Goodbye at 30 weeks!

Posted on September 8th, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning all,

I am writing this post to say this will be my last post until my one year anniversary. Life has been back to normal for quite some time now and my injured leg is still making progress. I have to say if it wasn’t for this site and all the valuable lessons I learned from you guys, I would have been lost on this journey and I have to say I thank you all and appreciate you all very much. The only thing that I still have an issue with is bending my big toe without much effort…so keep working on those marbles guys! So barring any unforeseen circumstances, I bid you all a fond farewell. I will be back in 22 weeks for an official so long. I will leave you with this…our injury is the end of life as we know it. From the point of rupture, we begin a process of rebuilding our minds and our bodies all in one. We find out how strong we really are and what we are capable of overcoming. The beauty of the journey is in finding your inner strength and understanding and appreciating what we had before our injury and knowing whatever lies ahead, we will be ready for. God bless you all and see you in 5 months!

your friend,

Isaac

2 Comments »

27 weeks non op

Posted on August 17th, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning all,

I am at 27 weeks post injury today and I must say it’s been pretty much back to normal for a while now. No swelling, no pain, no limp, nothing. I am doing assisted single leg raises which I will post a video to the Facebook Achilles site today sometime. I just wanted to come on here and let everyone know that with patience, diligence, and focus, we will all be where we want to be with this recovery. I thank God for this challenge because it has opened up my eyes to so much more about myself and about others. I found a strength within myself that I didn’t know was there and I will carry it forward with me for the rest of my days. Throughout this process I had one scare and that was when I was in the boot and I tried to ride my bike and lost my balance and had to put my injured foot down pretty hard to catch myself. I will say that little incident increased my focus on being careful big time! I have met some very courageous people through this site and I will say without it, I would have been lost and clueless on this injury. I hope and pray everyone who is unfortunate enough to have an ATR will find this site as well as the Facebook page because it’s value and information is priceless. Remember guys, OS’s know how to follow a protocol, but only YOU know how to listen to your body. Speak up if you have concerns and don’t just trust anything your OS is telling you. Become a student and study your Achilles injury…go back to school so to speak and learn all about what needs to be done to help in your recovery from vitamins to exercises that enhance to rehab. I am not sure when I will touch back in so I leave with something I learned while early on in this journey…Find the beauty in the process. It’s there.

1 Comment »

body weight and single calf raises

Posted on July 13th, 2015 by eyceman

Good afternoon,

I just thought to myself that my body weight may be a factor in my inability to do single calf raises. I am in pretty good shape, but I do weigh 204 lbs. I am sure that has to play a part in this right? I can honestly say, if I weighed 170 lbs, I’d be able to do single legged calf raises unassisted. Just wanted to ask the group their opinion on this. I know it has no bearing on your overall recovery, but it is in the back of my head.

6 Comments »

Danger Zone

Posted on July 9th, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning,

I feel like I am at the point of this recovery where I almost feel normal, but am far from it. I feel like I could do anything I could do pre-injury, but that is not the case. My tendon feels strong and my mind is trying to tell my body "you can play basketball"…trust me I wont be doing that :) I also feel as though I’ve hit a plateau of sorts. My progress has slowed to a crawl as I am not seeing the drastic improvements of weeks past. I guess it’s all part of the journey so I will roll with it. I am happy where I am at and continue to improve slowly…I have 6 1/2 more months before my 1 year anniversary so 6 1/2 more months of recovery.

