Good, bad, and ugly

Posted on June 28th, 2010 by cathyz

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my progress — the good, bad, and ugly. 

I went back to the doctor June 1 to get my cast off and the rest of the stitches out.  Good news is, he’s very pleased at the way it’s healing.  I can rotate my foot/ankle in all directions.  The not-so-good news (for me) is that he put me in a boot that’s really an air cast — very bulky — with three heel wedges.  I can put some weight on the foot but no walking.  Every 5 days I take out a wedge which lowers my heel and brings the foot back to its “normal” position.  He said I can drive (since I brake with my left foot–glad that came in handy for something!!), but it’s going to take some practice since the boot’s so bulky with no give on the ankle.  On June 15, the doctor said he’d have me walking so I took my tennis shoes!  I did indeed walk in them and it felt really good!!  I could walk around the house and office with shoes on but otherwise I had to wear this boot — for 8 more weeks.  He said it’s healing fine but it takes that long for the tendon to regain its strength.  Started physical therapy that afternoon — had already made appointment — and the physical therapist was elated at how well my ankle was.  She said the surgeon had done the “Gold Standard” in terms on a Z incision and progressive wedge reduction in boot.  She said my foot was a +4 degrees whereas most are a -20 degrees!!  I was elated.  However, on June 27, I went out to get my newspaper early (without boot) and stumbled on a spacer in the driveway.  You all know that horrible twinge up the back of my leg.  Ended up in ER.  While it looks like I only had a minor tear of the tendon, I did reinjure this “hole” in my ankle caused from the initial accident laceration which had never healed right.  Have to have more surgery tomorrow to try to fix it without a skin graft. 
 

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My crummy luck

Posted on May 10th, 2010 by cathyz

I had an accident Friday, April 30, while walking through a building’s big heavy doors. A gust of wind blew the door closed and it caught the back of my right heel, The door had a metal horizontal brace about 6″ from the borrom and it sliced my ankle and severed my achilles tendon. (Still makes me sick thinking about it!) Building nurses came out and wrapped my ankle while the guard called EMS. They took me to the hospital where they told me the tendon was completely severed. You can only imagine my reaction!! I was lucky that a trauma orthopedic surgeon was there and they got me right into surgery around 3. It was about 2 1/2 hours, and I was in the hospital room by 7 with a cast up to my knee. I can put absolutely NO pressure on my right foot for six weeks and..WORST PART…no driving for 6 weeks. Then much rehab will follow. Am wondering if anyone else has had a severed achilles tendon and how has their recuperation been?

8 Comments »

Hello world!

Posted on May 10th, 2010 by cathyz

Welcome to AchillesBlog.com.

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Following link will take you to your blog’s “command center” where you can write your posts:
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  • Recent Comments

  • andreea | August 11th, 2010 | 4:39 am

    HI Cath,
    So sorry to hear your nightmare! I do hope things go better this time and it’s fantastic that it is only a partial tear. Take care of yourself,
    Andreea

  • normofthenorth | June 29th, 2010 | 4:54 am

    Good luck, and good healing! Most of the standard modern protocols introduce weight bearing even before the heel wedges are removed. And hinged boots like Gunner’s VacoCast do seem to produce better results than fixed boots like the AirCast, according to the few studies that have compared them. I think the hinged boot is a great invention, especially if you and your Doc have agreed that you should stay in the boot an unusually long time.

  • gunner | June 28th, 2010 | 7:42 pm

    Cathy: So sorry to hear about your misfortune and hope you have a successful operation this time.

    If you get a chance, take a look at the VacoCast (VacoPed in Europe) as an alternative to the hard cast and, certainly, to the boot you wore first time. If I ever go through this again, I’ll go into this boot within the first week or so.

  • marymargaret27 | May 19th, 2010 | 9:11 am

    And I thought I had bad luck! Gosh…that must have been so traumatic!! You are in my thoughts and I hope you are recovering well. Hang in there…I am at 15 weeks post-op and already pretty much pain free and walking normally. The first few weeks are the worst but once you get through them, you will see things progress remarkably and you’ll be feeling a whole lot better in the second six weeks. Best of luck…keep us posted! MM

  • mikek753 | May 14th, 2010 | 9:36 pm

    Cathy, would you moderate my comment #7?
    Pls.

  • normofthenorth | May 14th, 2010 | 12:57 pm

    Cathy, as you can see from browsing this site, there is a HUGE range of preferred rehab protocols across the world, and even in individual countries and regions.

    I prefer up-to-date docs and establishments that use boots instead of casts. But I can understand old-fashioned docs and establishments that still use a series of casts, because that’s the way we’ve always done it, it was good enough when I went to Med School and now I’m the Chief Surgeon, etc., etc.(”Eminence-Based Medicine”!)

    But aside from being tamper-proof (are you a child?!?), there really isn’t much that a cast can do that a modern boot can’t, AFAIK. (E.g., the change in angle can be accommodated with a series of heel wedges in a fixed boot, or a change of hinge-stop pins in a hinged boot, MORE accurately than any cast built by a technician.)

    So if your protocol already includes the cost of a boot (which is a barrier in some places), I don’t see why they’d want to add the expense and bother of two casts. From your POV, you get higher risk of pressure points or sores, and eliminate the possibility of careful controlled PT activity early on (like from 2 wks p

    [...]
  • cathyz | May 14th, 2010 | 12:00 pm

    Had a pretty good doc appointment Tuesday. Took off cast and about half the stitches. Recast my foot from 15 degrees to 10 degrees. While it hurts, it means that less PT. Three more weeks in cast and then boot with adjustable heel. Still no weight on foot and no driving but at least it’s healing well he said. How’s your recovery going?

  • tania | May 12th, 2010 | 10:42 pm

    Omg Sorry to hear about your bad luck Cathy :o/ ….
    I hurt myself 04/29 the day right before you did! Of course my injury was not similar to yours, I hurt it in kickboxing class.

    So sorry about your injury, I wish you a good recovery..

  • normofthenorth | May 11th, 2010 | 12:01 pm

    8 yrs ago, when I tore my first AT (I’ve done both sides now!), I heard about a woman who had hers sliced by an aluminum screen door — same general “move” as your accident. It gave me the creeps then, and it still does! (Most of us tore our “internally”, doing aggressive “moves” in a sport.)

    Meanwhile, I’d think the quicker, more modern rehab protocols should apply to your AT Rupture as well as ours — i.e., boots work better than casts, 2 weeks of ZERO weight (”NWB”) is enough, with Full WBearing starting at 4 weeks, as tolerated by your foot. Staying on crutches longer than necessary doesn’t do your AT any good, and it’s hazardous to the rest of your body — not to mention your job, your mental health, your relationships, etc.!!

    If you want an official rehab protocol to print out, roll up, and “swat” your health professionals with, check out my blog, it’s there somewhere. (I’ll shoot you a link if you have trouble finding it.) The reports on the studies that showed that a quick-but-sensible protocol can work very well, are linked there, too.

    Good luck, and good healing!

  • mikek753 | May 10th, 2010 | 7:33 pm

    sorry to hear that.
    I had ATR on right foot and I don’t want to upset you more, but be ready to start driving around 8 weeks.
    Again it depends on your recovery protocol and how healing will go.

    Pressing brake wasn’t issue for me, but pressing gas was …
    now, I’m fine at 10 weeks. Don’t rush with driving - IMHO.

  • doug53 | May 10th, 2010 | 10:46 am

    Welcome to the club, Cathy.

    Crummy luck, indeed! My stomach did a little flip just reading about it!

    Doug

  • Mr WordPress | May 10th, 2010 | 8:29 am

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