grannygoose’s AchillesBlog

Today marks the 6 month anniversary of my injury. All in all, I am doing well. My last physical therapy was on April 30th. I have been going to spin classes and can stand quite a bit with the rest of the class. I can’t go fast out of the seat but it’s getting better each time. I still have some pain in my heel after being on my feet a lot during the day. I saw my OS on June 6th. He told me it was the heel plate and that can take a bit of time to go away. I can get up on my toes when I use both feet, but it’s nearly impossible - still - to do a one legged toe raise. I keep trying. I know I’m not as faithful as I should be about doing that exercise. I have tried to jump a bit but that still scares me. I think I’m going to try a jump rope soon. Basically, I’m still a chicken, lol!  I walk mostly with no limping or very little.  If I have been sitting for a while, I feel a little creaky getting up and moving.  My good ankle still bothers be some - overworked for so long - but I do stretches on both ankles and feet and that helps a lot.

To all who are starting this journey, it does get better. I’m sure you’ve read that in a lot of blogs on here but it’s true. The first 2 to 3 months is basically no fun. Everything you do, whether it be trying to get around on crutches, knee scooter or with the boot (once you get that far) is exhausting. And your emotional state is not so great either. I didn’t realize how much my emotional state was down for about 3 months. On top of this problem, my work situation was not great either, so I had a double whammy. Things are looking up, though.

Happy healing to all!

Vicki

Finally, PT! I loved it. I may not say that as I am trying to get out of bed tomorrow, but we shall see. Here’s a summary of my treatment:

*Rode stationary bike for 8 minutes
*Stepped over short brackets (?) making sure to use the heel/toe stride, 5 laps up and back
*Step up and down on 1 step 30 times
*Walked on 1/2 rubber balls on the floor, about 12 of them, 5 laps up and back. This one was a killer!
*Stood on balance board, 30 seconds, 3 times. Much harder than it seems
*Leaned forward on balance board, stretching Achilles, 30 seconds 3 times
*Balanced on a cushion with my left (ATR) foot for 10 seconds, then "good" foot for 10 seconds. 10 sets of these. Again, harder than it seems it would be.
*Moved to a low table. Used a round saucer-type object. Had to do the front and back, side to side and then circles with my foot on top of this, touching the edges to the floor. 30 of each
*Moved to the end of a table. She tied a band to the leg of the table and I had to stretch again front and back, side to side. 30 each
*This was fun - I had to pick up marbles with my toes and put them in a small container for 5 minutes.
*Then the torture began! I laid on a table and she started maneuvering my toes and ankle in all sorts of painful positions. My ankle is very stiff and she said we had to get it moving better. I closed my eyes and cringed while she did this, lol.
*Finally - she iced my ankle for about 10 minutes and I was free to go.

I’m excited to go back on Monday! I’m a glutton for punishment.

Happy Healing!

Vicki
*

Another mile stone (to me, anyway) today. I had a real shower standing up! You stay much warmer that way rather than sitting and using a doggie sprayer. Much faster, too!

Getting better every day!

I started the day out in 2 shoes. I wore some Clark’s shoes that slip on. I tried tennis shoes but that really irritated my scar. I took the boot with me to work. I sometimes have to walk a lot at work and I wanted to be prepared if I wasn’t able to walk. I did okay - ended up putting the boot on after about 3 1/2 hours. Once I came home I put the shoes back on and left them for the entire afternoon. My ankle started to hurt again on either side so I put the boot back on again as I had a lot of walking to do around the house.

Do most of you just jump into 2 shoes and go for it? Am I being a wimp?

Looking forward to PT on Wednesday.

Happy healing!

I went to my OS yesterday. It was Week 5 being in the boot. I took my last wedge out yesterday in the morning. Incision looks good. OS was happy with it. I have to wear the boot for 2 more weeks, FWBAT, then he said I could wear shoes. That’s kind of scary to me. I will start PT on March 12th for gait training and ROM/Flex and Strengthening exercises, for 4-6 weeks. I’m excited about that. I think what I am most excited about is starting to walk on my foot. It’s getting old using the crutches in the middle of the night to get to the bathroom. I finally had some questions to ask OS after being on this site. I had no idea what to ask before. My rupture (tendon completely apart) was extremely close to the heel bone. It was difficult for him to get the sutures near the heel sutured to the other end of the tendon. Interesting stuff to me. I think that’s why he had me in the boot with 5 wedges - wanted it stretched out gradually. I will see the OS in 8 weeks.

I do have some bumps in my arch. OS says they are on the plantar. Doesn’t sound like he was worried about them. I have been massaging them at night with Arnica Gel and massaging my incision. It still feels a little numb but the massaging feels great. I have been walking around without either the walker, knee scooter or crutches with the boot on. Feels pretty good but by the end of the day I’m pretty tired. My heel hurts a bit more now that all the wedges are out. I’m sure that’s the nerves waking back up.