God bless

2 Comments »

first leg workout in since injury

Posted on July 6th, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning all,

Yesterday was my first official leg day at the gym since my injury. Although I didn’t do too much since it was an after thought behind my shoulder workout. I started with some leg extensions and then to some leg presses and finished it off with seated calf raises. It felt refreshing to get some actual weight under my legs start to build back my strength. I’m 206 lbs and it looks like I skipped leg day for a lifetime right now :)

4 Comments »

20 weeks already? non op

Posted on June 29th, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning all,

Today is exactly 20 weeks since that fateful night of basketball and I must say it has been a heckuva ride thus far. I feel extremely blessed to have recovered well to this point and it feels like my tendon is strong and on the right track. I haven’t been able to get into PT for a few weeks, but to be honest, I didn’t feel like I was getting anything more than what I was doing at home already anyways. I do have another appointment scheduled for tomorrow so we will see how that goes. At this point of my recovery I am almost 100% limp free, but it does become more noticeable when my leg gets tired. I’m hoping to be limp free by month 6. I can jog a bit and haven’t pushed myself to go for a run, I have done weighted calf raises, I even done a single calf raise, but told myself there is no need to rush it so I stopped after 10 reps and haven’t done them in a few days. I do still get very brief moments of small pain in my heel, but nothing major and maybe a 1 or 2 on a scale of 10 on the pain meter. I am very excited to be back close to normal and I am still very careful with my Achilles. I think I need to train myself that I don’t need to look down and watch my every step :) I was walking into a grocery store yesterday and felt a little stretch like maybe I took too long of a stride and there was some pain and it felt weird for a brief moment but then went away. I got home and the little knot that had developed about 12 weeks into my recovery was gone, so I think it was scar tissue that broke apart. My tendon looks much better now :)

The road hasn’t been easy by a long shot, but it does get better in time. A big part of my recovery has been appreciating the beauty in the journey and asking what is this teaching me and what was the reason for me having to go through this. I believe I am stronger mentally, I am more patient and I wont take anything for granted. I will continue to learn from this and drink in the moment. From injury, to confusion, from cast, to doubt, from boot, to determination, from 2 shoes, to hope…

God bless!

5 Comments »

GOUT

Posted on June 12th, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning,

Does anyone suffer from bouts of gout in their feet? Since my injury, I have had at least 3 bouts of gout occur in my injured foot. I am wondering if there is some correlation between the two. I am currently dealing with it in my big toe, at least it feels like gout to me. It is causing me to limp again after I was finally able to walk limp free just days ago. Oh well, just another blip in the radar and I’m not too worried about it. So I have 17 weeks and 4 days post AR and so far so good. Keep up the good work everybody!

2 Comments »

A question about re-injury

Posted on June 4th, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning,

I am currently a few days past 16 weeks and I was wondering what it would take to reinjure my Achilles at this point? I saw a video about a guy re-rupturing his at 16 weeks just walking up a hill so it made me wonder how safe am I at this point. I still have tightness, tender areas and aches, but I think those might be normal to have still at this point of my recovery? My PT told me yesterday to massage my Achilles area between my calf and heel because it was still tighter than the uninjured leg. I still have a limp that is more noticeable in the morning and almost goes away at days end. Any information would be helpful.

Thanks

6 Comments »

16 WEEKS SINCE THE INJURY

Posted on June 1st, 2015 by eyceman

Good afternoon,

Today is exactly 16 weeks since my injury and so far all is well. As you may know I decided to go the non surgical route and I am happy with the results to date. I have been in 2 shoes about 7 weeks or so and still get aches from overuse or overstretching. I have only managed to attend 3 PT sessions, but I have been doing home therapy since week 6 and I see good results. Brady Browne’s videos on youtube have been a blessing since I found them. I tried some short distance jogging and no pain or anything. My only concern, if you could call it that is I watched a video of another ATR patient who went non op route and snapped his again at 16 weeks just walking up a hill. I am still very cautious and shorten my steps if I go up a hill. My AT feels strong and like I said, I am happy thus far. I still cant believe it’s been 4 months already. To those who have recently injured their AT, find the beauty in the journey and be patient because time really does fly by. Before you know it, you will be out of a cast, out of a boot, off of crutches and walking again. God bless!

