Hood’s AchillesBlog

So first, I would like to thank Dennis at Achillesblog and all the other posters out there for helping me through all of this. You guys have been invaluable as a resource and as a support group. Thank you.

So today, I’m 9 weeks postop. I’ll give you a short play-by-play. Tore my Achilles playing soccer on 5/29/12. Just lunged for the ball, heard the characteristic pop/thunk, and knew right away. Definitely didn’t stretch out. Oh, to go back to that day… I was sort of in a unique position, as I was an anesthesiology resident at the time. I called my orthopedic friends, and they saw me right away in the ER. The nurses were all very nice and I got splinted up and out of there in about 3 hours, which is fast for our ER.

Went to work the next day (5/30), and it just so happened that I was in an OR with a sports orthopod. I hadn’t had breakfast (very fortuitous), and the surgeon said if I wanted, he could do the surgery at the end of the day. Again, I had the unique position here, and was lucky. I chose spinal anesthesia with a sciatic catheter for post-op pain control. I didn’t have any sedation at all, as I didn’t want to say anything stupid in front of people I worked with, but I would whole-heartedly recommend it for anyone else getting a catheter. The needle we use to place the catheter is quite large and despite the local anesthetic numbing, you feel it. Anyways, the block and the spinal went fine, and I listened to music and surfed the internet on my iPad during my surgery. Before the spinal wore off, my anesthesia team also performed a saphenous block. I think this was the biggest factor in my post-op pain control. I went home that night with a completely numb foot in a splint with instructions to follow up in 2 days to switch the splint for a cast.

Came in that day and had the cast put on. Here’s the wound, 2 days post-op.

Had a sweet neon green cast put on that I classed up with some blue paint to match the wedding colors of my good friend whose wedding I was attending the next weekend.

I actually had the next week off from work, which was very, very nice. I would have liked to spend the vacation not sitting on my couch, but oh well. I lasted about 2 days on the crutches before I asked some people around the hospital about a knee scooter. I was connected with a medicine physician who had bought his because he had a prolonged, complicated course. He sold me it for $100, and it paid for itself within a week. It is far, far superior to crutches. If you’re concerned about the cost, I can guarantee you it’s worth it. Ok, I’ll cut this post off for now and start another with my next couple weeks.