Now, Im officially caught up in my blog. After spending the last few days in a boot, I definitely spent some time reflecting on my days being stuck in a splint/cast. I spent 37 days in a splint/cast. First off, I just want to say how amazing it feels to actually take a shower without a bag on my leg. I would wear the shower bag the hospital gave me, wrap that with towels at the bottom and top. Then I would put a trash bag over it and duct tape it shut. This would generally take 10-15 min to accomplish. Now it takes a minute to get the boot off. I am amazed on how much muscle I have lost in my right calf. It’s crazy! I honestly don’t wear my boot as much as I should. I’ve slept a couple times with out it. I also noticed how much of a better mood I’ve been in. There have been several days were I felt so depressed. But I keep telling myself that this isn’t a sprint, but a marathon. Plus I honestly don’t want to push anything. I haven’t worked yet, but hopefully I can start next week. Now looking back, I’ve spent countless hours in bed. That is something I want to change. Now that I have a boot, I need to start being more active since in a little over a week I’ll be able to putting weight on my foot. While in a cast/splint, I would use my scooter most of the time. I would only use my crutches to go to the bathroom. If you have the money, a knee scooter is definitely worth it. It makes moving around so much easier. And you can actually carry things with one hand while steering with the other. Going down declines are definitely my exciting part of my day. I’m going to be sad when I have to return it (I rented one). I’m now looking forward to actually trying to walk with my boot on. It’s funny how much I look forward or get excited for the little things. I think that is what has helped me get through this rough time in my life, “enjoy the little things.” With that said, good night!

Monday 6/16/14
I’ve spent the last two weeks in a hard cast. After removing it, the doc said everything was going fine. He checked my ROM and was very pleased to see how much movement I could do. He gave me the option of wearing a cast for another two weeks or a boot. The boot, duh! He explained that I am still non-weight bearing (NWB) and I will get the wedges in my boot in two weeks, then I’ll be partial weight bearing (PWB). I can also take the boot off to shower and do little movements to help the fibers heal in the right direction. I still have to sleep with it on. He also is allowing me to go back to work. He said that I can’t work too long and I might have to take numerous breaks though. He said in two weeks I can start working full shifts. Baby steps!

Monday 6/2/14 - 2 weeks Post Op
Today I got my stitches out. Taking them out didn’t hurt at all, it just felt like someone was pinching me. After my doctor took them out, he test my range of motion (ROM). He was very surprise at how much I could move without any pain. But I could definitely feel the tightness of my tendon. He said I was to be in a hard cast for 2 weeks with my ankle at a slight angle. I was to come back in 2 weeks to remove the cast and see how I’m doing. The next two weeks went by fast. I didn’t do too much or anything exciting. I’m still out of work and I finished off Numb3rs on Netflix. Spent most of my days sleeping, I went out of the house occasionally but other than that I took it easy.

Tuesday 5/27/14
It’s been a week since my surgery. My splint was taken off and I got my first look at my incision. The incision was not as long as I’d thought it would be, it was more like 9 inches in length. My doc said that it is healing nicely. He said the sutures have to stay in another week but other than that, everything is going fine. I was to see him in another week to get the sutures out and be put in a fiberglass cast for a couple of weeks. They put a splint on and I was on my way.

Monday 5/19/14 - Day 9
This was the day before my surgery. The doctor went over the MRI with me. He told me that there was not much left of my tendon. He said it most of “vaporized” when it happened. He went over the options with me. I could not go through with the surgery and let it try to heal on its own. Or I could go through with the surgery and he could try to suture what was left of my tendon. Or he could use a cadaver tendon to try to repair it. Nothing was confirmed, so I decided to let him open me up and leave the decision up to him when actually saw what was left. After that I went through the pre op, I got some blood drawn, told how everything was going to go. I left the hospital very scared. I didn’t know what would happened and hoped for the best.

Tuesday 5/20/14 - Day 10 - Surgery
Today was the day. I showed up to the hospital still uneasy. I met with my doctor beforehand. He explained the options again. Again I left it up to him. He said the surgery should last about an hour. I then met with the anesthesiologist and he explained what he was going to do. That’s when I went to sleep.

I woke up while the nurse was putting the splint on me. Shortly after my mom and doctor came in. He explained what he did. He said when he opened me up, he found my tendon balled up near my ankle. That was way it didn’t show up on the MRI. He reattached it to the other end. He said my incision was about 12 inches since he had to reattach it near the top. He said had to suture some loose fibers all along my tendon. But other than that everything went fine. I couldn’t have been more happy I didn’t have to use a cadaver tendon. I left the hospital a couple minutes later.

