curlygirl’s AchillesBlog

Last week I saw my surgeon. She checked my tendon, checked over my notes and asked if I had cheated yet and attempted to walk without my boot. She seemed very surprised when I told her that no, I had not even taken a tiny step . she then told me to stand up and walk across the room barefoot. I like her , but she is not the warm and fuzzy type, so across the room I limped. it did not hurt or feel weak so I am sure I was overdue to do this. My next instructions were to walk barefoot around the house and wear the boot if going out and if the leg gets tired at home. She then proceeded to tell me of the type of shoes I need to wear. Yikes my footwear consists mainly of very high sandals or flip flops. The running shoes I do have I have worn the left one only for the last 2 months and it no longer looks like it’s twin. I have never been this
excited to go shoe shopping in my life! And believe me I am a shoe
girl!
it has been so great just walking around the house barefoot and feeling the smooth tile floor under my toes.I am not to do any running, skipping, hopping, jumping etc for 3 months which seems very conservative . mind you it may take me that long to get rid of this pesky limp. I am super happy about the progress my leg has made and the miracle of healing. blessings to all

it was my birthday over the weekend so we decided on a trip to Disneyland. Although I am FWB and walking very well in my boot we thought it wise to hire a wheelchair whilst we were there so I did not have to walk for 12 or more hours straight. That proved to be a wise move. We had a great day, I walked a bit , then got a ride in my chair. The added bonus was that we got to use the wheelchair/ injury entrance so managed to shorten the wait on some of the rides. We stayed until the park closed, parade, fireworks,tons of rides big and small . it was a day out that I really
needed. I walked a fair amount too and my tendon held out pretty
well with very minimal swelling. Felt a little stiff the next day but
fine now.It wad nice to spend time with my husband and three
children and have some fun! It had been too long since I had felt like laughing out loud.

Hi Guys,

I have been more of a lurker these past few weeks as I have nothing much to report , and I didn’t want to share my glum mood My leg is healing very well,scar is only 2 inches long, smooth to the touch and the atrophy not too bad (about 1.5 cm according to my PT ) BUT I can not seem to progress with my weight bearing. I am meant to be progressing from PWB to FWB in my boot with crutches over a period of 4 weeks. Well I can put such a tiny bit of weight without it really hurting so I am feeling totally fed up. And I do not ‘do’ fed up. My PT sessions have been good , and my ROM is improving almost daily but my strength Oh my. I did however start swimming last week, with a leg float thingy and it was fabulous. I have been going in the evening cos it is too hot in the day to expose my lily white flesh to the sun! never enjoyed my swimming so much! Trying to post a few pictures but I have so much difficulty getting photos up on this site.

hi everyone,

I have a question which I really should have asked my doctor when I saw her last week. I was so excited about getting the boot , that I didn’t think to ask. She told me that after a week of wearing the boot full time I could leave it off at night if I wanted too. Well my question is will this slow down my progress? I have this idea that over the night I will have my foot in a more relaxed position and then getting it back in a boot in the morning will be painful or impossible. Should I wear some other form of splint at night or just
go for a naked foot and hope for the best? I am probably over thinking this, but I really do not want to do anything to delay my
healing.Any advice would be great. thanks for reading!

I went for my 3 week post surgery appointment today. They took off my pretty pink cast, cutting it off really tickled!. My Orthopedic surgeon checked my leg and said things were progressing nicely and that I could move into a boot. My leg looks very thin and feeble oh and hairy too! Not posting a picture of that! I have 2 inserts in my aircast boot and am due to start physical therapy next week.She said I could put about 25 pounds of weight on it she suggested I try at home putting my foot on a bathroom weigh scale to get a feel for how much that is.I don’t think my leg could handle any more than that . I also have to remove the boot and do 10 gentle ankle flexes 3 times a day. Everything seems to move along at the pace of a snail, but I guess I will just have to do as I am told.

Here is a picture of my knee scooter that my family customized for me. I have a bell , a horn, a handy basket, a light and pretty tassels, what more could a girl want? Basket is very useful for my phone and chocolate stash.

Oh and that is my lovely cast with toes to match. I have had that cast on for nearly 2 weeks aargh.

Happy healing.

Hi everyone,

I stumbled across this blog while looking for information on Achilles rupture and I have found it very helpful. So here I am starting my own blog. First up, I am struggling to work out even how to post on this blog, I think my brain got snapped along with my tendon!

My ‘fun’ began on Friday 8th June 2012. I was at a school end of year party with my daughter who is just finishing Kindergarten. Parent and kids were having fun with balloon races , obstacle races etc . So I was skipping with my daughter , my foot went in a divot in the grass and ’snap’ it was SO loud. I thought at first I had broken my shoe. I managed to walk/hop to a bench and sit down. Once sitting I reached down and felt my foot and knew when I found that soggy area at the back of my heel what I had done.

I am a fairly athletic fit Mum of Three and could not believe I could do so much damage skipping!

Off to my local urgent care in Sunny San Diego. I was splinted and sent home with a surgery date for 14th June 2012.

To be honest that week is a bit of a blur.My husband dropped my daughter at school and a good friend brought her home. I tried out my crutches.I had no pain whatsoever. The worst day that week was having a wedding dress fitting. My husband and I were planning to renew our wedding vows in August. I bought a very simple strapless white wedding dress for the occasion . So there I was in the bridal shop in my gown on crutches. That was the first time I had allowed myself to feel sorry for myself.

Surgery day was 14th June. Boy was I nervous. The staff could not have been kinder.It all went smoothly , so I am told. And before I knew it I was back home tucked up in my own bed. I was ready for some pain, as I had read some other blogs. However,I was woken in the night with a dreadful burning pain in my ankle that the meds could not hold back. It was like my ankle was on fire! Thankfully the pain subsided within a couple of hours and I have not had anything like it since.Over the next few days I had a stream of neighbors / friends drooping off food parcels which was lovely. I think my ever hungry 16 year old son gobbled up most of them. Talking off which , I have been amazed at my son. He is an lanky 16 year old soccer/ music loving typical kid. He has been amazing. My husband has to go to work, so he has taken care of our 6 year old. He has taken her to the park, driven her to ballet ( and sat and watched!) driven us all to the pool for her swim lessons, done laundry etc etc. his kindness and just get on with it attitude has made me want to weep.

My eldest daughter is in NY she gets home tonight. Hopefully my son can take a break then and share the workload!

Yesterday I had the stitches out. Yeah

I was bit of a baby, I just did not want to look.My husband encouraged me to take a peek, I think it actually looked better than I thought it might.But, my calf … OH MY . I have somewhat ‘chicken legs’ on a good day, but my bad leg even more chickeny.

So off I hobbled to the cast room. I was there fitted with a pretty hot pink cast. I have managed to crank my toes up into a less pointy position but it is not yet at the right angle. Whilst watching Spain v France I painted my toes pink to match my cast.Lovely

I shall be checking back on others peoples progress with interest. Especially those with similar timelines. I will try to post a couple of pictures if I can get my mind around it.

Blessings to all

curlygirl

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