dllamma28’s AchillesBlog

My injury happened playing baseball on June 2nd, I have myself to blame as I hit a poor ground ball to short stop and tried too hard to beat it out to first base. Half way there I felt a pop in my right ankle and collapsed. I knew right away what had happened. Now let me give you a little history about my self. I am 42 and live in Winnipeg. I play hockey year round and was coerced into coming out of retirement and play baseball. Last time I did this I pulled a hammy early in the season.  I have come to the realization that I am getting older and have to prepare myself before I go and play any sport. I tore my groin a few years ago playing hockey and now I stretch quite a bit before I play. I had stretched quite a bit before playing baseball on this day but it obviously didn’t help.  I am wondering if this is hereditary as it happened to my father a number of years ago.  Back to the injury, after having my diagnosis confirmed I was put in a cast and had to decide whether or not I wanted surgery.  I opted for the surgery  after doing some research and talking to various surgeons it seemed the best road to take as my tear was not too high and would be able to be reattached.. Had the surgery 5 days later on the 7th. Was put in a front cast which allowed me to ice it in the back which was nice as it was quite sore over the initial couple of days. Was given tylenol 3’s for pain which were ok but made me constipated so I switched to tramacet and was much better.

I didn’t want to stay bed ridden for too long and the crutches were a pain in the ass so while doing my research came across the Iwalk which seemed like a great option. I did more research on it and my insurance covered 80% so I ordered it up. Let me tell you it made a huge difference once it came. It’s very easy to set up and took 1 day to get used to and then I was off. It allowed me to go to work attend my kids football games which I coach and not just sit on the sidelines. I was able to mow my lawn and help around the house which my wife appreciated very much. Now don’t get me wrong I still spent most of my time lying down with my leg up but it was great to have the options to get around.  I went for my first visit to my Dr last week on the 20th and had my cast removed and put into a boot Ossur is the brand. I had 5 wedges put in and am to take one out every week over the next 6 weeks. I just removed my first wedge today. I am PWB with the boot for the first 2 weeks so have been back on the crutches, but I was able to us the Iwalk with the boot but can’t do it for too long as the boot is a bit too long and heavy. Didn’t know if I should sleep with it on but searched the blogs and found out it was the best solution. Sleeping has not been a problem what so ever, I do loosen it up a bit so it’s not too tight. My biggest problem is not being able to drive, I have debated trying to teach myself to drive with my left foot but after sitting in my vehicle with the boot on there is not enough room to attempt this. The only way would be to take the boot off. The blogs have been very helpful in finding the right questions to ask and figuring how long this might take. I am hoping to be walking by early August.

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