I was not in much pain, I felt like I drank a keg the night before. I also woke up after surgery with my throat hurting. I was later told they stuck a tube down there. It would have been nice to know that before hand. But other than that, I didn’t feel to bad. I sleep the rest of the day.

Wednesday 5/21/14 - 1 Day Post Op
Today was definitely the day I had the most pain. The drugs I was given masked some of pain but when they wore off I was definitely feeling it. I didn’t do much but try to rest. When I couldn’t sleep I was watching Numb3rs on Netflix. This show definitely filled most of my time.

Thursday and Friday I didn’t do much. I felt better everyday. Saturday was my first day out. I decided to go with my mom and drive an hour and a half to my nephew’s promotion/birthday dinner. I promised to be there, and I was going to let my achilles stop me. It was definitely nice to get out of bed and do something. But this time I had almost no pain in my leg. The drive was nice. Sunday I got out of the house again. It was my sister’s birthday so we went out to brunch. After I ate ,I left them and went to the mall next door. While scooting around, I was getting weird looks by everyone. Like they hadn’t seen someone using a scooter for a leg injury. Oh well, I didn’t let them get to me and I went exploring. After that I spent the rest of the day resting at home.

Sunday 5/11/14 - Day 1

I called out of work and rested.

Monday 5/12/14 - Day 2

I felt a little better and decided I should try to work. I am a manager at a sub shop so I am on my feet for most of the day. Needless to say I felt like I didn’t accomplish much. Trying to do my job on crutches was definitely near impossible.

Tuesday 5/13/14 - Day 3

I saw the specialist. He told me that I completed ruptured my tendon. He didn’t know exactly how much of the tendon I had left so he ordered for an MRI. The MRI was set for Friday. He also said the surgery was the best option and he set it for Tuesday 5/20/14 and wanted to see me the day before to go over the MRI. I was told that I shouldn’t have worked the day before and I can’t go back to work until further notice.

Wednesday 5/14/14 - Day 4

Just before this injury, I finished up my last semester of college at Arizona State University. Today was my undergraduate commencement. With the help of a knee scooter, I was able to make it through it.

Thursday 5/15/14 - Day 5

On this day I had two separate convocations that I was not going to miss for my completed degree. Unlike the commencement, I was to be recognized and walk up on stage and receive my diploma cover/certificate. Both convocations were very helpful and made special arrangements for my situation. One they held the line up so I can go up and back down the ramp. The other there was no ramp, but they sat me on stage and I had quite the view. After the convocations, my family held a grad party for me. The dinner was awesome and my family is awesomer!

Friday 5/16/14 - Day 6

My friend, Chad, picked me up and took me to get my MRI. After about an hour and a half of laying motionless thinking how I would never be the same, I was done. After, we decided to take a trip to the mall and meet up with some more of our friends to watch a movie.

Saturday 5/17/14 - Day 7

I spent this day at a dodgeball tournament. It was the end of the season tournament for the dodgeball league that I play in. I couldn’t play but I was shagging (retrieving dodgeballs) for my teams. Both my teams won the championship. I also won some last minute injury award at their award ceremony.

Sunday 5/18/14 - Day 8

After a busy week, I finally could just stay home and rest.

May 10th, 2014

My injury occurred during a dodgeball tournament. I have been playing dodgeball for almost 7 years. While playing, I have accumulated numerous injuries ranging from jammed fingers, twisted ankles and the occasional cramp. On this day I played in two divisions, open and coed. There was a lot of dodgeball played. I got through the open division, round robin and bracket play, perfectly fine. After we played the coed round robin I still felt fine. My team on the other hand wasn’t playing very well. But we pulled things together when the bracket played started. We won our first and second(upset the #1 seed) matches. Near the end of the third match, I took a step back and heard the sound of someone slapping the court behind me. I turned around and saw no one was even close to me. That’s when I realized that sound came from me. I tried to walk but realized that was not going to happen. I was helped off the court and applied ice to my ankle. I didn’t feel much pain when it happened. I was more hurt that I couldn’t finish the tournament, my team ended up losing that match and the following match. After the tournament, my two friends and I headed to the ER. It was late and it took forever. But after a few hours I was seen and my worst fear was confirmed, I torn my Achilles’ tendon. Since it was the weekend, all they could was put me in a splint and set an appointment to see a specialist. I was sent home to rest.

Hello, my name is Tyler. I have never done this before but feel like I should at least document this major event. When this happened to me, the first thing I did was search the internet and came across this wonderful site. Reading about people  who are going through the same things that I am have definitely helped me out along the way. I currently am 4weeks post op. I have definitely gone through a lot within that time. So over the next few days I want to catch up and hopefully by the end of the week I can be up to date.