Chuck’s ATR

Good job man! I saw my ortho yesterday (8 weeks) - the visit lasted all of 2 minutes. He’s happy with the achilles, but wants to see me again in a month - I’m hoping that’s it as these visits are kind of a waste of time.

I still have a wicked limp. I’m doing rehab twice a week, but I need to rachet up the “at home” exercises they expect me to be doing. I need to be jogging in 2 months!

Well done mate!

Hip - hip -hurray!

Wow good for you. I have to go in for my first on in a few weeks.

Chuck from all these blogs you need to be wary of a re-tear. I am 4wks post op. and in my 2nd 90 degree cast, I developed severe burning sensation after my first cast was put on too tight, every hair folical was a red itchy blister, & incision scars were red & swollen.I have a follow up in 2 wks & will possibly get a boot. From what I have read a higher boot is best. My achilles was 90% detached due to a bone spur that broke in 2 pieces & cut the achilles of my left foot.

Good news on the non-infection.
Make sure you don’t use up all that face cream, a wrinkly scar is manly and cool but a wrinkly wife…;-)
Dylan

My PT told me to massage it with a homeopathic cream called Traumeel twice a day. It certainly feels good.

Sorry to hear of your little setback. It’s difficult when you compare so many stories, some where people make huge leaps and bounds towards recovery within a few weeks of surgery and others with setbacks or kept in cast for ages (like me). But as long as we all get where we want in the end it must be worth waiting for. I’m hoping patience and perserverence will triumph . Look after your leg - perhaps just a couple of days rest will be enough.

After I posted my comments yesterday, I took the long socks off and washed the incision with warm soapy water and iced the ankle. This morning, I am back to where I was a couple of days ago… no swelling or soreness. I think I just over-worked it. I guess I am just so anxious to get back to normal that I pushed a little too hard.

There is what we believe and wish and then there is the truth and what is. Hey, write that down. That could be right up there with the old saying:

“A dead bird doesn’t fly at night.”

maybe the socks made for diabetics (without elastics) would be more comfortable, I have seen those in some stores

I had that issue with the higher socks - in my case, it was totally irritating the incision. I went to the ankle high ones (the elastic fell just at the very bottom of the incision) and have never gone back Just be careful - if the redness is warm to the touch and there is any oozing or foul smell, it might be an infection. Just doing all that walking might also be causing the irritation - every step you take does stretch the skin around the incision somewhat…

Ed

I am also 8 weeks post-op and have my appt next week. However, I opted on my own to ditch the boot and have been walking in flip flops for 2 weeks. Sneakers cut into my scar but will go there when I need to wear non-summer clothes. SInce not having the boot on my calf has come back nicely (not 100% tho) in just 2 weeks.

I cannot believe you can’t do kayaking. There is no foot activity involved (except loading it on/off a car!). And if you wear a boot for that part, why not? All I can say is the mental positive you get from doing something you love is priceless. I know it doesn’t help to have a conservative spouse. I hopped on a bike this week (at the beach) without telling him and he was so worried when I mentioned later I might go around the block (he didn’t know I was already successful).

Anyway, good luck with what you decide. Being very careful while still trying things has served me well. But the recovery does come so no real need to push it.

I wear a cowboy boot it helps a lot..

I went to Walmart and bought a $20 pair of shoes with the biggest platform I could find. They were almost 2″ under the heel. And yes, I ended up with huge back pain problems.

Size 12 high heels are probably hard to come by. If I only had saved my Elton John Pin Ball Wizard platform shoes from 1975…

Now, come on, Chuck, be fashionable in a nice black leather pump. What a conversation starter! Then rent the movie “All of Me” with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin and have some good laughs.

Hi trisportgirl,

I actually will start PT two times a week starting 6-24. I have a prescription for 16 sessions at this time. My boot has a pin cam system that does not use wedges. I am currently at 20 degrees and will change it myself to 10 degrees in 4 weeks and then to 0 degrees after another 4 weeks.

