An Ironman’s recovery from an Achilles Tendon Rupture

Lots of movement at work today on the crutches so my right leg got a huge workout. It thought it might explode. It felt like I did one million leg squats. I think that when this is all over my right leg is going to dwarf my left.

Currently, I’m feeling a little tingly at my surgery site. Elevating makes it go away so I hope I didn’t push things too much today but I could not avoid it.

Weighed myself today and I’m 174 lbs. This is same weight I was at the time of the ATR. Since the surgery, my appetite reduced by 2/3.  As a result, my weight dropped to 172 lbs. My appetite seems to be making a bit of a comeback recently but I’ve also visited 2 buffets within the last 4 days. Hopefully the weight stays off.

Oh yeah, a tip for those of you in casts. Make sure to keep up on the hygiene and clean your toes that are sticking out of the cast. Things can get quite crusty and gross if you don’t stay on top of things. Especially the baby toe area that tends to get hidden in the cast and gather moisture.

 Til next time.

Almost forgot to post something for this third week post-op. Therefore, while this post is dated Monday June 23 it really refers to June 15^th to the 21^st.

Not much going on. Everything feels as good as it could possibly be.

I feel like I could cut the cast off and go for a run. But after reading about the horrible re-rupture experience of daveleft, I think I’ll get much more realistic and conservative once I do get my freedom from the cast.

I am much more comfortable on my crutches. I’m a lot faster going up and down the stairs. I even started driving again a few days ago. So more chauffeur service for me, tomorrow I’ll be driving myself to work.

My only exercise has been playing the Wii. I got it about a week ago and it has been my friend this week. My arm is sore from playing baseball, tennis, etc. It is a cool little machine and it sure makes for great company while my wife is off doing her thing. Once I get to do some weight bearing I’ll get the Wii Fit add on to do some more extensive exercise. Its fun stuff and I recommend getting one to stave away the boredom.

Anyway, just one more week of work for me and then it’s the summer break. I’ll be using it to recover of course and to take an online course for my work. If I can’t race I gotta keep busy somehow.

This 2^nd cast comes off in 11 days. What colour should the new one be? Hot pink?

Recover well everyone!

I had my first visit with my surgeon (Dr. Haider) today since the surgery. Of course, after the 2 hour wait, I finally got in to see him (more the nurse than him actually).

The nurse cut off the cast and I finally got the chance to see the damage. I was pleasantly surprised. There were 6 realatively small incisions. It looked like a really slick job. Even the nurse was surprised and the surgeon proudly said it was his fine work.

  (more pics in the 1st View post)

The surgeon checked over his work, then told the nurse to remove the stitches and to put a new cast on.

The stitches came out quickly and I hardly noticed their removal. The nurse (a real cool dude by the way) cleaned up my leg and began to put on the new fiberglass cast. He gave me a selection of colours for the new cast and while I was tempted to go with Hot Pink, I selected Red to keep with my Running Free theme. Before he put on the cast, I tried to move my foot up and down very slightly and it was not ready. It was fairly weak and painful. The cast was put on quickly, the nurse gave me some instructions, and told me to come back in 3 weeks.

On my way out of the Fracture Clinic, I asked the surgeon about the plan of attack and he advised that they will put on a 3rd cast in 3 weeks. That new cast will have my foot at a different angle (right now its still in a tip-toed position) that will stretch my repaired achilles out a bit more. This will be done a few times until the foot is flat on the floor. Until then, I still have to rely on crutches and I am not allowed to weight bear on my left leg.

The new and lighter fiberglass cast makes this easier but it is still no picnic. I do love the fact that I have more protection with this cast since it wraps right around my leg (from the toes to just below the knee). It allows me to rest my leg whenever and wherever I want without worry about putting too much weight on that leg or the surgery site. I can stand on it with a bit of weight and not put any pressure on the foot or achilles whatsoever. So just a bit more day to day freedom but it still sucks large.

The first plaster cast only covered the top of the leg/the shin to feet (basically a long heavy splint that kept me in a tip-toed position), the back of the leg was padded dressing and the whole thing was wrapped with a tensor bandage.  There was no putting the leg on the floor at all here and I had to be carefull about how I elevated my leg. Not so with the new cast.

The waiting game continues.

I suffered my ATR on Thursday May 29th while playing tennis, and had surgery on Sunday June 1st.

As an avid triathlete/duathlete, I can safely say that my 2008 racing season is over and so is my streak at Ironman USA Lake Placid (I had completed 9 in a row there). I now look foward to recovering as quick as I can and as safely as I can.

Like the others in this Achillesblog Community, I hope to provide some useful information that others in this same situation can find of benefit.

Welcome to my journey, I wish you all the best with yours as well.

RH