ems72’s AchillesBlog

The big day finally came!  I elected to have the operation at Burnley - just because it’s nearer and easier for people to get to (especially with Rob (my hubby) having two teenagers and a toddler to look after!).  We got there at 7.30am as requested but I was still sat in the waiting room with a number of other people until 11am because no beds were available.  The nurses kept having to ask us to come into different rooms, to fill out forms and speak to anaesthetists (spelling?) etc.  I finally got given a bed at 12pm and realised that I definately wouldn’t be in and out in one day, which had been a possibility.

Was finally wheeled down to the theatre at 1pm and apparently didn’t come out until 5pm!  I vaguely remember coming round and being sick (which always happens to me when I have a general anaesthetic) and then came round again at about 7pm to see Rob sat next to me waiting.  My foot was in a cast and up on pillows, but they used a nerve block so I couldn’t actually feel it at all.  It was a bit weird to be honest - I felt like my foot wasn’t there! Anyway they let me have something eat, and sent Rob home and that was that.

The day after my foot had started to tingle but wasn’t particularly painful for most of the day.  I was a bit miffed to discover I wasn’t allowed out of bed for 48 hours, which would be up at 5pm on the following day, the Saturday.  I actually cried when Rob told me that.  I think the worst thing about the bed rest was having to use the bed pans - some of the nurses were brilliant, others were plain awful.  That night the nerve block finally wore off, and by 10pm I was in agony.  I’d already had ibuprofen and paracetamol at tea time, but ended up having to have a morphine based painkiller to help me sleep.  It worked in that I slept for some of the night, but it had a really weird effect on me the morning after.  I woke up and felt strange, out-of-it.  I sat with my breakfast and felt like I wanted to just sit and cry.  I didn’t want to speak or do anything at all (not like me lol)  It took until after lunch for it to completely wear off but was a very strange reaction that I wasn’t expecting.  I stuck to the normal painkillers after that and made sure I took them regularly enough, but to be honest the pain never go tthat bad again.

I was finally allowed home on the Sunday, after a visit from the physios to check that I could use the crutches and get up and down stairs.  Of course I was an expert by now after using them for 6 weeks, so they discharged me really quickly with a pack of co-codamol to use at home just in case.

I had my pre-op assessment a week before the operation itself.

My consultant, still lovely, explained that from examining the MRI scan, he could see there was an 8 cm gap between the ends of my tendon, and so he thought he would have to use the tendon from my big toe to close the gap and strengthen it.  The risks of this are that I could get nerve damage along the foot where that tendon was originally, and it might affect the balance on that foot, as your toes help you balance.

I asked how big the wound was going to be, and he said that it would go from the bottom of my ankle to mid way up my calf (bit scary!).  At this point I sort of just want to get it over and done with.

The consultant said that if the operation is early in the morning I might be out the same day, but that it’s more likely I’ll be in until the day after.  So I’ve told work that I’ll be off sick on the Thursday and Friday (14th and 15th) but that I might be back on the Monday depending on how I get on afterwards.