This page is a place for me to share with my fellow bloggers other sources of information and recycle emails and such.

Here is an email I sent to a friend. With the help of this site I felt that I could make a valuable contribution in answering his concerns about upcoming surgery.

To my friend and teammate,
You want some help, no problem. Ruptured my achilles tendon on 3/21 and had surgical repair on 3/27. Thought I was getting a great early start to the season. Biking was feeling good, but that night in karate while sparring… POP! Classic ATR.
(Another cycling teammate saw me riding strong just a couple of days before I popped it.)

My biggest tip for you right now. Work on core strength. Having that in place before your surgery will make everything easier. And continue to find additional exercise that works for you all during recovery. If you want to work aerobic capacity, the UBE (upper body ergometer) is an excellent replacement while your lower body is unable to bike/run/walk. I have an article here somewhere about how an injury like this can be viewed as a great opportunity. I will send it to you when I find it.

Stay optimistic. Be glad you have a good job, benefits, and all the other social support you need. When your friends start to ask how they can help, accept everything graciously. And hire out those darn projects around home that you just cannot seem to get to. When organizing your helpful friends, try using this free resource.
http://carecalendar.org/

Also, look for an online blogging community related to your injury. I have found one for achilles injury and it has been a great source of info and a way to stay involved in my own recovery.

My biggest dip was just before the surgery and right after. I’m 11 days post-op now and will have my first PT appt on Thursday. I know it’s a long road, but I’m optimistic.

hang in there,
Bill Delaney

ps. There is a lot of information coming out recently about tendon and ligament health and regenerative possibilities. These things are more ‘alive’ than previously thought.

——————————————————————————————————————–
Friends original email to which I replied

Some info here, especially for those of you who might expect to see me out on the road/trail…
A few of you know that I hurt my knee three weeks ago. Not many of you know at this point that things are much worse than the original diagnosis. The current prognosis is surgery some time in the next few weeks, and probably not fully back on the bike until June or July.
Not surprisingly, I’m pretty bummed about this. Any suggestions for avoiding depression/insanity are appreciated…