First of all.. Thanks to all who blog here! This site has been a huge help as I’ve been recovering!
Was playing Volleyball indoors the night of January 24. After about 2 hours of play, I was making my approach to hit a ball, hadn’t even prepped to jump yet, and just fell over. Thought I tripped or got hit from behind by something or someone, but when I looked there was nothing around. I crawled over to the bleachers, and got some ice on my left achilles. After about 10 minutes of this, I stood up and could somewhat slowly shuffle out of the gym, out to the car. At this point we were all thinking it was a turned ankle, and I’d be back in a few weeks. The car I had that night was a stick shift, so figured out how to work the clutch w/ my heel and quad. I was about 20 minutes from home, and after about 15 minutes of driving, I knew something wasn’t right. Luckily I have to drive past an ER on the way home. So stop off at the ER, and at this point, I can’t even shuffle walk. So asked the security guard in the parking lot to help me out, and he was nice enough to grab a wheel chair and wheel me in. After a short wait, they do the Thompson Test, and get no movement out of my left foot. They tell me they think I’ve ruptured my left achilles, start splinting me up, and tell me to call for a ride home. They also give me a number of an ortho to call for an appointment. Luckily my folks live close by, so the 2 of them swing by to pick up me and the car.
The next day I call the ortho, and luckily he can see me that afternoon. He does an ultrasound, and confirms that I’ve ruptured my left achilles. Goes through my options, asks a little about how active I’am, then given my age (38) and desire to return to an active life style, he recommends surgery, and says he can operate in 2 days (Wednesday 1/27). From there I get splinted back up, crutch back outside, and head home.