Staying High

It’s been a whirlwind 48 hours. Motivated by the NCAA tourney heroics of Stephen Curry and the like I decided it had been far too long since I played ball so the time was ripe to join a local gym which had both a court and a pool in order to regain some of my previous skills (or more likely to re-affirm my knowledge that I truly lack any basketball ability). So, less than three hours after paying for an entire year of club fees in advance I found myself hobbling off the court fully aware that that money would have been much better spent on a trip to Vegas (and I hate Vegas). Anyway, long story short, I was playing in my last game before I went off to watch the KU/Davidson game. I cut back to the hoop and heard a loud POP! followed by me crashing to the deck. I initially thought someone had fallen on my ankle and was ready with a few choice words for my assailant, however upon looking over my shoulder and seeing no one tangled in my legs it suddenly dawned on me that that popping was indeed the infamous sound of an achilles rupturing. In addition to the pain and the sound, I confirmed my self-diagnosis by touching my achilles tendon and realizing there was absolutely no tension in the tendon…it was one of those “oh sh*t” moments.

I slowly made my way to a local cafe where I waited for a ride to the hospital and could do a bit of self-medicating (ice, 36 oz of beer and a shot of tequila). Finally made it to the ER (about 2 hours post incident) and told the doc my story and my diagnosis…her response? “Well, let me take a look and see’” She flipped me over and touched my achilles once and said “oh”. She then went off and scheduled an appt with an orthopedic surgeon and also booked OR time for the next day (gotta say, in spite of all the rumblings, I’m a big fan of Group Health). She ordered a shot of some pain med (didn’t catch the name but it started with a ‘D’) and sent me off for an x-ray and then home with a temporary splint and some oxycodone.

I spoke with several people I knew who had gone through this and, almost unanimously, I was told surgery was the best way to go. Additionally I found this blog and a few other online resources and decided that given my level of activity, age and other factors that surgery was indeed my best route. I met with the surgeon yesterday morning and we discussed options and paths to complete recovery and then we went over to the outpatient surgery area. The surgery itself was a little less than an hour, however I was in post-op for a few hours recovering. Evidently they were looking for a consistent blood oxygen level and rather than staying awake and taking a few deep breadths I decided to take several naps which prolonged my stay.

Last night wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. After reading a few posts I realized that no matter how elevated I thought was adequate I needed to keep my leg even higher. I also cut down on the pain meds, basically halving what they suggested (not sure that had any substantive impact but it did help me to feel more in control).

Today finds me laying on the couch, laptop in lap, leg elevated, remote, water and phone all within arm’s reach. Obviously feeling a few aches and pains but more comfortable than not. Unfortunately I had to cancel a fun trip to visit friends down in San Diego this weekend (crutches and sand don’t go arm in arm) but the airline was very accomodating (provided that I still used the money to purchase a later trip). But I am catching up on a few movies I’ve been meaning to watch the last few months.

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