grannygoose’s AchillesBlog

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 

Trackback URI | Comments RSS