Acceptance, Healing and Happiness

Wonderful Achilles Community,

It is been 42 days since I was placed in my first cast. I get my second cast off this Wednesday November 19th, 2014. Yaaaaaahooo! I cannot not wait to wear a removable boot. I had a waterproof cast that made the entire process pretty civilized and easy to deal with, so all in all I was pretty happy. Still, a boot will be a great relief. I miss looking at my lower leg and foot!

Now I’m sitting here, with too much time on my hands, wondering when it will be safe to return to my job. I work at a fast-paced hospital with two of my weekly shifts being 12 hours long. I am up and down constantly and walking to and from lobbies that are anywhere from 100 feet to 200 yards away.  Most of my time is face-to-face with patients, so I don’t have many moments to put my foot up if needed and many hours during the week I’m standing and teaching. I am unable to drag my knee caddy to the office due to the number of stairs and hills between my car and the entry point to my office so that’s out of the question. And at 6′4 you wouldn’t want me buzzing around the narrow hallways in fear of whacking someone and tumbling to the ground. Holy re-injury! And crutches would be even more tricky.

I’ve read some entries from our community but have still not found a clear answer asked about when it would be safe to return to work.  Once I’m in 2 shoes? FWB without the need of crutches, knee caddies or iWalks? My Dr. had no clear direction indicating “it’s up to you.”  While I like his flexibility, I need clear healthy direction. Come on now!

One big consideration is that I want to have the time to do the necessary physical therapy. Currently at six weeks, I’m doing upper body workouts 2x a week with a great trainer and it is making a world of difference for my sanity and health.  Once I am in the boot, hopefully I will be starting physical therapy in addition to my training.

Does anyone in a similar position as me have any real life experiences to share? As always, I am very grateful for your assistance.

Here is to all of us having a successful, speedy recovery!

Onward.

Richard

I’m week 5, and in my second cast. I’ve been NWB since Oct 6th, 2014. I’m looking forward to standing on two feet next week. I have to say, my modified iWalk 2.0 has been a life saver to my first 5 weeks. I can’t imagine how I would have gotten by without it.  I’ve found this site incredibly helpful but at times a bit daunting. I recommend reading only the blogs that remain hopeful. Recovery is challenging enough as is :).

I also have been working with a great trainer, 2x a week to help me keep my upper body balanced and in shape and help me keep my weight down. I really needed to work with someone because up until 2 weeks ago, I have been mostly just sitting around all day.I have been watching my nutrition and daily calories to keep my weight the same.

I’m wondering about boots when I get my cast off. Kaiser Permanente issues Donjoy boots but as many of you have read the Vacocast seems to be the boot of choice and has many options which seem to make the healing process go by quicker and easier. That being said, many people have complained about how it is stretched their tendon when first using it. My concern is also that my physical therapist may not feel comfortable guiding me while using a booth that he’s not familiar with. Already I had to introduce the iWalk to both my podiatrist and my PT. I’ll let you know what I do.

I’d love to hear from you all. Thank you to everyone for all your input so far. Take care.