From Volley to Folly and Back

I was highly anticipating this appointment.  I wasn’t sure if I would get the ‘comfy’ boot back that they gave me before surgery or if I would get another cast.  I really wanted the boot back, as I could not lay my foot flat on the floor with the post-op cast.  It would also be nice to see the injury, get the itchy stitches out, and not have to bag up my foot to shower.

The appointment went as hoped.  A nurse came in and cut away the cast.  The stitches looked ugly but not horrible, the incision was held together nicely and I didn’t have a lot of swelling.  There was a small bruise on my calf and some bruising under my ankle that was there before surgery.  I also had a big spot of blood on my skin where they probably missed cleaning up after surgery - yuck.  I’m so glad I wasn’t a witness to the operation.

What a strange feeling - my foot felt so strange dangling there after being held in one place for so long.  I nudged it upward a little bit and immediately felt the ‘tightness’ everyone else describes.  Man is there going to be work to do before it eventually stretches out like before, BUT… at least I can tell it is attached again!

The resident doctor who assisted in the surgery came in and removed my stitches.  Painful but only short bursts of pain.  For me, the thought of the threads pulling through my skin was what was causing most of the pain, there’s something about skin injuries that is difficult to watch or think about for me.  I asked the doctor more about the surgery since he was present assisting.  He said it was among the more severe tears he had seen and that they had to do quite a bit of ‘cleaning up’ before reattaching it - whatever that means.

My surgeon then came in and inspected it and says it looks good.  I’m to go back to the compression stocking and boot I had before (good news).  Absolutely no weight until my next appointment in 4 weeks, as the tendons take 6 weeks to firmly bond together and in the meantime they are held together by only sutures.  I asked how long until I can walk without a limp - she said the calf will be the challenge because of atrophy but that I could be ‘active’ normally again in 4-6 months - hopefully that means more than just walking normally but I would even take just that.   I’m not about to argue about a weight bearing timeframe, I would rather have a slightly slower road to recovery than to go back to square one.  She did give me a prescription to start physical therapy in terms of range of motion and very passive stretching.

My wife and I had sort of joked that we hoped the ‘evil’ assistant lady who had fitted my stocking and boot roughly before surgery would not be showing me the ropes again.  Fail.  After speaking with the surgeon I immediately began trying to get the stocking on before she came in but didn’t make it.  She saw that I was working on it and insisted on ‘helping’, muttering that I hadn’t started it on the right way, and was actually grabbing my achilles tendon for something to hang on to while she pushed and pulled on the compression stocking.  Then when it was on she felt the tape that had replaced my stitches and said ‘Oh, you must have had surgery - those are where your stitches were, right?’  Are. You. Kidding. Me.? Grrrrr….  I’m sure I’ll laugh about it someday…

So, it looks like my crutches and I will be buddies for at least another month, but at least there is one milestone to cross off the list…

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