1 Comment »

WEEK 14 NON OP OS APPT

Posted on May 21st, 2015 by eyceman

Good morning,

Today will be my last OS appointment as he said I will be discharged after he takes a look at my Achilles once more. I do have one thing to bring up to him and that’s my lump that’s underneath my calf muscle. It’s been there since day one and I thought it might just be from my sock causing some swelling. There is no pain, so I hope its ok. My PT looked at it yesterday and said it should be fine, but I just need to get confirmation from my OS. I can see where my calf muscle ends and then there’s this lump. Anyone else have something like this while in recovery?

Thanks

8 Comments »

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  • Recent Comments

  • skelonas | October 18th, 2015 | 11:23 am

    Keep working hard - we’ll all be excited to see your progress at the end of a year!

  • ejbvmi | September 17th, 2015 | 6:35 am

    Congrats! I look forward to posting a similar farewell… although I am still a few months away from that eagerly-awaited milestone.

  • beachy12 | August 18th, 2015 | 12:08 am

    What is the name of the Facebook page? I’d love to join.

  • skelonas | August 11th, 2015 | 9:15 pm

    Hey eyceman - I’ve been struggling with the 1-leg heel raise too, but as you and others said, as long we are gaining progress and moving forward, we’ll be ok! I also hear you on your last post about staying away from bball. My pt has me playing lightly by myself for up to 30 mins a couple times a week, but that is not the same as playing in a game for sure. There were some guys playing pickup the other day and I really had to force myself to not play, as I kind of felt like I’d be okay. Kobe didn’t start playing games until 8 months post-op, so if he can wait, so can we!

  • dlareg | July 15th, 2015 | 7:50 pm

    I agree with Ed, don’t rush it!

  • eyceman | July 14th, 2015 | 4:41 pm

    That’s right brutha! Thank you!

  • Ed | July 14th, 2015 | 4:07 pm

    LOL eyceman, the tone on your calf will come back. I would think that if you can do easily a calf raise with your good leg you should be able with the injured one, but again don’t rush it!!! Take it from me that worries and rushes everything. Take care my friend, take it slow, you are almost there!!! ;)

  • eyceman | July 14th, 2015 | 1:33 pm

    I think its just a matter of time before I can do single calf raises. I feel the strength coming back. The one thing that bothers me is that I once had very good looking calves…well not anymore lol

  • bobfv | July 14th, 2015 | 12:14 pm

    I think it plays a factor, but so does your overall strength and fitness - if you are an athlete with good muscular development then your weight should not matter because your musculature compensates for it. Needless to say, an endomorph with extra body weight will have a more difficult time than a mesomorph.

  • edhdez | July 9th, 2015 | 3:23 pm

    Agreed with oscillot here. You are doing great my friend! Yoiu are almost there, keep it up!

  • oscillot | July 9th, 2015 | 12:45 pm

    Hang in there, Eyceman. Best not to “write checks your body can’t cash.” You don’t want to “crash and burn.”

  • ejbvmi | July 9th, 2015 | 8:47 am

    Congrats!

  • spursrule | July 6th, 2015 | 6:52 pm

    nice job and congrats…

  • donna | July 6th, 2015 | 1:48 pm

    YAY you!

  • bobfv | July 6th, 2015 | 12:27 pm

    Kick it old school! I am doing leg presses in the boot and can’t wait to start working on my puny right calf muscle! Good luck!

  • Stuart | July 5th, 2015 | 2:00 pm

    Melba/Glen - find out the foot size first. If the boot doesn’t fit properly it will not help.

    [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

  • melba | July 5th, 2015 | 9:11 am

    Hi Sir Glen.
    Sir thank you I feel so down right now but your message uplift me
    I thought no one will notice me..
    But here you are Sir one good samaritan.
    I will surely return your boots Sir once I already recover.
    Thank you in advance for your help Sir.
    I live in the Philippines.
    Here’s my details Sir.
    Melba Ajonan
    Purok Little Baguio
    Brgy. Hagakhakin
    Gumaca Quezon Phillippines
    4307

  • Glen | July 5th, 2015 | 6:57 am

    Hi Melba whats ur address ? Maybe i can send my boots..?

