4 weeks post-op. Back from Vegas.

In April three friends and I made a plan to revisit Vegas — a reunion weekend for the four of us since we did a similar trip a few years back. We are all moms of young kids and these getaways are gold to us. We had it planned: June 2 to ­ 5, cocktails by the pool, maybe a show, a little clubbing, lots of shopping, loads of laughs . . . so of course I was dismayed when I got the news about my 6-month recovery. Although my airfare and hotel were not refundable or transferable I offered to bow out; I couldn’t imagine my girlfriends dragging my suitcase/stuff as I hobbled around Sin City.

They wouldn’t hear of it. So on Thursday, I packed my crutches and away we flew.

Here’s how we did it.
• My friend Susanne, a manager who is exceptionally good at organizing people, asked the airline to have a wheelchair waiting for us at check-in. She pushed me to the gate — so we could meet the other two in our party for a pre-flight cocktail — but airline staff would have taken me/us if we’d wanted. This worked best on the return flight; a staff member pushed the wheelchair and took us through all the shortcuts to clear security in Las Vegas.
• I used my crutches minimally. I am fully weight-bearing now, but I’m slow and I get tired, so it was easiest to either get wheeled around (for shopping or sightseeing), or to use the crutches for short distances (from our room to the pool or casino). The hotel let us sign out a wheelchair at no charge and we were free to take this wherever we wanted, in taxis and down the strip.
• Before the trip I crutched around the block from my office to the medical supply store and chatted with a sales associate there. I bought some clear, waterproof medical tape for swimming. Although my incision is pretty well healed, I don’t like to think about what kind of bacteria might be floating in a Las Vegas pool . . . yuck. I was also nervous about going un-booted (I think someone here compared it to taking a turtle out of its shell) I worried I might get kicked by an enthusiastic kid, or taken out by a drunken Jersey Shore hopeful. But it worked out well. I walked up to the ‘lazy river’ in the air cast, and my friends acted like blockers when I was slipping in and out of the water and even while we were floating around on our inflatable inner tubes. Moving my ankle around gently in the water felt terrific, and it was easy enough to dry my leg off and slide the cast back on when I got out of the water. It might seem a bit pathetic to say this: but swimming was probably my highlight of the trip.
• As an aside: at the medical supply store I also bought some Mepiform. Has anyone tried this? It’s a thin, flexible, self-adherent gel sheet that apparently, over time will help soften and flatten scars. I know you told me not to worry, Norm, but I do have that addiction to pretty shoes. Aside from vanity, I have read a few people saying that shoes rubbing on their scars became an issue later, so if it helps to cut down on that I’ll be happy. I just cut a little strip and stick it over my scar. It will need to be changed roughly every 7 days. It’s a bit pricy ($20 for a sheet that I expect will last a couple of months), so if you’re not concerned about your scar, probably not worth the money. I will let you all know how it goes.
• Finally, and I know this is basic common sense, but not necessarily easy in Vegas: I tried not to overdo the drinking. Obviously I didn’t want to take a tipsy misstep and re-rupture. And because I was sharing a room with one of my pals and didn’t want to be undoing the Velcro on my air cast all night (taking it on and off to use the washroom), this paid off in multiple ways. I still had a super time; I have wonderful, funny, exceptionally helpful friends. Next time we travel I plan to be fully functional, but it still turned out to be a great trip all around, even if I did lose $20 on the penny slots.
Worth noting: we’re everywhere! As I was checking in at the airport to return home, a stranger in line asked if I had blown out my Achilles. I wondered how he could know that, until I noticed he had the identical Ossur air cast to mine. He is a fireman from Victoria (our provincial capital, just a short ferry ride from Vancouver). He is nine weeks post-op, did it walking off the soccer field, and looking forward to going cast-less starting next week. It’s an unfortunately small world when it comes to
Achilles tendon ruptures, apparently.

Deana

PS. Go Canucks Go! (Not letting last night’s game 3 blowout in the Stanley Cup final get me down.)

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