An Ironman’s recovery from an Achilles Tendon Rupture

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.