My PT script calls for gentle ROM and gentle stretching and some kind of electrical stimulation.

Hang in there.

Chuck

I just realized that you’re just two weeks shy of post-op, so I guess a better question is when do you start PT?

Congrats on the boot milestone, chuckv. Have you already done PT? I’m just curious on your timeline, as I’m to take out my three 10 degree heel wedges over the course of the next two weeks (but still NWB), so that when I begin PT, I’m at 0 degrees.

Hmmm, turns out this may be thornier than I realized. I found one study out there, a study of rats and their patellar tendons, (the quadriceps muscle tendon, the one that has the kneecap embedded in it), that suggests naproxen may be a problem, while ibuprofen is not, at least in that experimental setup. How relevant is that study to using Aleve for pain briefly in the postop period, when your (Achilles, not patellar) tendon is immobilized? Hard to say, especially assuming that you’re not a rat.

In the past, sore tendons were thought to be due to inflammation, hence the term “tendinitis,” where the suffix “itis” means inflammation. Recently, it has been realized that inflammation is not involved in most chronically sore tendons, so the word “tendinosis” is used now. In fact, treatment of tendinosis is now often aimed at *encouraging* inflammation in the tendon, as that helps the healing process get going. At least, that’s the current thinking.

On the other hand, poorly treated pain could increase your body’s own steroid levels, which could interfere with healing.

So the issue of using NSAIDs for pain after surgery is

not sure exactly where your rash is located but it could be a reaction (mechanical or chemical) to the adhesives in the tape holding the IV in and or the ECG pads that were stuck on you. If the pads are no longer there they might have just ‘ripped’ them off you quickly (like removing a bandaid) and your skin could have gotten iritated.
..or perhaps it could also be a reaction to rubber/silicone/latex/? tourniquet that they used to get your veins to pop out during the IV insertion, blood test etc.
I believe they also use a type of tourniquet (Esmarch bandage) to stop the flow of blood to your surgical site (ankle)

The shot to the stomach was probably Lovenox. It’s a ‘blood thinner’ and is sometimes used pre surgery to prevent blood clots, or DVT’s. The fact that the rash is located on the insides of your arms and thighs leads me to believe it’s possibly some type of fungal or bacterial (most likely fungal) infection due to a change in your activity level. I’m sure during surgery you probably got an antibiotic (Ancef maybe), a local anesthetic to the incision site, and also some steroids, like dexamethasone to prevent undue swelling, along with the stuff to knock you out.

Just my $0.02

Jim

I don’t know about your thighs, but the rash on your arms isn’t from your crutches rubbing there, is it?

Just a thought,

Doug

I only have a minute, so I’ll be brief. The two main parts of the blood clotting system are the clotting proteins (”factors”) and the platelets. When people talk about “blood thinners,” they are usually talking about drugs that interfere with the clotting proteins. NSAIDs do interfere with platelet function a little, and therefore could contribute to bleeding, especially during a surgery. Soon after surgery, though, that’s not really an issue anymore. Inflammation and its role in healing is a separate issue. Maybe I can write more later, but NSAIDs aren’t going to have a significant impact on healing after a surgery. I’m on Aleve full time for arthritis, and I just skipped my two doses the day of surgery, (out of concern about bleeding during the surgery), and got right back on it the next day.

Best wishes,

Doug

Doug 53, I’m glad you brought up the ibuprofen. As ibuprofen is a blood thinner, does that intefere with healing? The nurse suggested the same thing as you did. I am only 1 day post op, but would like to get off of the vicadon and on the ibuprofen ASAP.

If you’re taking some kind of opiate for pain relief, you can take NSAIDs (like ibuprofen) too, if you’re not already doing so. Naproxen (Aleve) is another NSAID with a longer duration of action that ibuprofen, and might help you get an uninterrupted night of sleep. For special occasions like this, the usual naproxen dose is often doubled, just like ibuprofen can be given in higher doses for things like arthritis. Good luck!

Doug (a fellow stairway coward)