  • Evan | July 3rd, 2015 | 12:41 am

    That was good for a laugh. Well played!

  • eyceman | June 29th, 2015 | 11:57 am

    Thank you!

  • bobfv | June 29th, 2015 | 10:45 am

    Glad to hear you are doing well. Best of luck in your continued recovery.

  • oscillot | June 23rd, 2015 | 3:40 pm

    Been there, brother. They say husbands should prioritize their wife’s happiness over being right. It’s hard at first, but really works, and in the end, it’s a heck of a lot easier than divorce. Random, pervasive compliments and gratitude also help. Good luck!

  • eyceman | June 12th, 2015 | 2:20 pm

    thanks Michael. I popped pills as soon as I felt the aches. Naproxen

  • michael67 | June 12th, 2015 | 1:58 pm

    Eyceman, yes I have had the gout in the foot/big toe more times than I care to remember. About 3 or 4 days after my Achilles surgery, I got the gout in the big toe on the same side. In the splint/cast the toe swelled up with no room to expand so the pain was compounded by the pressure. It continued off and on for a week, very painful. The gout can be brought about by stress, inadequate fluid intake, dehydration and or specific foods. If you have it once most likely you will get it again. Ibuprophen taken early when you first notice any symptoms can suppress it.

  • Ed | June 6th, 2015 | 11:20 am

    I worry about this too my friend. I noticed my tendon is really thicker than the non ruptured, which makes me think is healed. My OS told me tho to not over stretch it, don’t jump on it, do sudden moves, lunges until I can do single leg raises. So for right now I’m going along with my protocol, it seems really slow and at times I feel like I can run, but I guess we just need some more patience and to be extremely cautious still.

  • eyceman | June 5th, 2015 | 11:28 am

    glen, no single leg heel raise yet. I can do double leg up and come down on the injured leg. I do about 2 sets of 10-15

  • donna | June 5th, 2015 | 10:49 am

    Like Nico said…Big smile for you!

  • Glen | June 5th, 2015 | 7:45 am

    Hi Eyceman How’s your heel raise? If you can do single leg heel raise I think your safe..my PT get me to try 2 heel raise and one going down on injured leg. But I’m surgery route.. Good luck Bro..

  • eyceman | June 4th, 2015 | 5:57 pm

    FYI, I was non op route.

    thanks

  • Nico | June 4th, 2015 | 1:28 pm

    very easy to avoid re-rupture at this stage…

    1. avoid explosive activities (i.e. squash, badminton, box jumps etc)
    2. don’t run on steep hills
    3. listen to your body
    4. be smart and reasonable

    the morning limp goes away so gradually that you do not even notice it is going away and suddenly one morning you just realise it’ gone. give it some time

    cheers
    nicolas

  • herewegoagain | June 1st, 2015 | 10:55 pm

    Glad to hear your recovery is going so well and that you are happy, you had some challenges but have done a great job of being able to guide your own recovery.

    I can remember watching the youtube video you mentioned where the man re-ruptured and also feltjust as fear filled. I think that his protocol may have been nwb and casting perhaps? Regardless, part of the recovery process is gaining confidence and like all the stages you have moved through during the last 4 months it will come.

    Keep us posted!

  • bobco | May 26th, 2015 | 10:18 pm

    Hi, I tore mine on April 25 pushing along on a skateboard. On the doctor’s advice I went the cast, boot route. No surgery. Can someone tell me how I can tell if it’s actually healing? Tomorrow I meet with the PT for the first time and I’m not convinced I’ve healed at all. I met with the doctor the day my cast was put on and the day it was taken off and I had a ultrasound early on to confirm the tear and amount of separation. As far I recall the doctor didn’t perform any test to confirm I was healing. Any thoughts on my care to date?