I’ve been luxuriating in the bathtub for about a week now. Well, about an hour a day, that is. This is what I missed most!

Happy healing everyone!

Vicki

Today is a big day for me. I went to the grocery store and did all the shopping walking through the store and not riding on the seniormobile. Shopping is much more enjoyable my myself - no husband looking over my shoulder at what I am purchasing, lol.

I’m down to one wedge in my boot and will return to the OS on Friday. On that day, I will remove the final wedge. I did have some pain last Friday when I went down to one wedge. I rested all afternoon and felt better on Saturday. I have been in the boot since January 17th. I started walking around the office and house last week with nothing. Feels pretty darn good!

I’m down to 2 wedges in the boot. I will go to the OS 2weeks. What a difference it makes having 3 wedges gone! I actually have been walking a bit without any assistance (no crutches or walker). It feels good. I’m trying not to over do it.

I finally made it back into the gym today. I was actually a little apprehensive as this parking lot was where I did my swan dive. I rode the spin bike for about 10 minutes and it felt amazing. I just had slight resistance. I did some leg exercises and abs. My trainer was in the gym and we tried out the incumbent bike as well. I think it will be good to switch up the bikes. All in all, I was in the gym about 40 minutes. Oh, I also walked 1 lap on the track. 5 laps equal about a mile. I’ll get more laps in. I just received the Evenup in the mail. I think that will make a big difference in walking.

I’m proud of myself!

Hello, fellow Achilles club members. I have read so many of your blogs and have gotten so much information from all of you. Thank you very much!

I joined this club on 12/16/13. I was leaving my athletic club around 6am after taking a 5am spin class. It was dark (that’s one excuse), I was sweaty and tired (that’s another excuse) and I tripped over a parking bumper taking a short cut to my car. New Year’s resolution - use walking pathways through the parking lot. I tripped with my right foot and my left foot landed on the curb of the planter, bending my foot backwards with my toes pointing to my shin. OUCH! I heard a pop and headed towards the ground. It was all so surreal - seemed to be happening in slow motion. Luckily, there was a dead bush handy, so I grabbed it and made it to the curb without injuring anything else. I was able to call my husband to come and pick me up. We headed to the Urgent Care right away. They took an x-ray, as I told them I thought I broke my foot - never even thought of Achilles tendon. As soon as the doctor came in and looked at my ankle, he told me I had probably ruptured by Achilles. I was able to get an MRI a few hours later, which confirmed the rupture. This was all on a Monday. I was able to get into see an OS on Friday. He gave me the option of non-op or op. The first question he asked was “how active are you?”. I’m pretty active and I have 2 new grandkids that I need to be able to play with and take care of so I opted for the surgery. They put my leg in a splint with ace bandages wrapped around it. I don’t know all the technical terms so bear with me. The splint was probably at a 90 degree angel - not with my toe pointed downward. The surgery was scheduled for 12/31/13 - what a great way to bring in the new year! When I woke up from the surgery, I had another splint and ace bandages and LOTS of padding. My lower leg looked gigantic! This time my foot was pointing down. I was to be NWB until my next appointment.

I was scheduled to return to see my OS (Holman Chan with Nevada Orthopedic is awesome!) on January 17th. They removed the staples and I was sent upstairs to be fitted with the Bledsoe Air boot. I started out with 5 wedges in it. Talk about uncomfortable! I was instructed to remove 1 wedge each week and return to see Dr. Chan on February 21st. I could do PWB with crutches. I hate crutches and had access to a walker, so I chose to use the walker. I saved the crutches to use when I had no boot on. So far I have removed 2 wedges. What a difference 1 inch makes! I don’t wear high heels at all, my friends, so this was pure torture.

I can’t wait until February 21st to meet with my OS again.  Hopefully, I will be able to start some PT.  I have started to do some ROM exercises with my ankle.  I can move it up and down a bit and back and forth.  I was doing some small circles last night.  kellygirl inspired me to get up off my butt and get moving.  I’ve been doing a lot more and I feel so much better.  I intend to get back to the gym and try out the spin bike again.

Happy healing!

Vicki 

Welcome to AchillesBlog.com.

This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Following link will take you to your blog’s “command center” where you can write your posts:
http://AchillesBlog.com/grannygoose/wp-admin/

Be sure to fill out your city, Achilles rupture date, surgery date, etc.. (if you know it) here:
Fill out my Achilles Profile Here

When you do, you can keep track of your recovery progress and see your information on the Marathon Tracker.

Here’s more info: using Achilles Timeline Widget

Please change this post’s title to something more descriptive. Just leaving it as “Hello World” leads people to believe that you haven’t updated your first post!

If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask!

Dennis