Feb
3
Night before Surgery
February 3, 2009 | |
Man I can not tell you how happy I am to get this done and get on the loooooong road to recovery. It has been 2.5 weeks since my rupture. I have had a wedding and a honeymoon sandwiched between my rupture and the surgery. I see that most people have had their suregery within a week. Anyone that has gone up to 3 weeks or beyond, is there anything I should concern myself with?
For so
meone who likes to sweat daily I have had plenty of time to feel sorry for myself these last two weeks, knowing that the road to recovery was going to be a while before I could do all the things I enjoyed prior to ATR. A friend of mine said it best when he said, look on the bright side if you were a horse you would have been shot already. Yep, that pretty much puts things into perspective. Looking forward to getting the surgery tomorrow and pushing onward!
Comments
2 Comments so far
Not a way to spend a wedding and honeymoon! Congrats on the wedding! Not so on the rupture. Hope your surgery went well. I ruptured mine while on vacation in Los Angeles visiting family and didn’t get mine checked till I got back to Colorado. The doctor that checked it at an urgent care clinic said I’d ruptured it and would need surgery. 2 weeks post ATR, my insurance guys finally got my referral to an orthopedic doctor. But they sent me to a hand doc who declared I didn’t have an ATR & could toss my crutches & boot! He said an MRI was a waste of money. Right. I went back & forth with my insurance guys to send me to a a real doctor. After my MRI confirmed a rupture, I made sure my insurance guys sent me to an ortho doc specializing in legs! By the time my insurance guys got their act together, I was 7 weeks post ATR. When I finally had my surgery, I was 8 weeks post ATR. The doc expected to see lots of scar tissue he’d have to scrape away & thought he’d have to cut higher to reach a retracted tendon. Thank you Lord! My tendon was there hanging by a thread and he didn’t have to do that much scraping. So, it happens. Lots of us out there. I’m 20 weeks and after much PT I can walk without pain or a limp. Even with the splint/cast/boot on, you can work the rest of your body. Do leg raises while lying on your back, do upper body work, spend time with your new wife & let her know how special she is for putting up with you on her wedding & honeymoon!
Today’s bound to be an uncomfortable day for you but now you’re recovering & not just waiting around. Good luck on your recovery.
Congrats and wow…that’s impressive. You’ve had more major life events in 2.5 weeks than most have in 2.5 years! I’m referring to rupturing your AT and the surgery, in case you were wondering. =P
Hope the surgery went well. I think the only thing to have been concerned about is retraction of the calf muscle, which consequently pulls the tendon ends further apart. Other than that, no biggie. Your surgeon probabaly made a larger incision or dug around higher up in your leg to pull it down and reattach the ends (or at least that’s how I understand the procedure to work).
I’ve ruptured both, as you’re aware, and my right incision is a bit longer then my left. I’m guessing there were lots of factors like how they were ruptured (type of tear/tissue damage), how long between injury and surgery date, which side of the bed my surgeon woke up on that day…the list goes on. But it’s ok. I personally don’t care about the 1 inch difference and you probably won’t rupture your other one (or at least I hope you don’t *knock on wood*).
I think you asked about my second time around…or the prepensity for it to happen. My surgeon said this, “you’re my second case in 19 years…the other was a tennis playing cardiologist that works in the building across the street.” Basically, it doesn’t happen often but if you want to try to prevent it, then just take care of both of your ATs. Strengthening exercises, proper footwear, etc…your doctor or a personal trainer or footwear specialist can probably help give you information but what’s more important is what you do with it.
I’m seriously impressed with your determination to go on with “the show” through the physical and mental pain of waiting. If that’s not love and commitment…then I don’t know what is.
Keep posting. Looking forward to hearing how quickly you recover. BTW - I’ve found sudoku to be a great companion during the recovery process. That and R.I.C.E. therapy have been invaluable to get through the first week after surgery. You’ll be on your feet soon enough, don’t push yourself too much. The better it heels in the early stages of recovery, the better the rest of your rehab will be (take it from someone who is in “the marathon” for a second time). *^_^* Cheers!