I’m just over 4 weeks post-op and today I finally had my first visit to the PT. He adjusted the angle of my boot by about 20 degrees. He also gave me several stretches and excercises to do at home for my tendon as well as my quads and knees.

He started by pushing on my toes to see how far I could stretch which was actually surprisingly far (suprising to both him and me), although painful. Since I haven’t seen the doc since a couple days after my surgery (and have had no excercises given to me) I’ve improvised and done some light movement every day, just simple things like moving my foot up and down, side to side, and in circles. Apparently that has helped quite a bit because the PT was really surprised at how much movement I could do.

He was also pleased that my quads and knee were hardly behind those on my good leg. One of my concerns has been atrophy in my entire bad leg (I REALLY want to get back to playing volleyball asap) and I guess so far I’ve done a good job of avoiding too much of it. He wasn’t able to test out my calf because I’m still NWB but I still have a lot of strength in the rest of the muscles.

So the first visit was a good one! Thankful for that!

Tomorrow will mark 4 weeks since my surgery. On January 13, one week before my 16th birthday, I was at a volleyball practice doing a jump training session. I jumped over 3 one foot high hurdles in a row, and after taking off for the last one instead of landing  normally I fell on my face. I had no idea what happened. It was painful, but I was confused about what had just happened and wasn’t focused on the pain. I thought I had maybe landed on the hurdle itself but when I looked back it was standing straight up and nobody else was near. I got back up off the floor and walked/limped back to the bench. The funny thing was that my coach came over to see what happened and when I described where it hurt he checked to make sure I hadn’t ruptured my achilles… which he decided I didn’t. HOWEVER when I went to the emergency the next morning of course I had. surgery came only 5 days later which I am really thankful for.

It’s been a strange thing because I’m much younger than most people who encounter this injury. Nobody has been able to give me a straight answer as to why this happened, only the possibility that the achilles had become progressivly weakened due to overuse (I play highly competitive volleyball usually 5 to 7 days a week). The first 2 weeks were tough, being stuck on the couch, being so immobile, being exhausted all the time, and not being able to do anything for myself. It’s not easier now, but it is getting better. I’m more used to using crutches now and I’ve been finding ways to do normal things not so normally.

The most difficult thing is the mental aspect. The frustration of not being able to do the thing I love most (which is playing volleyball) has been completely overwhelming. I’ve always played through my injuries… a back injury, sprained wrists and ankles etc. but even though I want to just suck up the pain and play, I literally can’t which has been hard to accept. Another hard part is the fact that I don’t understand. I was doing something I do every day, nothing unusual, and this randomly happened. All I can do is try to stay positive and find new things to do while I have a lot of extra time that is usually taken up by playing volleyball. It hasn’t been easy though, as it was a big shock to my system.

I’ve asked a lot of people about recovery time, and the answer has always been approx. 6 months. I want to try my best to make that number smaller but by the sounds of it that doesn’t sound likely. Hoping to find some encouragement to get through this and find some more positive thinking.