Week 1: ouch!!!
Ok, so week one was very up and down. The first day after surgery I was having a really bad pain on the inside of my leg (not by the incision.) I called the nurse and they told me to come right in. I was so dizzy from all the pain meds that it made using crutches almost impossible. But I made it. They cut off the plaster splint contraption and there wasn’t anything wrong, it was just rubbing. So the doctor said let’s just put the fiberglass cast on. So the cast was tye dye, fun. This first cast had my toes pointing down.
I was going to get a new cast once a week with a total of 4 casts, each time changing the position of my foot. He said 6 weeks after surgery he would have me walking…yay!!
However, later that day, the nerve block wore off. The pain was indescribable. On a scale of 1-10 it was a 10+. I of course called the doctor and they told me to add Advil and Tylenol into the regimen and take a higher dose of the narcotic. I can’t stress enough the importance of staying ahead of the pain! I did get lucky though, typically the block only lasts 12 hours, mine lasted around 30 hours.
That was the worst day. I progressively felt better everyday. The biggest problems I had were asking for help, and being bored. My family has been great helping me out. Overall, I am glad week one is over!
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Hey Dana. I hope your pain is diminishing and you’re feeling more comfortable. I experienced almost the same thing when the nerve block wore off - it hurt like hell and my temperature started to spike. I called my surgeon late Friday night and told him what was going on - he suggested taking some Ibuprofin - I popped two 200 mG, dozed off about an hour later, and when I woke up the fever was gone, and the pain was gone too! AMAZING! I know there’s a bunch of discussion on here concerning Ibuprofin and repaired AT’s, but I asked my Dr. about it and he reassured me that it is safe. Don’t know HOW it worked, but it DID!
I reinjured myself 12 days after and had a 2nd surgery exactly 3 weeks after the 1st - NO pain / discomfort with that one.
I was also in a fiberglass cast for 4 weeks after the 2nd surgery - it was very comfortable and I felt completely reassured that the tendon was healing the whole time. Again - much discussion of casts VS boots, but I opted for the sure-fire protection of the cast (since I reinjured because I wasn’t wearing the boot and lost my balance after the 1st surgery).
Keep us posted on how you’re doing, and hang in there!
Jack
Jack, how did you re injure yourself? I haven’t got a chance to blog about week 2 so far, but today I put almost full weight on my cast on accident. It doesn’t hurt anymore now than it did before. I also slipped last week, but they said I’m healing well. So I am hoping this second slip up didn’t cause any issues. The first time I banged my heel on the ground when I fell, this time is was just weight put on it. I am with you and I definitely need to have the hard cast! I’m clumsy and it really doesnt bother me much. Thanks for your support!!!
Dana, My 1st surgery was on Feb. 14th - I injured it a week earlier while snowboarding. The surgical dressing / splint was on until the 22nd and I went into the boot then. Monday night (Feb. 25th) I was sleeping WITHOUT THE BOOT ON and got up to go to the bathroom - lost my balance on the crutches and stepped back on the foot, and I immediately knew that (1) I should have put the boot ON before I got off the bed and (2) I Fu*ked up the tendon again! It hurt, it swelled, and I laid awake the rest of the night beating myself up for what I’d just done.
My foot was angled at about 30 degrees in the cast so it was really difficult to put full weight on it. Dr. also had to wrap a graft around the tendon the 2nd time, so I had a bit more pain / stinging for a few weeks. I had a couple slips / trips in the cast; banged up a toe pretty bad when I slipped and landed on it. I never felt any real pain in the ankle / tendon area though. I did get some swelling on the footbed just in front of the heel and also on the ball of the foot furing the last two weeks. Elevation helped the best with that though, and the ice pack still transfers cold through the fiberglass pretty well. Keep smiling!
Hope your recovery goes well Dana, I was told to keep the boot on at night, and when reading different blogs I was a bit envious of people who were allowed to remove the boot to sleep in. But its not been a problem really, a bit of an effort to turn over but nothing much, my husband has not been damaged by me either! I was told to deflate the cushions on the ankle at bed time and that just gave a little movement which was good.
Jack that sounds miserable! I am not feeling any extra pain today so I think I got lucky! I am glad I’m in the hard cast for sure!
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I would be scared to not have anything on at all. With my luck my husband would kick me in the middle of the night! Haha.
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