Hood’s AchillesBlog

I had my next appointment on July 2, 33 days after my surgery. I was told at my previous appointment that I would have the cast off that day and start with the heel wedges in my shoes. I was a little confused, as everything I was reading in ortho books and on Achillesblog was saying that usually people were in CAM walkers for many more weeks. However, my excitement to ditch the cast for good really blinded me here. I was the happiest guy in the world when I walked into my appointment that day. I hated that cast more than anything in the world. I had the cast taken off, and waited for my surgeon to see me. Here’s further calf atrophy (on the right, in case you couldn’t figure that out).

My surgeon came in, felt the tendon, said it felt good, and said 3 more weeks in the cast. I was absolutely crushed. Apparently there was some miscommunication on both ends at the last appointment. I told him that in 3 weeks, I wouldn’t be in town, as I was moving to start fellowship in Houston. He said, ok, 2 weeks is fine. I asked if he did CAM walkers, as I would be happy to wear one of those indefinitely, as long as I could shower and sleep like a normal person. But no, he doesn’t do those, so I was stuck in the cast. Those 2 weeks crawled by, but I had a countdown on my phone and busied myself studying for boards. Finally July 16th came, and again, I was the happiest guy in the word. This time the cast came off and stayed off. My surgeon gave me small gel wedges to put in both my shoes and gave me very vague instructions about what to do. But he made it seem like I was free to walk around normally with the wedges. He also wanted me to start PT. Here’s my calf at it’s puniest.

I wanted to jump for joy, but I obviously didn’t. I gingerly walked around the office and then to my car. I couldn’t believe that I was walking again without a large apparatus on my foot. It really felt great. I was on top of the world.