. I called the Doctor, and I go in 1st thing in the morning. I hope it isn’t ruptured!!!

I couldn’t wait to start walking in boot, and now after one week, I am using 1 crutch most of time, and 2 crutches sometimes, and my foot really hurts.  It is swelling, and hurt s when I walk, right on the heel, sometimes shooting up my calf.  I thought that as I walked on my foot (in the boot) it would get better, not worse!  Has anyone else experienced this?  I am at 7 week post op, with the tendon transfer.

Today is a happy day.  My cast was removed, and I am in the boot.  I can walk in the boot, and put as much weight as I can handle, but I am not allowed to stand on my foot without the boot.  Right now, I need the crutches to walk.  But I am so happy to be able to bathe and shower and sleep with a naked foot!!  In 4 weeks I start physical therapy.  The stitches look pretty good, but aren’t totally healed at the bottom by my heel.   The scab started to pucker there after my bath.

Last week I had to go back to Doc for a Recast.  My swelling went down during the last week and a half and my cast was really loose.  This time the nurse used more padding and it was shorter.  She said the the scar looked great and was a thin line and she could tell that I was following instructions.  When people walk during the NWB stage, she said that the scar tends to pucker and pull apart.  The dressings have been changed every week to week and a half so my leg has not gotten stinky, even though it is in the 90s here.  My ankle  looks a lot better, and I can tell that it is healing nicely.  1 more week until I can start walking with crutches, no more wheelchair.

It has been 3 weeks since my Achilles tendon surgery.  My tendon has been giving me problems for several years, and a FHL transfer and turndown flap were used to repair tendon as well as removing bone off the back of my heel.  I was in the hospital for 4 days, sent home in a splint, then after a week and a half, put in a boot.  Now last week I was put in a cast and stitches removed.  I have been surprised how hard it is to get around.  I am using a wheelchair and a walker.  I keep my foot up all the time, and anytime I put it down to move from place to place, my toes turn purple.  Fortunately, I am working at home until the end of the month.  I have only been out of the house twice to go the the doctor’s office, and I am going stir crazy.  Getting down the front steps out of my house is really difficult.