darren99’s AchillesBlog

I’m 1.5 years out and still have some numbness on my heel. There is less numbness there then initially so some numbness does go away. My doc said there may be some numbness that is permanent. So the remaining numbness in my heel may be permanent. I do keep massaging it in order to give it some stimulation since I do know that nerves can regrown.

Good to hear you seem to be having success this time around, Darren. My story is complicated, so I won’t bore you with too many details. I didn’t have an ATR, but a Haglund’s deformity removal and Achilles reconstruction, after a posterior arthroscopy to remove an OS trigonum (floating piece of bone) and FHL tendon repair. My Haglund’s surgery was March 2017. In October 2017 while working to try to break up scar tissue I developed nerve issues - numbness and tingling in the sole of my foot through my heel, down to my big toe, and along the outside of my foot to my baby toe. Felt like my foot was asleep ALL the time. They told me it was a sensory nerve issue, not a functional nerve issue. So feels funny, but doesn’t effect function. It lasted 5 or 6 months, then eased completely, other than occasional tingling. I had had no more nerve issues until the last few weeks where I’ve had a little bit of on and off tingling again, and notice my foot falling asleep kind of spontaneously for no good reason. But again - it’s just sensory - ie. not a big deal (for the people not wearing the foot!!). As I said, my story is complicated

Hi atr2011! Apologies for not replying to your comment…I received no notification. Thank you for sharing your similar story to mine.

I have sent you an email and will post a comment on your blog. Hope you’re healing well!

[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

Darren,
I feel your pain. I to have a similar story to yours. I just started a blog here too. I completely rupture my achilles in Sept. 2011 doing Taekewondo. I was 42 years old at the time and a very active female. Conservative healing was highly recommended by the OS. Trusting the surgeon since I was at one of the best clinics in Southwestern Ontario, I took his recommendation and did a whole year of PT at their clinic in London with the PT that helped write the paper on conservative healing. Long story short after 8 months of PT, 1/week in London, Ontario. I felt my results were not a desirable one and would question my recovery to the PT. He would get annoyed with me and say it just takes time and I will be fine. Well here I am 6 years of physio and chiropractor visits, not to mention dealing with the mental stress of not having your physical strength and dealing with the pain that comes with all of this. I pushed forward to see another OS at the same clinic. This process was lengthy on wait times. It took 2.5 years (started in 2014) total from first referral to surgery. Once I did see the new OS with an MRI, he l

WHAT???? 9-12 months??? Yikes! Wow, Darren - that really stinks! Maybe you wanna look around, like shell said, at smaller markets. Or, come to Wisconsin and have it done in a few weeks! Of course, you’ll pay through the nose, but at least it’ll be done!

Sorry you didn’t get better news.

Oh wow. That’s a long time. I know the wait times here in Southern Ontario for things like knee & hip replacements can be 1-2 years. It’s terrible. Could you have it done in a smaller market? Lots of times here, smaller hospitals don’t have the wait times. I waited 3.5 months for my surgery and that seemed torturously long. I’m sorry you didn’t get better news.

** UPDATE ** I just learned today that surgery wait time is 9 to 12 months. For as grateful as I am for all we have in Canada, waiting another year to have this correctly is ridiculous and embarrassing. It is so deflating when I found out how long it would be, especially considering the renewed hope I had that there was hope of it being fixed soon.

Thanks for all the previous comments.

I read your story and really admire your persistence in the face of medical professionals putting up so many walls. That’s what it looks like to me, at least, and I wish you the best in the next phases of recovery. Even if it takes a little while to get the surgery performed, at least you’ll have that feeling of vindication and hope for a more complete recovery to buoy your spirits. Definitely keep us up to date here on the blog…

Hey Darren. First of all, I feel so bad for you that you had to endure such pain and incompetence for these past years. That sounds just awful!

I, too, ruptured my left AT in 2012, but back in Feb. of that year. So, by the time you got on achillesblog.com, I was probably not on it much, anymore. Given that I really wanted to continue playing sports, volleyball in particular, I selected the surgery route. At that time, my OS believed the results to be stronger, with a lower chance of rerupture. So, I was all in. All went well for me, and I have been pretty darn good, playing vball year-round…….until April 1, 2017, when I ruptured my right AT the same way I did my left, playing vball!

This time, I couldn’t go the surgical route, even though I wanted to. I had a heart attack back on Nov. 30, 2016 (at only 49 1/2 years old), so the Anesthesiologists wouldn’t let me have surgery - too high of a risk to have a heart attack on the table. So, I’m forced to go the non-surgery route this time. Of course, I had to read a bunch of studies, etc., and it appears that with the new protocols, the success rate of non-op route is almost as

I read your whole story. I agree, just telling the tale can be very therapeutic. I am at 4 weeks post op from Achilles surgery that was nessecitated due to a previous surgery that I was promised would solve all my problems. Although, my first surgery was only one year ago, so my timeline is much shorter than yours. So I totally get the emotional roller coaster of the prospect of starting all over again.
It sounds like your care the first time around was inadequate, to say the least. My OS is a leading researcher on the conservative approach to ATR healing, but stresses the huge importance of early weight bearing. I do find our health care system (also Canadian) to be very frustrating, in that the wait times are long, and you never really know if you’re being treated by someone who really knows what they’re doing and is up to date on all the latest findings.
It sounds like you’re on the right track now and in good care. I’m also in my mid 40’s and I justified having ANOTHER surgery, and starting all over again, as (hopefully only) one more year of dealing with this, or living the next 40 years in pain. It seemed like an e