    Thanks, bob

  • edgarfromcalifornia | May 26th, 2015 | 5:22 pm

    OK cool - thanks man! My doctor today said he could feel the scar tissue filling in so that’s good. Now I just need to figure out how to start my own blog haha

    I actually got one of those left foot accelerators installed in my car, it was really easy to get used to.

  • eyceman | May 25th, 2015 | 10:21 pm

    I believe I noticed the dent going away around week 8. It’s no indication of healing properly. About driving, I never stopped driving. I just drove with my left foot. Pretty easy to do actually.

  • edgarfromcalifornia | May 25th, 2015 | 1:27 pm

    If I can somewhat flex my foot and flex my calf at 3 weeks post injury, does that mean I just had a partial rupture?

    I never got a clear answer as to what I had, but since my injury I have always been able to move my feet and toes around and flex my calf.

  • edgarfromcalifornia | May 25th, 2015 | 1:25 pm

    Hi eyceman - I really enjoyed reading all of your posts! You asked all the questions I think I would be asking, so now I don’t have to haha.

    I’m 3 weeks post injury - and it’s been 2 weeks since I’ve been in a boot with my toes pointed down I think 20-30 degrees (my OS originally wanted to put me in a cast but I asked him about just doing the boot and he was totally cool with it). They gave me a crappy boot so I bought the Vacocast on my own and I love it.

    Just wondering when you started to notice the “dent” going away? 3 weeks later I still notice a big dent but as I’ve read comments people say it takes a while - just wondering how long so I can track my progress. Someone told me it never really goes away - not sure who to believe.

    I’m starting to think regardless of procedure and rehab, everyone recovers differently because everyone’s bodies are so different.

    Regarding the driving - did you continue to drive with your cast/boot?

  • Ed | May 22nd, 2015 | 12:07 pm

    Same here, my foot is really in pain today and swollen, can’t do much but RICE today. Hang in there!

  • eyceman | May 22nd, 2015 | 10:33 am

    I just hope I get rid of this limp. It’s killing my knee!

  • Ed | May 21st, 2015 | 9:23 pm

    That’s awesome eyceman! I have my next OS appointment on June 4, may be the last also. May continue PT as long as my insurance covers it, then we are on our own. Feeling good today after PT, seems like the pain on my foot area is just part of the game. Keep up the hard work my friend!

  • eyceman | May 21st, 2015 | 2:43 pm

    Welp, I was discharged from my OS appointments barring any unforeseen mishaps. PT for 3 more weeks and I should be free and clear. I hope by that time, I am without a limp as I should be at 17 weeks. I’m getting close, but there are still some aches in the Achilles area and my knee gets swollen from the way I walk.

  • Betty | May 21st, 2015 | 7:53 am

    I was in a non weight bearing cast for 3 weeks then boot. Rehab right away. I crossfit so not being at the gym was awful! I do the rehab excersises at the gym daily and ride the airdyne bike there for 20 minutes all in my sneakers. Then I do the workout of the day in the boot. I work alot of core right now haha.

  • chafu | May 20th, 2015 | 12:46 pm

    Hi Betty, I can also walk around without the boot,. Still have a slight limp but it doesn’t hurt much. I do have good ROM, which I attribute to walking around since the injury. Were you put in a cast and if so for how long. When did you start rehab? Re-injury scares me too. I hate to think I won’t be able to play Squash anymore.

  • Kristian | May 20th, 2015 | 3:54 am

    I wanted on your protocol for a moment!

  • gdubz | May 19th, 2015 | 8:44 pm

    haha! After my ordeal this week I was ready to get really pissed that you are doing that so soon!

    Thanks for the laugh!

  • LindaF | May 19th, 2015 | 5:20 pm

    Lol- my initial thought was that I was impressed, but at the same time I thought you were crazy!